Milstack Saturday showcases the best articles I read on Substack in the past seven days.

The Warfare Mastery Institute does the math on saturation attacks.

St. James Briefing Room briefs readers about Russian attempts to stop the United Kingdom from providing long-range drones to Ukraine.

Fleet Logic sings the praises of the SM-6 missile of the US Navy, and, having done that, describes its definitive defect.

The Connecting File examines the relationship between service on America’s southern border and the development of the skills, habits, and attitudes needed to practice maneuver warfare.

John Spencer reminds us of the deep roots of the recent reincarnation of the shell shortage of 1915.

This post continues a series of pieces that provide background to a group of decision-forcing cases that will, in the very near future, appear in the pages of The Tactical Notebook.

On 27 August 1916, the Kingdom of Romania entered, on the side of France, Russia, Serbia, and the British Empire, the First World War. In response to this surprise, the Central Powers cobbled together a pair of polyglot field forces that, within three weeks of the onset of the crisis, proved able to invade the homeland of their new enemy.

From the north, the German Ninth Army, made up of German and Austro-Hungarian forces, crossed the Carpathian Mountains. From the south, Army Group Mackensen (made up of Bulgarian, Austro-Hungarian, and Turkish elements) attacked along the Black Sea Coast. In keeping with their time-tested customs, the Germans provided the latter army group with its commander (Field Marshal August von Mackensen), general staff officers, technical services, and ‘corset-stays’ (German combat units that served to stiffen the fabric of allied formations).

Like other armies that fought on the continent of Europe at the time, the German armies invading Romania were supplied almost entirely by railroad. This presented problems for the Ninth Army, which, having fought its way through the Carpathians, now found those mountains standing between itself and its logistical lifeline. In particular, a defile called the Iron Gate stood at the intersection of the Danube River and the railroad that ran from Budapest (a major supply center for the Central Powers) to the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

The Romanians knew well the importance of the Iron Gate, and had, as a result, taken steps to keep it out of enemy hands. They placed fortifications of the coastal variety, with heavy guns pointed towards the south and west, made it difficult for the Bulgarian forces on the far side of the Danube to cross that river. It also prevented enemy gunboats from using the river as a highway. The Romanians also deployed an infantry division that, while poorly equipped by the standards of the day, served to block the northern route into the defile. At the same time, the Romanians did little to protect the Iron Gate from enemies coming from the east.

To exploit this vulnerability, one of the component German infantry divisions of the German Ninth Army organized an unusual task force. Known as both Abteilung (Detachment) Picht (after its commander) or Sturmgruppe Picht, this ‘operational maneuver group’ avant la lettre consisted of

• an ordinary infantry battalion

• cargo trucks borrowed from the divisional supply column

• two truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns

• linemen and radio operators from the divisional signal unit

• a handful of horsemen from the divisional cavalry regiment

Making use of the road that ran beside a railroad track, and profiting from the slow decision cycles of the Romanian leaders in the area, Sturmgruppe Picht required less than two days to reach the eastern defenses of the Iron Gate. Once there, it lost no time in capturing a coastal defense fort from its undefended landward side. This, the Germans set up an ambush for the Romanian reaction force that, thanks to the work of their wiretapping service, they knew would soon arrive.

When the Romanians proved unpunctual, Captain Picht made use of the lull in fighting to capture Turnu Severin, a nearby town of 24,000 inhabitants. There, after taking hostages to ensure the good behavior of local civilians, he set up his defenses. The next morning, four Romanian battalions attacked. On the second day, the better part of a Romanian division attacked. While both attempts failed and the bodies of dead Romanians littered the outskirts of the town, they put enormous strain on Sturmgruppe Picht. In particular, the German machine guns had been worn out beyond immediate repair, one of the two anti-aircraft guns had been knocked out, and stocks of ammunition were running low.

At the point in time when it seemed that Sturmgruppe Picht would soon have to throw in the towel, reinforcements arrived from both ends of the Iron Gate. On the eastern end of that defile, the German bicycle brigade of Baron von Quadt, which had been dispatched from the Ninth Army in response to Captain Picht’s request for help, struck one flank of the Romanian position. In the west, an Austro-Hungarian brigade exploited a gap in the disposition of the Romanian formation to appear on the other side of that formation. With powerful enemies on both sides, the Romanian division fled towards Bucharest, leaving the Iron Gate, and thus the new supply route of the Ninth Army, firmly in the hands of the Central Powers.

Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson On Armor (Westport: Praeger, 2004) pages 19-23

Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson Readers’ Companion to On Armor (Blogspot) Chapter 2

A few days ago, a librarian from the Combined Arms Research Library warned me of an upcoming change to the IT infrastructure of that institution. This, he kindly explained, would soon send the sources on the far side of many of our links to Davy Jones’ Locker.

In the months to come, I will locate and repair the broken links. While I am doing this, you can find particular sources by using the new search engine. (The link will take you to a page hosted by Ex Libris Discovery.)

In the autumn of 1916, Gustav Ponath commanded the machine gun company of Sturmtruppe Picht, a motor-mounted, reinforced battalion sent out to seize an important defile in the Transylvanian Alps. Early in 1933, he wrote an article about this expedition for the premier military newspaper of interwar Germany, the Militär Wochenblatt.

While I have not been able to obtain a copy of the original article, I did find a translation that appeared, in June of 1933, in the Quarterly Review of Military Literature. Published by the Command and General Staff School Press, at Fort Leavenworth Kanas, the Quarterly Review of Military Literature would, in the fullness of time, become today’s Military Review.

