File (military)

“ Distance of files. Every soldier when in his true position under arms, shouldered and in rank, must just feel with his elbow the touch of his neighbor with whom he dresses; nor in any situation of movement in front, must he ever relinquish such touch, which becomes in action the principal direction for the preservation of his order, and each file as connected with its two neighboring ones, must consider itself a complete body, so arranged for the purpose of attack, or effectual defence. ”

“ To double the Files, is to put 2 files into one, making the depth of the battalion double to what it was, in number of men. Thus four deep are double files.
File marching on foot, all recruits must be taught first to face, and then to cover each other exactly in file, so that the head of the man immediately in front may conceal the heads of all the others behind him. The principal points to be attended to are, that the men move in equal time an equal pace of 2 feet, that the front rank men cover exactly, and that the rear rank men keep closed and dressed to the front rank. ”

“ If the company is in column of squads and the command is either squads right or left about, the guides simply remember to remain on the flank opposite from the file closers. It is very easy to see that a world of confusion would be caused by the file closers attempting to move to the opposite flank during squads right or left about. If the guides are in doubt look to see where the file closers are and then apply the rule of thumb: File closers and guides are always on opposite flanks. ”

“ There should be a connecting file for at least ever, 300 yards. For example, suppose the advance guard of a platoon is 300 yards in front of the main body. In ordinary rolling country, not heavily wooded, a connecting file would be placed half way between the two elements—150 yards from each one.
It is generally wiser to use two men together instead of one, because this leaves one man free to watch for signals from the front while the other watches the main body. However, in very small commands like a company, this is not practicable, as the extra man could not be spared. ”

“ As the United States Army advanced into German territory, there were attached to each Army and subordinate organization specialized military personnel whose duties were to capture and preserve enemy information in the form of documents, records, reports, and other files. ”

“ When any commissioned officer shall die or be killed in the service of the United States, the major of the regiment, or the officer doing the major’s duty in his absence, or in any post or garrison, the second officer in command, or the assistant military agent, shall immediately secure all his effects or equipage, then in camp or quarters, and shall make an inventory thereof, and forthwith transmit the same to the office of the department of war, to the end that his executors or administrators may receive the same. ”

“ As indicated at the beginning of the second chapter, a number of Administrative Services are required, to provide the Fighting Troops with all they need to keep up their strength and efficiency. An army cannot act without a service of communication for transmission of Orders; it cannot exist without a supply of food and clothing, fight without ammunition, or move without transport to carry these stores. To maintain its discipline there must be Police, and a department of Military Justice. ”

“ The British records comprise not only the war diaries of every staff and unit engaged, with their voluminous appendices containing all orders, intelligence, etc., received and issued, and detailed reports of actions, but they include also the General Headquarters files, the Commander-in-Chief's diary, and practically every telegram and message despatched and received. These official documents have been supplemented by private diaries and papers which have been kindly lent, by regimental records, and by interviews with officers who took part in the operations. ”

“ Open Files, are soldiers standing in rank at given distances without touching one another. The formation at open files is only practised as a preparatory drill for forming at close files, (which is the order for action) so that every man may be taught to stand and move in a proper position, without acquiring a habit of leaning upon his neighbor. On this account every intelligent officer who has the management of recruits, will form them sometimes at open files, and march them in that order. ”

“ The number of truck drivers, communications and postal personnel, and ammunition bearers was increased. The military police force grew from a platoon to a company and a signal battalion replaced the signal company. A tank battalion was added to the division and a fourth company to the division engineer battalion. To expand the "eyes and ears" of the division, the reconnaissance troop was increased in size and authorized two light aircraft. ”

“ Each man on joining is measured, and an outline figure card showing the measurements of the front and back surfaces, which are divided into areas by means of dotted lines, is filed in the Medical Department of the War Office. When a man deserts or is dismissed his card is placed in a separate file, and the new cards of recruits are compared with those in this particular file. ”

“ It is as vain to prescribe a propaganda analysis procedure without knowing the user as to prescribe an office filing system while knowing neither the nature of the office nor the kind of files kept. In time of war, subordinate commanders in operational areas will need to keep files at a minimum, while rear echelon or national facilities may be able to keep files of enormous range and thoroughness. ”

“ The place is chock-a-block from morning to night, and outside there is always waiting a string of lorries, mess-carts, wagons, limbers, from all over the place. The part played by the E.F.C. in the war is by no means unimportant. It is a regular military unit, with officers, n.c.o.s and men (in khaki, of course) , run under the authority of the War Office and subject to military law. Profits on sales go to the purchase of fresh stock, and I believe, in part, to the Military Canteens Fund at the War Office. ”

“ V. The French army shall carry away with it all its equipment, and all that is comprehended under the name of property of the army, that is to say its military chest, and the carriages attached to the field commissariat and field hospital, or shall be allowed to dispose of such part of the same on its account, as the Commander-in-chief may judge it unnecessary to embark. In like manner all individuals of the army shall be at liberty to dispose of all their private property of every description, with full security hereafter for the purchasers. ”

