Part 3

Having secured this cohesion among the men, you have still to produce it within the company as between platoons and sections. For cohesion is the coping stone of the edifice of efficiency, and rests on a basis of discipline, moral and training. It makes possible the application of the principle of mutual support which is indispensable in the attack (F.S.R., 105 (4)), and it enables retirements and defensive action to be carried out without disorganisation, and with the minimum of loss. Whenever sections act together, see to it that the non-commissioned officers keep an eye on the movements of the others, and question them as to the extent their orders to their sections should be influenced by the needs and movements of the others. By this means they will be induced to check the inclination to play only for their own hands, and to remember always that their unit is part of a combination which can best attain success by acting accordingly.

VIII.

Training is the preparation of officers and men for the duties which they will carry out in war. These duties consist in the application of the principles contained in the training manuals, and it is your business to provide concrete examples. But in these days of long range arms combats take a very long time, and you cannot expect in a parade of perhaps one or at most two hours, and with a limited extent of ground, to carry out all the varied phases of an operation which, in warfare, would take anything from six to eighteen hours to complete, and would extend over perhaps five or six miles of country, even if we limit ourselves to the extreme ranges of heavy artillery, and take no account of movements not within the range of possible fire. Therefore, in your training, you must be analytical, choosing for one parade such phase or phases as you have time and ground for, and doing the others later on. When your company knows all it can be taught thus piecemeal, it will be early enough to try to get time and ground to perform continuous operations.

* * * * *

For instance, infantry in the attack will usually have to go through three phases: first, the advance to fire positions; second, the fire fight (I.T., 121 (6)); and, third, the assault, which latter must be divided into the charge and the steps which follow it according as it is successful or not. You will have to train for these three phases. The first, against an enemy armed with guns and rifles, would consist in opening out from column of route into little columns—sections or platoons—and moving forward in this formation, the main object being to escape being smashed to pieces by his artillery fire before being able to do him any damage (I.T., 118 (3)). Later, you would come under his rifle fire, and your little columns must scatter out into lines of men in extended order (I.T., 118 (5)). These movements seem, and are, very easy, but still they must be practised in peace if they are to be done coolly and without confusion in time of war when the first intimation of the necessity for opening out may be the shriek and crash of what will be to most of the men the first shrapnel they have ever seen, and withal aimed at themselves. This phase requires the presence of all four platoons of the company, and so may be kept over till the men have been trained in the phase which it precedes, namely, that of the fire fight.

* * * * *

The fire fight begins when the attacking infantry have got as far forward as they can without having to reply to the enemy’s fire, and it is quite distinct from the preceding phase of passive endurance. Success in the fire fight is an absolute necessity for a successful assault. Possibly your enemy has prepared your success before war broke out by abstaining from training his men in musketry, but even if his shooting is inferior, the fire fight will call into play all the qualities and skill of which your men are possessed, both individually and collectively. Accordingly you should practise them in the fire fight from the opening of their fire up to the assault, first individually and then collectively.

The assault can be dissected into the fixing of bayonets with as little cessation of fire as possible, the charge itself, followed, according as it is held to have been successful or not, by the rallying of the troops, pursuit of the enemy by fire and strengthening of the captured position, or the withdrawal or such mitigation of the results of failure as may fairly be attempted. Thus, by considering the attack as made up of phases as above, it is, I think, possible and instructive to practise each one of them separately, on a short parade, and on limited ground, by placing the men in the order in which they would be at beginning of any one phase, and carrying on from there.

Before beginning any exercise, call your non-commissioned officers out to the front, and explain to them and to the men, in very full detail, what the exercise is intended to be, what points particularly require attention, how you want it done, and the sequence of events, if it involves combined action between the different units; whether the company is supposed to be acting by itself or as part of the battalion, and, if the latter, whether your side are having the support of artillery fire or not, where the enemy is, and what he is, i.e., is he infantry only, or has he also cavalry and guns, what he is supposed to be doing, attacking, defending, retiring, marching, or what. Deal with all such points before you start, otherwise you will find your non-commissioned officers and men filling in the blanks each according to his own bent of imagination, and everyone in consequence playing at a different game. To be thus able to define the scope and arrangements of the exercise, you must have it clearly planned out in all detail in your head. This you should do if possible the day before the parade, so that you will have the thing well thought out, and events marshalled in logical sequence.

