6. When the company is acting in concert with the remainder of the battalion, its frontage, as a rule, will be assigned by the battalion commander.
7. The company commander must always be guided by circumstances in deciding on the strength of his firing-line, and on the formation of the remainder. The general procedure will be to gradually reinforce the scouts, when they are checked by the enemy’s fire, and thus build up a firing line, which, at decisive range, shall be strong enough to gain superiority over the enemy’s fire. This procedure is, however, by no means to be regarded as invariable. It might be desirable, for instance, to deploy the whole company at once in the firing line.
S. 153 (3). This may sometimes be advisable on open ground without cover, when less loss would be incurred than by gradually reinforcing a weaker firing-line.
8. In order that tactical unity may be maintained as long as possible, it will usually be advisable that complete squads or sections be extended on the first advance, further reinforcements being furnished by the other squads of the same sections, or other sections of the same half company.
THE BATTALION IN ATTACK.
151. General Rules.
1. The battalion commander is practically in the same position as the commander of a brigade, with the exception that he has under him eight small units instead of four large units.
2. Nevertheless, so limited are his powers of personal control upon the field of battle, that success, as a rule, will depend on the clearness and comprehensiveness of the order which commits his companies to the attack, as well as on the manner in which he has trained his company leaders. It is of importance, therefore, that the battalion should never be hurried into action; but that time should be taken for a survey of the ground, for the issue of orders, and for the instructions to be given by the company leaders to their subordinates and the men.
3. A battalion, whether acting alone or forming part of a larger force engaged in an attack, will be sub-divided into three bodies, viz., firing-line, supports and reserves, on the same principle as laid down in S. 129. The firing-line, which in the first instance will not exceed a quarter of the whole battalion, will usually be furnished by the same companies as the supports, whilst the reserves will be supplied by the remainder, and be under the direct control of the battalion commander.
When the battalion forms part of a larger force, the commander will employ his reserves in strengthening such portions of his firing-line as most require reinforcement, the whole battalion, as a rule, being eventually absorbed into the firing-line.