Under this head I should like to draw attention to the importance of
frequent practice in screening. In a war of operations, which includes
the encounters resulting from strategical concentration, the functions
of screening are, in my opinion, most important. The American War of
Secession showed in a surprising manner what could be done in this
respect. Stuart's screening of the left wheel of the Confederate army,
after the battle of Chancellorsville, for instance, was a masterpiece,
and the reconnaissance carried out by Mosby's Scouts during the same
period was equally brilliant. I would recommend the study of these
features of the war, as they are remarkably suited to the present day,
in spite of the great change in conditions.
Our cavalry keep, as a rule, but little in touch with such matters.
The new "Field Service Manual" introduces the idea of offensive and
defensive screens, but the cavalry lack experience in them. Offensive
screening is usually accepted, it appears, at all events, at the
outset, as being somewhat similar to reconnaissance duties. Real
screening is but seldom practised, as operations only last a short
time, and usually end with a cavalry encounter, entailing a lapse into
the usual set piece.
With regard to these exercises, I would point out that defensive
screening, combined with natural obstacles, and possibly with the
assistance of the other arms, is much more effective than the offensive
method, and therefore deserves more attention, and, further, that there
is a considerable difference between a reconnaissance and an offensive
screen.
In a reconnaissance an advance is made in the direction which the army
commander considers to be most important, and it is left to the enemy's
cavalry to oppose this advance. In offensive screening, on the other
hand, the enemy must be found before he can be attacked and beaten.
An advance would naturally not be risked in a direction that would
avoid the enemy's cavalry, and thereby afford it the opportunity of
approach against the main army. This should be prevented at all costs.
An advance must consequently not be made until information has been
obtained from patrols or scouts regarding the position and the line
of advance of the enemy's cavalry. Then a determined attack should be
made on the cavalry, the force being concentrated as much as possible
for this purpose. It is only after this attack has been successfully
carried out that the real screening work begins.
The two main points that should be observed when carrying out such
exercises are therefore: (1) no advance should be made until the
enemy's line of advance has been discovered; and (2) the forces should
be distributed, after the defeat of the enemy, on a broad front, in
accordance with the requirements of the screening duties, while the
enemy's beaten cavalry must be carefully watched, to prevent its
further activity.
With regard to defensive screening, it is necessary above all, first,
to occupy with sufficient strength all passages over the natural
obstacle that has been selected, and to effect a tactical disposition
of the forces that will enable them to do a maximum of work with the
expenditure of a minimum of strength, making the greatest possible
use of field entrenchments; secondly, to so dispose the reserves that
they will be quickly available to strengthen any threatened point;
and lastly, to arrange a system of communication along the whole
screening-line, employing any suitable technical appliances in such
a manner that the system will continue to operate even though the
enemy's patrol should break through the line. It must be possible
also to communicate quickly and safely to the troops in rear, so that
any detachments of the enemy that might break through the line may be
intercepted. The cavalry telegraph, in fact any kind of telegraph, is
the least sure method of communication, particularly in the enemy's
country, owing to the ease with which it can be cut. There must, at any
rate, be other means of rapid communication besides the telegraph, such
as flag signals or the light-signal.
In screening work, balloons are often very useful for discovering the
direction in which the enemy is advancing; they are more suited to
stationary work, especially behind a protected area, than to active
operations. The reconnaissance and the action of the cavalry could
then be based on the information received from the balloons. It will,
unfortunately, seldom happen during such manoeuvres that a balloon is
available, but all the necessary technical appliances for communication
should certainly be at hand.
The value of all these exercises, especially in the case of
reconnaissance, is largely dependent on the manner in which the enemy
is represented. The best plan is, of course, to place real troops at
their full strength opposite to one another, but this is scarcely
practicable, on account of the expense entailed. Even the Imperial
Manoeuvres do not faithfully represent modern armies and distances,
but only reproduce portions of great operations on a reduced scale.
The fact of the matter is that it is impossible, in time of peace,
to set on foot anything approaching the number of men, or to cover
anything like the extent of country, necessary to at all correspond
with the conditions of modern warfare. The only feasible plan is to
indicate columns of the army, and even large bodies of cavalry, by
flagged troops; but it is well to place real troops at the head of
these columns, so that they may form the vanguard and may send out
the full number of patrols and outposts, at all events to the front.