At all exercises, if possible, have the enemy represented by a skeleton force, as directed by T. & M.R., 48, a few actual men with blank cartridge, and a red range flag or two to roughly define the enemy’s position. Use for this purpose old soldiers, if you have them, or, at least, men who have already performed the exercise you mean to do, and it is better to take one or two men from each platoon than to send off a whole section, and so break up the company organisation. Six or eight men are quite enough to form any skeleton enemy that is needed for a company to manœuvre against. You must give the skeleton enemy definite orders as to what they are to represent, where they are to go, and what to do and not to do. If they are given at all a free hand, especially if under the enterprising British subaltern, they are very apt to indulge in far-reaching manœuvres, and subject you to sudden raids and onslaughts which upset your scheme for the parade, and leave you no enemy at the very point you wished to have him. If you cannot arrange for a skeleton enemy, at least never fail to indicate some position as supposed to be held by an enemy. If your exercise ground is limited in extent, fix the enemy’s position outside it, regardless of whether you have, or have not, licence to traverse the intervening space, so as to avoid carrying out your exercise within impossibly close range of the enemy. In default of a skeleton enemy to provide you with a target, tell your men to aim at any members of the public who are about the enemy’s position. This is better than snapping at inanimate objects, as it gives more interest and so keeps up careful aiming. As regards the general method of training, follow commonsense and the manuals, and work from individual up to collective, bearing in mind always that collective work is built up of the work of the individuals who throughout have to be kept up to the collar by the various arts which I have touched on. The less of the iron hand that is shown the better.

IX.

I make no mention of scouts, as they are specialists. They must be selected after you have got to know all the men of your company and their capabilities. Their training as scouts cannot be carried out by you personally at the same time that you are training the company. To be really of use, it will be a whole-time job for one officer, and you will either have to turn them over to one of the subalterns, or go with them yourself, preferably the former, if the subaltern is capable. When they are trained and fall in on parade as scouts in their sections, it is a good plan to have places permanently reserved for them as third files from the left of sections (the blank file’s place) so that they can leave the ranks without disturbing the formation for forming fours.

As regards dress one thing is quite certain, and that is that with only one suit of uniform men cannot appear clean and smart off duty in it, and yet use it for field work with all the lying down and knockabout wear involved. In time of national danger, appearances will go to the wall, and men will do their work at the expense of the fit of their one and only suit of uniform.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A cause now exists, and the men have come out.

EXERCISE I.

INDIVIDUAL ADVANCE IN EXTENDED ORDER.

The exercise portrays what men will have to do when the rifle fire of the enemy becomes effective, and necessitates extension of the small columns which are used to dodge his shell fire (I.T., 118 (3)). This will be somewhere over one thousand yards from the enemy, and perhaps fourteen hundred may be taken as a maximum. From the point at which extension from the small columns is made up till the time of the assault, a line of men in extended order is the suitable formation, unless there is some covered way leading forward which can be traversed in file or other formation. Once the advance has begun it should be carried through as quickly as possible without exhausting the men too much, and fire should not be opened until it is absolutely necessary to neutralise that of the enemy, firstly, because it lessens the speed of the advance and so increases the time during which the attackers are exposed to the enemy’s fire; secondly, because once men start firing it is more difficult to lead them forward; and, thirdly, because it uses up cartridges whose value and difficulty of replacement increases at every yard nearer the enemy’s position.

The exercise is then to train men to gain ground to the front with the minimum of exposure to the enemy’s fire, and as quickly as may be, firstly, without firing, and, secondly, while firing themselves, but in the latter case speed must be subordinated to the development of a fire of sufficient accuracy and volume to largely neutralise that of the enemy, for at this stage of the battle advances under fire will only be possible if it is inaccurate; and the only certain means of causing it to be inaccurate is by disturbing the enemy’s nerves and aim by bringing to bear on him the fire both of supporting troops and of the firing line itself (I.T., 118 (6)).

The regulations do not encourage the opening of fire by units less than two platoons at ranges over one thousand yards as the results do not compensate for the delay. Under one thousand and up to six hundred it is desired that fire should be controlled and directed, i.e., the amount, and the target should be specified by commanders (I.T., 116). Under six hundred yards it is recognised that individual fire gives good results, and, moreover, control becomes almost impossible.

Divide your exercise accordingly. First, teach merely the advance without firing, letting the men know that they are not to fire, as a rule, without orders under six hundred yards, and then let them advance firing at each halt behind cover, choosing their own target and times of firing as they would do in the stage of “close fire,” i.e., six or perhaps eight hundred yards up to assaulting distance, which latter is about two hundred yards from the enemy’s line of defences.

