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003 - Mountain Warfare Camps Protection of line of communication Defence of post · Military Strategies Mountain and Naval Warfare

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  Speaker 1: Part three of two essays on military history, strategy, and
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  Speaker 1: Tactics Mountain Warfare nineteen o nine and Naval Strategy nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventeen by various This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Part three Mountain Warfare camps. It is desirable for a
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  Speaker 1: column escorting a large baggage train, and this is essentially
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  Speaker 1: the predicament of civilized troops engaged in frontier mountain warfare
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  Speaker 1: to be collected in camp before nightfall. Otherwise the enemy
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  Speaker 1: may be given unduly favorable opportunities of employing harassing methods,
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  Speaker 1: but it does not result that the situation of troops
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  Speaker 1: unable for any cause to reach camp is at all desperate.
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  Speaker 1: Strong and compact forces adopting the usual precautions can probably
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  Speaker 1: in many, if not in most cases, march in safety
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  Speaker 1: after nightfall, but small detachments and baggage can rarely do
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  Speaker 1: so without undue risk. These then should always park and
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  Speaker 1: entrench towards nightfall, wherever they may find themselves when they
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  Speaker 1: will have little to fear for. Experience, as has been stated,
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  Speaker 1: tends to show that even a section securely entrenched and
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  Speaker 1: with ample ammunition can hold its own against heavy odds.
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  Speaker 1: The form of camp and the nature of the protection
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  Speaker 1: adopted depend, as usual on the topography and on the
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  Speaker 1: character of the enemy. A common method is to place transport,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera, within a perimeter occupied by the fighting troops,
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  Speaker 1: but this arrangement is by no means invariable, and it
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  Speaker 1: may be convenient to form two or more camps or
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  Speaker 1: to separate transport from fighting troops. The camp will, as
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  Speaker 1: a rule, be located in proximity to water, that is
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  Speaker 1: to say, in a valley, and in such circumstances, if
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  Speaker 1: it can be sighted well under one of the enclosure
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  Speaker 1: range of hills, protection from sniping will be afforded from
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  Speaker 1: this direction, though the overhanging heights must be securely held.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes a small basin is available for the bivouac, and
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  Speaker 1: in this case the troops can, to a great extent
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  Speaker 1: be secured from this favorite tribal device of firing into
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  Speaker 1: camp after nightfall. As is the case in all war,
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  Speaker 1: the measures taken for the security of a camp include
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  Speaker 1: a system of pickets, and in frontier expeditions these are
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  Speaker 1: placed all around camp, either on the level or on
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  Speaker 1: any commanding heights within At any rate, effective rifle range.
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  Speaker 1: Pickets may be pushed even further forward, but when so situated,
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  Speaker 1: must be numerically strong, as they are liable to be rushed,
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  Speaker 1: though more for the sake of capturing their arms than
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  Speaker 1: with the object of inflicting loss. No picket should be
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  Speaker 1: of less strength than one section. All should be entrenched
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  Speaker 1: against attack from any direction. Their bearing from camp should
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  Speaker 1: also be taken, and they should be in signaling communication
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  Speaker 1: with the main body, so that assistance may be requested
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  Speaker 1: and dispatched when necessary or warning given of the approach
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  Speaker 1: of the enemy in force. Bombs should be useful adjuncts
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  Speaker 1: to picket defense in case the enemy should succeed in
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  Speaker 1: forming a lodgment near the sangar. Though a sedentary system
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  Speaker 1: of pickets may discover the presence of a large hostile
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  Speaker 1: body near camp, and may in some degree check sniping,
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  Speaker 1: the latter evil cannot, by this means be completely prevented. Tribesmen,
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  Speaker 1: especially since they are aware that the British rarely risk
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  Speaker 1: troops other than pickets outside the perimeter, will often creep
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  Speaker 1: in and snipe from the area between the pickets and camp.
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  Speaker 1: There seems, however, no valid reason why sniping should be
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  Speaker 1: passively tolerated when a can probably be effectively combated by placing,
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  Speaker 1: in certain localities between the camp and pickets, small patrols
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  Speaker 1: of picked men provided with grass shoes, whose duty will
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  Speaker 1: be to stalk and bayonet venturesome marauders. Against this proposal,
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  Speaker 1: it has been argued that the British and especially the
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  Speaker 1: European soldiers are unfit to cope by night with tribesmen
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  Speaker 1: inured from childhood to move silently in darkness over rough ground.
