Manoeuvre

“ Then the drills—save the mark!—not as much precision in them as in a football manoeuvre,—just a spreading out into a thin line and running forward for five seconds perhaps, falling on your belly and pretending to fire three rounds at an imaginary foe, then jumping up and doing it all over again till you feel faint and foolish,—every man for himself, no order, no alignment, one man crouching behind a shrub, another falling prone on the ground, another hiding behind a tree,—surely no pomp or circumstance or glory in that business. ”

“ Manœuvres of war consist chiefly in habituating the soldier to a variety of evolutions, to accustom him to different movements, and to render his mind familiar with the nature of every principle of offensive or defensive operation. The regular manœuvres of the British army have been reduced to nineteen, though these are not competent to every exigency of service the skilful officer will know how to manœuvre as the ground he is upon requires. ”

“ Twice the manoeuvre is repeated, the second movement evidently being in the character of a check upon the first observation, and in accordance with instructions, whereupon the Tommies, to quote their own words, "know they are in for it!" ”

“ Offensive movements; the great advantage which attends this movement, consists in the measure having been previously determined upon, and a consequent preparation made for rapid execution before the design is obvious. Much however, will depend, upon the justness of the distances, and of the march in column, having been so taken as to allow of decisive operations. Manœuvre will chiefly operate where an enemy is inferior in number, inexpert in movement, weakly posted, and where the weak point is found out, and is attacked before he can move to strengthen it. ”

“ How to march against and attack an enemy, or to meet his attack with skill and steadiness; these principally constituted the system of modern manoeuvres, and are better understood by the name of evolutions. In the British service there is a specific number of manoeuvres or evolutions to which every regiment must conform, and with the particular practice of which every officer and soldier must be made intimately acquainted. ”

“ Of all the mechanical parts of war, none is more essential than that of marching. It may be justly called the key which leads to all important motions and manœuvres of an army; for they depend entirely on this point. ”

“ The use of all manœuvres and of all discipline is the same, to habituate men to the word of command, to perform what is commanded, and in the shortest time, in the best manner. The idea therefore of reducing manœuvres to 18 or 19, or any given number, manifests a misconception of the military art, that is truly surprizing; for it must be perceived by a practical man, that the principles of all manœuvres are few and simple ”

“ It may, according to a worn metaphor, take nerves of iron to direct an army; but they must be brass, and of the finest brass too, to swindle. Fighting is, indeed, a mechanic trade; millions can fight,—but how few can gracefully swindle! ”

“ A mighty engine of destruction or defence this—its lines extending for miles and miles—waiting there grim, dogged, resolute, to give battle to the richest, most resourceful, and determined Power in the world. ”

“ Machinery, forges, mortars, and cannon balls, strewn around, remind us of forging thunderbolts, as well as of combat with, and victory over, the giant forces of nature, and making them subservient to human will and purposes. ”

“ You do not see the thousands of wheels, belts, shafts,—the hundred thousand spindles, the arms of iron, fingers of brass, and springs of steel, and the mighty wheel which gives motion to all,—and so you have not seen the great, complicated, far-reaching, and powerful machinery of war. ”

“ Movement was the keynote of the picture—stealthy, not-yet-quite-confident pack-movement on the one hand, concentrated here and there in blood-red eddies, and, on the other hand, swift, desperate marches in the open. ”

“ On one side, precision, foresight, geometry, prudence, an assured retreat, reserves spared, with an obstinate coolness, an imperturbable method, strategy, which takes advantage of the ground, tactics, which preserve the equilibrium of batallions, carnage, executed according to rule, war regulated, watch in hand, nothing voluntarily left to chance, the ancient classic courage, absolute regularity ”

“ All these engaging and endearing accomplishments are mechanical, and to be acquired by care and observation, as easily as turning, or any mechanical trade. A common country fellow, taken from the plow, and enlisted in an old corps, soon lays aside his shambling gait, his slouching air, his clumsy and awkward motions: and acquires the martial air, the regular motions, and whole exercise of the corps, and particularly of his right and left hand man. ”

“ While vigor leaps in great tidal pulses along your veins, you stand in the thickest of the fray, and broadsword and battle-axe come crashing down through helmet and visor. When force has spent itself, you withdraw from the field, your weapons pass into younger hands, you rest under your laurels, and your works do follow you. ”

“ For as the engines you throw stones or darts with, throw them out with the greater force the more they are strained and drawn back; so it is in speaking, running, or boxing, the more people strain themselves, the greater their force. Since, therefore, this exertion has so much influence—if in a moment of pain groans help to strengthen the mind, let us use them; but if they be groans of lamentation, if they be the expression of weakness or abjectness, or unmanly weeping, then I should scarcely call him a man who yielded to them. ”

“ If ever at any time, day or night, shine or storm, such an occasion developed as carried the urge of emergency, each rider must forthwith repair to his designated post, armed and ready for instant action. ”

“ There, where the strength of one or two hundred men can be applied to one and the same effort, the labor is not intermittent, but continuous. The men form on either side of the rope to be hauled, and walk away with it like firemen marching with their engine. ”

“ With flying cavalry and mounted infantry must also go flying engineers, ready to take their share in schemes of scientific demolition, effective destruction of lines and culverts and bridges, [Pg 185] which cannot be remedied under the loss of days—days which will mean the success or the failure of the enterprise in hand. In fact, hereafter a vast and wonderful military dictionary will be comprised in the word “mobility.” ”

