CHAPTER IV

ADVANCE GUARDS 56-69 STRENGTH AND COMPOSITION 56-58 Advance guards of various organizations 56 Machine guns 56 Mounted men. Advance guard cavalry. Duties 56 Engineers. Signal and sanitary troops 56-58 Artillery. Field trains 57-58 Splitting organizations to form advance guard 57 Leading troops 57 Removal of obstacles to the march 58 THE START--DETAILS OF. Initial point 58 Route of advance guard 58 Outpost troops and cavalry 58 Assembly of field trains 58 Assembly in column of route. Elongation 59 ASSEMBLY ORDER 59 Calculations of times of starting for various organizations 59 Interference of routes 59 Subdivisions of advance guard 60 DISTANCES. How regulated 60 Cavalry advance guards 60-63 RECONNAISSANCE 60-62 Duty of cavalry. Independent and advance cavalry 60-62 Parallel roads 61 Flank guards 61 Mounted point 61 Method of “offset patrolling,” by infantry 61 Connecting files 61 Operations of advance cavalry 61-62 Communication with neighboring troops 62 Important features of the terrain 62 Places of advance guard and supreme commanders 62 March outposts 62 Control of means of communication 62 Civilians not to precede advance guard 63 Conduct of advance guard on meeting the enemy 63 Passage of bridges and defiles 63 OUTLINE OF SOLUTION OF SMALL ADVANCE GUARD PROBLEMS 64 EXAMPLES OF ADVANCE GUARD ORDERS 65-69