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  Speaker 1: The contention is considered to be inadmissible, for though there
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  Speaker 1: is and must be risk in stalking snipers, picked British
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  Speaker 1: soldiers are surely now as formerly more than a match
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  Speaker 1: for Pathans in all circumstances, when the numbers are fairly even.
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  Speaker 1: The form of entrenchment, if any excavated round the bivouac,
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  Speaker 1: is conditioned by the character of the enemy. If he
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  Speaker 1: is prone to adopt shock tactic and to attempt to
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  Speaker 1: rush the camp under cover of darkness, a ditch to
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  Speaker 1: check his charge, backed by a parapet with head cover
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  Speaker 1: will be the most favorable form of defense. But if
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  Speaker 1: he is partial merely to harassing methods such as firing
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  Speaker 1: into camp, the perimeter defenses should be calculated to mitigate
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  Speaker 1: their effects by providing for all troops trenches well traversed
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  Speaker 1: and with parapets both to front and rear. If both
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  Speaker 1: forms of attack are possible, parapets with trench and ditch
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  Speaker 1: should be made, the trench or ditch being first dug
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  Speaker 1: according as a charge or sniping is most to be feared. Naturally,
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  Speaker 1: units protected by high ground on one or more flanks
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  Speaker 1: need only make cover so as to secure themselves from
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  Speaker 1: the directions from which fire can be delivered. Only infantry
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  Speaker 1: should hold the perimeter of a camp, machine guns being
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  Speaker 1: placed at the angles, and defence of each confided to
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  Speaker 1: one unit divided responsibility not being permissible, supports may, if
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  Speaker 1: necessary be located in entrenchments behind the perimeter, and a
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  Speaker 1: homogeneous body of about half a battalion allotted as reserve
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  Speaker 1: and given a bivouac near that of the column commander.
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  Speaker 1: In case of attack, The duty of cavalry soldiers is
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  Speaker 1: to stand to their horses of artillery to man their
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  Speaker 1: guns to neither. Therefore, in normal circumstances should a portion
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  Speaker 1: of the perimeter be confided, and both should be placed
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  Speaker 1: within its circumference At the same time, guns should be
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  Speaker 1: disposed in pits or appalments that they may sweep ground
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  Speaker 1: across which attack is most likely to be made, or
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  Speaker 1: they may be laid so as to search localities where
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  Speaker 1: tribesmen may collect prior to delivering an assault. Protection of
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  Speaker 1: line of communicatione action of a line of communication is
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  Speaker 1: secured by combination of passive and active measures, though the
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  Speaker 1: latter are of the greatest importance. Passive measures include the
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  Speaker 1: provision of fortified staging posts, linked up by a series
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  Speaker 1: of road pickets and supplemented by escorts to convoys. The
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  Speaker 1: active defense is by means of flying columns. Roughly speaking,
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  Speaker 1: it may be said that about one hundred men per
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  Speaker 1: mile suffice for all protective purposes, and it is assumed
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  Speaker 1: that the responsibility of a staging post commandant extends half
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  Speaker 1: way to the posts on either side of his own.
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  Speaker 1: The garrison of a staging post must be a sufficient
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  Speaker 1: strength and a suitable composition to secure the convoys halting
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  Speaker 1: there for the night, to furnish them with police escorts
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  Speaker 1: for the next day's march, and if road pickets are
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  Speaker 1: found from the post to supply these also. Roadpictkets can
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  Speaker 1: either be sent out each day from staging posts can
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  Speaker 1: be permanently located in a succession of blockhouses, or can
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  Speaker 1: be semi permanent, that is to say, can be supplied
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  Speaker 1: from a series of minor posts connecting staging centers. In
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  Speaker 1: each of the above cases, the same number of men
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  Speaker 1: will be required. The first method, by concentrating the troops
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  Speaker 1: each evening, makes for their general security. But since pickets
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  Speaker 1: must daily and at fixed hours, move to and from
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  Speaker 1: their places, a good deal of fatigue will be imposed
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  Speaker 1: on the men, and there will, in addition, be some
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  Speaker 1: risk of minor disasters to individual pickets, which may be ambuscaded. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: since the convoys cannot march until the pickets are in position,
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  Speaker 1: and as pickets cannot be risked outside the posts before
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  Speaker 1: sunrise and after sunset, the hours available for the movements
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  Speaker 1: of the convoys will be a good deal curtailed. Under
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  Speaker 1: the second alternative, a weak cordon is formed, portions of
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  Speaker 1: which cannot, owing to the topography, easily render one another's
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  Speaker 1: support in case any picket is attacked in force. On
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, no time will be wasted in posting
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  Speaker 1: and withdrawing pickets. The third system is a compromise between
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  Speaker 1: the two already mentioned, and seems on the whole to
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  Speaker 1: be the most advantageous. If three or four relatively large
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  Speaker 1: posts are placed in dangerous localities, such as valley junctions
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  Speaker 1: between staging centers, there will be little or no risk
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  Speaker 1: of their capture by the enemy. Since the pickets necessary
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  Speaker 1: to watch by day the area between the posts will
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  Speaker 1: have but short distances to traverse to reach their positions.
