Five Tactical Principles and Uniform Tactical Training CALDWELL UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY URBANA, ILLINOIS ■ Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. University of IUinois Library Five Tactical Principles and Uniform Tactical Training V. A. CALDWELL Major Twenty-fifth Infantry Schofield Barracks, H. T. December 31, 1915 = R ESS OF :eo. banta publishing co VIENASHA. WIS. Copyright 1916 by V. A. CALDWELL 1 ; a V- jt | wS X* PREFACE This book teaches that uniform tactical training is secured by having a simple and direct method of finding out tactical values; that any man can use. The method taught in this book is, there are five tactical principles that state WHAT should be done in every tactical situation. A tactical method is valuable to just the extent to which it enables you to put these five tactical principles into prac- tice, that is, tactical action is valuable to just the ' extent to which these five tactical principles will be or have been put into practice. As these five tactical principles are plain, definite, related, sequence statements of what should be done, it * will not be difficult for any man to ask himself Am I planning to do or did I do what these five tactical principles said I should do, and to what extent have I done this. This method cannot be followed without pro- gressive training resulting and it will be uniform^ because every one using it estimates tactical values by the same methods and standards. V. A. Caldwell, Major, 23rd Infantry . 373617 This book is dedicated to those who studied the big campaigns first and tactics later CHAPTER I The purpose of military training must first be understood. The purpose of all military training is to secure success in combat. Such military training as does not increase the chances of success in combat is waste effort and is therefore unintelligent. Such tactical training as is not adapted to combat conditions is also unintelligent. The instructor must be able to point out just how any part of the military training he is teaching is adapted to assist in obtaining suc- cess in combat. The instructor and the reserv- ist must know and analyze each part of their military training so well that when circum- stances require them to use any part of it, they will instinctively use it correctly. They must know their military training like a first-class mechanic knows his work. 5 Five Tactical Principles and Tactical training is all directed, either directly or indirectly, towards obtaining suc- cess in combat. Therefore to study tactics intelligently you must know the use and mean- ing of each part of tactical training. Further you must know the extent to which each part of tactical training assists in obtaining success in combat. Further you must know that the value of each part of tactical training is not fixed but varies with the circumstances and the terrain. A little thought as to this will con- vince you that in any tactical situation it is necessary to form an idea of the whole situa- tion and a little thought as to this will convince you that your judgment of the situation is always required. The above is brought in here to emphasize to both the instructor and the pupil that no book on tactics ever has, or ever will be written that will release him from the responsibility of act- ing tactically on his own judgment. Books on 6 Uniform Tactical Training tactics are written to develop and instruct judg- ment, not to furnish it. They are not written as sources of excuses for poor judgment or to take the place of judgment. The tactical laws are generally spoken of as tactical principles. They govern the tactical actions of the general and of the private, of the army and of the squad. They tell both WHAT tactical action they must have if suc- cess is to be expected and they tell neither the general, private, army, or squad HOW to do tactical action. The study of tactical action is largely a business of educating yourself to be skillful and ready in carrying out your tactical work as the tactical principles say you must. Tactical principles are simply the rules for tactical suc- cess as experience in war has determined them. From this it is clear that the study of tactics is really founded upon the study of tactical principles. 7 Five Tactical Principles and If a military organization cannot go out and meet the enemy and keep on meeting him it is of little or no value. Therefore, its excellence is judged by its field efficiency. If the training of an army has not prepared its different units to act together as a whole it may be said to be no stronger than the largest part that can act together. It is the old lesson of the bundle of sticks, as a bundle it is as strong as the com- bined strength of all the sticks. It’s effective as a whole. The tactical principle that lays down the law as to effectiveness as a whole is team work, this includes in its meaning another fundamental tactical principle, fire superiority. From the foregoing we have these tactical principles : Get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, act according to the cir- cumstances and the nature of the terrain, team work, fire superiority, and simple and direct methods. A tactical situation is just an actual or prospective combat. The above tactical 3 Uniform Tactical Training principles lay down the laws that should be carried out in every fight. One of the greatest American tacticians said : “The most frequent cause of defeat is fighting in detail.” Evidently just knowing the tacti- cal principle of team work is no proof that you know how to do your tactical work so as to practice team work. The only value in what you know about tactics lies in those tactical truths that you know well enough to make practical, correct, and prompt use of. As long as you do not know a thing well enough to make full and varied use of it you cannot be said to know it. A ninety-nine per cent mark on a written examination does not necessarily indicate five per cent of ready-to-use knowledge. Neither the instructor nor the pupil should be satisfied until knowledge as to a tactical point had been tested by varied practical examples. 9 Five Tactical Principles mid That team work includes fire superiority is plain because troops and their fire must be used in team work. If troops are trained to understand and use tactics differently, they will have difficulty in acting together tactically. Hence the neces- sity of uniform tactical training. This brings up the question : What is uniform tactical training? 10 Uniform Tactical Training CHAPTER II UNIFORM TACTICAL TRAINING Is it to be uniform in the sense of drill train- ing? Is drill training tactical training? Does drill training assist in getting success in com- bat? Is the mental habit formed by drill suited to modern combat? Is drill valuable as a disci- plinary exercise? The real answer to all of these questions is No. “Simple movements and elastic formations are essential to correct training for battle.” I. D. R. Par. 3. Drill “designed to teach precise and soldierly movement” is a left-over and has no place in modern combat conditions. The formations taught in drill are tactical and were designed to meet deployment and maneuver conditions that will always exist. They are tactical methods of carrying out tactical principles. The “precise and soldierly” movements required in past days by past con- 11 Five Tactical Principl es and ditions are no longer useful in obtaining suc- cess in combat. The discipline obtained by drill was neces- sary under the tactical conditions of old days. It is not even useful under the tactical con- ditions of today. Former tactical conditions required precise action. Present tactical con- ditions require action to be controlled by under standing and comprehension. The drill formations should be retained and their tactical meaning and use taught, but drill as drill, should be discarded as it is not a train- ing that is useful in obtaining success m com- bat and is too often used as an excuse for thought. It is a time absorber. Uniform tactical training is mostly a mental training. These three things have been mentioned as entering into tactics : tactical situations, tacti cal principles, and tactical methods. 12 Uniform Tactical Training Take tactics as made up of tactical situa- tions, tactical principles, and tactical methods and see if by considering them you can get a statement that will express the idea of uniform tactical training. We found that before we could use the tacti- cal principle of: Act according to the circum- stances and the nature of the terrain, we would have to form a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole and if we do that we could plan team work against the decisive point so that the team work would enable us to get fire superiority where it would count the most. The important thing is to find out some way to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole. As long as each tactical situation looks dif- ferent to us from every other tactical situation, that is, when it occurs to our minds as having no points in common with other tactical situa- 18 Five Tactical PnncMes and tions, we will expect and see an unfamiliar tac- tical situation. The thing to do is to examine tactical situa- tions and endeavor to group them into classes having qualities common to each other. You will find by doing this that there is one group where you will have both flanks and your center to look out for, another group where one of your flanks is protected and you have only one flank and your center to look out for, another group where both of your flanks are protected and you have only your center to look out for. Call these tactical groups; three point situa- tions, two point situations, and one point situa- tions. Now you can always grasp a tactical situation as a whole, as either a three, two, or one point situation. You see it as one of a group that calls for a certain general line of tactical action. Next you know that each man in the world is a man, he is different from other men and is recognized to be so by the things 14 Uniform Tactical Training that make up his individuality. It is the same way with tactical situations, so go over it to find out in what particulars it varies from the usual run of problems of its class. Next study how these differences affect tactical values in the tactical situation. The comparative and relative tactical values of the situation should be studied. Compare the situation to others of its class that are familiar to you and try to determine how its differences from them will affect tactical values. Next take the situation itself and try and determine how its indivi- dualisms will vary tactical values within the problem by varying its tactical relations and tactical action. Going over a tactical situation in this way has a value somewhat similar to the form in a field order. It is plain that the ability to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole is the best guarantee of being able to conduct combat 15 Five Tactical Princiyles and successfully. It is further plain that for sub- ordinates to be able to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole is the best guar- antee of their being able to successfully, carry out their part in combat. It is impossible to conceive of team work as not being based on a correct grasp of the situation as a whole. The importance of getting a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole cannot be over valued. Therefore, it is important to. organize and systematize the manner of doing it so. that all will think along common lines in forming a correct grasp of a tactical situation as a whole in order that the fuller thought of the more able may be the more readily comprehended by the less able, thus quickening and increasing that common knowledge and understanding of tactical situations, which is the object of uni- form training in tactical situations. To illustrate, the field order form has given us uniform training as to field orders. A 16 Uniform Tactical Training soldier may not be able to supply the ideas in a general’s field order but his uniform training, in the clear thought plan, followed in field orders enables him to understand the general’s order much better. Given the plan on which to con- duct thought almost any man will and can go much farther than if left to himself. To get a correct grasp of a tactical situation as a whole follow this process: (1) Classify the tactical situation as a one point, two point, or three point problem; (2) Examine the situa- tion to find its individual differences from other situations of its class with which you are familiar; (3) Estimate the value of its tactical points as compared to the points of other like tactical situations known to you. Estimate the relative tactical values of the different tactical points in the situation as to each other and to the whole situation. Go through consciously and systematically, and analyze as you go. As your training pro- 17 Five Tacticd Principles and gresses much of it will become instinctive and you will reach many of your conclusions by simply knowing. , It is well to note that Par. 1 of field orders is simply a short statement of the tactical situation. Tactical Principles Laws are rules of action. Tactical princi- ples are the fundamental rules which govern tactical action. They have been reduced to the simplest and most direct expressions. The ideas they are intended to express are recognized at a first reading. They tell plainly and to all what they require. As what they require is easily taken mental hold of, studying and thinking out the importance and extent of then requirements is too often not realized and acted Tactical principles should not be studied as something simply to be remembered They should be studied and thought out as the essen- tial guiding requirements of your tactical acts. 18 U niform Tactical Trairmig They determine and limit WHAT tactical action must be taken if continued success in combat is to be expected. To recognize readily and clearly what tacti- cal principles control a tactical situation is really to recognize readily and clearly what tactical action must be taken. The ability to recognize this habitually is first in importance as a military qualification. All soldiers cannot attain this qualification to the same degree but their training as to tactical principles can be made uniform. Tactical principles are and always have been the standards by which tactical training and tactical action is determined. Tactical princi- ples tell both officers and men what to do and as they do it so are they judged. Uniform training as to these tactical prin- ciples is as necessary in carrying on tactical action under them as a common language is necessary in carrying on a conversation between individuals. 