Comandante

“ THE COMMANDER'S POSITION.—The position of the commander who issues the orders for the Attack must be fixed, and must be made known to subordinate commanders, as it will be the place to which reports will be sent. In the case of a small force the commander will generally stay with the General Reserve; if the force is fairly large, and composed of all arms, he will probably be on the main artillery position; but in the case of a large force he should be well out of reach of the distraction of local incidents. ”

“ Each commander of a detail halts his detail, dresses it on the general line, salutes and reports as does the first; then takes his post in a similar manner. Should the commander of a detail not be a non-commissioned officer he passes by the right of the guard and retires.
4. Sergeant Major.—He takes one step to the right, draws sword and verifies the detail, and then commands: "Count off." He completes the last squad if necessary and indicates the division into platoons: then takes his post and commands: 1. Open ranks; 2. March. This is executed as laid down in the Infantry Drill Regulations. ”

“ It is ordained that in the event of a gallant and daring act having been performed by a squadron not under 50 in number, or by a brigade, regiment, troop, or company in which the admiral, general, or other officer commanding such force may deem that all are equally brave and distinguished, and that no special selection can be made by them; then in such case, the admiral, general, or other officer commanding, may direct, that for any such body of sailors or soldiers, one officer shall be selected by the officers engaged for the decoration ”

“ The commander is a major-general. His staff comprises an assistant adjutant-general, an assistant inspector-general, a topographical engineer, a commissary of musters, a commissary of subsistence, a judge-advocate, several aides-de-camp—and perhaps other officers, of varying rank. Those mentioned usually ranked from colonel to captain. In the Union army, major-generals might command either a division, a corps, or an army, but in the Confederate service each army of importance was commanded by a lieutenant-general. Take a look at the corps headquarters flag. ”

“ It may help however to illustrate the dual nature of the cares by which a general is distracted. He has at the same time to perform the military functions of command and to superintend the business of management. His duty as a commander involves continuous attention to the enemy's movements and to the instructions of his own chief. He must study the intentions of the army commander to whom he is subordinate and conform to them in his own movements against the enemy. ”

“ The Commander of the Forces being desirous to render the army for the field as effective as possible, directs that all soldiers acting as servants to officers, shall always appear in uniform, and carry their arms and accoutrements on the march. The servants of regimental officers to be in the ranks on the march, and the Commander of the Forces calls upon the General and other officers in command strictly to inforce this order. ”

“ I sit among the officers, usually with a commandant on one side and a colonel on the other, with a General de Division, and a Général de Brigade in front of me, and all sorts of gilt stripes about me, which I count with curiosity, now that I have learned what they mean, as I surreptitiously try to discover the marks that war has made on their faces—and don't find them. ”

“ In military affairs, an uncertain number of men drawn out from several regiments or camps equally, to march or be employed as the general may think proper, whether on an attack, at a siege, or in parties to scour the country. A detachment of 2000 or 3000 men is a command for a general officer, 800 for a colonel, 500 for lieutenant-colonel, 200 or 300 for a major, 80 or 100 for a captain, 40 for a lieutenant, 12 for a sergeant, and 6 for a corporal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Company, with its three officers—Captain, Lieutenant, and Ensign—and its Sergeants and Corporals, has been for centuries the foundation stone of the organization of Infantry. Its Chief, the Captain, is the officer with whom the men are most intimately associated, as he is responsible not only for their drill, discipline, and training, but also for their food, clothing, pay, and lodging. The men’s confidence in their Captain is grounded on this responsibility. It is to him that they learn to look for their well-being, comfort, and redress of grievances, as well as for praise or blame. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The commandant was now moving from place to place, giving orders and exposing himself to every danger. No one could doubt that he was brave: had it been bravery, softened and blended with the finer feelings of humanity, he would have been a true hero; but——. Our artillery officer behaved like a gentleman, as he had always done; and our subaltern in a tolerable medium: the midshipman in the style of a brave, rough and ready seaman. ”

“ The officers as they approached, prepared with great solemnity and very apparent consciousness of the importance of the manœuvre, to salute with their swords the puissant presence of the commandant, and the “rank and file” to perform the same ceremony with their presented guns. The first officer, who was a captain from the wilds of Lumberland, was so taken up by the immensity of the act he was to perform, that he forgot to perform it at all until quite past the colonel. ”

“ Commanding officers learn the amount of strain which they can impose on their men; the conditions under which transport can and must be brought up for the use of the troops can be studied with almost as much accuracy as in warfare; the cavalry commander learns the value, from a war point of view, of his men as scouts and on detached duties, while the artillery officer finds out, as he never could without manœuvre experience, the possibilities of gun transport, and the business of ranging positions with a view to rendering them untenable by shellfire. ”

“ As the troops march up the valley, the advanced guard commander should decide what localities are to be held, and in what strength. He should issue his orders to the battalion or company commander, as the case may be, when the picquets should move direct to their positions. Meanwhile, the staff officer should make, in sections, a rough sketch of the positions occupied by the various picquets, which should be numbered consecutively as they move out, the sections of the sketch being sent, as completed, to the officer commanding the rear-guard. ”

