Scouts are men whose function is to reconnoitre the ground, or the enemy, without fighting. They are soldiers selected for intelligence, activity, self-reliance, and powers of observation. (“Infantry Training,” 1905, p. 73.)
Scouts are taken from Infantry Battalions, Cavalry Regiments, or Batteries, and work in the neighbourhood of their own Corps and for its immediate benefit. They move out generally in pairs, so that one man may take back information, if signalling is not possible.
In the British Service the numbers of Scouts are:
Infantry: 1 N.C.O. and 6 men per Company, of whom 1 Sergeant and 16 men per Battalion are First-Class Scouts.
Cavalry: 1 Officer, as Scout Leader, 1 Sergeant, 24 men, per Regiment.
Artillery: One or two “Ground Scouts” in front of the Battery when it is manœuvring. Two “Look-out Men” close to the Battery in action.
German Cavalry has 1 N.C.O. and 2 men per Squadron as Ground Scouts, and 1 Officer per Regiment in charge of them.
In France 12 mounted Ground Scouts, “Eclaireurs de terrain montés d’infanterie,” are to be attached to each Infantry Regiment.
The Russians in Manchuria used volunteers from Infantry Regiments as mounted Scouts, with good results.
Corps of Scouts and Guides have been formed from time to time, as in the American Civil War, and lately in Canada. They cannot, however, be said to have any actual existence in organized armies, but will probably be extemporized in war.
8. Field Orderlies
Wellington organized in the Peninsula a Corps of Guides and a Mounted Staff Corps, who acted as despatch riders and police. Napoleon had similar corps, and their usefulness is obvious. But it may be doubted if the multiplication of small special corps is not objectionable and wasteful of men and horses. Modern practice tends to allot the carrying of messages and Orders to orderlies furnished at Head-Quarters of Commands, either by Cyclists, by the men of the Cavalry escort, or by the Mounted Police.