19 Five Tactical Principles and Uniform training does not mean that every man gets the same amount of training u 1 does mean that as far as it goes m each indi- vidual case it is of the same kind. To use the common language illustration the vocabu ary of one man may be much larger than the vocabu- lary of another but for every-day needs they use about the same words and so a common knowledge and understanding is easily possible between them. , Combat orders are or should be drawn to meet the requirements of tactical principles. It is difficult to conceive of subordinates being able to intelligently carry out their parts in combat action without understanding the tac- tical principles upon which the combat or er was based. From this we see the importance of a real working knowledge of tactical princi- ples. As a matter of fact when you think it out tactical principles are the basis of all tac 1 cal practice and study. Past tactical action 20 Uniform Tactical Training is judged by them and future tactical action will be guided by them. In organizing and systematizing study and training in tactical principles the first thing is to find out what tactical principles govern every tactical situation. In other words, are there any that you always have and which every one should know and understand? There are five: Get a correct grasp of the tactical situa- tion as a whole, act according to circumstances and the nature of the terrain, team work, fire superiority, and simple and direct plans and methods. The first four are a natural sequence and the fifth states the requirement necessary to be complied with in carrying out the other four. Base your uniform tactical study and instruc- tion on this sequence and requirement as fol- lows : A correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole is required before it is possible to plan and act according to circumstances and 21 Five Tactical Principles and the nature of the terrain by planning and directing team work so as to get fire superority at the decisive points. The plans and control require common knowledge and understanding, therefore, they must be simple and direct. Tactical principles control tactical situa- tions and we found under tactical situations that the latter were best studied and under- stood by (1) classifying them, (2) finding out the variations from class which gave them individuality, (3) comparing the tactical values of their tactical points to the tactical values of other known tactical situations of like class, and (4) of getting the relative values of the tactical points in the tactical situation as to each other and as to the whole situation. All this is just organizing and systematizing what to do, to get a correct grasp of tactical situa- tions as a whole. A correct grasp of the tacti- cal situation as a whole is absolutely necessary if intelligent team work is to be planned or executed. 22 Uniform Tactical Training The correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole may originate entirely with the com- mander but there will still be no chance of team work unless the subordinates are able to grasp correctly the commander’s grasp of the situa- tion as a whole. This is true whether it refers to a general commanding an army or a corporal commanding a squad. As this tactical principle of getting a cor- rect grasp of the tactical situation as a whole is the soundest basis for successful combat, it is important that it be taught and trained in a uniform and through manner. The more com- pletely the situation is known, the better the chance will be to get a correct grasp of it as a whole. The higher the officer the more clearly and correctly he must grasp the controlling tacti- cal conditions of a tactical situation. After tactical action has begun in any considerable command, there is little possibility of making 23 Five Tactical Principles and any important changes. The lower the com- mander the more frequently and rapidly will the tactical conditions which confront him change and the more often will he be called upon to form new grasps of his tactical situa- tion as a whole and he will further be required to form these grasps so that they are in accord with the grasp and plan of his commander. Most decidedly the training to form a cor- rect grasp of tactical situations as a whole is not confined to the higher military officers. In fact, whether a command has or has not military training is largely a matter as to what extent it is trained, to correctly grasp tacti- cal situations as a whole whenever circum- stances require it. Being able to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole enables you to know how to act according to circumstances and the nature of the terrain whether you are a general or a private. It also makes plain the way to 24 Uniform Tactical Training apply sound tactical principles to concrete cases. As we have seen, getting a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole is simply pre- paratory to acting according to the circum- stances and the nature of the terrain. The most essential thing in acting according to cir- cumstances and the nature of the terrain is to have team work in your action, and again the most essential thing about your team work is to get fire superiority by it at the decisive points. You cannot rely on getting fire superi- ority unless you have team work, and fire superiority is the actual thing with which suc- cess in battle is usually secured. Team work is making the most effective use of every part of your command in order to obtain success in combat by means of fire superiority at the decisive points. The four tactical principles: Get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, act 25 Five Tactical Princi ples and according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain, team work, and fire superiority thus present a natural sequence in tactical action. You might call it the natural sequence of tactical action. The form of field orders indicates this, Par. 1 is the statement of the commander’s grasp of the tactical situation, Par. 2 is his plan of action according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain, Par. 3 is the statement of his dispositions for team work to get fire superiority at the decisive points. The tactical principle, simple and direct plans and methods, means that success in com- bat cannot be expected unless a command uses team work in its tactical action. Team work requires the understanding of not only your own plans and methods but the undei standing of the plans and methods of the others who are working with you. This understanding 26 Unifoi'm Tactical Training depends largely upon whether the plans and methods are simple and direct or the reverse. The simple and direct methods and plans referred to in this tactical principle are the final ones, the ones you wonder you never thought of before, the ones your hind-sight tells you, you should have used. Simple and direct plans and methods do not mark the beginning of military training, they mark that stage of it that knows what plans and methods will work and what ones will not work. Simple and direct plans and methods simply mean high efficiency of tactical operation. There are many other tactical principles but they are all in the nature of particular expressions of laws or rules derived from the five general tactical principles given above and unless you are able to understand how they are related to and derived from them you will not get the real meaning they are meant to express. 27 Five Tactical Principles and You must understand the general law to understand the particular law. You cannot organize and systematize knowledge unless you know the general and are able to understand the relation of the particular to it. You can- not organize and systematize your military training unless you are able to comprehend the relation of each part to the other parts, and the relation of each part to the object of all military training, success in combat. Military training that is not based on tacti- cal principles is a farce. How are you going to study tactical principles after you have become familiar with them as expressions? Start in by taking either one of the five tactical principles discussed, assume a tacti- cal situation as to terrain, enemy, and your own troops. Write a combat order for it. Then study your combat order and find out just how you did or did not write it to carry out the requirements of that tactical princi- 28 Uniform Tactical Training pie. Next examine it to see how well it carries out the provisions of the other four. Examine to see if Par. 1 gives a clear enough statement of the whole tactical situation for your sub- ordinate to grasp, guide by, and act on. See if Par. 2 orders action according to circum- stances and the nature of the terrain. See if Par. 3 shows a team work disposition and see if the team work is team work that will be appar- ent to the ones charged with the work of carry- ing it out. See if they will surely see the deci- sive points aimed at as } r ou see them. See if the team work combinations you have in mind are easily possible and that the relations of the different organizations designated for combined action are obvious. Sometimes a field order is written with the idea that inability to understand its meaning is no excuse. This is just exercising the most unmilitary of qualities. It is just scheming to avoid the responsibility by being indefinite as to 29 Five Tactical Principles and what is wanted and it is not keeping the real objective of securing success in combat in view. Using the same tactical situation make the following variations and write the orders for them : well-commanded and well-trained troops, . next officers and organizations, varying from excellent to poor, next officers and troops poor. You will find a new tactical situation to be i dealt with in each, you will find that a tactical principle is and ever will be a rule of thumb, and maybe you will find how tactical action under the same tactical principles, shapes dif- ferently as troops are trained or untrained. Just ask yourself: How much of the com- mander’s success depends upon his ability to fit or pick subordinates capable of doing the work he assigns to them? Next go through some book on tactics and write down a list of the tactical principles you find there. Then make up some tactical situa- tions and work out combat exercises to make SO Uniform Tactical Training specific, definite violations of each tactical principle one after the other. You will find out by doing this how the tactical law can be broken. Now go over these problems and find out how the violation of the tactical principle could have been avoided in each case. You will find there are more tactical principles than you thought and that they have more new, dif- ferent, and wider meanings than you ever dreamed of. Most tactical study is begun by reading war history. Actual battles almost always present examples where each side carries out some tacti- cal principles and violates others. Even the best of historians some times disagree as to just how the use of tactical principles influenced defeat or victory. In reading history the author usually sees for you and decides for you. Battles and Leaders is an especially useful book from which to study the use of tactical principles. Different leaders on both sides give SI Five Tactical Principles and the pros and cons of the different battles from a personal viewpoint. After reading both sides as presented by interested parties you find yourself trying to make up your mind as to the merits of a case. Your guide in doing this is your