Problem 4
The banks of the River Lea are steep, the river is about four feet six inches deep, except near the ford. The bottom is muddy. At the ford it is forty yards broad, in most other places about twenty yards. The fields on either side are firm. The roads shown on the sketch are dry and dusty. The soil is chalky. The depth of the river at the ford is two feet six inches. The date is June 20.
One of the orderlies attached to you reports that at Slag Farm there is a large quantity of wire, some of it barbed.
The brigade to which you belong is retiring in a southerly direction. The baggage moved in front of the brigade. The time is 5.30 p.m. You with your company, to which six mounted orderlies have been attached, are near Home Farm, the remainder of your battalion, which is in rear of the brigade, is passing through Silverton, when the adjutant rides up to you and gives you the following order:
“Information has been received that a hostile cavalry brigade is pursuing. You will take such steps as you may consider necessary to prevent the enemy crossing the River Lea between Stone Bridge and Slag Farm, both inclusive, until 7 p.m., at which hour you will be relieved by cavalry. You will be careful not to compromise your own retreat. Having accomplished your task, you will rejoin your unit.”
Problem.
How do you appreciate the situation, and what steps will you take to carry out your instructions?
Solution considered Correct.
The River Lea is in all places within 800 yards of the ridge, and as the conditions are particularly favourable for fire action from the ridge, there is no necessity for you to place your men down the forward slope. The circumstances which render the situation so favourable for fire action are that it is practically impossible for the enemy’s cavalry to cross the River Lea, except at the bridge or at the ford. The bridge and the road, with ponds on either side of it, just to the north of the bridge, form a defile 150 yards long, through which the enemy must pass. The ponds and the river also afford you an excellent opportunity to check the range by the splash of your bullets.
By filling the ford with wire you should also succeed in making that very difficult to cross. The great objection to putting men on the forward slope is that they will come under severe fire from the horse artillery which will accompany the cavalry, and that under cover of this fire the cavalry are much more likely to be able to cross than they would be if fired at from a concealed position on the ridge. Besides which all movement by men on the forward slope would be seen and the men themselves would not be able to retire until dark.
Orders.
1. Nos. 3 and 4 Platoons will proceed under Lieutenant Smith to the neighbourhood of Cross Farm, where they will take up the best positions they can find with the object of protecting the crossing of the River Lea.
It has been reported that a large quantity of wire, some of it barbed, is to be found at Slag Farm. Lieutenant Smith will take steps to obstruct the ford with this with the object of denying its use to the enemy.
2. No. 1 Platoon will take up a position near Home Farm and No. 2 Platoon near Hope Farm, also with the object of preventing the crossing of the River Lea.
3. No. 2 Platoon from Hope Farm will fire ranging shots on to the ford at Slag Farm, Chalk Pit, and the two road junctions to the north of the ford, and when the officer commanding the platoon is certain by the observation of his fire that he has obtained the correct ranges, he will pass this information to the officer commanding No. 1 Platoon.
The officer commanding No. 1 Platoon will range on the ponds near the bridge and on the road junction to the north of them, and will similarly pass the range chart to the officer commanding No. 2 Platoon. This ranging will be carried out at once in order that the ranging by Nos. 1 and 2 Platoons may be finished before the ranging is commenced by the officers commanding Nos. 3 and 4 Platoons, which will be carried out under the orders of Lieutenant Smith.
N.B.—I am quite aware that a company is supposed to carry a Barr & Stroud range-finder. Although this is an excellent instrument when it is in thorough order, there is really no such reliable range-finder as a rifle fired at a mark which will show the impact of the bullet.
