Elements of Military Art and Science - Henry Wager Halleck (best free ebook reader .TXT) 📗

day, and every instant in the day. An army ranged in two or three lines of bivouac is only to be perceived at a distance by the smoke, which the enemy may mistake for the vapor of the atmosphere. It is impossible to count the number of fires; it is easy, however, to count the number of tents, and to trace out the position that they occupy."

The guarding of camps is a very important matter, and requires much attention.

The camp-guard consists of one or two rows of sentinels placed around the camp, and relieved at regular intervals. The number of rows of sentinels, and the distance between each man, will depend upon the character of the ground and the degree of danger apprehended.

Detachments of infantry and cavalry, denominated picquets, are also thrown out in front and on the flanks, which, in connection with the camp-guards, serve to keep good order and discipline in and around the camp, to prevent desertions, intercept reconnoitering parties, and to give timely notice of the enemy's approach.

Still larger detachments, denominated grand-guards, are posted in the surrounding villages, farm-houses, or small field-works, which they occupy as outposts, and from which they can watch the movements of the enemy, and prevent any attempts to surprise the camp. They detach patrols, videttes, and sentries, to furnish timely notice of danger. They should never be so far from the camp as to be beyond succor in case of sudden attack. Outposts, when too far advanced, are sometimes destroyed without being able to give notice of the enemy's approach.

In encamping troops in winter-quarters, it is sometimes necessary to scatter them over a considerable extent of ground, in order to facilitate their subsistence. In such a case, the arrangement of guards requires the utmost care. A chain of advanced posts should be placed several miles' distance from the line of camp; these posts should be supported by other and larger detachments in their rear, and concentrated on fewer points; and the whole country around should be continually reconnoitered by patrols of cavalry.

The manner in which Napoleon quartered and wintered his army on the Passarge, in 1806-7, furnishes a useful lesson to military men, both in the matters of encampment and subsistence. An immense army of men were here quartered and subsisted, in a most rigorous climate, with a not over fertile soil, in the midst of hostile nations, and in the very face of a most powerful enemy.

A Roman army invariably encamped in the same order, its troops being always drawn up in the same battle array. A Roman staff-officer who marked out an encampment, performed nothing more than a mechanical operation; he had no occasion for much genius or experience. The form of the camps was a square. In later times, they sometimes, in imitation of the Greeks, made them circular, or adapted them to the ground. The camp was always surrounded with a ditch and rampart, and divided into two parts by a broad street, and into subdivisions by cross-streets and alleys. Each tent was calculated to hold ten privates and a petty officer.

In the middle ages, the form of the camp did not differ very essentially from that of the Romans, the variation consisting principally in the interior arrangements, these arrangements being made to correspond to the existing mode of forming a line of battle. The details of this system may be found in the military work of Machiavelli.

The art of fixing a camp in modern times is the same as taking up a line of battle on the same position. Of all the projectile machines must be in play and favorably placed. The position must neither be commanded, out-fronted, nor surrounded; but on the contrary ought, as far as possible, to command and out-front the enemy's position. But even in the same position there are numerous modes of arranging an encampment, or of forming a line of battle, and to select the best of these modes requires great experience, coup d'oeil, and genius. In relation to this point Napoleon makes the following remarks:—

"Ought an army to be confined to one single encampment, or ought it to form as many as it has corps or divisions? At what distance ought the vanguard and the flankers to be encamped? What frontage and what depth ought to be given to the camp? Where should the cavalry, the artillery, and the carriages be distributed? Should the army be ranged in battle array, in several lines? And if it should, what space should there be between those lines? Should the cavalry be in reserve behind the infantry, or should it be placed upon the wings? As every piece has sufficient ammunition for keeping up its fire twenty-four hours, should all the artillery be brought into action at the beginning of the engagement, or should half of it be kept in reserve?"

"The solution of these questions depends on the following circumstances:—1st. On the number of troops, and the numbers of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, of which the army is composed. 2d. On the relation subsisting between the two armies. 3d. On the quality of the troops. 4th. On the end in view. 5th. On the nature of the field. And 6th. On the position occupied by the enemy, and on the character of the general who commands them. Nothing absolute either can or ought to be prescribed on this head. In modern warfare there is no natural order of battle."

"The duty to be performed by the commander of an army is more difficult in modern armies, than it was in those of the ancients. It is also certain that his influence is more efficacious in deciding battles. In the ancient armies the general-in-chief, at a distance of eighty or a hundred toises from the enemy, was in no danger; and yet he was conveniently placed, so as to have an opportunity of directing to advantage all the movements of his forces. In modern armies, a general-in-chief, though removed four or five hundred toises, finds himself in the midst of the fire of the enemy's batteries, and is very much exposed; and still he is so distant that several movements of the enemy escape him. In every engagement he is occasionally obliged to approach within reach of small-arms. The effect of modern arms is much influenced by the situation in which they are placed. A battery of guns, with a great range and a commanding position that takes the enemy obliquely, may be decisive of a victory. Modern fields of battle are much more extended than those of the ancients, whence it becomes necessary to study operations on a large scale. A much greater degree of experience and military genius is requisite for the direction of a modern army than was necessary for an ancient one."

Figure 9 represents a camp (on favorable ground) of a grand-division of an army, composed of two brigades or twelve battalions of infantry, twelve squadrons of cavalry, five batteries of artillery, and three companies of engineers.

Figure 10 represents the details of a camp of a battalion of infantry composed of eight companies.

Figure 11 is the camp of a squadron of cavalry.

Figure 12 is the camp of two batteries of foot artillery, or two companies of foot engineers.

Figure 13 is the camp of two batteries of mounted artillery, or two companies of mounted sappers and pontoniers.

On undulating or broken ground the arrangement and order of the general camp, as well as the details of the encampment of each arm, would admit of much variation.[8]

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