The reconnoitring organs would thus, at any rate to the front, be
confronted by an enemy disposed as in real warfare. I need hardly say
that _both_ sides should send out these reconnoitring detachments, as
far as possible at full strength; no advantage can possibly be derived
from the exercises if this is not done.
It is also very important to put the divisional cavalry into the field,
where possible at full strength, as the difficulties that beset the
reconnoitring patrols will only then become apparent. This divisional
cavalry need only send out a limited number of these patrols, as they
are, as a rule, not absolutely necessary in such exercises, but the
work of _screening_ should receive careful attention. The division
should therefore be surrounded by a screen of _security patrols_,
and all points from which the enemy's patrols might observe the
columns should be occupied. If these columns are on the march, the
security patrols should advance in "bonds successifs," together with
the divisional cavalry, from one line of observation to the next,
and thus prevent any possible reconnaissance on the part of the
enemy. If the ground on the line of advance is suited to defensive
screening, this method should be adopted, and all the enemy's patrols
and despatch-riders seen should be hunted down. When the hostile
reconnoitring patrols have been driven back behind their own screens
or outposts, measures should be taken to prevent their re-issue. If
the enemy's patrols endeavour to remain for the night in the vicinity
of the troops they wish to keep under observation, they should, if
possible, be attacked and captured. When operations are being carried
on in friendly country, it will be well to ensure the co-operation of
the inhabitants in obtaining information regarding the movements of the
enemy's troops. There are always old soldiers to be found among the
civil population, who would interest themselves in the matter if called
upon by the local magistrates to assist, and who would certainly do
their utmost to help their own countrymen and to hamper the enemy. Care
should, of course, be taken not to go too far in this direction, as
unfortunate consequences might possibly result.
It will also be well to send numerous umpires with the army columns
and their vanguards, and with the divisional cavalry, and also along
the main roads, whose task it will be to conduct the manoeuvres as
nearly as possible on the lines of real warfare. Umpires should also
be attached to reconnoitring patrols and squadrons, at any rate to
those of one side, so that there may be an impartial witness of any
encounter. The appointment of these umpires would have the further
advantage of providing work at the important points for a larger number
of officers, who would thus learn more than they would do when simply
marching with their units.
When the various portions of the army are to be represented by flags,
each flag should be made to represent a company, a battery, or a
squadron, but the flags should be so disposed as to oblige patrols to
estimate the strength of the columns by their length, as in war there
would not often be time or opportunity to count the separate tactical
groups of the enemy. Too few flags should not, however, be used, but
rather as many as possible, so as to produce the effect of a continuous
column on the move, infantry and artillery being clearly indicated. The
detachments of cavalry that would in actual warfare be stationed at
different points along the column might with advantage be represented
by real cavalry, who would be able to pursue the enemy's horsemen.
Artillery patrols might also relieve the cavalry of this duty, and, in
difficult country, march on the flanks of the column, thereby making
matters more difficult for the hostile scouts. All measures of this
description would greatly assist in giving to manoeuvres the character
of real warfare, and in increasing the difficulties in the way of the
far-too-easy peace-time reconnaissance.
Umpires need not confine themselves to deciding the results of
engagements. They might very well draw the attention of patrols that
act in a manner incompatible with service conditions to the hostile
spirit of the population, or, if necessary, bring about real or assumed
attacks that would inflict such losses or damage on the patrols as they
would probably have suffered in war. They can, in short, do much to
give the manoeuvres a semblance of reality.
The rôle of umpire is also a useful training for regimental officers.
Regimental and squadron commanders cannot form a correct idea of the
possibilities and functions of their reconnoitring detachments unless
they have accompanied patrols as umpires.
It is, in my opinion, impossible to go too far in the direction of
making conditions resemble as much as possible those of actual warfare,
as one of the greatest difficulties to be faced consists in sustaining
the interest of the troops and the semblance of reality.
