Squad

“ Every squad leader should place himself just a little in advance of the rest of his squad and by occasionally glancing to the right and left, observe how the men of their squads are doing—whether they are firing at the proper objective, if the sights are apparently properly adjusted, if they are firing too rapidly, etc. After each shot the squad leader should look toward his platoon leader, and then glance to his right and left to observe his men, and then load and fire again. ”

“ The company now vaguely felt that something was wrong, and suppressed cries of 'Hay, corporal! you're pivot man!' 'Hay, second platoon! wake up!' came to us from front and rear. With a start, our guilty squad awoke to its new responsibilities, and a sense of the eternal watchfulness of the soldier's life. Qui vive? Qui va?
The day before Marshal Joffre arrived, I asked our guide, a Plattsburg veteran, whether the Faculty Company was to participate in his review of the battalion. ”

“ A squad acting alone, as one out on a patrol or for instruction, the corporal acts as the leader of a small platoon leading the advance, and in rear when halted.
Men come to trail as they come on the skirmish line. ”

“ Of some of the most opulent, one formed a squad,—of others, two or three, and of the lower sort of the people, several formed a squad. Each of these squads were to furnish a man for the army, either by hiring or by sending one of their own number. ”

“ You see this particularly in the solidarity of squads. There is somewhere in the regiment, I am told, a squad that does nothing but squabble; the men have nearly all in turn been corporal, and no one will obey. ”

“ The Austrians consider movements made in column of fours on the battlefield more clumsy and fatiguing than when made in column of squads, because checks are transmitted to the whole column of fours owing to its rigidity, while in column of squads the march is easier, more rapid and more orderly. The squad organization, moreover, facilitates the employment of small parties in the service of security and increases the importance of the squad leader in fire action. ”

“ Our squad holds together very well; we eat together when our tents are not too long a journey from the mess tent, a matter of consequence with a brimming dish, and in general we have a constant eye out for each other’s movements. But more than this, we are taking Squad Nine into a little confederation; they are men of the most diverse sorts but very much of a unit, and all bright, witty, and ready to cooperate. Indeed, having a system of fetching each other’s hay and filling each other’s canteens, they have a better squad organization than we. ”

“ In the second case, at the command march, the right squad marches forward; the remainder of the company executes squads right, column left, and follows the right squad. The right guide, when he has posted himself in front of the right squad, takes four short steps, then resumes the full step; the right squad conforms. ”

“ For as you have seen, we eat together, march together, dress and sleep together, the squad being the unit on which everything is based. Captain Kirby has said that when we rest on the hike squads must sit down together, so as to waste no time in falling in. ”

“ When the corporal leaves the ranks to lead his squad, his rear rank man steps into the front rank, and the file remains blank until the corporal returns to his place in ranks, when his rear rank man steps back into the rear rank.
104. In battle officers and sergeants endeavor to preserve the integrity of squads; they designate new leaders to replace those disabled, organize new squads when necessary, and see that every man is placed in a squad. ”

“ Never lose touch with your squad. Every individual, as well as every unit, should always be acting under the control of some higher commander. This is necessary if there is to be any unity of action. Therefore if you lose your squad, or it becomes broken up, join the first squad you can find and obey your new squad leader as loyally and as cheerfully as you did your own.
Infantry approaches the battle field in columns of squads. While yet several miles from the enemy's position the troops may come under artillery fire. ”

“ The base squad is deployed as soon as it has sufficient interval. The other squads are deployed as they arrive on the general line; each corporal halts in his place in line and commands or signals, as skirmishers; the squad deploys and halts abreast of him.
If tactical considerations demand it, the squad is deployed before arriving on the line.
203. Deployed lines preserve a general alignment toward the guide. Within their respective fronts, individuals or units march so as best to secure cover or to facilitate the advance, but the general and orderly progress of the whole is paramount. ”

“ For the instruction of recruits, the squad being in column or correctly aligned, the instructor causes the squad to face half right or half left, points out to the men their relative positions, and explains that these are to be maintained in the oblique march. ”

“ In Germany the platoons are divided into [53] groups or squads of four files each, and in Russia the platoons are divided into sections of 8-15 files each and these again into groups or squads of 4-6 men each. If the squad is to have any importance at all in action, it must have a leader, and it might easily happen that a mobilized company lacks the number of leaders necessary to provide one for each group. The withdrawal from the line of a number of good shots for duty as squad leaders is compensated for, in our opinion, by the more thorough supervision over the men. ”

“ Executed as described in the School of the Squad, except that the men do not glance toward the marching flank and that all take the full step at the fourth command. The right guide is the pivot of the front rank. Each rear-rank man obliques on the same ground as his file leader. ”

“ Before a squad is ordered to march, the directing flank or man must be indicated by the caution, By the right, By the left, or By No.-. During the march, the shoulders must be kept perfectly square to the front, the body steady, eyes off the ground. Each man will preserve his position in the general alignment by an occasional glance towards the directing man. ”

“ EXERCISE NO. 6—COMMUNICATION
Object: To train the squad leader in receiving and transmitting instructions by visual signals alone.
Situation: A squad with its leader in the firing line is deployed in the prone position firing at will.
Action: The instructor, without sound or other cautionary means, signals (visually) to the squad leader at various intervals to,
The squad leader, upon receiving a signal, causes his squad to execute it without verbal command, or exposing himself. ”

