GENERAL PLAN OF INSTRUCTION IN MAP PROBLEMS FOR NONCOMMISSIONED
OFFICERS AND PRIVATES--INSTRUCTION IN DELIVERING MESSAGES
=(The large wall map to be used for this instruction can be obtained
from the George Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wis., at a cost of
$1.50.)=
[Illustration: Elementary Map]
=954.= The noncommissioned officers and the privates of the squad,
section, platoon or company are seated in front of the instructor,
who, with pointer in hand, is standing near the map on the wall.
The instructor assumes certain situations and designates various
noncommissioned officers to take charge of squads for the purpose of
accomplishing certain missions; he places them in different
situations, and then asks them what they would do. He, or the
noncommissioned officer designated to perform certain missions,
designates certain privates to carry messages, watch for signals, take
the place of wounded noncommissioned officers, etc. For example, the
instructor says: "The battalion is marching to Watertown (see
Elementary Map in pocket at back of book) along this road (indicating
road): our company forms the advance guard; we are now at this point
(indicating point). Corporal Smith, take your squad and reconnoiter
the woods on the right to see if you can find any trace of the enemy
there, and rejoin the company as soon as you can. Corporal Jones, be
on the lookout for any signals that Corporal Smith may make."
Corporal Smith then gives the command, "=1. Forward, 2. March=," and
such other commands as may be necessary.
=Instructor:= Now, when you reach this point (indicating point), what
do you see?
(Corporal Smith holds his rifle horizontally above his head.)
=Corporal Jones:= Captain, Corporal Smith signals that he sees a small
body of the enemy.
=Corporal Smith:= =Lie down. Range, 700. 1. Ready; 2. AIM; 3. Squad;
4. FIRE. 1. Forward; Double time; 2. MARCH=, etc.
The noncommissioned officers and the privates who are thus designated
to do certain things must use their imagination as much as possible.
They must look at the map and imagine that they are right on the
ground, in the hostile territory; they must imagine that they see the
streams, hills, woods, roads, etc., represented on the map, and they
must not do anything that they could not do if in the hostile
territory, with the assumed conditions actually existing.
=955.= The general idea of this system of instruction is to make the
noncommissioned officers and the privates think, to make them use
common sense and initiative in handling men in various situations, in
getting out of difficulties. By thus putting men on their mettle in
the presence of their comrades and making them bring into play their
common sense and their powers of resourcefulness, it is comparatively
easy to hold the attention of a whole squad, section, platoon or
company, for those who are not actually taking part in the solution of
a particular problem are curious to see how those who are taking part
will answer different questions and do different things--how they will
"pan out."
=956.= Everything that is said, everything that is done, should, as
far as practicable, be said and done just as it would be said and done
in the field. The commands should be actually given, the messages
actually delivered, the reports actually made, the orders and
instructions actually given, the signals actually made, etc., just the
same as they would be if the operations were real. Of course,
sometimes it is not practicable to do this, and again at other times
it would be advisable not to do so. If, for instance, in the solution
of a problem there were a great many opportunities to give commands to
fire, to make signals, to deliver messages, etc., and if these things
were actually done every time, it would not only become tiresome but
it would also delay the real work and instruction. Common sense must
be used. Just bear this in mind: In the solution of map problems the
noncommissioned officers and the privates are to be given proper and
sufficient instruction in giving commands, making signals, sending and
delivering messages, making reports, etc., the instructor using his
common sense in deciding what is proper and sufficient instruction. In
carrying out this feature of the instruction it would be done thus,
for instance:
Instead of a platoon leader saying, "I would give the order for the
platoon (two, three or four squads) to fire on them," he would say,
for instance, "I would then give the command, '=AT LINE OF MEN. RANGE,
600. FIRE AT WILL=,' and would continue the firing as long as
necessary." Should the instructor then say, for instance, "Very well;
the enemy's fire has slackened; what will you do now?" The platoon
leader would answer, for instance, "I would signal: =1. By squads from
the right; 2. RUSH.="
Instead of saying, for instance, "I would advance my squad to the top
of this hill at double time," the squad leader should say, "I would
give the command: '=1. Forward, double time; 2. MARCH=,' and upon
reaching the top of this hill, I would command, '=1. Squad; 2. HALT=,'
cautioning the men to take advantage of cover."
Instead of saying, "I would signal back that we see the enemy in
force," the squad leader should take a rifle and make the signal, and
if a man has been designated to watch for signals, the man would say
to the captain (or other person for whom he was watching for signals):
"Captain, Corporal Smith has signaled that he sees the enemy in
force."
Instead of saying, "I would send a message back that there are about
twenty mounted men just in rear of the Jones' house; they are
dismounted and their horses are being held by horseholders," say,
"Smith, go back and tell the captain (or other person) there are
about twenty mounted men just in rear of the Jones' house. They are
dismounted and their horses are being held by horseholders." Private
Smith would then say to the captain (or other person), "Captain,
Corporal Harris sends word there are about twenty men just in the rear
of the Jones' house. They are dismounted and their horses are being
held by horse holders."
=957.= For problems exemplifying this system of instruction, see Par.
1017.
The instruction may be varied a little by testing the squad leaders in
their knowledge of map reading by asking, from time to time during the
solution of the problem, such questions as these:
=Captain:= Corporal Smith, you are standing on Lone Hill (See
Elementary Map), facing north. Tell me what you see?
