At manœuvres and exercises the adoption of this formation is sometimes burked on various pretexts, of which the most heinous is to say that the results of artillery fire are overrated, and the risk run in keeping in closed formation is more than compensated for by the comfort of the men, maintenance of control and saving of time. This theory I fancy had its origin in the South African War, where the Boer artillery was skilful but exiguous, if judged by European standards. I have not been under shell fire myself, but I have seen the results of it on a column of about two hundred men who came along a watercourse two thousand yards or so from the guns, in something resembling a march formation. The guns had the range, and the enemy left about fifty dead in that watercourse in a few minutes, so personally I am going to open out my company and trust to my peace training of it to keep it in hand and get it along fast enough to be on the spot when wanted.
I need hardly give details how to practise this. The point is, to get the company opened out quickly and without confusion, and this is to be done by telling your platoon commanders what you want and where they are to go, and not by any drill. Platoons may further split up into columns of sections. Leave it to your platoon commanders to have the sections moved apart to intervals of fifty yards. If the enemy’s artillery is straight in front, a diamond formation seems suitable—a platoon at each angle—the length of the diagonal front to rear being over two hundred yards and side to side over one hundred; or the platoons may simply follow each other at two hundred yards distance, though this is not a very handy arrangement. But, subject to keeping the distances large enough, it is not the formation that matters, but the way it is taken up, and I will leave it at that.
At the end of this phase of endurance of the enemy’s artillery fire the company comes under rifle fire and has to take to extended order, and on service it would perhaps have to do this and plunge into the attack without the platoons closing in from the scattered formation in which they have so far moved. But for the first few times you should close up at fourteen hundred yards and start from there, so as to tell the men what is next to be done when they come under rifle fire, and in any case the size of your exercise ground would probably necessitate your doing the two phases over more or less the same bit of ground.
EXERCISE XI.
The Company in Attack with the Battalion, under Rifle Fire.
The immediate objects of the fire fight within effective rifle range are to produce a fire sufficiently heavy to overcome the fire of the defence, and to reach a position from which the assault can be delivered (I.T., 121 (5 and 6)). In theory, then, the desideratum is to get so many men up to about two hundred yards from the enemy that they form a line practically shoulder to shoulder, in order that their fire may be at least as heavy as that of the enemy, if the latter are also in one continuous line, and in default of circumstances admitting of effective covering fire being maintained from positions in rear or on a flank. On this supposition it is frequently argued that a battalion and its companies, when advancing to the attack, should do so on a front not greater than that which the battalion would occupy if it were in single rank, but this does not really follow. The nature of the ground may be such that to attempt to build up a shoulder-to-shoulder firing line all along the enemy’s position within charging distance, may be merely to send men to useless destruction by exposing them on fire-swept spaces, where they are sure to be knocked over before they can do any good. On the other hand, there may be other points where men may be massed so as to give not only a firing line of maximum density, but also a supporting force both to replace casualties and to carry out the assault. These are the points which it is of importance to gain and hold in strength sufficient to carry out the object of the attack—the assault. It is the duty of the battalion commander to give each of his firing line companies some such point as their objective, and to define the frontage and direction of their attack. It is similarly the duty of the commander of a firing line company to give each of his sections an objective within the limits assigned to his company (I.T., 122 (4) and 123 (3-)). The problem for solution is, how to get to those points, and so it does not appear to matter much what frontage the battalion and its companies occupy when they start off for the attack at the fourteen hundred yards limit of effective rifle fire, provided of course, they do not encroach on the frontage of other units. Indeed, an attack which starts on a wide base and concentrates only in its later stages seems much more likely than one which starts from base equal to a single rank frontage to keep the enemy uncertain of its objective, and to be able to bring oblique or enfilade fire to bear on portions of his line. Therefore, when practising the company in attack, do not be bound by cast iron rules as to the breadth of the zone of ground within which you are to bring your company from fourteen hundred yards up to the charging position. Four platoons following one straight behind the other, at two hundred yards distance, make a very unwieldy procession, and, in general, I would advise you to use something in the nature of a diamond formation at first, the three platoons in rear making their own way forward till they reinforce the leading portion which finally consists of the whole company.