This parade is one that can be done with very few men present, but it is necessary to form them up into sections with a large proportion of non-commissioned officers. Keep the men in their proper sections, but, if necessary, join two or three together, so as to form sections with three or four non-commissioned officers to each. Thus, if you form four sections, they should each be in reality a boiling down of the platoons. In future exercises I will also suppose that you thus concentrate your men, keeping the members of each section together, and form them into sections of size suitable to the work of the day, and no further allusion will be made to this.

Before taking the men on to the exercise ground, you should choose a point on it from which you intend to start your advance. Some fourteen hundred or less yards from this choose a position for your skeleton enemy, who will consist of three or four old soldiers with forty rounds of blank each. If men are not available, put up a few red range flags. Whichever are used, put them into some position that an enemy might reasonably occupy; do not simply dump them down on to the ground. The skeleton enemy must be told to show up occasionally, and to open a slow but regular fire as soon as they see your men advancing, but only to keep it up as long as your men show themselves in making their advance. A complete cessation of fire will denote that your men are making such good use of cover as to be invisible to the enemy. Let your men also know that these instructions have been given, and that such an advance is the ideal to be sought for, provided always that it is not absurdly slow. If neither men nor flags are available you must make believe and point out a supposed position at a supposed distance. I have already pointed out the advantages of having a skeleton enemy to work against.

In front of your starting point, and about four hundred yards from it, decide on some point at which you will let the men halt after they have made their way across the intervening space. Here I will refer you to the diagram. The line AA´ is your starting point, CC´ the enemy’s position. Your exercise consists in showing individual men how to gain ground from AA´ as far as BB´, distant about four hundred yards from AA´, with the minimum of exposure to the enemy’s aimed fire. Draw up the sections, supposing there are two, on the line AA´, fifty to one hundred yards apart, and let the men sit down facing away from CC´ and, if possible, under cover, so that they may not see how their comrades negotiate the course. Space the available non-commissioned officers of each section along the course from A to B and A´ to B´, with orders to supervise and criticise the advance of each man within the limits of their beats. Allow a belt of twenty to thirty yards broad from A to B and from A´ up to B´, within which men must seek their cover. This belt is made broad here to afford instruction, but when the men work together in their sections, it will be much narrower, as they will then be extended at intervals of five or six paces only. Start off one man at a time from each section to cross from AA´ to BB´, to move as if under fire from the enemy in rushes from one cover to another. As soon as a man reaches BB´ he may fall out and watch the movements of the remainder. Do not send off a fresh man until the preceding one has nearly reached BB´, so that your non-commissioned officers may have good opportunity to look at each man as he goes. As for yourself, be active in supervising both sections, using your horse if you have one.

DIAGRAM I. FOR EXERCISES I. & II. [Illustration:

CC´ = Enemy’s position about 1400^X from AA´. Enemy being represented by men with blank cartridge or flags.

AA´ = Starting points 1400 yards from enemy’s position.

Men start from AA´ to cross to BB´ without exposing themselves to the enemy at CC.´

Crosses indicate cover, and the chain dotted lines routes by which men may advance.

AA´ to BB´ is about 400^X]

The following are points to be attended to:—Before leaving their cover, men must decide where their next halting place is to be, and make for it quickly, and with decision. There must be no emerging into the open, and then looking about for a bit of cover to go for. The length of each rush should not be enough to let the enemy have time for deliberate aim—fifty yards or so is quite the limit for this. If there is no cover the men must lie down flat between each rush. Occasionally it is advisable to make a long rush from one good position to another at sprinting pace without stopping at all (I.T., 121 (12)), so this should be practised sometimes, the non-commissioned officers at that part of the beat being ordered to tell the men what is needed. Once a man has decided on his next halting place, and is in wind, he should leave his cover with a jump. The slow uprising of a figure is sure to draw the enemy’s attention, and make his fire more accurate than it would be if no intimation were given him. Similarly, on reaching cover, men should fall down quickly, and not lower themselves slowly to earth.

Insist on a careful choice of cover, a very small depression or elevation, even six inches, is enough to give cover from view, and therefore helps in escaping aimed fire, but in peace time men will not take trouble over apparently trifling things like this unless it is rubbed into them by close supervision. Noticeable objects should be avoided as the enemy may have taken their range, and they help him to define a point on which to concentrate fire. If a man makes mistakes and shows indecision at any part of the course, call him back to the last cover he left, and let him start again from there after pointing out what he has done wrong.

