_The Director_: “Captain Harvey, let us assume that you are Sergeant B.
You have joined your leading man here and he points out to you what he
has seen. You observe six enemy infantrymen marching down the road in a
formation similar to the one your patrol is now in. The leading man is
at ——. (The Director points out the exact location of the enemy’s
leading man, which should be at least 500 yards distant.) Apparently
they have not observed you. What is your reaction to this situation?”
_Captain Harvey_: “At this moment I would have no means of telling
whether these men are an enemy patrol or the point of an advance guard.
The formation would be about the same. Can the Director give us definite
information on that point?”
_The Director_: “All right. Let us assume for the moment that it is an
enemy patrol. What would you do?”
_Captain Harvey_: “Under those circumstances, I would have my patrol
take cover and let the enemy patrol go on by.”
_The Director_: “That would be the logical thing to do. Now, let us
assume that the enemy are the point of an advance guard. What would you
do?”
_Captain Harvey_: “In that event I would open fire on them immediately.”
_The Director_: “What would be your object in doing that?”
_Captain Harvey_: “By opening fire I give warning to our outpost that
the enemy is advancing and I delay him because he will have to stop and
make more or less reconnaissance before proceeding.”
_The Director_: “Captain Hodges, do you agree with that solution?”
_Captain Hodges_: “No, sir. This is a reconnoitering patrol. Its mission
is to get information of the enemy’s strength and composition. If we
fire on the point of this advance guard, all hope of getting any
information of what is behind it is gone. It will not take the advance
party commander very long to discover that we are only a patrol and he
will simply run over us. Sufficient patrols will be sent out to the
flanks to keep us away and we will get no information of any value to
our own commander. I most certainly would not fire on the enemy at this
time.”
_The Director_: “What action would you take?”
_Captain Hodges_: “I would wait a few minutes to try and determine the
strength of the enemy’s advance party. This would give me a general line
on his strength. I would then send my leading man, who has seen the
enemy himself, back to the support commander as fast as he could go with
the information we have. This would be a verbal message. I would have no
chance to write it out. I would then conduct the rest of my patrol off
to the —— flank under cover with a view to working around abreast of the
enemy’s main body to secure information of his strength and composition.
I would keep in contact with him to try and discover the direction of
his deployment and what his intentions are. I would make strenuous
efforts to get all of this information back to my support commander.”
_The Director_: “Those are the points I wanted to bring out. I do not
think our patrol would be justified in opening fire on the enemy under
the circumstances. We will assume that the enemy troops are a patrol,
and that we have decided to avoid them and let them go on by. Just how
would you go about that task, Captain James?”
(Note.—Captain James’ solution will depend upon the Terrain and the
cover available.)