Battalion commander

“ When the company is acting in concert with the remainder of the battalion, its frontage, as a rule, will be assigned by the battalion commander.
7. The company commander must always be guided by circumstances in deciding on the strength of his firing-line, and on the formation of the remainder. The general procedure will be to gradually reinforce the scouts, when they are checked by the enemy’s fire, and thus build up a firing line, which, at decisive range, shall be strong enough to gain superiority over the enemy’s fire. ”

“ But the leadership is too distant, the battalion commander has to attend to the participation of his battalion in the line, or in the ensemble of other battalions of the brigade or division, and the particular performance of his skirmishers. The more difficult, confused, the engagement becomes, the more simple and clear ought to be the roles of each one. Skirmishers are in need of a firmer hand than ever to direct and maintain them, so that they may do their part. The battalion commander must be entirely occupied with the rôle of skirmishers, or with the rôle of the line. ”

“ They are concerned only with the result, of which they satisfy themselves by inspection at the end of the period assigned to company training. If any of the soldiers have not been properly instructed, or if the company is not fit to take its place in the battalion, that is the captain's fault, and he is likely to lose his chance of promotion.
The battalion commander receives his trained companies and practises them in battalion manoeuvres. His business is with the battalion as a body composed of four units, not with the internal affairs of the companies. ”

“ If the divisional commander finds it necessary to detach a battalion, or in an unforeseen contingency to give an individual battalion direct orders for the execution of some movement, he should at once inform the brigadier to whom the battalion belongs. ”

“ Instead, however, the adjutant sharply called:
"Battalion, attention! I am directed by the battalion commander to make an inquiry. Each man will pay close heed, and answer if he is able. Has any non-commissioned officer or private in this battalion heard, at any time lately, any man in the same squad room with him talk in his [207] sleep in such a way as to indicate that the man talking in his sleep had any knowledge concerning the men who recently broke into and robbed the battalion commander's quarters? Any man having such knowledge will fall out." ”

“ A battalion or squadron stands a very good chance for defeating a regiment if the battalion commander knows all about the size, position and movements of the regiment and the regimental commander knows but a little about the battalion ”

“ A commander who can make all his subordinates feel that they are pulling in the same boat's crew—that they are all swinging together, not only with their own but with every other battalion and brigade; who can make them look upon themselves as all helping in the one big cause; who can make them regard the difficulty of another battalion merely as a chance for freely and fully assisting it—a commander who can do these things with his officers can make a wonderful force of his Australians. ”

“ An infantry battalion is commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and consists of 32 officers and 1000 other ranks. Both in peace and war a battalion is divided into head-quarters and four companies, each of the latter having six officers, including the company commander, who is a major or senior captain. ”

“ It will seem strange to most of you, almost impossible to many who saw service in other [6] outfits, when I tell you that during my entire service with the Three Hundred and Sixty-fifth Infantry, which I began as a Captain in December, 1917, and ended as a battalion commander when the regiment was broken up at Camp Upton, New York, in March, 1919, not one colored officer under my command was ever placed under arrest, and not one colored officer was ever threatened with an efficiency board. ”

“ And both battalion commanders can tell you the same story of a kindness, helpfulness, and hospitality utterly at variance with one's notions of life the front. We never ceased to marvel at the easy and efficient control the French had of their work. Things that seemed most dreadfully complicated and difficult to us at first, they took with a smile and a careless gesture. They impressed you as having assumed a habit of war that obliterated all the past, that assumed until the end of the world a continuation of disagreeable and morbid events that must be made the best of. ”

“ Operations by single battalions have all the importance of a divisional attack elsewhere. In this case one battalion had been allotted the task of storming and retaining the enemy's position.
In the little low timber hut sunk beneath the snow-level which was the battalion headquarters, the captain found the colonel commanding the regiment in conference with the local commander and the company leaders. The atmosphere of the cramped interior was thick with the exhalations of the half-dozen men, warm with the heat of a petrol-stove. Capitano Ricci saluted the colonel, was received affably. ”

“ The Commander of the Forces cannot part with the officers and non-commissioned officers of the second battalion of the Fifth regiment, without again requesting them to accept his thanks for their uniform good conduct and brilliant and important services since they have been under his command. ”

“ Colonel of artillery. The commander of a battalion of artillery is one of the most laborious employments both in war and peace, requiring the greatest ability, application, and experience. He is supposed to be a very able mathematician and engineer, to be thoroughly acquainted with the power of artillery, to understand the attack, and defence of fortifications in all the different branches; to be able on all occasions to form the artillery according to the ground or manner in which they may attack or be attacked; in short, he should be master of every thing belonging to that important corps. ”

“ In exceptional cases, the brigade commander designates the position to be taken up by the machine guns, and gives directions to them in regard to supporting the advance by long range fire. A base battalion is to be designated. When the enemy’s position is visible, a point of attack is assigned to every unit. When this is not practicable, the base battalion is led forward by officers familiar with the ground, or it is given a compass direction. Every leader is to provide independently for reconnaissance and for communication by signal flags and also by telephone ”

“ The tactical unit of Infantry is the platoon. The action of a whole battalion is compounded merely of the separate actions of its sixteen platoons, each performing the separate rôle, in a general plan, that may be laid down by the Battalion Commanders, some to advance and fight, some to act in support, some to lie [231] in reserve, some to engage in a flank attack, others to fetch and carry food, water and munitions. ”