_II. The advance combined with individual fire._

The second part of the exercise is done in the same way as the first, the men advancing and taking cover as before, but now using their rifles. They have to be taught to use the cover to advantage, both as a protection and as an aid to their shooting, and to take pains in searching for a good target, and in their sighting, aiming and firing. For purposes of instruction, six hundred yards is rather a short range to open fire at, and I recommend your making a start at eight hundred or so, i.e., two hundred yards beyond BB´ towards the enemy, working up to four hundred. This necessitates judging distance at beyond the practically point-blank ranges of the Lee-Enfield rifle, and makes the men use their eyes keenly to spot the enemy, while it avoids a certain amount of unreality which is apt to attach to instructional movements carried on in front of a skeleton enemy at the deadly short ranges under three hundred yards.

Points which should be considered are:—

To fire from the right and lower edge of any cover, not over the top.

Make the men keep a count of the number of times they snap over the course (i.e., cartridges used), and report to the non-commissioned officer at the finish of their course.

Let the men do their own judging distance, and let non-commissioned officers drop at once on any man who either fails to do so, or forgets, as they often do, to adjust the backsight.

Cultivate a habit among the men of looking about for different targets, not firing only straight in front of themselves, but on their right and left, so that when they come to fire collectively they may feel nothing new in being told to open the enfilade fire recommended by I.T., 116 (11), and also get the custom of watching for the enemy all along his front.

These two exercises of advancing with and without firing are the groundwork of the fighting efficiency of the soldier in the attack, and will be found to call for every natural and acquired qualification the individual possesses. Good shooting, quick judgment, activity, wind, and everything else are needed if the work is done with full observance of the conditions which would exist under fire. Put the men through exercises of this sort several times, and, if possible, on different ground, till they acquire quickness in choosing cover and the arts that make an expert fighter. Confidence in themselves will come with the skill they acquire, and with confidence comes decision of mind, which is really more important than bodily efficiency. If you have time, a useful rider to this exercise is to work the men by pairs, as is recommended in the Musketry Regulations for the observation of fire, and so introduce them early to the use of the file organisation which I have advised you to adopt.

EXERCISE II.

RETIREMENT BY PAIRS.

A sound provision against panic among young troops is to accustom them to regard a retirement as all in the day’s work, and not as an exceptional undertaking which their anxiety may invest with possibilities of disaster. The essence of successful retirement in face of an enemy lies in the continuous opposition, or appearance of it, offered to the enemy by one portion of the troops, while others draw off to take post to cover the withdrawal of the rearmost portion. I.T., 137, gives the idea in few words. It does not mention individual training in this, but it is useful to put men through the movements, both to cultivate cohesion in the ranks, and as a tactical exercise. It may happen in war that an extended line has to give ground when engaged with the enemy, and this under so heavy a fire as to make movement except over short distances impossible without great loss. Such a withdrawal would mean that the troops are in a very tight corner, and would test them very highly, but that is another matter. It may happen, and should be prepared for. A withdrawal under these conditions might perhaps be carried out by the alternate movement of men in files covered by the fire of the others, until such a distance from the enemy had been obtained as to allow sections or companies to take up the alteration. Up to that distance it will be simply a reversal of what was done in Exercise I., but worked by files—a front rank man and his rear rank man, one going back a short distance, and the other firing to cover the movement. Again, men on patrol or otherwise detached may have to retire to avoid capture, or for many other reasons, when they might not be under close and heavy fire, but still would be under the necessity of preventing the enemy closing in on them or surrounding them. In this case, the length of each withdrawal would be much longer than in the former case; one man would fire while the other made off perhaps two or three hundred yards at his best speed. Train for both contingencies; it can be done in one and the same parade. Skeleton enemy as usual. For the withdrawal under heavy fire, let the sections sit down and fall out at BB´ (Diagram I.), and put out the non-commissioned officers between BA and B´ A´ as before. Call out the men by files, tell them to work back to A and A´, one firing, the other retiring. As a rule they should retire past each other before halting. The same points must be observed as in Exercise No. I, and the quicker they are in movement the better, but they must be taught to go in quick time also when so ordered (I.T., 137 (4)).

For the retirement of a file as on patrol, do exactly the same, but you should work over six hundred yards of ground or so to correct any tendency to import the short rush into this exercise, which would be out of place, and also to let men have more practice in looking for suitable fire positions from which they can both fire on the enemy, _and from which they can get away when their turn comes_, a point they often neglect at first. The different nature of the two exercises must be made quite clear.