knowledge of tactical principles. Chancellorsville is an interesting battle. To many people it presents a case of flagrant viola,- tion of tactical principles by the successful party. As you study it do not try to make tac- tical principles conflict. Try to see which tactical principles were the most important. Did Lee divide an inferior force in the presence of a superior force or did he act according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain as determined by a correct grasp of the tacti- cal situation as a whole? This is meant to suggest to you that it won’t do to consider tactical principles as specifics that release you from the responsibility of acting on your own judgment in taking tactical action. Lee 32 Uniform Tactical Training ignored the lesser tactical principle and divided his inferior force in the presence of Hooker’s superior force and obeyed the greater tactical principle because his ability enabled him to get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. He played up to that ability by acting according to circumstances, of which T. J. Jackson was one and the wooded terrain was another. Results justified his judgment and action. Tactical results will often seemingly contra- dict tactical principles. It is doubtful if they ever do. A general tactical principle includes all special tactical principles derived from it, therefore, the action taken under the special tactical principle is only correct when it is also correct under the general tactical principle. A little study of this will serve to explain most of these seeming contradictions between results and principles. It is usually a narrow, hide- 33 Five Tactical Principles and bound, rule-of-thumb view of tactical princi- ples that is seemingly contradicted. Did Hooker’s army have a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, or act accord- ing to circumstances and the nature of the terrain, or use team work, or get fire superi- ority? Do not decide these questions by trying to settle who was to blame. Find out what was to blame. In dealing with tactics be imper- sonal. Who is only important as he affects what. As you become more and more familiar with the many expressions of tactical principles do not regard them as exact statements of pro- cedure that are each complete in itself. They only have strength as they are considered in connection with the five great general tactical principles. Their relation to, or derivation from one or more of these determines their use and importance. 34 Uniform Tactical Training The importance of the five great general tac- tical principles comes from their being the basic rules for obtaining success in combat. Tactical Methods A tactical situation exists when hostile troops expect to, or are engaged in combat. Tactical principles are the laws or rules which state what procedure will best secure suc- cess in combat. Tactical methods are the ways used to carry out the tactical principles that state what tacti- cal action should be taken in a tactical situa- tion. A tactical situation states the tactical con- ditions. Tactical principles state what is to be done. Tactical methods state, HOW what is to be done, is to be done. To organize and systematize uniform train- ing in tactical methods, it is necessary to find 35 Five Tactical Prrnciples and out the essential things which control tactical methods. A correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, act according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain, team work, fire superiority, simple and direct plans and methods. It is evident that these five must be considered in every tactical method. How it is to be done, is largely a matter of what is to be done. If a tactical method is not adopted to carry out the above tactical principles it is now worth considering. Therefore, tactical principles must be considered in determin- ing tactical methods. Terrain always has and always will be considered in determining tacti- cal methods. The weapons you use and the weapons the enemy uses have and always will have a strong influence in determining the form and use of tactical methods. The terrain and the weapons usually deter- mine what we may call the set forms of tacti- 36 Uniform Tactical Training cal methods but they do not make plain the real idea about which we desire to build our uniform training in tactical methods. The real idea about which all uniform tactical training should be built is success in combat. A cut and dried system or a blind adherence to form cannot be relied on to secure success in combat. Success does not come from the system or form but from the skill which adapts the form or sys- tem to the end in view. If the system or form has been skillfully devised to meet the condi- tions of its purpose, it is still almost entirely dependent in accomplishment upon its proper employment. This question of skilled use is always a vital one but it is still more vital when it is a question of tactical methods. The form of a tactical method is too often considered of more importance than the reason for the form. The things that usually determine the regu- lar training forms of tactical methods have 37 Five Tactical Principles and been stated. Now the statement is made that uniform training in tactical methods is based upon the skill with which they are used accord- ing to circumstances and the nature of the terrain. The circumstances are many and the diner- ent combinations which can be made by varying the circumstances of a tactical situation are almost countless. The impossibility of reduc- ing tactical methods to more than general forms is apparent when you consider this, and the necessity for skilful adaptations of tactical methods to conditions as you find them is obvious. Tactical methods are usually more a matter of skilled personal leadership than a matter of command. Skilled leadership in the sense of commands small enough to be handled personally is almost impossible unless the higher commander whose orders are to be car- ried out by subordinates is able to realize how his subordinates can carry out his orders. 88 Uniform Tactical Training Only those who have served are fit to command means about this. Par. 3 of combat orders gives the disposi- tions which should state the team work. Can the commander expect his subordinates to carry out his orders by the use of tactical methods unless he can clearly realize what those methods are to be, and the possibility of their being used. To plan a house you must know how it is built. Consider an architect’s house plans and a woman’s house plans. Skilled command is founded upon skilled leadership. A correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole most emphatically requires a knowledge of the tactical methods to be used in the tacti- cal situation. Team work is carried out by means of tactical methods. Tactical methods are executed through subordinate officers. It is evident that if the subordinate officers are to act intelligently they must be able to get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a 39 Five Tactical Principles and whole in order to use tactical methods accord- ing to circumstances and the nature of the terrain while following the team work combat plan of getting fire superiority at the selected decisive points. A little thought will make it plain that this training requires the same kind of knowledge from top to bottom. The basis of uniform training in tactical methods is not so much a knowledge of the forms of tactical methods as it is of so under- standing their purposes as to be able to make skilful and appropriate use of them. The form of a tactical method is determined by its purpose. Knowledge of it as a form makes controlled action possible. Under- standing the purpose of its form makes skilled and intelligent controlled action possible and probable. Suppose you select a tactical situation. Use the same terrain, keep the number of troops on 40 Uniform Tactical Training either side fixed, attack from the same place and find the enemy in the same place each time. Only vary the enemy’s conditions as to his formations, training, physical and menta] state. Your tactical principles in each case will be the same. The resulting cases differ, therefore, it may easily and properly happen that from your grasp of each case you will decide to use a different tactical method for each case as being better suited to its circumstances, team work, and fire superiority requirements. This is just a simple illustration to show that the skilful use of tactical methods is not a matter of cut and dried form. An examination of tactical methods will reveal that they are all founded on a few simple ideas and that these ideas have governed them since time began. Before stating them remem- ber that anything that is simple and direct has been reduced to that form from the complex 41 Five Tactical Prin^P^l and indirect. The complex and indirect are difficulties that you do not realize immediately if you come in contact with the simple and direct first. Sooner or later they will bother you until you eliminate them by your own reasoning and thinking. Tactical combat has always been carried on in a line formation. Therefore, the most impor- tant. tactical methods are founded on line for- mations. Start a combat as you please, sooner or later it will result in opposing lines. Usually one line will advance and the other retire. Therefore the most important single tactical method is the way to advance a line under fire. This suggests the question how do you form a line ? All lines are formed by using the familiar drillbook plans of, to into line, on into line, and front into line. Using to into line, on into line, and front into line skilfully is in itself a study of tactical methods. The deep battle forma- 42 Uniform Tactical Training tions of large commands are based on it. Do not overlook the fact that getting into line is what is aimed at and that advancing a firing line is nearly always required to obtain suc- cess in combat. Suppose we think of tactical methods under these divisions: (1) Approach tactical methods; (2) Deployment tactical methods; and (8) Combat tactical methods. To get a more familiar view of tactics and especially of tactical methods, let us regard the commander as the architect, the subordinates as rating from skilled mechanics to skilled laborers and tactical methods as the tools. All tactical methods are reduced to forms. When the need is a common one the best form will sooner or later become almost fixed as its suitability is recognized. Drill formations are good examples of this. The use to which a tool is to be put deter- mines its form. The tool is shaped to do the work for which it was designed. No matter 43 Five Tactical Principles and how well the tool is adapted to do the work, doing the work depends on an adequate human agency. The form has value both in tools and in tacti- cal methods but in either results depend mostly upon the skill and intelligence with which they are used. A soldier must be trained m tactical methods until he is skilled in their employment. Just being familiar with their names and shapes is not nearly enough. He must, of course, know why they have their different forms if he is to use them intelligently. Approach tactical methods are usually column formations. The roads or passability of the country determine the width of the columns. The depth usually depends upon whether the enemy is near or far. Deployment tactical methods are as a rule not sufficiently organized and systematized to secure uniform training in them. A good for- mation for deployment is really a part of the 44 Uniform Tactical Training deployment. The larger the force the more vital to success is the suitable deployment for- mation that preceeds combat. Fire and flank attack and defense are the principal things that determine depth. Gener- ally speaking the depth increases with the size of the command. The necessity for depth often disappears with a small command and the neces- sity for width takes its place. This arises when the depth of a small command would allow the entire command to be held under a front or flank fire. Do not get the idea, that depth of itself will either protect or attack flanks. Depth simply allows rear troops to be moved to attack or defend toward the flanks. It also allows troops to be held out of immediate fire where they will be the shortest average distance from all parts of the field of action. It also allows them to execute their firing-line deployment well in rear of the firing line. The very great 45 Five Tactical Principles and advantage of this is often overlooked. The advantage usually mentioned is that they will not be forced to deploy under fire. A greater advantage is that they can be deployed methodi- cally and their task explained to them so that they grasp it. Soldiers instinctively grasp and reflect, to a greater or less extent, the mental condition and viewpoint of their leaders. If the leader fully and clearly grasps the work to be done the soldier is very apt to do the same, or else he feels the leader knows j list what he is about and simply accepts his decisions as correct. The moral effect on a command of a deploy- ment, that is workmanlike and that