If long distances are to be covered, the patrol should remain on the road until it reaches country where an encounter with the enemy is likely. The passage through large villages peopled by hostile inhabitants is to be avoided.
Horses should not be fed, at least in hostile country, in the neighbourhood of villages or on the main road, but always in a safe place, and a proportion of them only at a time. In friendly country they may best be fed in the larger villages, which the hostile patrols will avoid, but should not halt on the main road.
When the locality is reached where a meeting with hostile detachments may be expected, the patrol should advance in bonds successifs. It must, unfortunately, be admitted that such methods appear to be quite foreign to most patrol leaders; at all events, they are seldom applied in manœuvres. Most of them ride forward with praiseworthy speed along the road until they collide with the enemy; then, indeed, they begin to observe him, without asking themselves whether in war the result of such tactics would not have already compromised their chances of success. For if they are once discovered by the enemy they may count on being relentlessly hunted and pursued, so that there will no longer be, in most cases, any further possibility of deliberate observation.
Very different indeed are the circumstances when, from a well-chosen point of view, a patrol is successful in detecting the enemy before coming into immediate collision with him. The patrol can then order the whole of its conduct according to its knowledge of the enemy before it is discovered, and has a very much greater prospect of attaining good results.
We must lay down here, once and for all, that the distant observation with the glass is by far the most important; it affords the best survey over the general conditions, and a better possibility of sending back a report safely and quickly. It is just in this method of observation that, in consequence of our peace conditions, patrols are generally so badly trained. Again and again they fall into the error of approaching too close to the enemy and, in order to see as much of him as possible, let him march past them. They are then compelled to send in their reports from places which lie behind the belt of the hostile service of security. The despatch-riders have then to ride from the rear through the hostile advance-guard, outposts, and patrol system.
In peace, where there are no bullets, and prisoners may not be made, these methods lead to the best results, and to their being employed again and again, particularly if the superior commanders are inclined to praise such too complete information instead of condemning it. In truth, it is the worst system that could be conceived. Properly speaking, such protracted observation is only possible under certain circumstances; for instance, if the outer flank of the enemy's advance has been turned, then perhaps there might be a chance of sending reports round the flank of the hostile zone of security. It should, however, be quite inadmissible for a patrol to remain in this manner between the hostile columns of the enemy's army. Unless it were unusually lucky, it would quickly be detected and captured; more particularly if the inhabitants were hostile. It is quite another matter where a hostile screen has to be broken through. This can generally only be accomplished by fighting; and it is the first duty of the reconnoitring squadron to break through the enemy's screen. Patrols also, which in such a case have succeeded in getting behind the enemy's outpost-line, cannot count upon sending back messages as they please. It will only be a question of a rapid offensive through the screen towards the main body of the enemy. The patrols will then be surrounded, and must at once proceed to effect their return, and only report what they have seen when they have successfully broken back again through the enemy's screen. Despatch-riders have, in such a case, small prospect of getting through. The less it is possible to observe and report, the more carefully must the points for breaking through be chosen, and attention must therefore be paid to reaching good points of vantage that command a view of places of probable importance.
The time chosen for observation is also of great importance. The enemy can best be observed, and his strength and intentions appreciated, when he is on the move. Marches are generally undertaken in the morning, and towards the evening one may expect to find the enemy in quarters. Under such circumstances observation is difficult. The patrol leader must therefore arrange to reach in the morning those points from which he expects to be able to observe the enemy on the march. He will then be obliged in most cases to fall back before the advancing enemy, and will endeavour to ascertain his halting-place and the approximate line taken up by his outposts. If a distant patrol should be successful in obtaining such information it will generally have done as much as is expected of it. It is for the tactical close reconnaissance to send in information as to details. From the distant reconnaissance it is only required to form the foundations on which the Head Quarters can base its decisions. This fact should be borne in mind while reporting on the enemy.
These duties can for the rest be only carried out under war conditions and against an enemy who is working to the same end, if undertaken in a regular and systematic way and with great boldness.
The patrol leader, therefore, should generally make his plan in the evening for the following day. It will be desirable for him to study the map very closely, and to impress on his memory the main roads and especially points which appear to be suitable for observation. He can thus obtain an impression of the succession of stages necessary for his advance, and judge how he can best spare his horses without prejudicing the success of the reconnaissance.
For a patrol to move en masse without scouts, as unfortunately is often done in peace, is altogether out of the question. In war such conduct must often be paid for by the lives of the patrol and the complete failure of the enterprise. A point must always be sent so far ahead that the patrol will not come under fire at the same time with it. It should never happen that the point collides unexpectedly with the enemy. A rear-guard will also in most cases be found desirable. Circumstances must determine how the flanks can best be protected.