“ Lieutenants and subalterns are given charge of a troop in the cavalry, a gun or section—according to the number of young officers available—in a battery and of a section of men in an infantry51 company. Nominally in command of their men, they are in practice largely dependent on their senior non-commissioned officers for the efficiency of the men under their command. An officer’s real efficiency, in peace service, does not begin until he “gets his company” or squadron: in other words, until he is promoted to the rank of captain. ”

“ The commander of the advanced guard should assist the general in the same way. A general advanced guard should be composed of light troops of all arms, containing some of the élite troops of the army as a main body, a few dragoons prepared to fight on foot, some horse-artillery, pontoniers, sappers, &c., with light trestles and pontoons for passing small streams. A few good marksmen will not be out of place. ”

“ Captain Commanding.—This officer is in full charge of the squadron (in time of peace a squadron consists of about 120 men and horses) ; he is the real chief and almost the only one the non-commissioned officers and men of his [12] squadron know, many of them leaving the service without having ever been spoken to by such an exalted and god-like being as a Major, much less by their Lieutenant-colonel or Colonel. The Captain in command is himself a very great man indeed, who has very little intercourse with such riff-raff as common privates. ”

“ The art of maintaining himself and his command in the outpost line is a question of vigilance, imagination, and forethought on the part of the commander, and cunning on the part of his men. Let us place ourselves in the position of an officer commanding a hundred to two hundred men, and detached some ten miles out to the flank and front of a force. ”

“ And for all enterprises to be undertaken by land we have appointed a Field Marshal and five Captains to be under him, and that both they and the infantry are to be directly under you as our Captain-General and Governor, because this is our will, and we have expressly ordered it. That your person must be carefully guarded. ”

“ The captain cannot officially approach a general and ignore the intermediate officers. The general gives his orders to the officer next to him in rank, and they pass down the line from rank to rank. Only thus can a general hope to command the army of a nation successfully. ”

“ Once every month the commandant should make a general inspection of his regiment, examine into the state of the men, their arms, ammunition, accoutrements, necessaries, camp utensils, and everything belonging to the regiment, obliging the commanding officers of companies to account strictly for all deficiencies. ”

“ Then comes the company commander, followed by the Colonel, the Staff officer and the Great One. Immediately behind, the Adjutant (taking notes) , the platoon commander (partially dazed) , the machine-gun officer (not essential) , and the Sapper (if he's been caught by the human avalanche) advance in echelon. At intervals the procession halts, and the same religious rite takes place.
SERGEANT (peering round the next traverse, in voice of fury) : "Don't drink tea out of yer tin 'at, yer perisher! 'Ere's the General a-coming." ”

“ The captain in command of the cavalry squadron gave a sharp command and his men drew rein while the officer came forward. He glanced at the colonel in the automobile and saluted.
"Oh, it's you, sir," he said. "Have you seen anything of the fugitives?" ”

“ Whenever a guard of honour forms up the commander will be three paces in front of the second file from the right, or, in a confined space, from the flank by which the personage for whom the guard is mounted will approach, the officer carrying the Colour three paces in front of the centre; if there is a third officer he will be three paces in front of the second file from the other flank. When the guard is inspected, the commander will invariably accompany the personage for whom it is mounted, walking next to him round the ranks. ”

“ The men look about as well as the raw conscripts of other countries, and are probably good fighting material if well drilled and handled. At their head rides the commanding officer, a young fellow, whose bright face is clouded, as if he were leaving somebody or something highly prized behind him. ”

“ We discovered from the Commander afterwards that the whole army consists of officers, very few of them below the rank of Major-general. They are inordinately proud of their medals, and quite amazingly inefficient. ”

“ Full authority over the Allied army was given to the Commander-in-chief, who was enjoined to consult, as far as he could, the usages which prevailed in each contingent. The troops of each nationality were to be quartered as much as possible together, and on the lines of communications leading to their respective countries; they were to be under the immediate command of their own Generals, and everything relating to the discipline or to the interior economy of the various corps was to be dealt with by their own Officers. ”

“ Corps commanders, with their officers commanding artillery and the divisions, should make themselves thoroughly familiar with the country indicated, all the roads and positions, so that no possible confusion can ensue, and that the movement, if made, be done with good order, precision, and care, without loss or any detriment to the morale of the troops. ”

“ Those gunners, with here and there an officer, who stand bravely to their field-pieces to the last, are only like so many chopping-blocks for the rear squadrons, who dash forward in rapid succession and keep the front ranks intact. ”

“ The officer in command of the regiment, and how much more, the captain of a troop, or the subaltern under him, knows nothing beyond the sphere of his own immediate duty; by the success or failure of his own party his knowledge is bounded, but how far he or his may influence the fortune, of the day, or of what is taking place elsewhere, he is totally ignorant ”