=Corporal:= The hill slopes off steeply in front of me, about eighty
feet down to the bottom land. A spur of the hill runs off on my right
three-fourths of a mile to the north. Another runs off on my left the
same distance to the west. Between these two spurs, down in front of
me, is an almost level valley, extending about a mile to my right
front, where a hill cuts off my view. To my left front it is level as
far as I can see. A quarter of a mile in front of me is a big pond,
down in the valley, and I can trace the course of a stream that drains
the pond off to the northwest, by the trees along its bank. Just
beyond the stream a railroad runs northwest along a fill and crosses
the stream a mile and a half to the northwest, where I can see the
roofs of a group of houses. A wagon road runs north across the valley,
crossing the western spur of this hill 600 yards from Lone Hill. It is
bordered by trees as far as the creek. Another road parallels the
railroad, the two roads crossing near a large orchard a mile straight
to my front.
=Captain:= Can you see the Chester Pike where the railroad crosses it?
=Corporal:= No, sir.
=Captain:= Why?
=Corporal:= Because the hill "62," about 800 yards from Lone Hill, is
so high that it cuts off my view in that direction of everything
closer to the spur "62" than the point in the Salem-Boling road, where
the private lane runs off east to the Gray house.
=Captain:= Sergeant Jones, in which direction does the stream run that
you see just south of the Twin Hills?
=Sergeant:= It runs south through York, because I can see that the
northern end starts near the head of a valley and goes down into the
open plain. Also it is indicated by a very narrow line near the Twin
Hills which becomes gradually wider or heavier the further south it
goes. Furthermore, the fact that three short branch streams are shown
joining together and forming one, must naturally mean that the
direction of flow is towards the one formed by the three.
=Captain:= Sergeant Harris, does the road from the Mason farm to the
Welsh farm run up or down hill?
=Sergeant:= It does both, sir. It is almost level for the first half
mile west of the Mason farm; then, as it crosses the contour marked
20 and a second marked 40, it runs up hill, rising to forty feet
above the valley, 900 yards east of the Mason farm. Then, as it again
crosses a contour marked 40 and a second marked 20, it goes down hill
to the Welsh farm. That portion of the road between the points where
it crosses the two contours marked 40, is the highest part of the
road. It crosses this hill in a "saddle," for both north and south of
this summit on the road are contours marked 60 and even higher.
=Captain:= Corporal Wallace, you are in Salem with a patrol with
orders to go to Oxford. There is no one to tell you anything about
this section of the country and you have never been there before. You
have this map and a compass. What would you do?
=Corporal:= I would see from my map and by looking around me that
Salem is situated at the crossing of two main roads. From the map I
would see that one leads to Boling and the other was the one to take
for Oxford. Also, I would see that the one to Boling started due north
out of Salem and the other, the one I must follow, started due west
out of Salem. Taking out my compass, I would see in what direction the
north end of the needle pointed; the road running off in that
direction would be the one to Boling, so I would start off west on the
other.
=Captain:= Suppose you had no compass?
=Corporal:= I would look and see on which side of the base of the
trees the moss grew. That side would be north. Or, in this case, I
would probably not use a compass even if I had it; for, from the map,
I know that the road I wish to start off on crosses a railroad track
within sight of the crossroads and on the opposite side of the
crossroads from the church shown on the map; also, that the Boling
road is level as far as I could see on the ground, while the Chester
Pike crosses the spur of Sandy Ridge, about a half mile out of the
village.
=Captain:= Go ahead, corporal, and explain how you would follow the
proper route to Oxford.
=Corporal:= I would proceed west on the Chester Pike, knowing I would
cross a good sized stream, on a stone bridge, about a mile and a half
out of Salem; then I would pass a crossroad and find a swamp on my
right, between the road and the stream. About a mile and a half from
the crossroad I just mentioned, I would cross a railroad track and
then I would know that at the fork of the roads one-quarter of a mile
further on I must take the left fork. This road would take me straight
into Oxford, about a mile and three-quarters beyond the fork.
=Captain:= Sergeant Washington, do the contours about a half mile
north of the Maxey farm, on the Salem-Boling road, represent a hill or
a depression?
=Sergeant:= They represent a hill, because the inner contour has a
higher number 42, than the outer, marked 20. They represent sort of a
leg-of-mutton shaped hill about 42 feet higher than the surrounding
low ground.
Variety and interest may be added to the instruction by assuming that
the squad leader has been killed or wounded and then designate some
private to command the squad; or that a man has been wounded in a
certain part of the body and have a soldier actually apply his first
aid packet; or that a soldier has fainted or been bitten by a
rattlesnake and have a man actually render him first aid.
=958.= The privates may be given practical instruction in delivering
messages by giving them messages in one room and having them deliver
them to someone else in another room. It is a good plan to write out a
number of messages in advance on slips of paper or on cards, placing
them in unsealed envelopes. An officer or a noncommissioned officer in
one room reads one of the messages to a soldier, then seals it in an
envelope and gives it to the soldier to hand to the person in another
room to whom he is to deliver the message. The latter checks the
accuracy of the message by means of the written message. Of course,
this form of instruction should not be given during the solution of
map problems by the men. (For model messages, see par. 980.)
The same slips or cards may be used any number of times with different
soldiers. A soldier should never start on his way to deliver a message
unless he understands thoroughly the message he is to deliver.