Watch (tactical)

“ Tired men, returning from ration-drawing or sap-digging, throw themselves down and fall dead asleep in a moment. Only the sentries, with their elbows on the parapet, maintain their sleepless watch. From behind the enemy's lines comes a deep boom—then another. The big guns are waking up again, and have decided to commence their day's work by speeding our empty ration-wagons upon their homeward way. Let them! So long as they refrain from practising direct hits on our front-line parapet, and disturbing our brief and hardly-earned repose, they may fire where they please. ”

“ In the defence, if searchlights are provided, the officers on outpost duty must endeavour to ascertain what portions of the ground in their front the beams do not light up, and take special measures to watch them. ”

“ The Observers must be in a position from which they can watch the whole of the attack, and must be provided with a means of communication whereby they can constantly report upon the situation. After the objective has been gained they can push forward and locate enemy machine-guns and battery positions; this will be comparatively easy as, if the enemy is putting up a fight, machine-guns, etc., will be advertising themselves. ”

“ So, throughout the field generally, there is no smoke screen to hide the assailants from view, and greater exposure may involve more serious loss in attack. Similarly, the length of the enemy’s line of battle, and the extent to which it is occupied, will so far perplex the attacking commander, that unnecessarily wide turning movements may be expected, with consequent loss of time. ”

“ Sometimes even your four hours' sleeping time is rudely broken into by half a dozen alarms; for separated sometimes by hundreds of feet from your comrades of the next post, the instinct of self-preservation makes you line your loopholes and peer anxiously into the gloom beyond, when any one of the enemy shows that he is afoot. A single rifle-shot spitting off near by is as often as not the cause of the alarm; for that rifle-shot cracking out discordantly and awakening the echoes may be the signal for the dread rush which would spell the beginning of the end. ”

“ In the midst of these conditions the fighting airman shoots, dodges, pursues, and dives, intent only on one thing, the destruction of his enemy, while the observer photographs, marks his map with every gun-emplacement, railway station, dump of food or ammunition, unconcerned by the flying shells or the strange dives and swoops of the machine.
But apart from active fighting, take such a common experience as what is called "a long reconnaissance." ”

“ Sentinels are posted in the front line and in the line of dugouts, one at each entrance to a dugout to give immediate warning. Watchers are posted at places having a good range of view; at night they keep watch over the parapets rather than through the loopholes since the latter afford only a narrow range of view. Auto riflemen (6 or 7 to a post) are used as watchers, one being on duty at a time. They should have a favorable background to provide concealment. ”

“ Patrols must be sent out to keep watch of the enemy; machine-guns and riflemen must be ready for a counter-attack,—which were variations from that deadly monotony of lying in a wet hole in the ground, whether on a bare crest or among the roots of trees in a wood. ”

“ In personal combat watch the opponent's eyes if they can be plainly seen, and do not fix the eyes on his weapon nor upon the point of your attack. If his eyes can not be plainly seen, as in night attacks, watch the movements of his weapon and of his body. ”

“ All of you should have caught the idea of the principal duties of the point and flankers of an advance guard. You must watch the country to prevent being surprised and you must at the same time manage to push ahead with the least possible delay. The point cannot be very cautious so far as concerns its own safety, for this would mean frequent halts which would delay the troops in rear, but it must be cautious about reconnoitering all parts of the ground near the road which might conceal large bodies of the enemy. ”

“ He crawls behind the hedge for a moment to watch the range-takers, who have been up here for the past half-hour and have taken and checked and rechecked the distance to the enemy's guns. Some men with tools also, who have uprooted the gate-posts, and widened some openings from the lane on to the hilltop, are now cutting little windows through the hedge on the brow. A few officers arrive ahead of the batteries, and to these he points out their positions and the target and range. ”

“ It must not be supposed that while the boats drifted on in this lazy fashion the men neglected to give due heed to possible danger.
Strict watch was kept on either bank, and when it became necessary to round a point or pass some tiny cove fringed with trees wherein the enemy might lurk to send a shower of bullets among us, the heavy craft were forced to the greatest possible distance from the place of danger, while every man stood, rifle in hand, ready to check an attack or return a volley. ”

“ Before retiring, I had ordered all our firearms to be examined and loaded and properly distributed. Watchmen were stationed in each boat to keep watch all night, for which they were to be paid extra. The precautionary steps having thus been taken, we all retired for the night. ”

“ In the Active Defence, the Decisive Counter-Attack, ending in the overthrow of the enemy, is the manoeuvre originally in view when the defensive rôle is adopted. In the Passive Defence against superior numbers. Local Counter-Attacks end with the recapture of a tactical point or the repulse of a determined assault, and in the Delaying Action they overwhelm by surprise fire or assault a detached force which has advanced with such rapidity as to enable the defenders, without undue risk, to cut off and annihilate the isolated enemy body. ”

“ Being thus provided, a watchword must be framed, wrapped up in some common question, as 'What's o'clock?' or 'Jack, what shall we have for supper?' As soon as these words are used, you must instantly fall to work, seizing with your left hand the traveller's bridle, and with your right presenting a pistol. This so terrifies that he delivers instantly, for who will trust a pistol at his breast loaded with a brace of bullets, and a mouth discharging at the same time volleys of oaths, that if he deliver not instantly he is a dead man? ”

“ The advantage of visibility will all be on our side. You will see the enemy better than he can see you. It is a golden chance to do your best at gunnery; so keep your heads and shoot straight, and your first five minutes’ shooting will decide the issue. We are going to make it a swift and decisive victory, and it depends on you. In a few minutes’ time a detachment of our scouts and destroyers will make a desperate attack on the enemy’s battle-line from the farther side, partly to damage him with torpedoes, but chiefly to draw his fire from us. ”

