Anonymous

“ You can compare a company of first-class marksmen to a Choke-bore gun which shoots farther and harder but requires a skilled game shot to use with advantage, whereas a company of moderately-trained shots would resemble an ordinary scatter gun, with which the ordinary shot would probably do more execution. If you give a range as 1,200 yards when it is only 1,000 yards and you have marksmen, no shots will fall on the object; whereas if your company were composed of third-class shots, the chances are that it would be well sprinkled with bullets. ”

“ You must always remember that you are dealing with human beings who have nerves and not with machines. As I have previously said, the above principles should be those on which you decide to act, but the first thing you should do would be to send to the officer commanding the section of guns and inquire from him the ranges of any objects within rifle shot which he has ascertained, and you should at the same time desire him to obtain for you the ranges of any other prominent objects near which the enemy must pass, so that if his remaining guns are knocked out you will know what sights to use. ”

“ I have generally found that the best way to train young officers in minor tactics is by giving them as realistically as possible little problems to solve, and afterwards in the presence of their comrades to discuss their proposed dispositions and then to tell them clearly what they ought to have done, giving reasons for every step taken. ”

“ The company is simply the sportsman’s gun; the commander has to learn how to use it.
There are many circumstances under which a man has to pick out his own target, as, for instance, when the enemy is attacking, and here everything depends upon his individual marksmanship. There are, however, many other occasions in which if 10 per cent. of the effect depends upon whether the men are first-class marksmen or only ordinary decent shots, 90 per cent. will depend upon whether the officer gives fire orders properly adapted to the situation. The above problem is an illustration of this principle. ”

“ The bombing sergeant is inclined to impress on the men that there is no such weapon as the bomb. The instructors in the rifle grenade and the Lewis gun are also apt to talk so much of the value of the weapons in which they instruct that their pupils come away with very false ideas. The Lewis-gun sergeant, although he never fails to tell the men95 that the Lewis gun can fire at the rate of 600 rounds a minute, very often does forget to inform them that after firing 600 rounds it takes twenty minutes or half an hour to cool before it is capable of firing any more. ”

“ There seems to be every chance of your being able to ambuscade this party, and you should let it advance until the groups which the main body has in front of it are within fifty yards of your picquet. You should tell off a few men on the flanks to deal with these groups, and turn the fire of the whole of the rest of your platoon on to the main body. You must be careful to see that all your men lie down, that no one but yourself has his head above ground level, and you must camouflage yourself. ”

“ In the solution of any little scheme which you may set to your subordinates, insist on definite orders being given and do not be content with vague disquisitions. When any little problem which you have set has been unsatisfactorily solved, let another leader fall in, take command, and do it again properly. This is the best way to ensure the proper solution being thoroughly understood and remembered for application on a future occasion. So long as you do not censure a superior in front of his men, it is a good thing to make your remarks in such a way that everybody can hear them. ”

“ In the circumstances it is your duty to go to the assistance of A Company. The next thing is to consider how you can best help him to carry out his retirement and also how you can best prevent the enemy from following up your main body. If you were to march straight to A wood, it is doubtful whether you would help him very materially. The artillery firing from the south of the river would deal with the reinforcements you brought up and placed in A trench, similarly to the way it dealt with B Company. ”

“ It is a sound rule always to pursue the line of action which your opponent does not wish you to pursue. If, for instance, in the circumstances13 mentioned in the above paragraph the enemy open fire on you at a long range, you may presume that he does so in order to keep you at arm’s length, and if you halt you are probably doing what he wishes you to do. ”

“ It may be of great importance to a commanding officer to know that a certain place is not held by the enemy, and this is just the kind of information that his patrol leaders are apt to forget to send him. ”

“ You must at once place look-out men to give you warning of any sign of the enemy assembling in the edge of the wood to your front and be prepared to open on them with rifle grenades.
The real advantage that a machine gun or Lewis gun has over a rifle is that from a small point of vantage one of these weapons can pour a tremendous hail of fire, and in such circumstances66 as those depicted above there is no doubt but that the first consideration should be to get your Lewis guns into position. ”

“ Men are, as a rule, more apt to fire high than low, and I should have given the ranges 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500, instead of 1,300, 1,400, 1,500, 1,600, had it not been that the river will prevent the enemy rushing straight towards me if he finds the fire is high, whereas if my ranges are short he could get out of range by retiring. ”

“ The ponds and the river also afford you an excellent opportunity to check the range by the splash of your bullets.
By filling the ford with wire you should also succeed in making that very difficult to cross. The great objection to putting men on the forward slope is that they will come under severe fire from the horse artillery which will accompany the cavalry, and that under cover of this fire the cavalry are much more likely to be able to cross than they would be if fired at from a concealed position on the ridge. ”

“ Our men following close behind the barrage took pill-boxes W and Y; but, partly owing to the conformation of the ground and partly for other reasons, we failed to take X, and this pill-box is now holding up the whole of our advance between W, wood, and Y, knoll, with a machine gun, which is being fired from the inside of the pill-box, and which sweeps the whole ground between these points so effectively that directly we attempt to advance our men are mown down.
It is apparent that X has only one machine gun in action, though this is a very efficient one. ”

“ The majority of regimental officers now serving do not at all appreciate the enormous effect of rifle and machine-gun fire at medium and long ranges, nor the importance of taking every step in their power to obtain the accurate ranges as soon as they have taken up a position. The effect of the fire of a fairly good company in87 such circumstances as those above depicted and acting on the above carefully considered fire orders would be enormous, whereas if the fire fronts were not properly allotted and if ranges were unknown, it would be of comparatively little value. ”