“ You state in your order that you are going to be with the reserve all the time, and you send copies to all your officers, especially to Major Good who is commanding the cavalry, and you report what you have done by telegraph to the Chief of Staff. You decide to have the 3d Infantry be the reserve. If the 3d Infantry is the reserve and you are with it, it ought to be under your orders. The 3d Infantry will follow along behind the 2d Infantry until the latter regiment deploys. ”

“ Yet consider the soldier who gets nothing—the replacement, perhaps, who was entrusted with his own service record and who has lost it. "Do you know what this means?" the captain snaps at him. “Do you realize your entire record is gone- punishments and rewards, clothing, allotments, every- thing? Do you understand that without your service record you can't be paid?"
The replacement glances at the paper work suspended from the walls, littering the table, overflowing to the floor. His lip trembles.
"I don't know much, sir, since I got inteh the army." ”

“ The USAF Inspector General printed an article about the information kits in the USAF TIG BRIEF (The Inspector General Brief) an IG administrative newsletter distributed to USAF facilities worldwide and to the Hqs of the other Services. The TIG Brief newsletter was also distributed in Viet Nam. The item resulted in more than 150 requests from Southeast Asia for the information packet, which we forwarded.
During talks I gave to military and general audiences I was occasionally asked for examples of what 'hotline' exchanges with military callers were like. ”

“ Before commencing the operations of the campaign, or beginning the execution of the plans decided upon at head-quarters, this officer should satisfy himself respecting the condition of the various materials belonging to the different departments of the army;—the horses and horse equipments, carriages, caissons, ponton and artillery equipages, siege equipages, moveable hospitals, engineer and artillery utensils, clothing, and munitions of all kinds; he must supply whatever may be wanting, and provide means for the transportation of every thing. ”

“ Not more than half of the mobile Neutral Nations Inspection Teams shall be dispatched at any one time in accordance with requests of the senior member of either side on the Military Armistice Commission. ”

“ All that he can see in the light of the moon is a fringe of wire and long rows of low mounds marking the trenches occupied by the enemy.
Frequently in front of the firing line a secret position is found, which enables an officer or man to observe the enemy's movements. From these observation posts to the headquarters of the battalion, thence to those of the brigade, and onward to the divisional headquarters and the general headquarters, runs a long trail of telegraph wire, through which information is constantly being sent or orders are being transmitted. ”

“ When regiments are combined into brigades, brigades into divisions, and divisions into army corps, cavalry, artillery, and certain other auxiliary troops, such as engineers, signal corps, aeroplane corps, etc., are joined with them in such proportions as has been found necessary. Every unit, from the company up, has its own supply and ammunition wagons, field hospitals, etc. ”

“ Near by is the building occupied by the "signals" branch, which with its nerve system of telegraphs, telephones, and motor-cycle despatch riders, is the medium of communication with every part of the field, and also with the base of supplies and the War Office in London. "Signals" carries its wires to within rifle shot of the trenches, and every division of the Army has its own field telephones from battalions headquarters to the firing line.
Close at hand is the office of the intelligence branch, which collects and communicates information about the enemy from every source it can tap. ”

“ There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. ”

“ Every private in the Army possesses what is called a conduct-sheet, and upon this his crimes are recorded. To be precise, he has two such sheets. One is called his Company sheet, and the other his Regimental sheet. His Company sheet contains a record of every misdeed for which he has been brought before his Company Commander. His Regimental sheet is a more select document, and contains only the more noteworthy of his achievements—crimes so interesting that they have to be communicated to the Commanding Officer. ”

“ Every Order made by the Commanding Officer of any Corps of Militia, shall be held to be suficiently notified to all persons whom it may concern by insertion in some newspaper published in the Regimental Division, in which such Corps is situated, or, if there no such newspaper, then by posting a copy thereof on the door of every place of public worship or of some other public place, in each Company Division affccted by such orders. ”

“ The new airborne division consisted of one glider infantry and two parachute infantry regiments, division artillery, antiaircraft artillery and engineer battalions, medical and parachute maintenance companies, and special troops, to which the division headquarters, ordnance, and quartermaster companies; military police and reconnaissance platoons; band ”

“ The platoon officers on duty have to make up several reports such as: weather report, showing strength and direction of the wind, and situation report, stating particulars of what may have been seen of the enemy, the number of shells fired in our direction, also any results noted from the firing of the German rocket signals. There is also a casualty report showing the number of casualties during the day. Another report is made out for the shortage of equipment, ammunition, bombs, etc.
TRENCH ORDERS
1. Duties— (a) One officer per company and one N.C.O. per platoon will always be on duty. ”

“ For training, the regulations outlined a division that included three infantry brigades (two or more infantry regiments each) , a cavalry regiment, an engineer battalion to facilitate movement, a signal company for communications, and four field hospitals. Nine field artillery batteries, organized as a provisional regiment, served both the division and other commands such as corps artillery. To attain a self-sufficient division, the planners added an ammunition column, a supply column, and a pack train, all to be manned by civilians. ”