A. Required, 1. Give Sergeant B's estimate of the situation. (The estimate of the military situation includes the following points:
- His orders or mission and how much discretion he is allowed.
- The ground as it influences his duty.
- The position, strength and probable intentions of the enemy.
- Sergeant B's decision.)
Answer. 1. The size of the advance guard, its route and the distance it is to move in front of the main body are prescribed by Major C. Sergeant B is free to divide up the advance as he sees fit, to use the various parts so as to best keep open the way of the main body, maintain the distance of 400 yards in front of it, and protect it from surprise by the enemy.
2. The ground may be such as to make easy or to hinder reconnaissance, such as hills or woods; to impede or hasten the march, such as roads, streams, defiles; to offer good or poor defensive positions; to offer good or poor opportunities for an attack. Sergeant B sees from his map that the ground is rolling and open as far as Kern (ji') with good positions for reconnaissance and for defense or attack. There is a bridge over Salt Creek (ig') which has steep banks and will be a considerable obstacle if the bridge has been destroyed. From this creek to Kern the advance would be under effective fire from Hancock Hill (ki'), so that these heights must be seized before the main body reaches 15 (jg').
Beyond Kern the heavy woods make reconnaissance difficult and must be treated somewhat like a defile by the point. ([Par. 991].)
3. There is little to fear from the main body of the enemy which is 11/2 miles farther from the Rock Island bridge than we are, but we know the enemy has cavalry. The size of the cavalry force is not known, and may be sufficient to cause us considerable delay, especially in the woods. The enemy's evident intention is to keep us from seizing the bridge.
4. Having considered all these points, Sergeant B comes to the following decision: ... (Before reading the decision as contained in the following paragraph, make one of your own.)
Answer: To have only an advance party with which to throw forward a point of 5 men 200 yards to the front and send out flankers, as needed ([Par. 983]); to send the three mounted orderlies well to the front of the point to gain early information of the enemy, especially on Hancock Hill (ji') and the ridge to the north of 11 (jj').
Required, 2. Sergeant B's order. ([Par. 963].)
Answer. Given verbally to the platoon and mounted orderlies, at 9:30 P. M.