5.—Do not use such expressions as “attempt to capture,” “try to hold,” “as far as possible,” “as well as you can.” Besides being indefinite, they divide responsibility. You, for example, receive an order “to try to capture” a certain position. Immediately there pops into your mind the suspicion that the commanding officer did not believe that the place could be taken, or was not anxious about having it captured. The commanding officer by the very wording of his order has taken on himself a part of the responsibility in the event of a repulse. At least he has not placed all the burden of the undertaking upon you. In the latter case he has been guilty of improper subordination.
CHAPTER VII
PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD ORDER
After the plan of Trench of the English Service, we are going to take up the problems in the construction of the field order along the lines on which tactical situations naturally develop themselves during hostilities. We shall discover that the sequence will not only conform to actual conditions, but will lead from the more simple to the more complex. We shall, then, proceed with,—
(1) The March Order.
(2) The Attack Order.
(3) The Order for Position in Readiness.
(4) The Defense Order.
(5) The Retreat Order.
(6) The Pursuit Order.
(7) The Halt Order.
(8) The Outpost Order.
Emphasis will be laid upon the march and attack orders, because they are the most usual and the most critical.
In these problems all necessary data will be given. No attempt will be made to mislead in regard to fact. But every attempt will be made to mislead in regard to the expression of the fact. Crude violations and mixtures of rhetoric will therefore be found throughout.
In arranging his material the student should use his own style and should not attempt to copy phraseology from any military forms. That which is most brief and most unmistakable is best, no matter who writes the order.
Note.—The topographical data will not be found upon the map. The units for which a field order must be written require an area larger than that which our limited sheet provides. The student, by reading over the problem two or three times ought, with the aid of his imagination, to perceive the will of the commander.