is so clearly the right thing to do that it explains itself is tremendous. Soldiers hate confusion, uncer- tainty and lack of decision in deployment more than anything else in combat. They feel that even while control is yet easy their leaders do not know what to do. 46 Uniform Tactical Training When you are expecting action, your depth of formation will not be in one or more long columns. If you hold your troops that way you offer the enemy a chance to concentrate his fire and it also permits the flat trajectory of his fire to be most destructive. Therefore, your formation will be in successive lines. A real line for the first line. It does the actual firing. The lines in rear are usually lines of short columns. The second line for local supports. The third line for local reserves. The fourth line for the brigade or division supports. The fifth line for the brigade or division reserves. The sixth line for troops intended for special work. The sev- enth line for the general reserve. This is just a handy example. There is no cut and dried way to secure depth of formation. The depth of formation is based on the tac- tical principles. It will be as the commander sees the tactical situation as a whole and 47 Five Tactical Principles and decides to act on the circumstances and terrain so that he can bring team work against the decisive points in order to get fire superiority where it will give him success in the combat. It was said that depth of formation allowed troops to be held out of fire where they would be the shortest average distance from all parts j of the field of action. The commander and his subordinates never know all of it. Therefore, when the expected unexpected happens, the depth of formation with its various supports and reserves gives them troops that are more or less free to act and are in position .to be directed to meet the unexpected opportunity or danger. When these troops actually commence firing they will be in line. Troops doing actual fight- ing are always in line. When they are suc- cessful this line is advancing. Think it over and you will find the most important, tactical methods deal with advancing the firing line. 48 Uniform Tactical Training The firing line must have cover if it is to advance. The cover may be actual or it may be covering fire. Covering fire is at its best, when it has and continues to have such superiority of fire over the enemy’s fire as enables you to continue your advance against him. Ordinarily, success in combat depends on the advance being kept up. The necessity of covering fire is met by the tactical method of rushes. The necessity of having this covering fire available all of the time is met by having parts of the line firing or ready to fire when the other parts are advancing. The rate of advance of the firing line depends upon the proportion of your command that must be used to maintain fire superiority. If the fire of three-fourths of your command is required to maintain fire superiority your advance will take twice as long as when only one-half of your command is required to main- 49 Five Tactical Prrnciples and tain fire superiority. If the fire units work with sufficient intervals the fire of adjacent units can be continuous. If the units of your command are elbow to elbow and you are using successive rushes you will practically have to angle the fire of the platoon next to rush or else have it not fire, for fear of hitting the rushing unit. This will slow down your advance and decrease your fire superiority. You are usually able to use the interval if the command is not too large. You will find that the rate of your advance depends largely upon the degree of your fire superiority. The combat tactical methods you are to work out are: How to advance a filing line the most rapidly while maintaining an adequate fire superiority. It is clear that fire superiority requires hits to be made on the designated enemy at the time required. This requires marksmanship. Battles are one long proof of the value of 50 Uniform Tactical Training marksmanship. Marksmanship means hitting power that can be controlled and directed. The fact that poor control or direction may nullify marksmanship detracts nothing from its real importance. There is nothing that insures morale in the individual more than the know- ledge that he is a good shot. For fire superiority to result in success in combat it must always inflict decisive losses upon the enemy. The better the marksmanship the fewer the rifles that will be required to get a given hitting capacity. This is important because a firing line will usually only accommo- date about one man to a yard. The usual way of building up fire superiority is to put as many guns on the line as are required or as the line permits. Quality of fire counts as well as quan- tity of fire. It is evident that, if you can attack the enemy in such a way that he can not return your fire, you will have complete fire superi- 51 Five Tactical Principles and ority. The flank attack represents about this case. As the flank attack move around through the quarter circle from being squarely across the enemy’s line, your fire superiority loses in concentration and depth of fire along the enemy’s line where your flat trajectory has its greatest effect. As your fire becomes less and less oblique your target becomes wider as a target and shallower until you get the frontal or parallel line action. The enemy can use few guns against a square flank attack but as the lines become more and more nearly parallel he can use more guns and use them better and his fire is less and less dispersed. This can be expressed as follows: The less an enemy is able to oppose a line attack with a line defense the more he is apt to lose fire superiority. This does not mean that all an enemy has to do is to parallel your line ; it means that he will fight against you in a true line where depth is at a minimum and 52 Uniform Tactical Training fire is at a maximum. He might hit your flank with that line. The real reason for the line formation is that yard for yard and man for man it secures the greatest development of fire and the least solid depth of target. It is obvious but not always consciously realized. The tactical meth- ods of forming a line are all based on: to into line, front into line, and on into line. To into line is the simultaneous method of forming line to a flank. Front into line is the successive meth- od of forming line to the front. On into line is the successive method of forming line to the flank. The ordinary main course of a combat is about as follows: First, the simultaneous formation of a firing line and all the rest of the formations successive but with the object of forming lines. Simultaneous formations are largely mechan- ical. Successive formations are or are not. It depends on the way you have been taught. 58 Five Tactical Principles and Do you see front into line through the drill book or do you see it as an echelon that defends your flank and do you see that every leaf of an echelon presents a weapon with which you can strike the exposed flank of an enemy? Do you see that every leaf of your echelon presents a covered flank which the enemy must turn? Do you see on into line as an echelon? Do you see one leaf of it holding the enemy’s flank in place, another leaf flanking him, another leaf enveloping him, another leaf turning him, and another leaf, and it is an important one, guard ing your own exposed outer end of your line? Depth of formation enables you to send men directly forward into the firing line and guard your own flanks or strike the enemy’s flanks by means of echelon formations. Not drill ground echelons but echelons that are placed to do team work and fire to the front, rear or to either flank as ciscumstances require. 54 Uniform Tactical Training The fire of any given command is most effec- tive against a battle line when it is delivered from a flanking position. You use your fire to obtain and maintain fire superiority. There- fore, fire superiority is best obtained and main- tained by getting and keeping a flanking position. During the first years of our Civil War, to flank the enemy was to defeat him. During most of our field maneuvers, to get a flanking position is usually to get the decision. It is very seldom that a good counter for a flank attack is seen at our maneuvers. As far as tactical methods go, we can now deduce the important things which should form the basis of the soldier’s uniform training in them. They should be taught marksmanship. They should be taught the methods of fighting in line and they should be taught flank attack and defense. Marksmanship is taught under three heads : Accuracy by bull’s eye target prac- 55 Five Tactical Principles and tice. Accuracy combined with rapidity at tar- gets. Accuracy and rapidity at field targets under tactical, team work, fire judgment, and hits conditions. Fighting in line methods are taught by the successive rush system over ter- rain at an assumed or represented enemy, also by combat exercises. Flank attack and defense should be taught by the echelon method. Line work is based on deployment. Deploy- ment is a study in itself. Fundamentally it deals with, and should be studied from, the view- point of successive formations. Par. 3 of com- bat orders governs the disposition and, there- fore, is, in essentials, deployment, which is really a tactical method. This means that the deployment as a whole is controlled by the com- mander and that he is responsible for the meth- od of it. The deployment of one element should not impede the deployment of another. Deployment should be made before losses force it. It should be made far enough in rear to 56 Uniform Tactical Training permit its action to be explained and under- stood; as to what each part is to do, how its acts will relate to and assist or be assisted by the acts of the other parts. While it would be difficult to reduce the tactical methods of deployment to exact forms, it is easy to see that the echelon, as represented by front into line and by on into line, will be most used and from this we can deduce the governing rules of tactical methods. Front into and on into deployment methods give a line and so a cover- ing fire as the first step. Always cover deployment by having troops in position and do it as early as possible. This is the most important rule of deployment methods. On and front into line are not only just deployment methods, they are also combat methods that guard the exposed part during execution. They naturally carry out the rule of covering the deployment by having troops 57 Five Tactical Principles and in position and of doing it as early as possible , also the troops in rear protect the exposed flank of the troops in front because of the echelon formation, and owing to this formation a field of fire is secured greater than can be obtained by any other tactical formation. It is of interest to note that an echelon formation comes nearer to furnishing an auto- matic flank protection than any other tactical method. Tactical methods were to be con- sidered as : ( 1 ) Approach tactical methods ; (2) Deployment tactical methods; (3) Combat tactical methods. These can be reduced to sim- ple and direct expression: (1) Approach tactical methods are col- umns, when the size of the command requires it they are lines of columns. (2) Deployment tactical methods are simultaneous movements from column into line or successive, that is echelon, on the method of front, or on into line. Deployment tactical 58 Uniform Tactical Training methods are simply the best ways of widening the front into a firing line. (3) Combat tactical methods are based on the use of firing lines to gain and maintain fire superiority. Superiority of fire must be increased until decisive losses are inflicted upon the enemy in order to secure success in combat. This usually requires that the line be advanced and that superiority of fire be maintained dur- ing the advance. Successive advances are used. They allow fire to be kept up and allow a poor target to be shown to the enemy. The enemy’s fire is the most considerable hinderance to the advance. The best target for modern weapons is one where the solid depth is greater than the width. Therefore, a flank attack obtains a greater fire superiority than a frontal attack. The enemy’s fire is also greatly reduced in case he gives a target with greater depth than width, A flank unprotected by material obstacles is defended by an echelon. Combat tactical 59 Five Tactical Principles and methods are based on the use of firing lines to defend or attack the front and flanks. In Conclusion Tactical methods are the ways you do things in the presence of the enemy. They are numberless and are constantly change ing. The airship, gas, high angle and high explosive fire are best used in certain ways , as these ways are determined and become known they are formulated and become tactical methods. In reducing tactical methods to sim- ple expressions the design is twofold: first, to get a central or general thought to which the various subordinate ideas can be referred. This organizes and systematizes knowledge. Second, altogether too much of tactical know- ledge is taken for granted. Questions as to tactics are commonly understood and answered by the synonym method. To illustrate: What is team work? It is cooperation. What is cooperation? It is team work, etc. 60 Uniform Tactical Training Military genius is too rare to be considered. Military ability exists in varying degrees in nearly everybody. How to develop and inform it is the real problem of uniform and thorough training. To impress upon the pupil the value of the general rules of tactical action and to teach him to reason out definitely how the special is governed by, related to, and derived from the general gives him the enduring understanding knowledge that is real training. Impress upon the pupil that his tactical knowledge is trivial unless he can take his special tactical experi- ences and determine how and by what general tactical truths they are controlled. This is necessary if his tactical actions are to be reli- able. In short, uniform tactical instruction should teach the pupil how to see the general controlling the special and the special as con- trolled by the general. 