March Orders with Advance and Rear Guard
9.—On the 4th of September, 1956, you are Major Britton. You are in command of the fourth division of the 19th army corps and you are about to issue an order which will keep your division on the march on the next morning; you have been marching. At 10 o’clock at night you issue your order near Abbottstown, stating that you yourself are going to be at the head of your main body. You feel that you should march in the general direction of York on the next day. Your main body in this order of march will consist of the first infantry, of the second battalion of the 8th field artillery, of the third brigade, of signal company “D,” and of the four ambulance companies. Your main body should move out so as to come along behind the advance guard, so that the tail of the advance guard will be 1,000 yards ahead of the head of the main body itself. Wagon trains should move out so that they in turn will come along behind the main body, so that the head of the lead horses will be 1,000 yards behind the tail of the main body. You are in such a position between two large forces of the enemy that you must have a rear guard. This rear guard will be in command of Major General Huff. It will consist of the first cavalry division, of the second brigade, of the 7th field artillery, of the 4th battalion of engineers, and of the 1st, 2d, and 3d ambulance companies. You hear that the enemy has probably been reenforced and that this reenforcement probably consists of a brigade of cavalry. You also hear, just when you issue this, your 7th field order of the campaign, that there are some hostile infantrymen near York, say, about a brigade. The rear guard, you figure, ought indeed to keep the enemy in check. A rear guard of this nature ought to resist any advancement on the part of the enemy until your advance guard can open a road through York. The first cavalry division, you have knowledge, is bivouacking near where you are. It has, indeed, reported for duty in connection with the work of the division.
The idea of the last two chapters has been to put a jumbled military decision into good working form. The object has not been to solve tactical problems, but rather to put the ideas correctly expressed into their logical places.
CHAPTER IX
THE VERBAL FIELD ORDER
“The initial combat orders of a division are almost invariably written; those of the brigade are generally so. The written order is preferable and is used wherever time permits. Subsequent orders are likewise written either as field orders or messages.”[14] In chapters VII and VIII we actually practiced the expression of the field orders for the higher units. We illustrated to ourselves how difficult it was to express disordered and straggling thoughts in the most direct way. We did this work for two purposes: first, to gain facility in dealing with language, and second, to go through with a part of the mental process demanded of commanders in the field. We should have found out how perplexing it is to put the new-born decision into form.
We now progress in our development to a more difficult performance. We are going to discard our pencil. Just as we took up the practice of speaking a field message after we had been drilled in writing it, so here we are going to learn to dictate the field order after we have been schooled in composing it.
“The initial combat orders of regiments and smaller units are given verbally. For this purpose the subordinates for whom the orders are intended are assembled, if practicable, at a place from which the situation and plan can be explained. Subsequent orders are verbal or are in the form of verbal or written messages.”[15] The verbal field order, then, may be divided into two classes:
(1) The initial combat order.
(2) The subsequent order, in the form of a field message.
Number 1 follows implicitly the sequence of the body of the written field order. Number 2 follows the form of the written or verbal message.
What really happens in action is this. A regiment or battalion commander, after he has arrived at a decision by way of his estimate of a situation, assembles his subordinate officers. He recites to them his order. He points out on the map and on the ground the various places to which he refers in his order. He gives an opportunity, when he has finished, for his officers to ask questions. He then dismisses them.
The asking of questions is delaying. It mars efficiency; and it points either to faulty expression on the part of the commander or to inattention on the part of his audience.
After the subordinates have returned to their commands and have set out upon the accomplishment of the mission, it is of course impossible to reassemble them during the progress of the engagement. Often, too, the colonel or major desires to issue instructions to but one or two officers of the command at a time. Number 2, therefore, becomes the natural means of communication until the conflict is over or the situation is passed. When a new situation arises the commander assembles his officers as before, and the procedure throughout is repeated.
Let us suppose, now, that a colonel, faced with a new or changed situation, wishes to make his will known to his subordinates. When his officers are assembled he speaks as follows:
“It is reliably reported that two battalions of the enemy are entrenching on that hill (he points out the hill) one mile to the southeast of here. Their position extends from the Jordan River to the Wellington Road, both inclusive. Our main body is at Tarrytown. (He points toward Tarrytown both on the ground and map.) We will attack at once enveloping the enemy’s left.
The First Battalion will attack the hostile trenches from the Jordan River, exclusive, to the Darlington House, exclusive. The Second Battalion will attack the hostile trenches from the Darlington House, inclusive, to the west, and will envelop the enemy’s right. The Third Battalion and machine gun companies, in reserve, will follow the Second Battalion. Ambulances and combat wagons will assemble at Main Station. Battalions will maintain semaphore communications with the reserve where I shall be.”
The Regimental Adjutant writes down this order immediately after its issue, gives it its proper heading and ending, and files it away. It thus becomes a written field order and a part of the records of the regiment. Copies of it are sent to higher commanders.
Let us imagine that the attack is well under way, and that the regiment is holding its own, but is not progressing as it should. The colonel decides to increase the size of the enveloping body. He therefore calls a staff officer to him and says:
“Go over to Major Swift, in command of the third battalion, and tell him to send K and L Companies to extend our right. Repeat.”
The staff officer replies,—“I am to go to Major Swift, in command of the third battalion and am to say to him that the Regimental Commander directs him to have K and L Companies extend the right of our line.”
We must notice that the initial field order, when spoken, has exactly the same arrangement and brevity of expression as when written. Of course, the heading and ending are omitted. But the distribution of troops, if necessary for small units, would follow what would be paragraph 2 in a written order. The relation which exists between the verbal and written message holds true in principle for the field order.
In the following problems read over the matter several times. Put it in orderly arrangement in your mind before you speak. Then utter it in the most brief and unmistakable form.
Cautions.—(1) Only oral solutions will prove valuable in working these problems. The student should make only such notes as will enable him to carry the problem in his mind. Proper notes would include the organizations, their present situations, etc.—things which an actual commander would know as a matter of course.
(2) Once begun on the order, the student should pay no heed to a false start, but should continue to the end. It is better to remake the entire order, than to patch the faults. He should not permit himself to change a previous statement, begin a new sentence in the midst of an unfinished one, or hesitate unreasonably. He must take care not only to express the matter in proper form, but also to enunciate so distinctly that any one within hearing may understand him.
Intentional rhetorical errors will be found in the problems which follow. Watch for them.