“ We began at the beginning, this morning, and had our squad drills all over again, and somehow in the juggling about of men to make up our company formation I managed to get last place in line, and pivot man in the front rank of the last squad. ”

“ The first class are traitors of a deep dye, for whom no ignominious death is too bad; but the second class are often brave men, who dare much in the service of their country. It is unfair to accord them the same treatment as the traitors.
Squad. A small portion of a company, troop, or battery, placed in the especial charge of an officer or non-commissioned officer for purposes of inspection and supervision. In the infantry it corresponds with a section. It also signifies a small number of men drilled together. ”

“ To form the squad the instructor places himself 3 paces in front of where the center is to be and commands: Fall in.
The men assemble at attention, pieces at the order, and are arranged by the corporal in double rank, as nearly as practicable in order of height from right to left, each man dropping his left hand as soon as the man on his left has his interval. The rear rank forms with distance of 40 inches. ”

“ Squad drill, in single rank. 24. Formation of the squad in single rank.
At this stage of the instruction a few recruits will be formed in single rank, each man being allowed a space of 30 inches. The accuracy of the spacing should be frequently tested by the instructor.
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25. Dressing when halted.
When soldiers are on the alignment they have to occupy, and it is necessary to correct their dressing, the command Right (or Left) —Dress will be given, on which each man will look towards the flank by which he is ordered to dress with a smart turn of the head, as described in S. 8. ”

“ Recruits should always be quartered and squadded with old soldiers who are known to be steady and well behaved; and those men that are at all irregular in their conduct, must be separated and distributed in squads which are composed of good old soldiers.
Awkward Squad. The awkward squad consists not only of recruits at drill, but of formed soldiers that are ordered to exercise with them, in consequence of some irregularity under arms.
SQUADRON. A body of cavalry, composed of two troops. The number is not fixed, but is generally from 100 to 250 men. ”

“ Occasionally a squad comes in who have been lately captured, and they tell of our battles, sometimes victorious and sometimes otherwise. Sometimes we are hopeful and sometimes the reverse. Take all the exercise we can, drink no water, and try to get along. ”

“ If a squad is ordered to halt, mark time, or step short, when a part of the men only have wheeled into the new direction, the remainder should be instructed to cover off, if required, by the diagonal march, on the command, Rear Files—Cover. ”

“ On the word or signal Reinforce, the rear squad will advance as directed by the commander, and will carry forward the leading line of skirmishers, the intervals of which it will occupy, no regard being paid to the order in which the men may place themselves. ”

“ Every soldier in the squadron that lived kept his life by sheer, breathless, ceaseless, hand-to-hand sword-play, hewing right and left, front and rear, without pause, as, in the great tangled forests of the west, men hew aside branch and brushwood ere they can force one step forward. ”

“ Making the quarters for the squad that was to hold and occupy did not end the enlisted man's duties, for he had also to take a hand in the fabrication of similar structures for his company officers and then to do his part in behalf of the care and comfort of the Field and Staff. ”

“ The barrack room may not contain more than one close friend—if that—and the other men in the squad to which the conscript belongs may be of different provinces, of totally different ideals and ways of thought—as if a Highland Scot were planted down in a squad of Londoners. ”

“ The squad will first be taught to march straight to the front, by the right, by the left, or by any man. It will then be practised in all the varieties of step in quick time, and in marking time, after which it will be exercised in double time. ”

“ 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 squads must be as distinct and separate as possible; in short as much so as two troops are, never crossing each other. The stables must likewise be squadded entire; that is, no one stable should be allotted to two separate squads; for which reason, the proportion of numbers in each squad cannot always be exactly equal. The squad is entirely in charge of its own serjeant, or, in his absence, of the corporal who commands it, with relation to every quarter and stable duty, parades on foot and horseback. The quarter-master, in the cavalry, has, of course, the general inspection of the whole. ”

“ March and bivouac formations must be such as to admit of rapid deployment and fire action in any direction. (598)
609. Formation in open country. In the open country, where surprise is not probable, troops may be marched in column of squads preceded, within sight, by a squad as an advance party. (599)
610. Formation in close country. In close country, where surprise is possible, the troops must be held in a close formation. The use of flank patrols becomes difficult. Occasionally, an advance party—never less than a squad—may be sent out. ”

“ The formation within the platoon conforms to the infantry with which it is advancing. The usual formations will be: when dismounted, line of squad columns or line of skirmishers; when mounted, column of squads. The purpose of the formation taken should be to make it difficult for the enemy to distinguish the machine guns from the infantry.
“Communication.—Where conditions permit, the commanding officer of the machine gun company will be with the battalion commander. ”

“ The signal is given, and then with impetuous fury the whole squadron hurls itself on the spot chosen to represent the enemy’s position. The men, alternately dispersing and reforming, advancing and retreating, obey every beat of the drum, their horses being as intelligently alert as well-trained polo ponies. ”

“ The formation of the squad must be preserved as long as possible. You will appreciate that when losses occur the squad leader will have to replace men and the formation will have to be modified to meet the changed conditions. This makes it absolutely necessary that every member of the squad be competent to take over the duties of any other member. ”