61 Five Tactical Principles and CHAPTER III DISCIPLINE Discipline is determined by tactics. Tactics change; this usually makes discipline change to correspond. Tactics is usually defined as the art of handling troops in the presence of the enemy. Discipline is defined in the dictionary as mental or moral training. Tactical disci- pline requires both mental and moral training. A man may obey the orders of his superiors willingly and unhesitatingly but if he knows nothing of tactics it is apparent that his value in doing tactical work will be small. He will, as a rule, be worse than useless, because his superior’s time in action will be taken up in telling him how to do his work. The use of a superior is principally in deter- mining what shall be done, and who shall do it. A doer who does not know how is of no account. 62 Uniform Tactical Training Tactical action without tactical knowledge is accidental or impossible. Intelligent, rea- soned, uniform, and thorough tactical training is simply intelligent, reasoned, uniform, and thorough tactical knowledge. Its uniformity does away with the weak spots. There are no really defective links in a uniform chain. All the links will stand a certain required test. Intelligent, uniform, and thorough tactical training teaches a man to know not only what his tactical work is but also how it should be done. Uniform training establishes that, known to both, tactical knowledge which enables the commander to direct intelligently and effectively and the subordinate to obey intelligently and effective^. Moral tactical training comes mostly from mental tactical training. The latter teaches you what is right and correct in tactical action. Knowing this, your sense of workmanship and your sense of duty morally oblige you to do 63 Five Tactical Principles and wliat you know you should do. Moral obliga- tions result from mental convictions as to right and wrong. The surest way to get a man to do his tactical work right is to teach him the right way to do it and so that he understands why it is right. The moral obligation to do a thing right naturally results from knowing how to do it right. Civilization is based on that. The statement that a thing is right tactically is not enough. A man must be taught how to reason out the proof that a tactical thing is right if the full responsibility of the moral obligation to make it his rule of action is to be felt by him. “Par. 416, I. D. R., Discipline makes good direction and control possible and is the dis- tinguishing mark of trained troops.” The mark of trained troops and trained leaders is that in any given tactical situation, 64 Uniform Tactical Training what is to be done and how it is to be done is readily understood by all. Tactical discipline is the tactical training which makes a man a finished tactician and puts him on the moral obligation of doing finished tactical work. The control and direction needed for disciplined troops is the plan of action and the distribution of troops. That is, a state- ment of what is to be done and the assignment to parts. The mental and moral training of their discipline should fit them to see how each should do his part. The different ideas of different officers as to what discipline is and how it is acquired show that the subject is often not understood or is misunderstood. No military subject deserves more study. The moral factor in discipline is more impor- tant than the mental. Yet the moral factor is derived from the mental. &5 Five Tactical Principles and The American character nearly always requires the reason for things and it would be almost impossible to build up discipline in an American army upon a conception that could not be reasoned out. Therefore, the plan developed here is to reason out the different parts of military training until their necessity is made obvious and thus present what the course of action should be in such a manner that there is no excuse for not taking it. 66 Uniform Tactical Training CHAPTER IV TACTICAL PRINCIPLES A number of tactical principles will be taken and discussed. “A correct grasp of the tacti- cal situation as a whole and a definite plan of action form the soundest basis for a successful combat.” As success in combat is the ultimate objective, it follows that the tactical principle which states the soundest basis is the most important one. A definite plan of action naturally results from a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. Therefore, the important thing is to get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. A hit-or-miss plan of getting a correct grasp will not do. An estimate of the situation is the usual training methods and as usually prac- ticed helps but little. There are certain points in every tactical situation that control and the correct grasp usually depends on how they 67 are Five Tactical Principles md seen and rated. This most important tactical principle is one of those rules of action that state what is needed and put getting it, up to the individual. Usually the more important a tactical prin- ciple is the less it goes into details suggestive of procedure and the greater are its demands for personal ability. “Act according to c r ^ cumstances and the nature of the terrain.’ This principle is included in the meaning of a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. You cannot act according to the cir- cumstances and nature of the terrain unless you have correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. “Team work.” This principle requires the correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, before you can even think of doing team work. Next, you find that team work is just the most important way of acting according to the circumstances and the nature of the ter- 68 Uniform Tactical Training rain. Notice, also, that team work is a more suggestive expression of just what is wanted and how it is to be done than the preceding two. “Fire superiority.” This principle is largely carried into effect by correct use being made of team work. “All tactical plans and methods must be simple and direct,” or “only the simple and direct succeeds in war.” This is principally related to team work, which is based on a cor- rect grasp of the situation as a whole. Team work depends on the units grasping and under- standing the situation as a whole. Obviously if the plans and methods are not simple and direct some of the units will misunderstand. The tactical principle of simple and direct is often interpreted to mean the easy first thought. As a matter of fact, the simple and direct expression or conception is only arrived at by knowing it well enough to so present it. 69 Five Tactical Principles and It is only when you have a great deal of knowl- edge about a thing that you see it simply and directly and so can speak of it simply and directly. A simple and direct plan or method is valuable because it allows others to under- stand your words or comprehend your ideas. “Self-reliance, initiative, aggressiveness, and a conception of team work are the characteristics of successful leadership.” These qualities are easily faults if they are not exercised according to a correct grasp of the situation as a whole, if they are not acts according to circumstances and the nature of the terrain, and the team work that forwards fire superiority. “Order and cohesion must be maintained within the units if success is to be expected.” It is evident that the correct grasp principle is going to do much to maintain order and cohesion. A good idea of the team work ahead will do more sim- ply because it is more definite and more per- sonal. The order meant is tactical order and 70 Uniform Tactical Training the cohesion is not physical but is cohesion of tactical action. “There is but one battle and but one supreme will to which all must conform . 95 This supreme will is responsible for the correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole and the subordi- nate commanders in like manner grasp the parts as a whole in which they are to do team work as the supreme commanders plan. “The subordinate must possess the loyalty to carry out the plans of his superior and the keen- ness to recognize and seize opportunities to further the general plan . 59 That is understand- ing the general grasp of the situation and hav- ing intelligence enough to follow the general team work plan, as planned, or as opportunity presents unexpected valuable chances. “Every subordinate must, therefore, work for the general result . 99 To work intelligently for the general result he must get a correct grasp of the situation as a whole, act accord- 71 Five Tactical Principles and ing to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain by using such team work as will assist in getting fire superiority at the decisive points and he must do all of this by using simple and direct plans and methods. How his work has been done can be determined by the above. Another thing, did the commander give him the information necessary to do his work intelli- gently? This line of discussion could be car- ried on indefinitely. It must be apparent that the foregoing statements as to (1) grasp, (2) circumstances, (3) team work, (4) fire superi- ority, and (5) simple and direct methods and plans, gives you a general statement by which you can conduct or ascertain the value of your tactical acts. It must further be plain that tactical principles are not meant to relieve you from the responsibility of your tac- tical acts. When you try to excuse your tacti- cal blunders by saying “I acted according to tactical principles," you are really saying “I 72 Uniform Tactical Training do not know or understand tactical principles well enough to apply them to concrete cases.” You cannot improve your tactical work in a surer manner than by tracing tactical successes or failures to the definite violation of the funda- mental tactical principles. 73 Five Tactical Principles and CHAPTER V TACTICAL VALUES Tactical values are determined by probable effect of fire. The object of tactics is to obtain success in combat. Success in combat is deter- mined by fire effect. Relative tactical values treat of the values of related tactical subjects, such subjects are usually parts of a common tactical situation. Comparative tactical values treat of the tac- tical value of one tactical thing as compared to the tactical value of another tactical thing. Probable effect of fire is the measure of worth of tactical things. Success of any kind depends upon a sense of values. Action with- out a sense of values is like a ship without a course. A sense of values determines the course of tactical action. In considering a tactical situation as a whole you deal with relative tactical values. In clas- sifying tactical situations you consider relative 74 Uniform Tactical Training tactical situations. In considering the value of one tactical thing against the value of another tactical thing you are dealing with comparative tactical values. Comparative tac- tical values can be either the values of related or unrelated things. It was said that tactical values are determined by probable effect of fire. This is correct but the matter is not as simple as so much effect of fire equals so much tactical value. Effect of fire is worth more or less depending not only upon its actual physical effect but upon its effect upon the whole situation or upon parts related to the part directly affected. A correct grasp upon the tactical situation as a whole shows you that it is possible to hold the enemy in position and strike his right flank, the circumstances and the nature of the terrain permit you to do this by making a team-work movement of attacking and holding his front to allow your 75 Five Tactical Principles and attack against his right flank to get decisive fire superiority on his right. The tactical value of your frontal fire is twofold: it has the value of its actual effect and it has the much higher value of assisting the team-work plan of a front and flank attack directed against the enemy’s right flank as the decisive point. The actual flank attack gets into action and its fire effect has a certain tac- tical effect due to the actual losses it causes