The English of military communications

by William Addleman Ganoe

(4) The Defense Order

2.—You are Major General Standish. You have just received word that the enemy to which you are opposed has been very heavily reenforced and has now about two divisions in the town of Taneytown. Your main army is not going to leave until the 19th, and then it will get as far as Marshall probably. You are in command of the 21st division of the 8th corps, and you are south of Emmitsburg on the 17th day of May, 1945. You decide that you can’t do anything else but take up a defensive position. You accordingly want to make your division occupy a position extending from McKee Knob to the northeast. You want the second brigade, which is going to be reenforced by the first cavalry and also by the 2d battalion, 1st field artillery to cover this movement, to take up a defensive position. General Calhoun of the second brigade has to put in place of the infantry of his brigade on the southern line of outpost, certain cavalry patrols. These cavalry patrols will come from two corps which have been sent to General Calhoun, or at least have been ordered to report to him at Motters at one o’clock in the morning. General Calhoun should relieve the outpost of the third brigade at two o’clock in the morning, and of the first at three o’clock in the morning. The first brigade, after its outpost is relieved, should immediately take up the march, going up the road which runs through Emmitsburg and Liberty Hall School House. It should halt when it gets northeast of 656. General Calhoun has to be placed in command in order to carry out his part of the situation as to certain other troops—in fact, the 2d battalion of the 1st field artillery, and the 1st cavalry, should now become a part of his command. The 2d battalion of the 1st field artillery is at the northeastern outskirts of the town of Emmitsburg, and the 1st cavalry has its headquarters at Fairplay; he will begin to command these troops at two o’clock in the morning. You write, at 11 o’clock at night, your sixth field order and send copies by Lieut. Fright to Generals Byrd, Carr, Dale, and to Colonel Fink and Captain Hervey. You read the message off to your staff and report by telegraph to army headquarters what you have done. You decide to have your third brigade, after this outpost is relieved, march by way of Emmitsburg from Four Points. Then the brigade is to march by the road just east of McKee Knob to a position half a mile north of 587; there the brigade will halt. General Calhoun should delay the crossing of the river by the enemy. He should do this as much as he is able, but he should not become too closely engaged with the enemy. You decide that you will be at Emmitsburg until after 5 o’clock in the morning; then you are going to be at Liberty Hall School House. The signal company will take up what lines it has laid down after two o’clock in the morning. Then one-half of the company will report to Brigadier General Calhoun, and the remainder of the signal company will proceed to join the 3d brigade. You want your entire command to know that there is to be on no occasion any unnecessary noise and that this noise is to be avoided at all hazards. You do not wish a bugle call to be sounded before the sun rises.

3.—On the 4th of June, 1964, you are Major General Boswell in command of the first division of the fourth army corps. Your division is west of Gettysburg. You hear that the enemy in your front is at Cashtown and has been heavily reenforced. The troops for these reenforcements have come from his main army. This gives you the idea that you had better take up a defensive position; you had better take up this position astride the road which you now are on and you must hold this position throughout the day. Your third brigade should start right away to make preparations for the defense. They should take up a line in their defense preparations extending from somewhere east of Seven Stars, and should continue this line to the southwest for about three-quarters of a mile. The first cavalry should send two platoons to report to the Major who commands the engineer battalion near Moonsburg. These should be sent if the enemy advance in force, and they should be sent with the patrol on your right flank. The main body of this cavalry should patrol the left of your line to cover it. The 2d brigade will prepare for defense a line extending from near Seven Stars northwest. It should extend this line until it reaches the farm road which crosses the ridge. The 1st brigade will be the reserve. They are going to be under your direct orders; they should therefore remain midway between Knoxburg and 597. There is a road fork there where they should stay. The engineer battalion will go at once and prepare the high ground southwest of Moonsburg for defense, and in this defense which they will make at this point, they are to act as a right flank guard. The ambulance companies will be held near the north end of Herr Ridge. You have a second field hospital which you have established at Gettysburg and you want it to stay there. You want your first, third, and fourth field hospitals at the western outskirts of Gettysburg. You want these first, third, and fourth field hospitals to assemble by the road somewhere there. Company A of your signal corps you decide to have lay certain lines. All these lines should go from the position of the reserve to the second field artillery, and on this line there should be a station so that the commander of the second brigade could cut in, and then Company A also should lay a line from the first field artillery to the reserve. On this line also, the commander of the third brigade should have a station where he can go. The signal company also ought to arrange to have receiving stations for flag signals for the engineer battalion, and ought to do the same thing for the cavalry on the left flank. Two wagon companies of small arms ammunition should be held near 585, and another wagon company of artillery ammunition near 587. You are going to be at Division Headquarters at 597. Your second field artillery should set out at once to the road leading southwest about half a mile from Moonsburg; it should move around the Moonsburg road to do this. It should then go by this road, which leads southwest, to an intersection of that road to the next farm road. The Colonel of the second field artillery should prepare a position in this vicinity which would be capable of supporting the entire line of defense when this line was attacked. The first field artillery should go about half a mile south of this camp; it should proceed around by the road parallel to the Chambersburg road, and should go as far as a point one mile south of Seven Stars. When it gets there it should select and prepare a position to support the defense. You want all the other trains which you have not mentioned not to move out from where they are, but want them to be ready to move in any direction at your command. You know that your main army is going to attack the weaker hostile force, which is in its front, on the very morning your order is issued. You also know that if your own army is successful in this attack, it will send you later some reenforcements if you really need them. You write this order at twenty minutes of five in the morning. You send copies of this, your sixth field order, since the beginning of the campaign, to all officers who have been sent under your order to receive them.