“ Flanking maneuvers and retrograde movements, both sometimes profitably employed to decoy the enemy, may frequently be utilized to gain advantageous relative position. The proper objective of each is the maintenance of a favorable situation, or the alteration of an unfavorable one, either locally or with reference to the larger phases of operations, through measures involving [61] apportionment of fighting strength, or obtaining advantages of position, or retaining or gaining freedom of action. ”

“ I only know that some Hand, more steadfast than mine, guided the wheel and held back our puny craft from destruction; some Power, higher than the warring elements, stayed their wrath and shielded us in our helplessness through that terrible night. ”

“ What strikes you most is the bored air of the Tommies, the undivided interest of the engineers in the construction of a pontoon bridge, the solicitude of the medical staff over the long lines of wounded, the rage of the naked Kaffirs at their lumbering steers; the fact that every one is intent on something—anything—but the battle. ”

“ And as the thing that's heavy in itself Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed, So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss, Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety, Fly from the field. ”

“ An offensive order of battle should have for its object to force the enemy from his position by all reasonable means.
2. The maneuvers indicated by art are those intended to overwhelm one wing only, or the center and one wing at the same time. An enemy may also be dislodged by maneuvers for outflanking and turning his position. ”

“ A second great step in advance was the employment of machinery, which, when once fashioned by hand, saved an enormous amount of time and trouble—the pump, the blowing bellows, the spinning-wheel, the loom. But all had to be operated by human effort, sometimes replaced by animal power. ”

“ And the strongest chains may be broken, the thickest wall pierced through,—steep ramparts have been scaled before now,—and you might one day burst your yoke and be again let loose upon society, like an infuriated beast, marking your passage with murder and destruction; for none would be safe from your Herculean strength, or from the sharpness of your knife ”

“ Confusion in many minds between maneuvers and action brings about doubt and mistrust of our regulation drills. These are good, very good as far as they go, inasmuch as they give methods of executing all movements, of taking all possible formations with rapidity and good order. ”

“ I do not speak merely of drill,—the way of turning the head right or left, measuring the steps, lifting the hand to the height of the first or second band to load, aiming, recovering arms at the word of command—that is only an affair of a month or two, if a man really desires to learn ”

“ The vehicle is driven by Hope, who is accompanied by Industry, Memory, and Experience, who distribute axe or hammer, spade or flail, symbols of work, among the poverty-stricken people who crowd round. ”

“ Giving up, then, heroes and heroines, knights and ladies, we must even follow the progress of that lumbering and uninteresting machine called an army, and pause for a while to consider its clumsy and crocodile-like movements. ”

“ One master mind directs every motion, and at the word of command thousands of feet are moving in exact time, wheeling, marching, maneuvering with a precision that proves the long months of patient practice. ”

“ For here were the powers of earth and air and water gathered together and harnessed in man's service, to work his will at the touch of a finger, the pressure of a foot. Fiery furnaces, compressed gases escaping, thundering pumps, prodigious flywheels, droning, buzzing, crackling dynamos—all, and a hundred others—swelled the chorus of work. ”

“ All the situations which one can suppose in a war, all the movements which ought to be introduced, have been, by constant habit, so inculcated in their heads, that all these operations are made almost mechanically. ”

“ But we must not forget that to call this force into the open field,—to take the mechanic from his shop, the merchant from his counter, the farmer from his plough,—will necessarily be attended with an immense sacrifice of human life. ”

“ Like the delicate mainspring of some complicated machine which sustains a pressure that would shatter a bar of iron, so this fine sensitive nature assumed the best attributes of strength, and bore up triumphantly against a world in arms. ”

“ And the only remedy ever found to ward off entire destruction is to have many vehicles bound together with enormous ropes, with men or oxen hanging on behind, to hold them back with great efforts; and so with a crouching step they get down with some degree of safety. ”

“ When she to safety points the way,
What can we better than obey?
Come, change we bucklers, and advance
Each with a Grecian cognizance.
Who questions, when with foes we deal,
If craft or courage guides the steel? ”

“ As the heavy tool passes over the shoulder the impetus of the swinging motion lightens the weight, and something like a thrill passes through the sinews. Why is it so pleasant to strike? What secret instinct is it that makes the delivery of a blow with axe or hammer so exhilarating? ”

“ The severest test of discipline is for a skirmish line to rise and rush forward under an effective hostile fire. This movement had best be executed with precision and energy even during peace exercises. ”

“ While we labour at such a task, we do but light up a vacant room;—we sharpen a knife with which we have nothing to cut;—we take exact aim, while we load our artillery with blank cartridge;—we apply strict rules of grammar to sentences which have no meaning. ”

“ For all fighting, whether at long range or at close quarters, is very much alike, from schoolboys’ games to the most elaborate military operations; and all the advice of the world may be summed up in the eternal law of attack and defence, which is stated in these four words:—cunning, caution, energy, audacity. ”

“ William Shakespeare.
HOW DO YOU TACKLE YOUR WORK? It would be foolish to begin digging a tunnel through a mountain with a mere pick and spade. We must assemble for the task great mechanical contrivances. And so with our energies of will; a slight tool means a slight achievement; a huge, aggressive engine, driving on at full blast, means corresponding bigness of results. ”

“ A strong blow can be given by a sledge- hammer, but if we divide it into twenty small hammers, the blows will necessarily be scattering and uncertain. Let us suppose an army holds the junction of six roads. ”

“ In all those phases of war which precede combat, for the rapid transportation from one point to another of any body of troops great or small, ease of movement and secrecy of movement are the paramount considerations. ”

“ The engineers and the firemen who ride with them are employed in a work that is not only arduous but dangerous as well; in a work that requires steady nerve, watchful eye, quick thought, prompt action, and at times, the undaunted and self-sacrificing spirit of a martyr. ”