Battle standard

“ The whole course of the battle depends on success or failure in the early formation of great lines of guns, for ultimately the victor in the artillery duel finds himself in command of the necessary balance of guns which are needed to prepare the way for his final decisive infantry attack. If this latter succeeds, then any mounted men who can gallop and shoot will suffice for pursuit. If it fails, no cavalry, however gallant, has any hope of definitely restoring the combat, for against victorious infantry, cavalry, now as in the past, can but gain a little time. ”

“ Should the demands of strategy conflict with those of tactics on the battlefield, the latter must unquestionably take precedence, since the general’s foremost thought must be the annihilation of the hostile forces. Tactical considerations should likewise govern in the selection of the direction of attack in a battle, strategical reasons for striking in this or that direction becoming effective only after the attainment of tactical success. ”

“ Victory in a naval battle today depends absolutely upon the weight of the broadsides and the speed of the vessels, which enables them to manœuvre and choose positions of advantage with respect to the enemy; while victory or defeat in a land fight depends upon the weight of gun-fire, which can be directed against the positions of an enemy.
The actual number of infantry engaged is of secondary importance. It is artillery that is of supreme importance. ”

“ If the fighting strength in each detachment depends on its composition and training, there are other elements besides the tactical value of the troops which determine the effectiveness of their combined efforts in action; these are first the leadership, which, however, depends on conditions which are beyond calculation, and secondly the numerical proportion of the arms to each other. Disregarding provisionally the cavalry, who play a special role in battle, we must define the proportion which artillery must bear to infantry. ”

“ The object of the defense being to break and throw into confusion the troops advancing to the attack, the fire of artillery and musketry will be the natural defensive means of the first line, and when the enemy presses too closely the columns of the second line and part of the cavalry must be launched against him. There will then be a strong probability of his repulse.
FOOTNOTES:
[24]
In every battle one party must be the assailant and the other assailed. ”

“ It is evident that the most essential points are strength, and facility of pouring into your enemies’ ranks a powerful fire. Troops do not halt to play at long bowls; a field of battle presents a series of movements for the purpose of outflanking or closing in upon your enemy, and when within two hundred yards, to deliver your fire with effect. Firing at 500 or 600 yards is the business of artillery, and, therefore, to fire at 300 or 400 yards is a misapplication of the musket, a loss of time, a waste of ammunition, and tends to make men unsteady in the ranks. ”

“ Moreover, the duration of a combat, and, in conjunction therewith, the necessity of reinforcing the firing line and covering the flanks, increases with the size of the force. During protracted periods of peace, one is too much inclined to underestimate the wastefulness of a battle and the necessity for reinforcing the fighting line; one cannot understand why 5 to 6 men will not suffice, during the course of a combat, for a front wherein only one man can use his rifle. From the foregoing it follows that the frontage does not increase in proportion to the number of men. ”

“ What formation should infantry, armed with modern weapons, take to guard against flank attacks by cavalry? If one fires four times as fast, if the fire is better sustained, one needs only a quarter as many men to guard a point against cavalry. Protection might be secured by using small groups, placed the range of a rifle shot apart and flanking each other, left on the flank of the advance. But they must be dependable troops, who will not be worried by what goes on behind them. ”

“ If the attacker succeeds in carrying the position, he will be at a disadvantage for the moment; his troops will be in confusion and exhausted, and a large number of officers will be gone. If the defender, reinforced by fresh reserves, takes advantage of this moment, he may be able to turn the tide of the battle. The inclination of the men to pursue the enemy with the bayonet, instead of halting and making the most of the fire power of their rifles, is noticeable in all battles. ”

“ A conclusion early arrived at in the consideration of the rôle of the three arms on the modern battlefield is that no artillery and infantry force, however strong, can afford to enter upon a battle unless their flanks are protected by natural obstacles or by masses of cavalry. ”

“ An order of battle would be perfect which united the double advantages of the fire of the arms and of the moral effect produced by an onset. A skillful mixture of deployed lines and columns, acting alternately as circumstances require, will always be a good combination. In the practical use of this system many variations must arise from differences in the coup-d'oeil of commanders, the morale of officers and soldiers, their familiarity with maneuvers and firings of all sorts, from varying localities, &c. ”

“ Almost anybody can understand the strategy or the tactics of a pitched battle where the number engaged is large, the casualties heavy, and the results decisive; but very few non-professional critics appreciate a campaign of relentless pursuit by a small army of a smaller body of mobile hostiles, here and there capturing a little band, now and then killing or disabling a few, 340until in the final round-up the enemy, reduced to perhaps less than a score, surrenders. ”

“ The most effective defense of beleaguered field artillery units, however, was that provided by prompt counterattack delivered by neighboring infantry or tanks, a tactic which turned on accurate local intelligence, unbroken communications, and the enemy inability to deflect the counterattack force with heavy supporting weapons or mines. ”

“ In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack—the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. ”

“ All day on Friday there was very heavy fighting here on the left centre, and a victory was announced by the French Ministry of War.
I did not see the victory. I saw only the retreat of some of the French forces engaged in the battle. ”

“ Therefore, while the battle raged with vast slaughter, each individual soldier rushing fiercely on the dense ranks of the enemy, the arrows and javelins flew like hail; the blows of swords were equally rapid; while the cavalry, too, pressed on, cutting down all who fled with terrible and mighty wounds on their backs; as also on both sides did the infantry, slaughtering and hamstringing those who had fallen down, and through fear were unable to fly. ”

