MISCELLANEOUS.
_Training and Employment of Scouts._
The selection and training of Scouts for work in the dark cannot be too
seriously undertaken, since the success or failure of a night operation
depends in a great measure on their efficiency. They must be men of
good constitution, active, able to bear great fatigue, and to sleep
at any hour of the day or night; they must also have acute powers of
vision and hearing, be able to make a rough map, to find their way by
the compass and the stars, and be absolutely without “nerves.” They
should be thoroughly well acquainted with the appearance of the moon in
all its phases, and have a knowledge of the rate of its movement, so
that they can at any time form an estimate of the time the moonlight
will last. They must be capable of moving across country in line with
considerable intervals between them, and of consistently maintaining
the direction of their line of advance. Each scout should carry a
luminous compass and a piece of card, covered with luminous paint, for
use under a tracing of the map. If possible, they should be supplied
with rubber soles to their boots or, at any rate, the heel pads, which
are to be found in most shops.
No scout can be considered efficient if he cannot pass through any
ordinary outpost line at night whenever he pleases; if he is really
well trained, nothing short of a continuous chain of sentries can keep
him out.
This power of traversing the lines at will affords great opportunities
not only of obtaining information, but also of harassing the enemy’s
outposts. Two or three small parties of well-trained men can keep a
whole section of an outpost line in such a state of nervous tension
that sleep will be impossible, and the resulting fatigue will greatly
diminish the efficiency of the troops composing it during the next day.
In night attacks selected men should be employed to surprise and
disable the sentry groups on the line of advance. They should attack
the groups from the rear, and the best weapon for them to use is an
ordinary life preserver, well weighted and covered with rubber, or a
small leather bag filled with sand and securely fastened to the end
of a short stick. A blow on the side of the head from either of these
makes very little noise, and, as the injury caused by them is not
necessarily fatal, they can be used with less compunction against an
unsuspecting man than more lethal weapons.
In addition to disposing of the groups, scouts should be detailed to
creep close up to the enemy’s piquets and supports, and to remain there
ready to throw hand grenades among them when the attack develops.
Suitable men soon become keenly interested in their work, for the
sporting chances offered by night operations have an undoubted
fascination for adventurous spirits.
_Searchlights in Attack and in Defence._
Even in open ground it is rarely possible to arrange searchlights so as
to illuminate the whole of the area covered by their beams since small
irregularities in the surface of the ground produce patches of shadow.
When fixed lights are exposed the attackers must endeavour to utilise
these dark patches when crossing the zone of light; if travelling beams
are used they must lie down before the light reaches them and remain
perfectly still till it has passed. Unless their clothing affords a
marked contrast to the colour of the ground it is difficult to detect
troops if only they remain motionless.
Should the enemy’s artillery open fire on the area covered by the
light, the attacking column must continue to advance, and if necessary
assume more open formations. The guns will probably have been laid by
daylight, and it is not easy to make accurate alterations in the dark,
consequently the quicker the attackers advance the less loss they are
likely to suffer.
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.
_Flares, etc._
When piquets are protected by obstacles an arrangement of flares for
lighting the ground in their immediate front is often useful. Empty
barrels, with both ends knocked out, are stuffed with straw, rags, or
even paper, which has been saturated with paraffin or covered with
tar; they should be placed about 50 yards in front of, and a little to
the side of, the piquet, and if a bold man is available to wait till
the enemy is close up before lighting them, they will prove of great
assistance.
I have seen short sticks, with rags dipped in paraffin, tied round one
end, used with effect; when set on fire they can be thrown 25 or 30
yards, and are hard to extinguish, but there is always a risk of the
enemy throwing them back again.
_Hand Grenades._
These ancient weapons, having been improved, are likely to be largely
used in future, and would be specially suitable to issue to scouts.
A well-trained scout would have no difficulty in getting close up to
hostile piquets, and the sudden explosion of a hand grenade could not
fail to have considerable moral effect even if it did little material
damage. Against columns advancing to make a night attack they would
also be very useful weapons.
The confusion which is caused among troops at night manœuvres by the
explosion in their ranks of a few ordinary crackers is strong evidence
of the advantage to be gained from the use of hand grenades at a
critical moment.
_Luminous Discs._
Luminous discs are required to mark the directing flank of companies;
they should be made of thin board, coated on both sides with luminous
paint, and mounted on a pole about 5 feet long. In shape they may be
either round or square, but it is useful to have one of a special
pattern to mark the directing guide. They may be from 12 inches to 15
inches in diameter.
_Pocket Electric Lamps._
The pocket lamps used by many officers for reading maps at night answer
well as points to march on. They should be provided with a cardboard
hood extending about three inches beyond the bulb, to check the lateral
spread of the rays.
_Connecting Ropes._
If ropes or tapes (entrenching tapes do well) are used for keeping
connection, they must be held up by men placed at intervals of three or
four yards. Unless this is done the rope is sure to catch in bushes or
stones, and will probably break.
_Passing Fences._
When possible a gateway will be used for the passage of the troops, and
if the gate cannot be taken off its hinges a man should be detailed to
hold it open till the column has passed; if no gateway exists a gap
must be made.
