Problem 1
W, X, and Y are three pill-boxes about 150 yards apart. We are attacking in the direction of the arrows, that is, in a northerly direction.
Our men following close behind the barrage took pill-boxes W and Y; but, partly owing to the conformation of the ground and partly for other reasons, we failed to take X, and this pill-box is now holding up the whole of our advance between W, wood, and Y, knoll, with a machine gun, which is being fired from the inside of the pill-box, and which sweeps the whole ground between these points so effectively that directly we attempt to advance our men are mown down.
It is apparent that X has only one machine gun in action, though this is a very efficient one.
From the contours on the sketch, it is evident that the ground is convex in formation, that is, that it is nearly flat between X and H¹, but that it slopes rapidly between H¹ and H, between B¹ and B, and between C¹ and C.
The slopes are covered with brushwood. The ground between contour 120 and the pill-box is meadow land.
The platoon originally told off to attack X was wiped out.
Problem.
You have been ordered to take X with your platoon and to do so as quickly as possible. When you receive these orders you are yourself at H, and, as you will see from the sketch, are not under fire from X.
What steps will you take to carry out your orders?
Do not enter into an elaborate dissertation, but give short, concise orders, and if you desire to do so, append a short statement saying why you gave these orders.
Action considered Correct.
As there is only one machine gun in action, if X be attacked simultaneously from B¹ and C¹, either one party or the other should succeed in getting to the rear of the pill-box and blowing in the door.
Orders.
No. 4 Section with the Lewis gun will choose a position somewhere to the north of H, and on my signal will open a rapid fire on the loopholes of the pill-box at X. No. 3 Section will choose a position near B¹, and when the Lewis gun opens fire, they will open a rapid rifle-grenade fire on X. One minute after the Lewis gun has opened, No. 1 Section will rush in from C¹ and No. 2 Section from B¹.
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I am aware that in the foregoing problem I have made the task of the platoon commander a very simple one. I wished, however, to avoid any points of controversy. If the ground should not be so advantageous for your attack as that above depicted, the principle, viz. movement combined with fire, still remains the same. You should bring a converging attack to bear and advance your men under cover of the fire of your rifle grenades and Lewis guns, and by pushing men forward from one shell-crater to another, you should generally be able to achieve your object if your plan be evolved on sound principles. It is also possible that smoke bombs could be used with advantage if the wind be favourable.
The above problem is one which has often been put to young officers on the battlefield, and they have not by any means always given a satisfactory answer to it, simple as it is.
Your affectionate father,
“X. Y. Z.”
LETTER III
December 15, 1917.
My dear Dick,—
Since the early days of the campaign there has been but little fighting in towns or villages which have not previously been so knocked about that they could better be designated ruins than habitable places, but in the event of an advance on a large scale towns and villages are certain to be the scenes of severe combats. I will therefore give you three little problems in street-fighting. When you have read them, the points I call attention to will probably seem to you so self-evident that you will wonder that I have considered it worth while to comment on them. Nevertheless, I am not quite sure that you will give what I consider to be the correct answers to all of them, if you do not turn over the page and look at the solutions I have given, before stating your own.