* * * * *
In the proper solution of the foregoing scheme, everything really depends upon your fire orders. I am presuming that your men are fairly well trained with the rifle. I wish, of course, that all our men were trained up to the standard of the Old Contemptibles, but “Rome was not built in a day,” nor can discipline and good marksmanship become part of a man’s second nature as a result of only a few months’ training. If, however, your men are reasonably good shots and can fire at least fifteen rounds a minute (they ought to fire twenty under peace conditions), in such cases as the above much more will depend upon whether you give correct fire orders than upon whether the men are first-class marksmen or only moderately good shots. You can compare a company of first-class marksmen to a Choke-bore gun which shoots farther and harder but requires a skilled game shot to use with advantage, whereas a company of moderately-trained shots would resemble an ordinary scatter gun, with which the ordinary shot would probably do more execution. If you give a range as 1,200 yards when it is only 1,000 yards and you have marksmen, no shots will fall on the object; whereas if your company were composed of third-class shots, the chances are that it would be well sprinkled with bullets. Do not think from this that I prefer the third-class shots, for that is very decidedly not the case; but if you have a highly finished weapon, you want a good man behind it, although in the hands of such a one it will do brilliant execution. If you have a company of good shots and are not certain of a range, your best plan is to fire with combined sights and thus to increase the depth of the fire-swept ground. This method, although in many cases the best to adopt, is bound to diminish the efficacy of your fire, for if the correct range be 1,200 yards and you fire one platoon at 1,000 yards, one at 1,100, one at 1,200, and one at 1,300, it stands to reason that you can only hope to get a quarter as many hits as you would do if you gave the whole four platoons the correct range; but even that is better than giving the range at 1,000 and missing the mark altogether. It is a bad plan to go “Nap” before you have looked at your hand. I shall later on give you certain little problems for solution in which I am of opinion that combined sights should be used. In the problem under consideration, however, their use would be absolutely wrong. You can check all the ranges by seeing the splash of the bullets either in the ponds, in the river, or on the Chalk Pit, and you should be content with nothing except the correct range. Young officers are always apt to consider that so long as they have taught their company to shoot fairly well, they have done their duty with regard to musketry. This is, in reality, by no means the case. The company is simply the sportsman’s gun; the commander has to learn how to use it.
There are many circumstances under which a man has to pick out his own target, as, for instance, when the enemy is attacking, and here everything depends upon his individual marksmanship. There are, however, many other occasions in which if 10 per cent. of the effect depends upon whether the men are first-class marksmen or only ordinary decent shots, 90 per cent. will depend upon whether the officer gives fire orders properly adapted to the situation. The above problem is an illustration of this principle.
You should notice that in my solution I carefully arranged that the party comprised of Nos. 2 and 3 Platoons should not commence ranging until Nos. 1 and 2 Platoons had finished. Were they to fire simultaneously, confusion in the splashes made by the bullets would be the result.
Don’t forget to hand over your range card to your relief.
Your affectionate father,
“X. Y. Z.”
LETTER VI
January 7, 1918.
Problem 5a
My dear Dick,—
I will set you another problem.
The force to which you belong has made a night march. Your platoon now forms part of a new outpost line. You halted in a ditch at line marked D, with a thin hedge on the enemy’s side of it, which gives you good cover from view. Your idea was to use this place as the headquarters of your picket, and as soon as it was thoroughly light to throw groups out in front. Your platoon consists of forty men and a Lewis gun. Soon after dawn and when your men are still in the trench at D, you see what you take to be a strong platoon of the enemy advancing straight towards you from the north; a couple of groups of men are fifty yards in front, and the remainder of the platoon is advancing in fours along a country road, which passes close to your position. You see the platoon when it is at A about 1,000 yards off.
What action will you take?
Action considered Correct.
There seems to be every chance of your being able to ambuscade this party, and you should let it advance until the groups which the main body has in front of it are within fifty yards of your picquet. You should tell off a few men on the flanks to deal with these groups, and turn the fire of the whole of the rest of your platoon on to the main body. You must be careful to see that all your men lie down, that no one but yourself has his head above ground level, and you must camouflage yourself. The suspense in such a situation as this makes great demands on the men’s discipline, and they are apt to look up and be seen by the enemy, thus destroying all hope of surprise.
Problem 5b
The situation is exactly the same as in [Problem 5a], except that instead of a platoon advancing towards you, there is a whole company marching in fours, with four groups 100 yards in front of it.
What action would you take?
Action considered Correct.
Exactly the same as in Problem 5a. The enemy is in this case four times as strong as you are, but the effect of surprise should more than make up for this, and the first minute after you open fire should decide the action in your favour.
Problem 5c
The situation is again exactly the same as in [5a] and [5b], except that a whole battalion with eight groups 200 yards in front of it is advancing.
What action would you take?
Action considered Correct.
In this case the situation is changed. You are an outpost, and your first duty is to warn your main body in case of an attack and to give it time to prepare itself. It is just possible that if you allow the battalion to approach to within 300 yards you might deal it such a blow as to almost destroy it; but if, on the contrary, the covering groups were composed of really good soldiers and the companies were well commanded, there would be a great chance of your being rushed, and this is a risk which you ought not to take, for it would compromise the whole situation. In these circumstances you should therefore take steps to open a rapid fire on the enemy immediately with your men and your Lewis gun. Your object in doing this would be to keep him at arm’s length and delay his advance as much as possible so as to give your supports and reserves time to prepare themselves.
Your affectionate father,
“X. Y. Z.”
LETTER VII
January 15, 1918.