Goethe, in his "Wilhelm Meister," remarks how rare it is to find among
men "any kind of creative imagination." Nothing, indeed, is more
difficult than to take a keen interest in hypothetical conditions. This
truth applies particularly to soldiers, and the difficulty is one from
which most peace exercises suffer.
Some very powerful incentive is required to induce troops to really
enter into the conditions presupposed by the general idea of the
manoeuvres. They must continually imagine the existence of real
warfare, with all its exactions and influences, and they must act
consistently according to the spirit of purely imaginative conditions.
It is during the reconnoitring exercises of the cavalry that the
men's powers of imagination are most heavily taxed, and that most
mistakes and unnatural situations result in consequence. Even the
officers display a lack of imagination in their inability to conform
to service conditions, to appreciate the difficulties and dangers
of any situation, and to take them into account when making their
dispositions, and in their general conduct.
During the last decade, reconnaissance at our smaller field-training
exercises and manoeuvres has suffered greatly from red-tape methods
and the consciousness of peace conditions. I refer mainly to the
transmission service. Times without number, single horsemen arrive with
messages from points behind the enemy or his outposts, so that the
messenger must ride right through the enemy, thus entailing the certain
loss of the report. It should be unnecessary to point out that the best
messages are quite useless if they do not reach their destination.
It is a vital mistake in our army, and one to which I have frequently
drawn attention, that these single orderlies are sent with messages,
and that even for long distances. Granting that the improbable might
happen, and they were successful in finding their way without maps,
often at night and in foggy weather, through a strange country, single
horsemen would, in the enemy's country, be often captured or fall a
prey to the hostile population. In spite of all this, every one is
opposed to sending a patrol with a message, and, when it is done, the
patrol's strength is cut down most unwarrantably. I am afraid that only
bitter experience will teach us the folly of this procedure.
It also frequently happens that technical appliances for transmission
are use in a most illegitimate manner. Telegraph-lines belonging to
both sides have before now actually been laid peacefully side by side,
and had their respective termini within the cantonment area of the
opposing armies. Until quite lately, telegraphic messages were often
sent through the enemy's lines.
In these exercises both sides, as a rule, find considerable difficulty
in remembering the assumed hostility of the population, and in making
corresponding dispositions. When selecting quarters, this point is
frequently forgotten, and patrols spend the night in villages in
hostile country, and in close proximity to the enemy's cantonments,
where escape, in time of war, would be practically out of the question.
On such occasions the prospect of comfortable quarters, where the
horses can be well cared for, has probably more influence on the patrol
leader's plans than military exigencies, and the protective measures
taken would probably prove correspondingly inefficient. The exercises
should therefore be so arranged that the patrols and, if possible,
the reconnoitring squadrons of both sides, advance into the enemy's
country, thus placing themselves in difficult situations; and the
umpires should have instructions to interfere immediately if anything
were done that would entail serious consequences in war time, as the
lesson that should be learnt is how to act in the enemy's country.
Particular stress should be laid on the method of writing reports. If
instruction in this direction is to bear fruit, all the details as to
contents, time and place of despatch, and any other important points
must be thoroughly discussed. Our cavalry still suffers from bad habits
contracted during peace training. It has not learnt to reconnoitre on
a large scale, and consequently pays too much attention to details of
the drill-ground, while it is unable properly to distinguish between
strategical exploration and tactical reconnaissance. Even in larger
exercises, where stress should be laid on ascertaining merely the
strategical dispositions of the enemy, the tendency is always to report
in detail, and as often as possible, while the relative importance of
such reports is seldom assessed at its right value.
The question of economising strength is often entirely neglected,
especially in the case of reconnoitring squadrons, just as it is with
forces of all arms during manoeuvres. The force is unwarrantably
weakened by making too many detachments, and is then called upon
to perform tactical evolutions which it cannot possibly carry out
satisfactorily. The commander must learn to husband his force, even
though his sphere of reconnaissance may be large. He must arrange the
strength of his distant patrols according to the importance of the
mission upon which they are despatched, and must reduce the number of
close patrols to a minimum, while being particularly careful to draw
in his patrols at the right time. He must, on the other hand, realise
the value of fighting as a means to the attainment of his object. It
appears to me that there is some confusion of thought as to the use of
engagements, particularly in reconnaissance work.
