Manual of Military Training by James A. Moss (best value ebook reader .TXT) 📕

994. Enclosures. In reconnoitering an enclosure, such as a garden, park or cemetery, the leading patrolers first examine the exterior, to make sure that the enemy is not concealed behind one of the faces of the enclosure. They then proceed to examine the interior. Great care is taken in reconnoitering and entering an enclosure to avoid being caught in a confined or restricted space by the enemy.

995. Positions. In approaching a position, but one man advances (one is less liable to be detected than two or more), and he crawls cautiously toward the crest of the hill or edge of the wood or opening of the defile, while the others remain concealed in the rear until he signals them to advance.

996. Houses. When a house is approached by a patrol, it is first reconnoitered from a distance, and if nothing suspicious is seen, it is then approached by one or two men, the rest of the party remaining concealed in observation. If the patrol is large enough to admit of it, four men approach the house, so as to examine the front and back entrances at the same time. Only one man enters the door, the others remaining outside to give the alarm, should a party of the enemy be concealed in the house. The patrol does not remain in the vicinity of the house any longer than necessary, as information relative to its numbers and movements might be given to the enemy, if a hostile party should subsequently visit the place. Farmhouses are searched for newspapers and the inhabitants questioned. If necessary to go up to a building, wood or hill, where an enemy is likely to be concealed, run for the last couple of hundred yards, having your rifle ready for instant use, and make for some point that will afford you cover when you get close up. In the case of a building, for instance, you would make for one of the corners. Such a maneuver would probably be disconcerting to anyone who might be lying in wait for you, and would be quite likely to cause them to show themselves sooner than they intended, and thus give you a chance to turn around and get away. If they fired on you while you were approaching at a run, they would not be very likely to hit you.

997. Villages. (a) In approaching a small village one or two men are sent in to reconnoiter and one around each flank, but the main body does not enter until the scouts have reported. In small patrols of three to six men so much dispersion is not safe and only one section of the village can be reconnoitered at a time.

(b) If the presence of the enemy is not apparent, the patrol enters the village. A suitable formation would be in single file at proper distance, each man being on the opposite side of the street from his predecessor, thus presenting a more difficult target for hostile fire and enabling the men to watch all windows.

(c) If the patrol is strong enough, it seizes the postoffice, telegraph office and railroad stations, and secures all important papers, such as files of telegrams sent and received, instructions to postmasters, orders of town mayor, etc., that may be there. If the patrol is part of the advance guard, it seizes the mayor and postmaster of the place and turns them over to the commander of the vanguard with the papers seized.

(d) While searching a village sentinels are placed at points of departure to prevent any of the inhabitants from leaving. Tall buildings and steeples are ascended and an extensive view of the surrounding country obtained.

(e) At night a village is more cautiously approached by a small party than by day. The patrol glides through back alleys, across gardens, etc., rather than along the main street. If there are no signs of the enemy, it makes inquiry. If no light is seen, and it seems imprudent to rouse any of the people, the patrol watches and captures one of the inhabitants, and gets from him such information as he may possess.

(f) The best time for the patrol to approach a village is at early dawn, when it is light enough to see, but before the inhabitants are up. It is dangerous in the extreme for a small patrol to enter a village unless it is certain that it is not occupied by the enemy, for the men could be shot down by fire from the windows, cellarways, etc., or entrapped and captured. As a rule large towns and cities are not entered by small patrols, but are watched from the outside, as a small force can not effectively reconnoiter and protect itself in such a place.

998. Roads. Their direction, their nature (macadamized, corduroy plank, dirt, etc.), their condition of repair, their grade, the nature of crossroads, and the points where they leave the main roads; their borders (woods, hedges, fences or ditches), the places at which they pass through defiles, cross heights or rivers, and where they intersect railroads, their breadth (whether suitable for column of fours or platoons, etc.).

999. Railroads. Their direction, gauge, the number of tracks, stations and junctions, their grade, the length and height of the cuts, embankments and tunnels.

1000. Bridges. Their position, their width and length, their construction (trestle, girder, etc.), material (wood, brick, stone or iron), the roads and approaches on each bank.

1001. Rivers and Other Streams. Their direction, width and depth, the rapidity of the current, liability to sudden rises and the highest and lowest points reached by the water, as indicated by drift wood, etc., fords, the nature of the banks, kinds, position and number of islands at suitable points of passage, heights in the vicinity and their command over the banks.

1002. Woods. Their situation, extent and shape; whether clear or containing underbrush; the number and extent of "clearings" (open spaces); whether cut up by ravines or containing marshes, etc.; nature of roads passing through them.