“ It is on the result of the many little fights of which an action is composed that the result of a battle depends. The brilliant strategy of a commander-in-chief and the fine tactics of a divisional commander cannot bear fruit unless the troop-leading of the companies is well carried11 out, and in the same way good troop-leading will prevent a defeat being turned into a rout. ”

“ It has very forcibly been brought home to me that not only young officers joining their units from training establishments, but also those who have been in France and have come back wounded, are often very ignorant on those points in minor tactics which they have not learnt through actual experience on the battlefield, and that this is especially the case with regard to the proper control of fire. ”

“ The object of giving you a horse is, firstly, to enable you to move about more rapidly, and consequently to do your duty better; and secondly, because a company commander’s work really begins when the march is over. ”

“ It is much easier to march at the head than at the rear of a column.
5. Before opening fire, carefully consider the situation. If you feel certain of being able to deal with the enemy, let him approach close before disclosing yourself, and then destroy him. If, on the contrary, he is so much superior to you that you cannot hope to be able to do this, you should open at a long range, but in these circumstances do not hurry the rate of fire to begin with. It takes an exceptional man to fire more than 200 rounds in a short space of time without being shaken. ”

“ It is infinitely more important that he should be fresh than that any other man in the company should be so. Again, by riding on in front and making proper arrangements for bivouacs or billets, he may save weary men much marching and counter-marching, and, what is even more important, he will on other occasions, by being able to push on in front, save half an hour by thinking out proper tactical dispositions before his men arrive. I will now give you a little problem which will, I think, illustrate the two questions which you have asked me. ”

“ You will be responsible for the front from E to I, both inclusive, until the main body arrives, and must make immediate arrangements for securing it against attack by hostile cavalry and horse artillery. Not a minute is to be lost. You will also do your best to prepare the front allotted to you for defence against a strong infantry attack which the enemy will probably deliver, though it is unlikely that he will be in a position to do so before dawn to-morrow. ”

“ Problem 8
After hard fighting you have driven the enemy out of the trench A B C, and he has retired up the communication trench D E F in the direction of his supports. You are in command of a platoon and have been ordered to take steps to prevent the enemy again advancing along the communication trench E D B. It is not the intention of your commanding officer to advance at present any farther than the points he has already reached. The time is an hour before dark. ”

“ You should bring a converging attack to bear and advance your men under cover of the fire of your rifle grenades and Lewis guns, and by pushing men forward from one shell-crater to another, you should generally be able to achieve your object if your plan be evolved on sound principles. ”

“ Do not forget to make use of the map when estimating a range.
13. Although the secret of success in an engagement is the proper co-operation of the different arms of the service, the platoon commander must not cry out for artillery assistance when he has the means of carrying out his task in his own platoon, which, with its riflemen, its Lewis gunners, its bombers, and its rifle bombers, is, in itself, a miniature division. In an action where telephonic communication has broken down this rule applies with special force. ”

“ If the enemy seize A trench before that hour, not only will your retreat be cut off, but the object of ordering A and B Companies to hold the bridges so as to enable the main body to get a good start will be defeated. The nearest hostile infantry to you, at E, is some two miles off, that is to say, some forty minutes’ march. ”

“ If you concur with these conclusions, what principle will govern your action in putting the farm into a state of defence? You will notice that the farm shows a bigger front to the east and the west than it does to the north and the south. ”

“ We used to consider in South Africa that when we were advancing against a position held by the enemy, he used to shoot straighter at 500 yards than he did at 200, for, fine shots as the Boers were, their excitement at our near approach disturbed their accurate shooting. You may therefore expect that your men will shoot comparatively better when the enemy is at medium ranges than when he is very close, provided that they know the distance. ”

“ This week my letter will be a short one, as it only contains one very simple problem.
You are on outpost duty and have been told that the General is very anxious to get one or two live prisoners. Your picquet is at some cross-roads a quarter of a mile south of the road A B marked on the map. You have reason to believe that it is probable that the enemy will patrol down the road A B. A B is a good road with strong fences on either side of it, and with ditches on the road side of the fence. ”

“ If you have a company of good shots and are not certain of a50 range, your best plan is to fire with combined sights and thus to increase the depth of the fire-swept ground. This method, although in many cases the best to adopt, is bound to diminish the efficacy of your fire, for if the correct range be 1,200 yards and you fire one platoon at 1,000 yards, one at 1,100, one at 1,200, and one at 1,300, it stands to reason that you can only hope to get a quarter as many hits as you would do if you gave the whole four platoons the correct range ”

“ Above all things, impress on your men the enormous power of their rifle. I have heard many stories of men not firing at all because they hoped the enemy would come within bombing range. I have also heard of bodies of German troops streaming across the open unfired at because no order was given. I have also heard of machine guns stopping a German advance, whilst infantry who were lying down beside them did not fire a shot.
15. Rifle grenades and bombs both have their15 proper uses, and in trench fighting it would be difficult to get on without them. ”

“ I shall then order the whole company to creep up into position, and when the target has been properly pointed out I shall blow my whistle, on which every man will fire twenty rounds rapid and each Lewis gun six drums. ”

“ In a retirement you send men to the rear with orders to take up another position to protect your retirement; always see that they are accompanied by a competent leader, or when the last party falls back they will very likely find that their retirement is unsupported. ”