but it has a much higher tactical value if it forces the enemy to withdraw, because it then greatly increases the fire effect of the frontal attack and so the tactical value of its fire. This attack also decreases the fire effect and so the tactical value of the enemy’s fire. If the enemy’s line forms parallel to the flank attack, he will then present a double enfilade target and a diverging fire. His fire effect should thus have less tactical value than yours. Again, suppose the enemy withdraws. Your flank can 76 Uniform Tactical Training do one of two things : they can allow themselves to become part of your frontal attack and thus maintain all of the rifles in action and so appar- ently get top tactical values ; or they can sacri- fice part of their fire by breaking from their right, marching by their rear to their left and going on right into line and action. This will keep them on the flank of the retreating line. There is no doubt but that this will keep about half of their fire out of action. If the amount of actual fire is lessened fifty per cent, it would be reasonable to suppose it lessens the tactical value about that much. This is not the real case, because fire against a flank has the maxi- mum effect and fire against the front has a minimum effect. This refers to actual physical results. Fire against a flank has a much greater moral effect than fire against a front. Therefore, the effect of the fire of a few men against a flank has been found to have a much higher tactical value than the effect of the 77 Five Tactical Principles and frontal fire of a much larger number. If the position on the enemy’s flank is sacrificed and allowed to merge into the frontal attack, it is evident that then its fire effect will be the same as frontal fire effect. This discussion will show you that tactical values, as determined by prob- able effects of fire, are anything but fixed. They are affected by many things. They are not the same in any two tactical situations and they are not the same in any tactical situation for any considerable time. This statement presents the problem or question of tactical values as a mass of individual cases. Let us try to organize and systematize it. Tactical values exist only in tactical situa- tions. Tactical situations can be classified as those (1) having a front with both flanks pro- tected, (2) a front and one flank to protect, (3) and a front and both flanks to protect. Therefore, you can consider tactical values under one or the other of these three heads. 78 Uniform Tactical Training Make a study or work out a problem under one of these three heads and see how the tactical values rate and vary. Take another problem of the same kind, note its individual differences from and resemblances to the first one. Like causes produce like effects. By working out tactical values from tactical situations of the same class you considerably narrow the field of consideration. Where differences occur more individual judgment in arriving at tacti- cal values is required; but as your study and practice of each of the three classes of tactical situations increases your understanding and experience of them, these differences will become fewer to your understanding of them and you will become better able to determine their influ- ence on tactical values. So far you have considered one tactical situa- tion as compared to another. It now remains to consider the tactical value of the different parts of the same situation. Of course, your 79 Five Tactical Principles and knowledge of other like tactical situations will help you but each tactical situation is made up of different parts so related to each other as to make it individual. A horse is a horse but one may be a two-minute horse and the other may be a six-minute horse. So it is with like tactical situations. It depends on the rela- tion of the parts to each other and to the whole tactical situation. This brings you back to the necessity in arriving at tactical values of having the seeing eye and understanding mind. As we found in dealing with tactical principles, there are rules about it but there is no rule of thumb that takes the place of personal ability. Studying the relation of the different tactical parts of a tactical situation with reference to each other and with reference to the whole tactical situation is trying to find out the relative tacti- cal values. In reality, it is trying to arrange things to get decisive fire effect in the most sim- 80 Uniform Tactical Training pie and direct manner by means of team work executed according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain as determined by your grasp of the situation as a whole. This gives you the idea of getting at relative tactical values. First try to pick out the places where fire effect will be decisive. Next, see if it is possible by team work to get the required superiority of fire there. As the different related parts contribute more or less to this, so will their relative tactical values be. You might say relative tactical values are team work values. For example, one person can take certain ingredients and turn out a pie, another person can take the same ingredients and the best he can turn out is an uneatable mess. Can you conceive of anyone who does not know relative tactical values getting a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, or of habitually acting according to the circum- stances and the nature of the terrain, or of 81 Five Tactical Principles and organizing team work, or of getting fire superi- ority, or of using simple and direct methods and plans. Comparative tactical values deter- mine the tactical value of one thing as com- pared to another. Relative tactical values determine the tacti- cal value of the whole situation. The tactical value of the whole situation is seldom the sum of the individual tactical values of its parts but it is usually the (1) product and sometimes the (2) dividend of their tactical use as com- bined for tactical action. Good team work makes a product tactical value for the whole situation and when you shoot up your own side you are apt to be making a dividend tactical value for the whole situation. A little thought will show that a knowledge of relative tactical values is essential and that the manner in which the parts are employed is vital. It is the way in which the combinations are made that often determines profit or loss in 82 Uniform Tactical Training relative tactical values. Par. 1, 2 and 3 of combat orders express the commander’s ideas of relative tactical values. It is readily seen that a mistake in relative tactical values may be serious. A tactical matter, that is ordi- narily unimportant, may, in some tactical situations, cause defeat by its relative tactical value not being realized. A ford thought of as of little importance, a section of a country or a river considered impassable, have often led to defeat because they were not seen as having high relative values. A knowledge of compara- tive tactical values helps you to pick the best tactical methods and a knowledge of relative tactical values helps you to make the best com- bined use of them. To narrow the field for determining tactical values, we will recall that actual combat is car- ried on by lines, that your men are trained for frontal attack and defense, and for flank attack and defense. Actual combat occurs 83 Five Tactical Principles and under one or the other of these conditions. Nothing was said about the size of the com- mands further than that large commands required deep formations and that small com- mands, as a rule, did not. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the actual combat the small command has its front and flanks to look after just as the large command has, and both are subject to the same fundamental tactical prin- ciples, so the way a large command fights is the way a small command fights. About the only difference is in time and space. Keeping this in mind, when you learn comparative and relative tactical values in the small command, you can use that learning in any other com- mand. This does not mean that it is as easy to handle a large command as it is to handle a small command. If you are making a front and flank attack the action will be along similar lines whether you have a platoon or a brigade. This is really what makes uniform training 84 Uniform Tactical Training possible as it permits all to get easily a common knowledge and understanding of the situation as a whole, to recognize readily the tactical part their unit is to play or be a part of and thus to take in the team work that is planned. A little thought will show you that tactical val- ues are a very important part of uniform tacti- cal training. 85 Five Tactical Principles and CHAPTER VI SENSIBLE TACTICAL TRAINING Tactical training is learning to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole. A beginning in learning to form a correct grasp of tactical situations is made by being able to classify them as either; one point where action is only frontal, or two points where action to the front and one flank is possible, or three points where action to the front and both flanks are possible. This grasp is correct as far as it goes but it is not complete. The next step is to grasp the situation as to its differ- ences from other like situations of its class. This does not complete the grasp. The next step is to compare the tactical value of your situation against the tactical value of tactical situations like this, that are familiar to you. The next step is to get a correct grasp of the relative tactical values of your tactical situa- tion. This last step is the most important and 86 Uniform Tactical Training difficult part in getting a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. The most impor- tant thing in tactical training is to teach men to see and understand and to keep on seeing and understanding the tactical situation as a whole and as it varies as a whole. Practically no one is ever going to have a complete grasp of the whole situation and it is not particularly desirable that they should, as by trying to do this you are almost sure to overlook the fact that details are only important according to their tactical values. Therefore, the real thing to do is to try and determine where the tactical values are, and then look for the details that affect those tactical values. What you want is the details that make the tail go with the hide. Tactical training is referred to as intensive, short, and long. Intensive tactical training pro- duces mental indigestion. Short tactical train- ing produces on the mind about what short ra- 87 Five Tactical Principles and tions does on the body. Long tactical training, as usually practiced by regular armies, is a pickling process. Intensive training usually produces very uneven training. Short train- ing usualty produces training that lacks com- pleteness and finish. The long or pickling process training usually produces good train- ing but is extravagant as to both time and money. Its results are all right but the process has no limit as to the repetition of the course of instruction, and, therefore, is not intelligent. It is important to decide definitely and clearly as to what you need before deciding as to what use you will make of your available means. Conditions usually control and limit the extent or manner of your getting what you need. Every country needs adequate preparedness for national defense. No country has ever endured without it. The first need for adequate pre- paredness for national defense is an adequate reserve of trained men. 88 Uniform Tactical Trmmn£ Training this reserve will require two things ; a uniform tactical training system and com- petent tactical instructors. The training system of a country must be so designed that it can obtain a sufficient num- ber of men for an adequate reserve. Military training is not compulsory in some countries, such countries must have a training system that will be accepted by enough volunteers to organize and maintain an adequate reserve. Evidently the training system in a case like this must be of such a character as to make it possible to train an average man to be an effective soldier under conditions that will be accepted by a sufficient number of the citizens. It is like this, you must fix the enlistment period to get the men and then fix the training system to get the best training in the time available. A Ford that will go is of more use than a Peer- less that won’t. To find out the longest enlist- ment that will get a sufficient number of men for your adequate reserve is the important 89 Five Tactical Principles and thing. To do this you ought to know the fewest number of training hours in which you can train eight out of ten men to be effective soldiers. This will enable you to fix on about the necessary periodic time. Most countries are nationalizing both tacti- cal and nontactical defense. This requires that an adequate reserve be composed of as many physically and mentally fit citizens as possible. In fact, that is what nationalized defense means. It is obvious that this large body of citizens should not be withdrawn from their usual occu- pations any longer than is necessary and under ordinary conditions they will not volunteer unless this condition is complied with. The longest enlistment period that will get the men is the essential point. This period for the best results should be continuous but it may be necessary to distribute it over a number of years in order to avoid too great a periodic interruption of the volunteer’s usual occupa- tion. 90 Uniform Tactical Training The course of tactical training must be designed to meet the enlistment period condi- tion. The best tactical ability should be employed in determining and adapting a tacti- cal course to the enlistment time. Reflection will show that under short enlist- ment conditions, the usual experience of the regular soldier gives no useful basis for calcu- lating how long it takes to train a soldier. The only useful information the regular can give is what is the best tactical training course for a long enlistment period. Periodic time is a loose term when referring to tactical training time. Tactical training time should alwaj's be calculated in training hour time. There are two other things to be considered ; the capacity of the pupil and the ability of the instructor. Of these two the ability of the instructor is the most important. The instruc- tor turns the raw supply into the finished product. Product must be up to standard. 