1003. Canals. Their direction, width and depth; condition of tow-paths; locks and means of protecting or destroying them.

1004. Telegraphs. Whether they follow railroads or common roads; stations, number of wires.

1005. Villages. Their situation (on a height, in a valley or on a plain); nature of the surrounding country; construction of the houses, nature (straight or crooked) and width of streets; means of defense.

1006. Defiles. Their direction; whether straight or crooked; whether heights on either side are accessible or inaccessible; nature of ground at each extremity; width (frontage of column that can pass through).

1007. Ponds and Marshes. Means of crossing; defensive use that might be made of them as obstacles against enemy; whether the marshy grounds are practicable for any or all arms.

1008. Springs and Rivulets. Nature of approaches; whether water is drinkable and abundant.

1009. Valleys. Extent and nature; towns, villages, hamlets, streams, roads and paths therein; obstacles offered by or in the valley, to the movement of troops.

1010. Heights. Whether slopes are easy or steep; whether good defensive positions are offered; whether plateau is wide or narrow; whether passages are easy or difficult; whether the ground is broken or smooth, wooded or clear.

(Destruction or blocking of bridges, railroads, etc.)

1011. Patrols never execute any demolition unless specifically ordered to do so. Demolition may be of two different characters: Temporary demolition, such as cutting telegraph wires in but a few places or merely burning the flooring of bridges, removing a few rails from a track, etc., and permanent demolition, such as cutting down an entire telegraph line, completely destroying bridges, blowing in tunnels, etc. Only temporary demolition will be dealt with in this book.

1012. Telegraph Line. To temporarily disable telegraph lines, connect up different wires close to the glass insulators, wrap a wire around all the wires and bury its ends in the ground (this grounds or short circuits the wire), or cut all the wires in one or two places.

1013. Railroads. To temporarily disable railroads remove the fish plates (the plates that join the rails together at the ends) at each end of a short section of track, preferably upon an embankment, then have as many men as available raise the track on one side until the ties stand on end and turn the section of track so that it will fall down the embankment; or, cut out rails by a charge of dynamite or gun cotton placed against the web and covered up with mud or damp clay. Eight to twelve ounces of explosive is sufficient. Or blow in the sides of deep cuts or blow down embankments. Bridges, culverts, tunnels, etc., are never destroyed except on a written order of the commander-in-chief.

1014. Wagon Road. (a) Bridges can be rendered temporarily useless by removing the flooring, or, in the case of steel bridges, by burning the flooring (if obtainable, pour tar or kerosene on flooring), particularly if there is not time to remove it.

Short culverts may sometimes be blown in.

A hastily constructed barricade across a bridge or in a cut of trees, wagons, etc, may be sufficient in some cases where only the temporary check of hostile cavalry or artillery is desired.

(b) The road bed may be blocked by digging trenches not less than thirty feet wide and six feet deep, but as this would take a great deal of time patrols would rarely be charged with such work.

1015. Report on Return of Patrol. On returning the patrol leaders should make a short verbal or written report, almost always the former, briefly recounting the movements of the patrol, the information obtained of the enemy, a description of the country passed over and of friendly troops encountered. Of course, this is not practicable when the situation is changing rapidly and a returning patrol is immediately engaged in some new and pressing duty.

1016. 1. Verbal.

Patrol Leader (Corporal B): Sir, Corporal B reports back with his patrol.

Captain A: I received two messages from you, corporal. What else did you discover?

Corporal B: That was a regiment of infantry, sir, with one battalion thrown out as advance guard. The main body of two battalions went into bivouac at the crossroads and the advance guard formed an outpost line along the big creek two miles south of here.

Captain A: Give me an account of your movements.

Corporal B: We followed this main road south to the creek, where we avoided a mounted patrol moving north on the road at 1–45 P. M., and then reconnoitered the valley from a ridge west of the road. We followed the ridge south for half a mile to a point where we could see a road crossing the valley and the main road at right angles, three miles south of here. There we halted, and at 2:20 what seemed to be the point and advance party (about forty men) of an infantry advance guard appeared, marching north up this road, the head at the crossroad. I then sent you message No. 1 by Private Brown.

In fifteen minutes three companies had appeared 600 yards in rear of the advance party, and I could see a heavy, low column of dust about one-half mile further to the rear. Message No. 2 was then sent in by Privates Baker and Johnson, and to avoid several hostile patrols, I drew off further to the northwest.

The advance guard then halted and established an outpost line along the south of the creek, two miles from here. The cloud of dust proved to be two more battalions and a wagon train. These two battalions went into bivouac on opposite sides of this road at the crossroads and sent out strong patrols east and west on the crossroad.