Formerly, the idea prevailed that cunning and speed were the
important features of reconnaissance, and that the enemy's scouts
should, if possible, be avoided. Now, however, the new "Field Service
Manual" enunciates the principle that even patrols should attack the
enemy's cavalry wherever met with. It is rightly represented that by
pushing back the enemy's patrols and other reconnoitring organs his
reconnaissance is hampered, whilst our own service of transmission is
assisted, and that only by a ubiquitous offensive can an appreciable
moral superiority be attained.
I should certainly be the last to oppose the idea of bold,
self-confident, offensive tactics; but the question is whether such
tactics would always be sound policy. In reconnaissance work, the
first object of an engagement is to facilitate scouting; the second,
to inflict losses on the enemy. Although the "Field Service Manual" is
undoubtedly correct in principle, it should not be taken too literally,
especially when the attainment of the object in view--viz. to obtain
information regarding the enemy--might depend on the result of a fight.
If any doubt exists regarding the result, it may be better to abstain
from attack; while, if it is evident that a victory can only be gained
at so heavy a loss as to adversely affect further reconnaissance, an
engagement should, if possible, be avoided. Every effort should be made
to render the tactical conditions as favourable as possible. A fight
on foot is to be avoided, as entailing waste of time and considerable
loss. A defensive action dismounted should only be undertaken when
there is a defile to be held that cannot be turned. Mobility, on the
other hand, must be exploited in every possible way, in order that,
if a fight is to be brought on, it may take place under the most
favourable circumstances. In such a case, if an enemy is encountered
who is either weaker or only slightly superior in strength, and who
is known to be without support, he should always be boldly attacked.
Stratagems, or creeping up to the enemy and avoiding his outposts and
patrols, should only be resorted to when it is necessary to avoid
discovery in order to attain the object in view. During training great
stress should be laid on a proper appreciation of these principles, as
our cavalry still lacks sound traditions with regard to reconnaissance
work.
Thus no greater error could be made during reconnaissance exercises
than to attach the most importance to encounters between the main
bodies, but this mistake is unfortunately frequently committed.
It is on the exercise grounds that these mass engagements can and
should be learnt. During reconnaissance exercises, however, the
strategical conduct of detached columns, and, above all, the handling
of reconnaissance organs, should receive most attention. These matters
would, of course, be largely influenced by the result of the main
action between the masses of the cavalry on either side, and this
should be made clear to all concerned; but the manner in which such
an engagement is actually conducted by the main bodies is of lesser
moment, and all attention should not be centred in it.
It is, however, essential that the exercises should be so planned
that the mass of cavalry does not advance in close formation in one
group, and that the reconnoitring organs are not obliged to carry on
the prescribed reconnaissances throughout the manoeuvres within the
area originally allotted to them, as would usually be the case where
the armies, or their cavalry divisions, advance directly towards one
another. This entails but a very elementary form of reconnaissance, and
is mainly of use as an exercise in co-operation between the different
units. The real difficulties only commence when, during the course of
the manoeuvres, the detached columns of the cavalry have to act in
concert; when they endeavour to co-operate after one of them has come
into collision with the enemy; when, perhaps, the areas allotted to
reconnoitring squadrons have been changed; or a success achieved by the
cavalry of one side or the other produces entirely new conditions, to
which the reconnaissance organs have to adapt themselves independently.
These are moments that call for great powers of judgment on the part of
the officers, and for skill and resourcefulness on the part of the men,
and they are consequently very valuable for instructional purposes.
The relief of the reconnaissance organs, hitherto never practised,
but highly important, also presents many difficulties of a practical
nature. An attempt should be made when arranging exercises to bring
about situations of this nature, which will be of great service to the
troops, and afford an opportunity of bringing to light cavalry talent
among the officers. Though such talent is often to be found amongst the
best horsemen or instructors, such is not always the case, and every
effort must be made to discover and foster it.
The cavalry service is no place for mediocrities, and it is important
that the directors of the exercises should be fully qualified to carry
out their task, and be free from all dependence upon Regulation or
prejudice. The personal equation plays a greater part in the cavalry
than in any other arm, yet in no other arm is it, as a rule, so
indifferently solved.