To make a gap in a hedge, choose a weak place, and cut away the wood
with saws or knives; axes and billhooks should not be used, as the
sound made by them can be heard a long way. Walls, if built of loose
stones, must be carefully pulled down and the stones piled up at the
sides of the gap; if the stones are laid in mortar the wall must be
climbed. Wire fences should have a length of wire between two posts cut
right out and removed; the cuts should be made about two feet from the
posts, and the ends of the wires twisted back round the posts. Before
cutting a taut wire see that it is firmly grasped on both sides of the
point where the cut is made, otherwise the wire when cut will spring
back with a loud, ringing noise. As sound travels a long way up a wire
fence, great care must be taken to avoid jarring the wires.
_Entrenching by Night._
If trenches which have been dug at night are examined in daylight, it
will often be found that owing to the faulty shape of the parapet a
good deal of ground close in front of the trench is dead. To obviate
this it is advisable to place white objects or electric lamps about 30
yards in front of the trenches, in order that the men, when finishing
off the parapet, may so shape it that when firing over it the line of
sight will cut the ground at that point. It must also be remembered
that in the dark men instinctively fire straight to the front, _i.e._,
at right angles to the parapet, consequently if it is desired to bring
fire to bear in an oblique direction some means of marking the required
direction are necessary.
_Wire Entanglements._
In making wire entanglements for the defence of posts any attempt at
neatness or regularity is to be avoided; the stakes should be unevenly
spaced, and the wire left rather slack with occasional loose loops in
it. An entanglement made in this way is harder to pass and to cut than
one of the regulation pattern.
_Halts at Night._
Unless a halt is to last at least an hour, its duration should not
exceed five minutes, otherwise some men will certainly fall asleep,
and the operation of waking them causes noise and delay. If a march is
to last all night, a halt for a couple of hours, to allow the troops
to sleep, is of great benefit, and will diminish but little the total
distance covered.
_Recognition of Friends at Night._
In repelling a night attack the defenders are always embarrassed by the
difficulty of distinguishing between friend and foe, and a previously
arranged code of signals is essential if collision between bodies of
our own troops are to be prevented. The Russians for this purpose
adopted the practice of chanting their National Anthem, and, although
the tune of “God save the King” may perhaps be too well known to be
safely used, it would be easy to select some simple English song which
could not be sung by our enemies.
_Knowledge of the Moon and Stars._
An elementary knowledge of the names and positions of the principal
constellations and stars is very useful in night work, as without such
knowledge there will often be difficulty in pointing out the particular
star chosen for the column to march on, and any mistake may have
serious consequences. The Manual of Map Reading and Field Sketching
states that the lateral movement of a star will not exceed 5° in 20
minutes, and that it is safe to march for about a quarter of an hour on
the same star.
If neither the tables given in Appendix III. of the Field Service
Pocket Book, nor an Almanac are available, it will be impossible for
the ordinary man to calculate accurately the times of the rising and
setting of the moon, but a rough knowledge of its phases enables us to
estimate approximately the duration of moonlight. When the new moon
is first seen it rises in the morning and sets soon after sunset, but
as its hours of rising and setting become later each day, by the time
it reaches its first quarter the moonlight lasts from sunset to about
midnight, and at full moon all night. When the moon begins to wane,
and its hour of rising becomes later than the hour of sunset, there is
a daily increasing period of darkness between sunset and moon-rise.
Consequently, when the moon is growing, moonlight may be expected in
the early hours of the night, but after the last quarter not till after
midnight.
The number of well educated persons who cannot distinguish between
the moon when in the first and last quarter is astonishing, but I
have found the old plan of taking a biscuit to represent the moon, and
biting pieces out of it to show the different phases, a simple means of
explaining the matter to recruits. They soon realise that if, as you
look at the biscuit or the moon, a piece is wanting on the left side,
the moon is growing; if on the right side, it is waning.
_Constant Practice the only Means of Acquiring Knowledge._
The old proverb, that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory,
is specially true of night operations; neither intuition nor books
can ever replace actual experience. The accidents that may, and do,
happen are so numerous, and the consequences of trivial mistakes so
far-reaching, that unless they have been seen they cannot be realised.
The only means of gaining knowledge is to constantly practise Night
Operations on all sorts of ground, and in all sorts of weather. My own
experience of night work, both on service and in peace, is probably
above the average, but I do not believe that I have ever returned from
any night operation without feeling that I had acquired some fresh item
of knowledge.
_Conclusion._
In conclusion, I wish again to lay stress on the fact that although
in planning any night operation it is necessary to proceed with the
greatest caution, yet, when once the undertaking has been commenced, it
must be carried through with the sternest resolution. In the dark the
boldest course is generally the best, and every moment of hesitation
diminishes the chances of success. To the junior ranks of the Army
night fighting affords chances of gaining distinction which cannot
occur in daylight, but these chances are fleeting ones, and must be
seized the moment they occur. The secret of success lies in acting
boldly and in acting promptly, and young officers, when engaged in
night operations, will do well to adopt the motto attributed to the
great leader of the French Revolution, Danton:—
_De l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace._
Transcriber’s Note
Occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.