“ But we were not off our guard after our victory, as the enemy may have imagined—the roar of thunder or the fall of rain did not make us less vigilant. Each time they visited us, we were sure to dismiss them at the gate, thanking them for their fruitless visit. Once we occupy a place, a line of strict vigilance is spread all around, ready to meet the enemy’s counter-surprise at any moment. ”

“ The officer of the watch is responsible for the duties of observation and security, and is especially 67responsible for the giving of the alarm in case of an attack and consequently for the calling of the artillery barrage by use of rockets, signals, etc.
Standing to Arms. It is of the greatest importance that the troops in the first line are thoroughly trained in taking their positions when the alarm is given as quickly as possible, without confusion. The alarm is often given for practice in order to ascertain the amount of time it will take the men to reach their places in the firing line. ”

“ You telephone back the target to the guns and keep them “standing to” until your victims have reached a favorable point, then you send back the order for one gun to fire. You observe where the shell lands, send back a rapid correction and, when you’ve got the correct line and range, bring all your guns to bear upon the target, adjusting the range and line of your shots as they run. In the dull round of an observing officer’s life these little spells of man hunting are the chief excitement. There is another, however—when the enemy has spotted you and sets to work to knock you out. ”

“ Consequently, it is only at night or in case of attack that machine gun crews will occupy their defense emplacements. At night guns should take up other position than their defense emplacements and fire a stated number of rounds in order to test out the guns and mislead the enemy as to their numbers and real emplacements, after which they will at once go back to their defense emplacements. ”

“ But here as soon as we have crossed the wall we shall be exposed to a deadly fire, not only of rifles, but of machine guns. Of these the enemy have two on motor tricycles, and it is understood that the call of their sirens is a signal that they are in action. ”

“ When the enemy’s dispositions are nearly complete, the rear guard moves off by successive retirements, each party as it falls back covering the retirement of the next by its fire. This action is repeated on the next favourable ground.... A rear guard may also effectually check an enemy by attacking his advanced troops as they emerge from a defile or difficult country. ”

“ If the commander gives the signal for commencing the attack by firing a pistol or gun, there will probably be no mistake, unless it happens through carelessness by the accidental discharge of firearms. I can conceive of nothing more appalling, or that tends more to throw men off their guard and produce confusion, than a sudden and unexpected night-attack. ”

“ On the top of the ridge where the enemy maintains his lines for the moment, a searchlight throws its light on the ground and in the sky, in all directions, watching for aeroplanes and searching for the passing of convoys on the road. Its light passes back and forth over us several times, hitting us in the face and dazzling us. It passes back and forth, flooding the plain with its moving brilliant light. In its light we see moving forms: stretcher-bearers saving the wounded and plunderers of the dead.
Suddenly, the whizz of a shell comes our way, and a light bursts high in the air. ”

“ Watchers receive special orders to give the alarm against 102a gas attack, and must sound the alarm gongs and bells for this purpose.
The watcher may have his rifle, without bayonet, resting on the side of the trench at the entrance of a dugout.
Observer. The observers are specially trained men whose duty is to observe the hostile position and to gain all the information that they can obtain of the enemy’s activities.
Each man in the company can be used as a sentinel or as a watcher, but not all as observers. To become an observer, a man must have a special capacity for this task. ”

“ There was danger, too, of a false alarm started by a nervous sentry. It needs but a moment for such an alarm to become general, so great is the nervous tension at which men live on the firing-line. Terrific fusillades from both sides followed while the listening patrols flattened themselves out on the ground, and listened, in no pleasant frame of mind, to the bullets whistling over their heads. But at night, and under the stress of great excitement, men fire high. ”

“ This will necessitate a repetition on the part of the enemy of all the stages of the attack—the discovery and the report on the position, the decision to attack, and the deployment into attack formation. It will often be of advantage for a Rear Guard to take up a delaying position one or two hours before dark, as the enemy will then have to attack with darkness approaching and may wish to defer the attack until daylight, thus gaining several hours for the protected force. ”

“ When no watch is at hand seconds can be indicated closely enough for practical purposes by suspending a small bag of shot or bullets from the end of a piece of fine fishing line or copper wire. Attach the upper end to a cross bar, laid in the crutches of two forked sticks, let the bag hang, and regulate the length of the string until you find that it describes the proper arc in swinging; your own pulse, the number of which has been already given, or that of a horse, which may be roughly set down as thirty-six beats per minute, will be a sufficient guide. ”

“ You bank and turn sideways, so as to let your observer get in some shooting while you examine your gun. From the position of the check-lever you realise that there has been a misfire. Quickly but calmly—feverish haste might make a temporary stoppage chronic—you lean over and remedy the fault. Again you press the trigger, and never was sound more welcome than the ta-ta-ta-ta-ta which shows you are ready for all comers. ”

“ What with the rapidity of our movement, the colour of our dress, and our close contact with the enemy before they would abandon their post, we had the misfortune to be identified with them for some time by a battery of our own guns, who, not observing the movement, continued to serve it out indiscriminately, and all the while admiring their practice upon us ”

“ At, say, nine o'clock one night the guns will suddenly start: one man turns to another and remarks, "There must be a strafe on to-night." The guns continue without cessation, till perhaps just as daylight is stealing across the sky they stop for a time abruptly. This may signify that at this very moment the infantry are over the top, or parapets, of the trenches at the particular point where the attack is being made. ”

“ Sitting in a frozen blind, all at once you hear the whirring of wings, far off in the sky. Before you can locate the source of it, "Swish!" an old Can goes by. You look at the streak of light he leaves in the atmosphere. Then you hear another far-off alarm. You seize your gun as the gray mark passes overhead at about 125 miles an hour. You shoot at it and realize that you have shot just fifty feet behind it. Another one comes by. Bang! again goes the gun. ”