[242.] Fire at will is the class of fire normally employed in attack or defense.
[243.] Clip fire has limited application. It is principally used: 1. In the early stages of combat, to steady the men by habituating them to brief pauses in firing. 2. To produce a short burst of fire.
The Target.
[244.] Ordinarily the major will assign to the company an objective in attack or sector in defense; the company's target will lie within the limits so assigned. In the choice of target, tactical considerations are paramount; the nearest hostile troops within the objective or sector will thus be the usual target. This will ordinarily be the hostile firing line; troops in rear are ordinarily proper targets for artillery, machine guns, or, at times, infantry employing fire of position.
Change of target should not be made without excellent reasons therefor, such as the sudden appearance of hostile troops under conditions which make them more to be feared than the troops comprising the former target.
[245.] The distribution of fire over the entire target is of special importance.
The captain allots a part of the target to each platoon, or each platoon leader takes as his target that part which corresponds to his position in the company. Men are so instructed that each fires on that part of the target which is directly opposite him.
[246.] All parts of the target are equally important. Care must be exercised that the men do not slight its less visible parts. A section of the target not covered by fire represents a number of the enemy permitted to fire coolly and effectively.
[247.] If the target can not be seen with the naked eye, platoon leaders select an object in front of or behind it, designate this as the aiming target, and direct a sight setting which will carry the cone of fire into the target.
(C.I.D.R., No. 17.)