NIGHT OPERATIONS
FOR INFANTRY.
Night Operations
For Infantry
COMPILED FOR THE USE
OF COMPANY OFFICERS
BY
Brig.-General C. T. DAWKINS,
C.B., C.M.G.
LONDON: GALE & POLDEN, LTD.,
2, AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
WELLINGTON WORKS, ALDERSHOT,
ALSO AT
NELSON HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH.
Obtainable from all Booksellers.
ONE AND SIXPENCE (NET)
ALDERSHOT:
PRINTED BY GALE & POLDEN LTD.
WELLINGTON WORKS.
1916.
P. 3,093. (_All Rights Reserved_).
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Importance of Careful Training in Night Operations 1
CHAPTER II.
Elementary Instruction 8
Training of Vision 8
Training of Hearing 9
Finding Bearings 10
Moving in the Dark 11
General 14
CHAPTER III.
General Remarks on Night Operations 16
Definitions 16
Importance of Careful Preparation 17
Plan of Operations 20
The Framing of Orders for Night Operations 21
Protection during Operations 22
Maintenance of Connection 24
Rifle Fire in Night Attacks 25
Caution necessary in planning Night Operations,
but Resolution Essential in their Execution 25
Defence against Night Attacks 26
Passive Defence Useless 26
CHAPTER IV.
Training a Company for Offensive Action 29
Instruction in Reconnaissance 29
Night Marches 30
Night Advances and Night Attacks 32
Guiding Troops across Country at Night 37
The Assault 39
Training for Defensive Action 41
Outposts 41
Position of Piquets at Night 43
Readiness for Action 44
Cover for Groups 46
Marking of Route to and from Piquets 46
Sentries Challenging 46
Sentries Firing 47
Action of Outposts in a Night Attack 48
CHAPTER V.
Miscellaneous 50
Training and Employment of Scouts 50
Searchlights in Attack and in Defence 53
Flares, etc. 54
Hand Grenades 55
Luminous Discs 56
Pocket Electric Lamps 56
Connecting Ropes 56
Passing Fences 57
Entrenching by Night 58
Wire Entanglements 59
Halts at Night 59
Recognition of Friends at Night 59
Knowledge of the Moon and Stars 60
Constant Practice the only Means of acquiring Knowledge 62
Conclusion 63
NIGHT OPERATIONS FOR INFANTRY.
CHAPTER I.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL TRAINING IN NIGHT OPERATIONS.
Although in recent years there has been a marked increase in the
practice of night operations, yet I doubt if the majority of officers
have realized that the changing conditions of war tend to make night
fighting a much more common occurrence in the future than it has been
in the past. A brief study of the accounts of the Russo-Japanese War
shows that, as time went on, both combatants evinced a growing tendency
to resort to night attacks, and to employ in their execution forces
of considerable strength; it is, therefore, reasonable to assume
that in future wars similar circumstances will compel the adoption
of similar methods. Moreover, if we consider the results which are
likely to follow from the facilities for the acquisition and the rapid
transmission of information offered by airships and wireless telegraphy
respectively, and from the increased efficiency of fire-arms, we are
compelled to realize that in all future wars operations carried out
under cover of darkness, not only for the purpose of massing troops
in a favourable position for further action, but also for the actual
assault of particular localities, will become a matter of constant
occurrence. Indeed, as a French officer, from whose book[A] I have
gathered many hints on night training, points out, night fighting can
no longer be regarded as something abnormal and exceptional, but as the
power of fire-arms increases, so will combats in the dark become more
frequent and necessary.
[A] “Guide pour le Chef d’une petité unité d’infanterie opérant
la nuit, par Le Commandant Breveté Niessel.”
For this reason it seems to me to be most important that we should
establish a systematic method of training our men. It is an axiom
that in order to master any subject properly the student must first be
instructed in its elementary details, and it is in this respect that at
present our system fails. During the annual course of training a few
night operations are carried out by companies, by battalions, and by
brigades, but during the rest of the year little attention is paid to
night work, and, in many units, at any rate, no attempt is made during
the winter to give the soldier that elementary instruction which is
indispensable to fit him to take an intelligent part in operations in
the dark.
It must be remembered that many of our men up to the time of their
enlistment have passed their lives entirely in large towns, and have
rarely been beyond the range of street lamps. Such men, when first
taken out in the dark, are helpless; they start at every shadow,
stumble even on level ground, make a terrible amount of noise, and are
generally in such a state of nervous excitement that they are hardly
responsible for their actions. Yet these same men, by a short course
of careful, individual instruction, can be trained to work together
with confidence on the darkest night, and when once they have gained
confidence their further instruction is comparatively easy.
If in daylight the moral is to the physical, as three is to one, there
can be no question that at night the proportion is many times greater.
Indeed, I doubt if the true ratio can be estimated at all. History
furnishes many instances of night fighting, in which the success
achieved has been out of all proportion to the number of the victors,
but it also teaches us that, in most cases, at any rate, the defeat
of the beaten side was due to disorganization through panic. Now it
is unquestionable that the best troops, if suddenly called on to face
conditions to which they are not accustomed, are liable to panic,
and it is to make sure that night fighting shall not be a strange
occurrence in our Army that I advocate closer attention to training in
it.
I am aware that some officers maintain that it is a mistake to risk the
chances of a night attack, because, even if the attack is successful,
the want of light will prevent it being followed up. This may be a
sound argument against making a night attack, but it is obviously no
argument against training men for night fighting. Whether we attack
by night ourselves or not, it is quite certain that our enemies will
sometimes attack us, and, unless we are prepared to be taken at an
enormous disadvantage, we must train our men to meet them in the dark.
Besides, even the opponents of night-fighting do not dispute the value
of an attack delivered with the first appearance of daylight, and
an attack at dawn necessitates an advance during what are often the
darkest hours of the night, with the possibility of its interruption by
a counter-attack at any moment. To carry out such an operation with any
prospect of success, even in the most open country, it is essential
that both officers and men should have the highest possible training.
In our Army, with men enlisted for a term of seven years with the
Colours, we have far greater opportunities of accustoming our troops
to night-fighting than most nations have, and, if we choose to do so,
we can bring our training to a high state of efficiency. It seems to
me to be folly to ignore our situation, and not to take every pains to
train our men to carry out operations by night, since, in view of our
comparatively weak numbers, efficiency in night-fighting may be of the
utmost value to us in any future war.
It is with the object of inducing officers to pay closer attention to
this branch of their men’s training, that I put forward a few hints on
a progressive method of instruction, which I have personally proved
to produce useful results. In order that it may be made clear that
training for night operations is a normal and necessary part of the
soldier’s education, a training which is to be carried on continuously
throughout his whole service, and not confined to the short periods
of company and battalion training, I advocate the commencement of the
elementary instruction while the recruit is still at the depôt.