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  Speaker 1: The time available for movement of convoys will not be curtailed,
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  Speaker 1: and as the ground intervening between two posts will in
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  Speaker 1: some degree be over lad looked from them, there will
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  Speaker 1: be less chance than under the first method of picicas
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  Speaker 1: falling into ambuscades. The efficiency of the protection of a
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  Speaker 1: line of communication depends, however, on the active, not on
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  Speaker 1: the passive measures for its security. Active defense is maintained
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  Speaker 1: by flying columns of strength and organization suitable to the
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  Speaker 1: character of the enemy and the nature of the country.
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  Speaker 1: To these columns is confided the protection of certain areas,
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  Speaker 1: an end attained not by inactivity, for the troops should
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  Speaker 1: be continually on the move, so that the enemy can
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  Speaker 1: never be certain when and where to expect them, but
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  Speaker 1: by a vigorous and energetic offensive in whatever directions. An
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  Speaker 1: efficient service of intelligence reports hostile gatherings. The enemy's movements
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  Speaker 1: and projects must in fact be anticipated rather than countered
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  Speaker 1: when in course of execution defense of a post. When
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  Speaker 1: considering what steps are to be taken for the defense
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  Speaker 1: of a post large or small, the maxim that the
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  Speaker 1: offensive is the best defense must be ever prominently before
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  Speaker 1: the mind. It follows that the first step, after a
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  Speaker 1: site has been selected, the water supply secured, and the
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  Speaker 1: usual measurements for security taken, should be to set apart
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  Speaker 1: as many men as possible for offensive purposes, including reconnaissance.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, the strength of the reserve should be
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  Speaker 1: calculated from these premises, having due regard to the number
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  Speaker 1: of nights in bed required by the whole garrison, and
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  Speaker 1: the reserve should not be such men as may be
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  Speaker 1: left over. After the requirements of passive defense have been
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  Speaker 1: fully satisfied, the next item should be the selection of
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  Speaker 1: a keep or citadel where stores and ammunition can be placed,
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  Speaker 1: and where us spittle, headquarters, and a central signaling and
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  Speaker 1: communicating station can be located. In this keep may be
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  Speaker 1: placed machine or other guns, if available, so arranged that
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  Speaker 1: they can sweep approaches to the post, and also, if possible,
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  Speaker 1: protect with fire the flanks of picket stations. It will
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  Speaker 1: now be time to allocate generally the troops destined for
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  Speaker 1: guard and picket duty. These arrangements may be primarily made
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  Speaker 1: from the interior of the post, its safety being the
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  Speaker 1: first consideration, though for reasons of sanitation, the more space
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  Speaker 1: that can be given to troops and convoys, the better. Pickets.
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  Speaker 1: Having been roughly allotted, the plan of defense should be
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  Speaker 1: regarded from the enemy's point of view and the necessary
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  Speaker 1: changes made. And finally, the bearings of the picket position
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  Speaker 1: should be taken from the keep and roots to them
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  Speaker 1: cleared in case they should require reinforcement night. It should
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  Speaker 1: only be necessary to keep pickets at their full strength
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  Speaker 1: in night time. By day, the bulk of the men
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  Speaker 1: should fall back into the interior of the post, an
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  Speaker 1: arrangement which would at once facilitate water and food supply
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  Speaker 1: and would also be advantageous from a sanitary point of view.
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  Speaker 1: The next duties will be to deal with the general
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  Speaker 1: sanitation of the post and especially of the rest and
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  Speaker 1: convoy camps, to mark out the latter and to secure
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  Speaker 1: their policing. As time goes on. The post commandant can
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  Speaker 1: arrange for improved communication between the keep and pickets, as
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  Speaker 1: well as throughout the interior of the Incente, signposts being
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  Speaker 1: erected and the water supply enclosed. And of Part three