“ A complete modern force should consist of a proper proportion of horse, foot, and artillery. The three form the whole, the perfect machine. The parts must fit into each other as the cogs of one wheel fit into those of another. In the war of the future infantry will be used for two purposes—to contain the opposing infantry, and to hold positions seized by the mobile portion of the force, be it cavalry or mounted infantry. There will be very little preparation by the artillery for infantry attack, for the simple reason that I am convinced that frontal attacks are things of the past. ”

“ Meantime the clang of the blows, and the shouts of the combatants, mixed fearfully with the sound of the trumpets, and drowned the groans of those who fell, and lay rolling defenceless beneath the feet of the horses. The splendid armour of the combatants was now defaced with dust and blood, and gave way at every stroke of the sword and battle-axe. The gay plumage, shorn from the crests, drifted upon the breeze like snow-flakes. All that was beautiful and graceful in the martial array had disappeared, and what was now visible was only calculated to awake terror or compassion. ”

“ We were, however, sufficiently in the picture to have guns constantly firing around us and aeroplanes flying overhead, and could watch our friends being shelled in the front line and the daily anti-aeroplane shoots, both by our own and by the enemy's "Archies." Here we were able to carry out a certain amount of training, and to organize the battalion upon the lines of the new "normal formation," giving the platoon commander control over each kind of weapon with which the infantry are armed—rifle, bayonet, bomb, rifle-bomb and Lewis gun. ”

“ Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle, will arrive exhausted. ”

“ When the terrain is favorable, infantry and machine guns should not hesitate to fire over the heads of their own skirmishers. The coöperation of artillery will, in any case, be of great value, and infantry will have to select those moments for advancing when the defender is driven under cover by the hail of shot.
The advance by rushes, consuming time and energy, is an expedient to which the enemy compels us to resort as the only means of gaining ground to the front. ”

“ While everything is orderly and in readiness in the defender’s firing line, the attacker’s line is still in the process of forming. Should the defender wait until the hostile firing line has systematically deployed and has made a lodgment within short range of his position, or should he produce losses and create confusion in its ranks by suddenly opening fire?
The employment of long range fire on the defensive is justified when sufficient ammunition is available, when artillery is not present, and when the hostile infantry pursues the tactics of advancing to short range without firing. ”

“ CHOOSING A POSITION.—The framework of the modern defence consists of artillery and machine guns; into this framework are fitted the defence posts or defended localities garrisoned by infantry, who are responsible for holding their ground at all costs and for inflicting the greatest possible loss on the enemy. A commander will require a position which affords elasticity for increasing the resistance as the attackers penetrate the defences, and depth will thus be essential. ”

“ The regulations assume, however, that the superiority of fire, gained by the mutual coöperation of infantry and artillery and by the participation of the reserves, will induce the opponent to retreat. When engaged with an obstinate opponent, who remains in his position, only a part of the leading line is to be launched against certain sections (tratti) of the defensive position, while other parts, by means of rapid fire, prevent the enemy from supporting the threatened sections. ”

“ But, no matter where the actual location of this point may be, skillful infantry will start its assault very close to the point fixed by the regulations, and never beyond it, so as to avoid interfering with the fire of its artillery. Under such circumstances, it may be a skillful move for a defender who is still full of fight, to decrease the distance which separates him from the hostile infantry, in order that, by so doing, he may escape from the hostile artillery fire and from the smoke which obscures his vision. ”

“ All available forces will be engaged in order to wrest a victory, and must from the beginning be so disposed that the enemy will be compelled as far as possible to conform to our movements, and that we may prepare the most favourable deployment for attack in the manner discussed above. Must we, then, advance with the division in close formation, écheloned within itself, in order to afford the greatest possible target for the enemy's artillery? ”

“ That the objective of all offensive operations must be to envelop the enemy—i.e., hold him in front and attack him in flank.
2. That the fullest use must at all times be made of mechanical weapons—i.e., guns, machine-guns, trench-mortars, &c. The minimum use of infantry; to rely for success on the weight of infantry, either in attack or defence, was to ensure unnecessary casualties.
3. That troops must always be in depth; they must neither attack nor defend in one or two dense lines of men, but in a succession of well-extended lines. ”

“ At the crisis of the engagement, preparatory to the assault, the artillery and infantry must combine to bring the heaviest possible fire to bear against the point or points against which it is proposed to drive home the attack, in order that a superiority of fire over the defence may be rapidly established ”

“ If, without exposing ourselves to much loss, we can inflict a considerable loss upon him, we shall render him inferior to us, both by the number of his men we have disabled, and by the demoralization thereby caused in his ranks.
7. This preparatory loss can be most effectually inflicted by the fire of artillery; as, from its great superiority of range, it can suffer but little, meanwhile, from the enemy's infantry fire. Our attacking infantry are thus enabled to keep out of the range of the fire of the infantry they are to attack, till the moment of advancing to close. ”

“ While infantry can govern its action by that of the artillery during the preparatory stage of an attack, this is impossible in defense, as the infantry is obliged to carry the fight through to its logical conclusion in the position in which it is begun. ”

“ However, the retreating troops will have placed quite a distance between themselves and the enemy before this can be done, and the latter, unmolested by fire from the attacker, will be able to take full advantage of the technical qualities of his rifle, unless the attacker’s artillery or cavalry prevent his doing so. ”