Put out the skeleton enemy on a front of, roughly, what your company will occupy in single rank, and let the position, if possible, have within it two, or at most, three points, which you can assign as objectives to the platoon commanders. You must consider this position as having been assigned to you as objective by your battalion commander, the ground on the right and left of it being the prey of other companies, and not the object of your assault, though it should, nevertheless, frequently be the object of your fire during the advance.
Draw up the company at about fourteen hundred yards from the enemy. Tell the platoon commanders the relative positions the platoons are to take up when the advance begins, roughly the distances between them (I.T., 123 (7)), the direction of the attack, if the enemy’s position is not quite clearly to be seen, the frontage on which the company is free to manœuvre, and the points which the sections are to regard as their objectives; the details contained in I.T., 123 and 124, may also be enumerated if the commanders are not experienced. As regards these details, I recommend that scouts be formed not in a line of men extended at wide intervals, but as a line of patrols of four or six men each, and you or a subaltern should halt them early in the attack and tell them to send back word that they are held up by fire, or that they have defined the enemy’s position; on this the nearest platoon reinforces them, and the process of building up the firing line begins from that point. As regards inter-communication, use connecting files and semaphore signalling to join up the various parts and make real use of them, but avoid sham messages.
As soon as the object and manner of the attack have been detailed to all, tell the platoon commanders to move off their platoons to their positions and extend them ready to advance, and the scouts to get off in front. Five paces is the least extension to ensure that a bullet aimed at one man may miss him with a fair chance of not hitting his neighbour. Do not let the scouts go too far away, because at this time of getting to grips with the enemy, their usefulness, when acting with their companies is mainly limited to guarding against ambush at close range, and as ground scouts to prevent the company coming against some unseen obstacle, barbed wire, donga, canal, or what not.
As soon as all are in position, the company may be considered as being in the formation in which it would have arrived at the point where, in addition to the enemy’s artillery fire, it comes under heavy and fairly accurate rifle fire. Give the signal to advance, and let the platoon commanders begin to work their platoons forward, using what covered ways they can find. After a little of this, have the scouts halted and reinforce them by one platoon, order fire to be opened, bearing in mind that one platoon’s fire is probably useless at over one thousand yards from the enemy, but if your company is in the diamond formation the platoons on each flank will probably be able to fire, and with favourable ground, e.g., a knoll, or bluff somewhere on the line of advance, the rear platoon also will be able to fire over the heads of the firing line. There is no danger in this if the men hold their rifles straight, and it would assuredly be done in war. I have myself seen it, and the chances of an accident are minimised by practice in peace. During this early opening of fire use every effort to keep the fire from being merely a make-believe, i.e., send word round by your connecting files or semaphore to fire at certain targets, and see that section commanders direct their fire accordingly. In battle the information as to which part of the enemy’s position seemed most to demand attention would, of course, reach you from those of your side who were suffering fire coming from that part of the position, and the result of your passing the word to fire at it as above would be that a shower of bullets would come dropping all round it, to the upsetting of the aim of the hostile marksmen. Under cover of this fire your firing line may be allowed to gain a little ground, platoons moving alternately so as to avoid a cessation of fire. Thereafter continue to gain ground, and gradually reinforce the firing line till all your supports are absorbed and the whole company is in the firing line. When this has taken place the line will consist of a mixture of men of different sections and platoons. Avoid unreal movements in attempting to keep the men of each unit together in reinforcing and recognise that admixture is unavoidable. (I.T., 93 (11) and 123 (9)). The organising of the resultant disorder is one of the essential objects of training for the attack. Make your section commanders call on the men to right and left of them, if they are nearer them than any other unit commander, to act under their orders. Thus: “Private A to Private J under my orders.” Have this done constantly till it becomes a matter of course. The men of files can always hang together, but prove that this is being done by asking men where their file mates are. Get this system started as soon as reinforcement is begun, and keep it in full swing throughout. Once it is started, these extemporized fire units must apply the principles learnt by the intact sections and squads in Exercise IX., i.e., supporting fire by part to cover movement of the others, control and distribution of fire, etc., and so work on up to assaulting distance and deliver an assault. After this, let section and platoon commanders reform their men and units as quickly as possible, and then reform the company under your own orders. At subsequent parades introduce casualties among the section and platoon commanders, and let the senior privates in each of the mixed up fire units step into their places and carry on the attack without halt or confusion.