“ A battalion that has “copped it,” as the soldiers say, is not allowed to sit about in billets and brood over its losses. For they will brood unless they are stirred up. After Neuve Chapelle Sir John French, going round the battalions that had taken part in that gallant fight, came upon some depleted billets, such as I have described, with the Colonel, one of the few officers surviving, sitting by the fire with his head between his hands, prone to overwhelming grief. The Commander-in-Chief is a man of heart and understanding. ”

“ The battalion will march past, the old Colours following in rear of the column.
209. FIRING A FEU-DE-JOIE.
1. The troops will be drawn up in line, at the slope, officers at the Carry; bayonets will not be fixed. The commander of the parade and his staff will be posted in front of the line, at such distance as he may decide, and turned towards it if desired; all other mounted officers will be in rear of the line. Three rounds of blank cartridge will be fired. If artillery are present and are ordered to fire twenty-one guns, seven will be fired before each round. ”

“ Quentin pretty well tuckered. I had been taken up in a British staff car as we passed through Regt’l Hdq., and, with the other two battalion commanders, was taken to reconnoiter the sectors of the front line which we were to take over. Each battalion was to be brigaded with an English regiment, and to hold the front lines for a regular tour of duty as the last step in the training schedule.
The 1st Bn. was to go in with the 1st London regiment. The officers of this brigade and regiment received me very cordially. Our proposed battalion sector was just outside Arras. ”

“ It is a fine tribute to the British race that a newly-raised battalion, without any previous traditions, which are such assets to regular battalions, should have outfought the German battalions, trained to war for generations. ”

“ A battery officer, on the other hand, is of a different stamp. Of the three arms, the artillery demands most in the way of efficiency and knowledge; the mechanism of the guns creates an atmosphere in which officers study and train to a far greater extent than cavalry and infantry officers. The battery officer, in nine cases out of ten, is quite as competent to take charge of an artillery brigade as the cavalry or infantry lieutenant-colonel is to take charge of his regiment or battalion. ”

“ The divisional artillery commander should accompany the vanguard commander. When contact is established with the enemy, he is then on the spot, and able to make a personal reconnaissance at once, and decide, subject to the orders of the advance guard commander, how his guns can best and most quickly assist the cavalry. ”

“ The story of the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers cannot fail to be a fine one. Every soldier who, like myself, had the honour of fighting, I may say, shoulder to shoulder with it, will read its history with the deepest interest. ”

“ It consisted of twelve infantry corps of 20,000 men each, three cavalry corps of the same strength, and with 40,000 men of the Guard, Artillery, Engineers, and Sappers, amounted to 400,000 men, including 300,000 Frenchmen. This enormous force possessed 1200 guns
and more than 100,000 ammunition-wagons and caissons. Such a body of troops, accustomed to victory, proud of its traditions, full of confidence in its officers, and led by a commander with the prestige of twenty years’ brilliant success, might well be deemed invincible. ”

“ A battalion, or any body of troops, which is not perfect [Pg 67] in the exercises and duties of light infantry as well as in the less rapid movements of the line, should be looked upon as unfit for modern warfare. All regiments of infantry ought therefore to be like the old 43d and 52d; and I must, at whatever risk, presume to say, that officers unable to make their corps, if not altogether, at least almost as efficient as these were when they came from the hands of Sir John Moore, ought to be considered incapable of commanding them. ”

“ The conduct of the second battalion of the Fifth regiment, commanded by Major Ridge, in particular, affords a memorable example of what the steadiness and discipline of the troops, and their confidence in their officers, can effect, in the most difficult and trying situations. ”

“ No one could ever hope to find a more thorough Fusilier than the man who went to sleep on guard and let a calf eat his clothes off. Such conduct deserved most distinguished regard, as an encouragement to the Fusiliers. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Battalion, the highest rank in our corps. ”

“ When the light company is with the regiment it must be formed twenty paces on the right on the parade, but must not interfere with the exercise of the battalion, but exercise by itself; and when the light infantry are embodied, every four companies will form a battalion, and exercise in the same manner as the battalion in the line. ”

“ This included regiments of three battalions instead of one. Two battalions were supposed to take the field, the third to maintain a regimental depot for collecting and training recruits. Battalions of 800 men in eight companies were adopted as the most efficient fighting units because they were thought to be small enough to maneuver and to be controlled by the voice of the commanding officer, yet large enough to withstand attack by cavalry. A battalion in the French system was the fighting unit, a regiment the unit of administration. ”

“ In the fighting of the week they had made it clear that the British Infantry battalion is the backbone of every mixed brigade, and they shared with the Guides Infantry one of those enviable reputations for steadiness which are so hard to gain and so easy to lose on active service. ”

“ The Active Militia Force shall consist of Troops of Cavalry, Field Batteries of Artillery, Companies of Mounted Infantry, Companies of Engineers, Brigades and Batteries of Ganison Artillery, Battalions and Companies of Infantry, and Naval and Marine Corps, in such proportions as Her Majesty shall appoint; and the strength of each such Troop, Battery, Battalion, Company or Corps, shall be regulated, and officers appointed thereto, from time to time, by Her Majesty ”

“ A brigade of infantry, consisting of four battalions, looks a perfectly uniform mass of men on, say, a service, dress parade, but intimate knowledge of the characteristics of the men in each battalion reveals a world of difference; each regiment has its own traditions, and each battalion differs widely from the rest in its methods of working, its way of issuing commands, and its internal arrangements. There is a standard of bugle calls for the whole Army, but practically every infantry battalion infuses a certain amount of individuality into the method of sounding the call. ”