91 Five Tactical Principles and Therefore your instructors should know the best way to produce finished product that is up to standard or better. The instruction work must be organized into a course of subjects to be taught or trained. It should be systematized by specifying the total hour time to be alloted to the whole course and to each subject of the course and the day and hour time of each subject. In fact, it should be organized and systematized just as any ordinary educa- tional course is. The teaching method is impor- tant and depends not only upon the instructor’s personal capacity to reach the recruit’s mind, his capacity to see the value in the teaching methods of others, but above all it depends upon his ability to see and impress upon the recruit’s mind the wide meanings of tactical principles and the ways in which they unite, govern, and relate to the details of tac- tical action. Progressive tactical instruction is impossible without this. Tactical knowledge 92 Uniform Tactical Training to be progressive, uniform, and thorough must be based on taking the five tactical principles of: a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, act according to circumstances and the nature of the terrain, team work, fire superi- ority, simple and direct plans and methods, and referring every bit of tactical training to them to determine how it conforms to their require- ments and is governed by them. Tactical instructors and tactical pupils are usually muddled up and lose direction in a mass of tactical details. They have no tactical light- house, compass, or landmarks by which to steer a progressive tactical course. You can have a lighthouse, compass, and landmarks but if you do not know how to make use of them you will still be unable to steer a progressive tacti- cal course. The business of the tactical instructor is to teach the reservist how to use the five great tactical principles in understanding and carry- 93 Five Tactical Principles and ing out tactical action. As is the ability of the soldier to plan and guide his tactical action by them so will be his effectiveness. Something was said about the wide meaning of the five great tactical principles. Ask your- self this: Are they or are they not the rules of conduct for every decent human, business, or belief? Whether you decide in the affirma- tive or negative you will in trying to decide, find out that they have a much wider meaning than you realized. If the instructor realizes that the five great tactical principles are also rules of conduct for the affairs of every-day life he can teach their truth and application by using examples drawn from the pupils’ every-day experiences. Paral- leling the unfamiliar with the thoroughly fami- liar is one of the best, if not the best teaching method. It enables the pupil to understand and remember the meaning in the new thing because he has already understood it in the familiar 94 Uniform Tactical Training thing. If a reservist is a carpenter ask him if he must have a more or less correct idea or grasp of the whole building before he starts working on it. If he is a farmer ask him if he would put out crops without considering the circumstances and the terrain. If he is a manufacturer ask him if he uses team work. If he is just a man ask him if it is a good thing to quit in the stretch or to come in with his best fire superiority punch. Ask any of them if it is not better to do a thing in the simplest manner and avoid waste motions by doing it in a direct way. These are just to illustrate. Suppose we try to be a little more definite as to what is meant by sensible tactical training. A sensible tactical training system must be one that requires the least periodic time in which our instructors can train eight out of ten of the men who enlist for the reserve to be effective soldiers. It must be a system in which the fundamental rules of tactical action are first 95 Five Tactical Principles and taught as the basis of all subsequent tactical instruction. By doing this it is believed that where tactical training is interrupted the pupil will have received an enduring tactical instruc- tion that will be complete as far as it goes and that will best prepare him to understand and place any future tactical training he may receive. Tactical training is learning to get a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole. The pupil will first be taught what is meant by tacti cal situations and how to classify them. He will be taught the comparative and relative tactical values of tactical situations after he has become familiar with the tactical principles. Require the five great tactical principles to be memorized. Explain that they are the fundamental rules of tactical action and that the first four give the sequence for procedure in a tactical situation and that the fifth gives the way all tactical action must be handled. 96 Uniform Tactical Training Explain that the five great tactical principles are requirements for every tactical situation. Show on the ground how the tactical princi- ples are carried out and how they are violated. At the same time show how tactical situations vary from each other because one is better fitted to carry out the tactical principles than the other. Show how in tactical exercises the tactical principles were carried out or violated. Explain how the decisive points were deter- mined by the tactical principles. Teach and practice the use of tactical methods and point out how they are used to carry out the tactical principles in the different circumstances and terrain of different tactical situations, so that intelligent discrimination may be made in their use. Above all teach from first to last to test, plan, and determine tactical acts by being clear as to their being strictly in accordance with the five great tactical principles. 97 Five Tactical Principles and CHAPTER VII DECISIVE POINTS A correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole enables you to act according to the cir- cumstances and the nature of the terrain. The most important part of that acting is getting team work that will give you the fire superi- ority at the decisive points. Eire superiority will be required at the decisive points, whether they are decisive points of offense or of defense. The key to the whole tactical business seems to be the decisive points. A decisive point is one upon which other points of the tactical situation depend. If the whole tactical situa- tion depends upon it, it will be THE decisive point. A flank is one of the best known decisive points. A line or base of supply is another. A salient is often a weak point that is also some- 98 Uniform Tactical Training times a decisive one. In fact, weak points are often picked as decisive because they promise a local success and a local success often starts a general success. Skill in picking decisive points requires high military ability. It also often requires tactical intuition. Tactical intuition is such a com- prehensive correct grasp of the tactical situa- tion as a whole as enables a leader to see decisive points that are often partially or completely hidden from less gifted soldiers. Napoleon was frequently able to state just what plan his opponent would follow. Lee did the same thing. Grant had a very clear conception as to what he should do in a tactical situation. He is credited with devoting very little thought as to what his opponent would or would not do. Sheridan and Forrest are usually credited with “sensing” decisive points. Decisive points are the bolts that hold the tactical situation together. If you think it 99 Five Tactical Principles and over you will see that it is their relative tacti- cal values that count. A decisive point may be almost anything. Bad roads, short rations, poor training, fog, not enough artillery or the wrong kind, a poor or a good subordinate, etc. It is not neces- sarily their actual tactical value as compared to some other tactical thing that counts, but it is their tactical value as determined by their relation to the parts and the whole of the tacti- cal situation you are considering that deter- mines whether they are or are not decisive points. The relation of decisive points to the parts and to the whole tactical situation must be preceived, understood and valued tactically before it can be acted on intelligently. The leader strives to get a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole in order to act according to the circumstances and the nature of the terrain in getting team work which will give him fire superiority at the decisive points. 100 Uniform Tactical Training Analyze the above and it means the leader gets a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole in order to determine the decisive points which he then proceeds to attack or defend by using team work according to the decisive point circumstances and the nature of the terrain. The decisive points are the ones that he believes are the doors of success or failure in the combat. If he makes a mistake as to the decisive points his work is apt to be wasted. A commander might be defined as one who pos- sesses the art of selecting decisive points. 101 Five Tactical Principles md CHAPTER VIII TRAINING RESERVISTS In thinking out tactical training systems and in training men there comes a time when you become dissatisfied with and critical as to your work. This usually develops most when you begin to look for results. Your command may drill well, it may be interested and willing, but when you test it to find to what extent it is capable of doing com- bined work, without having each step of the combination explained, and without explaining in detail, to each unit commander the action of his command, you are apt to find your train- ing unsatisfactory. If you introduce unex- pected features, in your combined action test, there is usually a failure of the units to adjust to it in that prompt and certain manner which is the essential mark of real tactical training. 