The Problem

Special Situation—Blue:

The Red forces have been retreating (a) before the attack of the Blues for the past two days, contesting every yard of the advance.

The attacking brigade is disposed regiments side by side, the —— Infantry in the right half of the sector: the —— Infantry in the left half of the sector. Regiments are echeloned by battalion; one as assault; one as support and one as reserve.

The —— Infantry has the 2nd battalion as assault; the 1st battalion as support and the 3rd battalion as reserve.

After an all day fight the assault battalion (2nd) has halted along (d) where it has been ordered to stabilize for the night in order to permit arrangements to be made for the continuation of the attack tomorrow morning.

The support battalion (1st) has reached (e) where it is halted.

Explanation of Letter Symbols

(a) The compass direction of the retreat of the Red forces: North, south, east, west.

(b) State the right boundary of the sector over which the division is operating.

(c) State the left boundary of the sector over which the division is operating.

If practicable the problem should be staged so that there may be a well defined topographical feature that will mark one of these boundaries of the Division sector.

(d) The general location of the front lines of the assault battalion. This line should in general, be perpendicular to the lines of advance of the division and if practicable should lay along some well defined topographical feature of the terrain so that it may be readily indicated to the class.

(e) The location of the halting place of the 1st Battalion. This should be at least 1500 to 1800 yards in rear of the line (d) above.

Procedure

The class is conducted to (e) where the Terrain Exercise is to begin. The Director will distribute the sheets containing Special Situation Blue and a few minutes are allowed the members of the class to read it over.

The Director will then read the Situation aloud, point out the places mentioned where practicable and make such explanations as may be necessary.

The Director: “Lieutenant Williams, the situation states that the 10th division is operating on a certain sector. What do you understand by that?”

Lieutenant Williams: “It is the area lying between the two designated boundaries which has been allotted to the division and to which, in general, the division confines its operations. As I understand it there is a division on our right and another on our left. If each were not given a definite area to operate over I can readily see how there might be great confusion over the question as to just who is responsible for a certain area. By assigning definite boundaries this question is eliminated. The division assigned to the particular sector is responsible for everything in the sector.”

The Director: “Captain Hastings, what do you understand by the term attacking brigade?”

Captain Hastings: “It is the term used to designate the Brigade that is leading—the brigade that is making the attack against the enemy—as distinguished from the brigade that is held in reserve.”

Explanation

The Director: “There are several ways of disposing the infantry of a division for combat. I will outline them briefly in order that you may see what the formations are and the relation that our battalion has to them.

“The division may be deployed with the two brigades side by side, each brigade being echeloned in a column of regiments. The leading regiment of each brigade is in turn echeloned in a column of battalions, one as assault, one as support and one as local reserve. The second regiment (less 1 battalion) of each brigade forms the brigade reserve. The remaining battalion from each of these regiments is held out by the division commander as a division reserve. In this case the division commander is driving a two unit team with the units abreast. Under exceptional circumstances the division may be deployed with the brigades side by side with all four regiments in line each echeloned in a column of battalions. This formation uses up a division very rapidly and is only employed where an exceptionally wide front has been assigned.

“The third method of deployment is that indicated in the problem we have under consideration. There is an attacking brigade with the regiments side by side, each regiment echeloned in a column of battalions, one as attacking, one as support and one as reserve. This is a very good formation and has many advantages. It is one that was employed by many of the successful divisions in France. The Reserve brigade is held far back in order to reduce fatigue and casualties to a minimum, so that when it is called upon to relieve the attacking brigade it is in the best of condition and comparatively fresh and rested. In this formation the division commander drives his team of units in tandem. Now, I want every member of the class to visualize this formation and get it firmly fixed in your minds. Let us review it again:

“Our brigade, the 19th is the attacking Brigade. We have our two regiments abreast. Our regiment occupies the —— half of the sector which extends right up through here (indicates); the other regiment occupies the —— half of the sector which extends right along parallel to us along there (indicating). Our 2nd battalion has been the assault battalion and has carried the advance forward today. We have been following as support battalion, and at the end of the day’s work have arrived here. Our 3rd battalion has been following us at a distance of about 1,000 yards as the reserve.

“The 1st battalion has gotten as far forward as it possibly can today and has halted along the ________ (indicate the general line of the battalion) where it has been ordered to stabilize for the night in order to permit arrangements to be made for continuing the advance tomorrow morning. The problem of this Terrain Exercise has to do with those arrangements, in so far as the Infantry is concerned. We are the support battalion, it is up to us to relieve the assault battalion tonight and carry on the fight tomorrow. How are we going to do it?”