_“A small body of brave and expert men, skillfully handled and
favored by the ground, easily may render difficult the advance of
a large army.”--Frederic the Great._
At the river Metaurus, the Roman Consul Livius gave a fine example of the
duties of a Column of Manoeuvre which are slowly and securely to retreat
before an advancing enemy and never to be induced into a pitched battle
until the arrival of the kindred main body.
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Frederic the Great made great use of Columns of Manoeuvre. In the Seven
Years War he constantly maintained such a column against the armies of
each State with whom Prussia was at war; while himself and his brother
Henry operated as Columns of Attack.
* * * * *
In the Revolutionary War, Washington maintained a Column of Manoeuvre
against the British in Rhode Island, another against the British in the
south and a third against the hostile Indian tribes of the southwest.
* * * * *
Napoleon constantly used Columns of Manoeuvre in all his campaigns;
notably at Montenotte, Castiglione, Arcole, Rivoli, Ulm, Austerlitz,
Jena, in 1812, 1813, 1814 and at Ligny and Waterloo in 1815.