Battle Orders

Front matter

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Preface

I have noticed that in all our applicatory work the battle order is less studied than any other. Among our young officers who study tactics at all seriously, there are few who find any difficulty in issuing orders to set a division on the march or place it in cantonments ; but there are not so many who can give battle orders quickly, from the saddle. Generally the only chance an officer serving with troops has to practice this is in the war game ; but, as a rule, the game is chiefly devoted to the preliminaries of action, and there is no time for a full discussion of what is really the most important thing, the action itself. Besides, actual combat games require much greater experience and skill in the director than do games dealing with reconnaissance, advance, and the preliminaries of the action.

I was therefore very glad to adopt at suggestion made by some of my younger comrades, and to take up, in a series of exercises on the map, a number of points in modem combat, laying special stress upon technique. For the sake of completeness, it seemed desirable to take up the battle orders of medical officers, according to the new manual for the Medical Department, and to treat the somewhat neglected subject of administrative circulars. i

The following collection of orders, etc., grew out of these exercises. They are the result of a long series of informal discussions, and make no pretense of being models. In fact, it was not thought desirable to give models, for they easily lead to a sealed pattern, and anything that puts form above substance is bad. The style of an order is always an expression of the commanding officer's individuality. But a certain amount of schooling, to bring out the essential things and give clearness and coherence to one's conception of them, is necessary; and here a little assistance is welcome, since it saves much time. It shows one how to work, and gives him a start. /

I think I may say that one can acquire the habit of giving clear, concise and complete orders only by dint of much practice; to facilitate this practice is the object of the following pages^ I

Munich,

January, 1907.