102 Uniform Tactical Training This breakdown in tactical action, nearly always comes from a failure or neglect in train- ing men to form a correct grasp of the tacti- cal situation as a whole. Par. 359, I. D. R. The main effort in training reserves tactically, should be made to teach them how to form a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole. Next to explain, and illustrate how, the tacti- cal situation is almost certain to change from time to time, and that every change calls for a new correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. It is only by watching and noting the whole tactical situation that any correct grasp or understanding of it can be obtained. Tactical action is almost entirely based upon a correct understanding of the relations that exist between, the different circumstances and the terrain, that make it a tactical situation. Circumstances, as used here, is a very wide term. It practically means anything that affects or may affect tactical action. It may be troops 103 Five Tactical Principles and or their condition, numbers, arms, morale* cloth- ing, weather, bridges, roads, a drunken or sober officer, rain, snow, in fact, anything that may or might affect the tactical action at any stage. The object of all military training is to obtain success in combat. “The soundest basis for a successful combat is a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole.” Military training is usually conducted with little or no idea of teaching officers and men how to form a correct grasp of tactical situations as a whole. Usually when you find that your training work is not showing proper tactical results, you will find that you have neglected to require your officers and men to keep observing the tactical situation as a whole. It is doubtful if officers and men can be taught to do this without resort- ing to severe measures, especially where military habits have been formed without considering this as of primary importance. Many officers and men regard military training methods, not 104 Uniform Tactical Training as guides to tactical action but as fixed rules of tactical action. Two tactical principles have been mentioned in the order of their importance: (1) To form a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole. (2) To act according to the circum- stances and the nature of the terrain. Here are two more. (3) Team work. (4) Fire superiority. These four form the proper sequence of tactical action for all tactical situa- tions and they are subject in execution to a fifth. All plans and methods for carrying them into effect must be simple and direct. All worthwhile military training is built up around these five tactical principles. Probably not one officer in ten realizes this as a specific fact, and probably not one enlisted man in one hundred is aware of it. Real military training of reserves through short enlistments is hopeless under the modern conditions of long range and rapid fire, unless 105 Five Tactical Principles and these five tactical principles are made the con- scious, every-day guides of the tactical training of both officers and men. It is not enough to just know of them, as all officers and most men do. They must be known and used as the deter- mining factors, by which your tactical work is planned, is done, and is tested when done. Team work is planned according to the cir- cumstances and the nature of the terrain in order that superiority of fire may be gained at the places where it will exert the greatest effect in securing success in combat. Now look the five tactical principles over. They are plain and anyone can comprehend something of what they mean. They express clearly (what) your tactical action must be, but they leave it all to you as to (how) to proceed to get it. You must have fire superiority, there are any number of ways to get it, and they are all unreliable unless they are secured by team work 106 Uniform Tactical Training planned and executed according to the circum- stances and the nature of the terrain, as deter- mined by a correct grasp of the situation as a whole, and the whole action must be conceived and expressed in a simple and direct manner or it will not be understood well and promptly enough to be executed. The more you study tactics, the more you should realize that you are studying the values of the relations of the circumstances and ter- rain, that make up each tactical situation. In a tactical situation, the actual value of any circumstance or feature of the terrain is not the determining thing as to its value in the tac- tical situation. The determining thing as to its value in the tactical situation is its rela- tion to the other circumstances and features of the terrain. From this it is proposed to deduce the system for training reservists. From the day a reservist’s military educa- tion begins until the day it ends, he should 107 Five Tactical Principles and be taught the relation of each part of it to the other parts. It will be absolutely necessary, in teaching relations, to first impress upon the reservist the object of each and every step of his military education, and to explain to him how each step of his military education, accom- plishes its particular object. The five tactical principles will be used as questions in testing the reservist as to his under- standing of subjects. For example, how may right face assist you in carrying out a correct grasp of a situation as a whole? And so on through the other four tactical principles. Two principal things are expected to be accomplished by this training method: Tacti- cal principles will be made practical use of in laying out, executing, and in considering the results of tactical work, and the reservist will form as a fixed mental habit, the practice of looking at tactical situations as a whole, and of trying to determine the tactical relations of 108 Uniform Tactical Training his tactical action to the tactical actions of others, and the relation of the tactical actions of others to his tactical action. Educate is defined as: to impart knowledge to ; cultivate the moral or intellectual faculties ; instruct; train. Take the last two words and we have educate as made up of, instruction and training. Military education can be considered as made up of military instruction and military train- ing. Let us consider military instruction as dealing with teaching miltary truths and pro- cesses, and military training as dealing with putting those military truths and processes into practice. Military instruction informs the mind as to military subjects, comparatively and relatively. Military training practices the mind as to the employment of military resources. There are three stages in accomplishment; finding out what is to be done, finding out how it is to be done, doing it. 109 Five Tactical Principles and This can be made plainer, in getting at what military education should seek to accomplish by putting it this way: in what is our military education to be bettered or changed, how is it to be bettered or changed, bettering or chang- ing it. Continued accomplishment absolutely requires a well-considered objective. The well- considered objective of military instruction and training is to obtain success in combat. “The soundest basis for a successful combat is a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole.” A correct grasp of the tactical situa- tion as a whole consists in having a correct knowledge of the comparative, and especially of the relative tactical values of the different cir- cumstances and terrain features which make up the tactical situation. To have this understood by the learner, he must first be taught to see a tactical situation as a whole, by some system of dividing it into parts ; as right flank, left flank, center, etc. Second, the reservist must 110 Uniform Tactical Training be taught the relation of the parts to each other and to the whole. The teaching regard- ing relative values should begin at the beginning of the reservist’s military education by having the object of each educational step explained and by having the relation of each educational step to other educational steps, particularly explained. It is very important that the recruit be taught from the first to always regard his military acts as related to the acts of others and to understand these relations. This last is the foundation of training him to form a cor- rect grasp of tactical situations as a whole. The successful practice of a profession is good proof of a good professional education. “The art of leadership consists of applying sound tactical principles to concrete cases on the battle field.” In times of peace the posses- sion of this art will be best evidenced in combat, field, and maneuver exercises. Ill Five Tactical Principles and You cannot rely on being able to apply a tactical principle to a concrete case until you know it consciously. Tactical principles are generally as applicable to the conduct of the ordinary occupations of life as they are to combat. The truth of tactical principles is in no wise affected by the means, appliances, or methods used in combat. In applying tactical principles, a knowledge of the means, appliances, and methods to be used and the ability to use them effectively is essential. Many other kinds of knowledge is also essential, a knowledge of comparative and relative tactical values is always essential. To illustrate the variety, it is easy to conceive of team work and fire superiority tactical princi- ples being put into effect, or applied, by using automobiles as a means of transportation to carry out a front and flank attack, based on information secured by flying machines. A 1 12 Uniform Tactical Training little imaginative consideration of this will show you that applying tactical principles depends mostly on your knowledge of and ability to employ resources in a military way. The tactical principles are limited strictly to stating (what) shall be done. The art of leadership is really the ability and skill of determining (how) the circum- stances and terrain of a combat situation shall be used to carry out (what) the combat principles require. Applying as used here means putting into practice. So we have, the art of leadership consists in putting sound tactical principles into practice on the battle field. It is obvious, if we accept this as true, that all military instruction and all military training should be definitely and consciously related to appro- priate tactical principles. It is not going too far to say that tactics is the art of putting tactical principles into practice. 113 Five Tactical Principles and Every military man should know the five tactical principles. Every military man should be taught and trained to regard these five tacti- cal principles as the laws that tell him what to do. He should be taught to determine every one of his tactical acts by finding out, how and to what extent they carry out the requirements of these five tactical principles. Tactics is the art of putting these five tacti- cal principles into practice. The higher com- manders have more sources of information than the lower commanders; the lower commanders have more sources of information open than the enlisted men, but each in his military sphere, is called on, to be able to put each one of these tactical principles into practice, and each should be taught, consciously, to do so by direct refer- ence to these five tactical principles. Tactical training is reliable, to just the degree and readiness with which it can handle tactical situations as a whole. 114 Uniform Tactical Training Uniform and thorough tactical training is based on putting these five tactical principles into practice. Illustrating Comparative and Relative Tactical Values Take the figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 0. Compare 1 and 2. It is evident 2 as compared to 1 is twice as great numerically. You can go through all of them in this way and readily get their comparative numerical values. Comparative tactical values are not as simple as this, for it is impossible to consider them as entirely separate from all other tactical con- ditions. Consider the figures we have selected as a whole. Express this whole as a number 12340. It is evident that any alteration in the posi- tion of a figure will change the number of units expressed. In other words, using the same figures, any alteration of their position rela- 115 Five Tactical Principles and tion to each other will change both the value of the figures shifted and of the entire number. If the number is changed to read 12304, the relative value of 4 has been reduced 36 units. In 12034 by putting a valueless thing ahead of things having real value you have reduced the value of 12340 306 units. Put it this way 01234, this is the poorest way you could arrange the number to express high value. Your mistake in judging values makes a difference of 41,976 units. If you had formed a correct grasp of the relative values of all the different figures in the number you would have written it this way, 43210. Take 01,234 from 43,210 and you have 41,976. It is something like this when you do not form a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole, that is, when you do not form a correct estimate of the comparative and rela- tive tactical values, of the different circum- stances and terrain, that make up the tactical 116 Uniform Tactical Training situation. If you pick out something in the tactical situation which ordinarily has no tac- tical value of itself, and make it important without making it add something to the value of the other tactical points of the situation, that is, relate it so that it does not help, you weaken the whole situation, but if you are skillful enough to use it so that it multiplies the tactical values of the factors according to their comparative real worth you help the whole situation. If you place and use your tactical points according to their real value in the situa- tion, you evidently must have a correct grasp of the tactical situation as a whole and are in a position to get the greatest results from your tactical work. Do not get the idea that a knowledge of com- parative tactical values is sufficient to enable you to pick out the relative tactical values of a tactical situation. It is true that the higher a tactical thing is in comparative tactical value, 117 Five Tactical Principles the higher it is ordinarily in relative tactical value. Comparative tactical values enable you to get an idea of the real every-day worth of tactical things. Relative tactical values depend on the way tactical things having comparative tactical values are related to each other. In a tactical situation you naturally try to arrange things to make the fullest use of your greatest comparative tactical value element. To illustrate: You make a flank attack with a part of your force to start the enemy to retreating in order to give your main body, that is mak- ing the frontal attack, the opportunity of des- troying him. You really planned the flank attack to give the main force attack a chance to act to best advantage. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY URBANA, ILLINOIS