Put out a skeleton enemy of three or four men for each platoon or section, or one only for all to attack in turn, and post this enemy in some commanding place, with a good field of view and fire so that if possible the unit shall have twelve to eight hundred yards to manœuvre over before coming to close quarters. As an example, give out the supposition that this enemy are a cavalry patrol of the enemy, who have dismounted and are using their rifles on the company as it is on the move from somewhere to somewhere else. The section or platoon is ordered to drive them off, neutralise their fire, or hold them in check, in case they should be the forerunners of a greater number. The enemy should begin to fire on a signal from you (with your flag), which you should give as you tell off the commander for the duty. If the other units are to attack the same enemy in turn, you should halt them under cover or turn them to the rear, so as not to see too much of the method the first lot choose to carry out their job.
The method of the attack will depend on the nature of the ground—what suits one case may not suit another, and there may be two or three courses open in attacking any one position. The commander should accordingly look well at the ground before deciding how he will carry out the attack, but there are certain principles common to attacks, great or small, which he should put into practice. He should secure himself from interruption on his flanks and rear, and he should provide a supporting fire to distract the enemy and cover the advance of his main force. He cannot make large detachments or indulge in wide patrolling, nor would such small bodies as platoons be sent off to attack if such were advisable; but, at least he can post a file or two on some high ground, or, failing that, on one flank out of decisive range of the enemy, i.e., about eight hundred yards from him, with orders to keep up a steady fire until his advance masks their fire. This will prevent, or at least give warning of, an attempt to cut in on the rear. He may also send a file perhaps two or three hundred yards to either flank, to move parallel with his advance and prevent his being enfiladed at short range, if the enemy should be tactless enough to avail himself of a chance of meeting the advance by a counter-attack. Until he sees pretty well what he has in front of him, he should divide his party into two, sending one to engage the enemy and keeping the other as a reserve to support the first by fire if they get into difficulties, and to be available to carry on the attack after the other has got the enemy well busy, either by reinforcing it directly, or, better still, by continuing the advance along a fresh line leading to some position from which the enemy can be finally turned out, either by fire or by a charge, the first half joining in and advancing as soon as the enemy has turned his attention to the new attack. Both parties should keep scouts or a patrol of some sort out in front of them until the foreground is proved not to contain any hidden body of the enemy, or until the opening of fire by their own side makes it necessary for the scouts to merge into the firing line. I have seen on service a half-company go off to take post as a piquet on a long ridge; it neglected the above precautions, beyond having some scouts in front. There were four or five of the enemy on the ridge, and they waited till the scouts were close, shot some down and drove the others to cover, and then turned their fire on to the half-company, who were also driven to ground, and, as there was little cover, they were tied up till set free by some more infantry, who had to be specially sent off to move along the ridge. Had the half-company moved in two portions, the first would have contained this weak enemy, and the rear party could easily have circled round and got on to the ridge farther along, which would at once have caused the enemy to clear out. See F.S.R., I., I, as to the results of the violation of the principles of leading troops, and as therein directed, impress the principles taught on the minds of your non-commissioned officers, who are commanders, albeit only of platoons and sections.
EXERCISE VIII.
The Platoon as an Advanced Guard and as a Flank Guard.
(a) When the company is on the march, it should always be preceded by an advanced guard—either a party of scouts, or, more usually, by one of the platoons. After the advanced guard comes in contact with the enemy its further action becomes either an attack to drive off the enemy, or a defence to delay his advancing, according to his strength and tactics; so I propose here merely to indicate suitable formations of march in ordinary, i.e., non-mountainous country, so that the platoons may be practised in taking them up without delay on being told off for the duty. The exercise takes little time, and can be done on the same parade as the flank guard exercise.
An advanced guard may come under Are at any moment, and to provide against surprise (F.S.R., 64), its leading portions may move in extended order. The duties are given in F.S.R., 68, and apply quite completely to so small a body as a platoon. The platoon should be divided into a vanguard and a main guard. For the vanguard, a common plan is simply to extend a section on either side of the road, but I prefer to divide the section into three patrols, or more if strength permits, who work along in a general line—one to search the road and its immediate vicinity, and one on each side. The nature of the country regulates the breadth of ground the centre patrol can search from the road, and the distance to which the others are sent out on each side. The other sections follow as main guard, not so close as to be at once mixed up with the vanguard if fire is opened on the latter, nor so far as to be unable to support it quickly with fire. The advanced guard is responsible for keeping touch with the main body (the company) (F.S.R., 64 (4)), but the company commander should satisfy himself that this is being done. If view is restricted, the main guard must drop a connecting file to keep connection. This file must march with their beards on their shoulders, to see what the company is doing, and let the commander know, and also to signal to the company, if the platoon has had to halt. If the country is open, the commander should still tell off a file for this duty, who will march with the platoon, but be continually on the look-out to the rear. The platoon commander ought, of course, to keep a watch himself, but may have other things to attend to, and it is well to take precautions against the platoon either getting too far in front or letting the company get too close to it, by marching on while the platoon is investigating some suspicious locality.
(b) The Platoon as a Flank Guard.
A platoon may sometimes be used as a flank guard, as when a small convoy is on the march with only a company or two as escort. Flank guards are dismissed in a few words in F.S.R., 70. It is worth while to practise them once or twice to avoid delay in taking up the formation when the march is being started, or in improvising a method of fighting off the enemy if he attacks.
Represent the convoy or whatever it is by a man with a red flag to move along the road; the platoon is then to move along parallel to the road, and far enough off to afford protection from effective rifle fire, i.e., at least eight hundred yards in open country. The skeleton enemy should be instructed to keep about the same distance again on the flank beyond the platoon, and to move along parallel with it without closing in, opening fire on an agreed signal.
The march formation should be on the same principles as those for the advanced guard. The platoon should move in two bodies, and patrols or scouts should precede it, both in the direction of the march and towards the flank which is being guarded. It is important to keep touch with the main body by connecting files at all times, otherwise if the road changes direction out of view of the flank guard it may separate them too far or bring them too close to the company.
The method of fighting merely to hold off the enemy resembles that used by a rear guard for the same purpose, i.e., fire and movement by alternate portions. When the enemy opens fire on your signal, the patrol on the flank either falls back, or the platoon reinforces it. The patrol in the line of advance should still continue to precede the movements of the platoon in that direction, and should be told to conform to its movement. The platoon replies to the enemy’s fire as soon as possible and begins the lateral fight—one half is sent, if possible under cover, to take up a fire position farther along the direction of the line of march, preceded by the patrol, which, to some extent, secures it from surprise from that direction. As soon as the leading party has found a fire position and opens its fire, the other follows it, and either halts alongside it, so allowing it to go off to a new position, or continues its movement beyond it and takes up a third position to cover the further movements. The latter method is the quicker, as it saves the time of replacing men of the first party in their fire position by those of the second. The exercise need not be prolonged, as a few of these lateral movements are quite sufficient illustration to enable the men in future to take up their duty quickly.