In the middle of November 1916, after the breakthrough of the Transylvanian Alps, the German Ninth Army of General von Falkenhayn was advancing victoriously through Wallachia. Its right wing, the 41^st Division, was nearing Craiova while a whole Romanian division continued to block the Danube and railway at the ‘iron gate’ of Orsova.

The opening of this defile was a matter of life and death for the supply of the army. Therefore the General von Falkenhayn decided to intrust this mission to a small independent detachment. This meant for it, and its leader, great responsibility, daring, and judgement. It was one of the few opportunities ever granted to a reinforced battalion to operate independently.

At dawn, 20 November 1916, the detachment was assembled north of Filiasul. Commanded by Captain Picht, it consisted of the 1^st Battalion, 148^th Infantry; two truck-borne anti-aircraft guns of the 1^st Battery, 79^th Field Artillery; one-third of an ammunition train of the 79^th Field Artillery; one officers’ patrol of the 10^th Dragoons; parts of the motor transport unit of the 41^st Infantry Division; and one radio detachment. It marched in the direction of Turnu Severin, towards the rear of the 1^st Romanian Division.

This division on the Cerna River at Orsova was blocking the ‘iron door’ and the Danube crossing against the Austro-Hungarian troops of Colonel von Svico. The advance continued smoothly. The troops on trucks sped ahead to the west towards Strehaia.

At Prunisor, one of our translators succeeded in cutting in on the postal telephone line and intercepting enemy information. He overheard Romanian cavalry make the following report: ‘Prunisor clear of the enemy.’ At that very moment, we reached that town.

A bit later the enemy changed his tune. The telephone announced: ‘one enemy cavalry division reinforced by infantry, artillery, and armored cars [our truck column!] in march.’ Did this mean us? Finally the Romanian commandant of Turnu Severin, Lagerstroh, alerts the garrison. That causes speculation.

On 22 November 1916, we learn a lot more about the enemy. The detachment nears the girdle of forts at Turnu Severin. At the Balota railroad station the translator learns from the postal wire of the advance of Romanian infantry, three militia companies with two guns, from Turnu Severin toward the mountain defile at Simian. A race ensues for this place.

Then the detachment runs into the west fortress, 10 km east of Turnu Severin. It is occupied, but fronts on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian bank. It is captured in hot haste; two Romanian officers and a hundred and thirty men are made prisoners. The prisoners are quickly disarmed and incorporated in the march column. There is not time to bother with them.

It is now pitch dark. The detachment falls out on the highway. A wagon appears before the 1^st Company. It does not halt when ordered to. It is fired on. At once a gale of fire breaks loose from the village of Simian. It is the Romanian reinforcement from Turnu Severin. Simian is charged with the bayonet and the two or three enemy companies are dispersed. Two machine guns and sixty-five prisoners are captured and the advance on Turnu Severin continues.

At 8:00 P.M. the detachment enters the town in close order. It seems entirely deserted. The chief authorities are summoned and held as hostages in the city hall. It sounds like a fairytale: a German force of four hundred men in rear of a Romanian combat division, on their sole route of communications, in a hostile city of 24,000 population, and without information or means of reconnaissance.

In the marketplace Captain Picht organizes the companies for defense of the city. Three companies, each with a [two-gun] machine-gun platoon, are distributed to three sides of the city. The fourth side is protected by the broad Danube. The remaining company remains in the marketplace as reserve. At the jail, Austrian prisoners are released, equipped with captured guns, and constituted as the last reserve.

The populace, wakened from their sleep, believe we are Bulgarians of whom they are deathly afraid. They throw up their hands but are quieted when we tell them we are Prussians.

At dawn, a Romanian column distance of eight hundred meters is seen crossing the wide plains in front of our city. It disperses under our machine-gun fire. All that remains is a pair of guns pulled by oxen. It is the signal for combat.

The 4^th Company is engaged with Romanian riflemen on the north front. The enemy advances to the outskirts of the water tower and cemetery. About four Romanian battalions attack the city from east, north, and west to clear their rear. In the east the 17^th Romanian Infantry issues from its own barrack to attack the weak 1^st Company. From the water tower Romanian machine guns are hammering the 4^th Company. It loses six platoon leaders.

To our great surprise the people of the town are sitting on fences and walls watching the drama. When the first one is hit they all run screaming to the cellars. Romanian artillery shoots into the houses. Our two artillery pieces take up the battle against these great odds.

New Romanian columns advance from the north. The 1^st Romanian Division from Orsova is approaching. At extreme range my machine guns hammer the closed columns of riders, artillery, infantry. Reinforcements are sought from across the Danube. A Bulgarian lieutenant with two machine guns is ferried at great risk across the stream. That is all.

After the second night of uncertainty, and with ammunition fast disappearing, we experienced the heaviest day of combat, that of 24 November 1916. The entire 1^st Romanian division encircles the city. One assault follows another. The assault groups come from the water tower, the cemetery, and the barracks. After intensive artillery fire which disables one of our two guns, new assault waves come on. The last reserve is used, the last round has been issued. Captain Picht calls for assistance. But where is this to come from?

In the afternoon on 24 November 1916 another terrific assault is launched on all our fronts. Our defense breaks down. The machine guns are boiling. There is no one to bring water. There is no way out. Firing and dying is all that goes on. Lance corporals and riflemen take the places of fallen leaders. The last hour has come. The last rounds are husbanded. Wounded remain where they fell. The dead are stripped of ammunition. The one remaining field gun on the north front at the cemetery is now able to fire case shot 100 to 150 meters.

Late in the afternoon suddenly, like salvation from heaven, the Bavarian cyclist brigade of Colonel von Quadt, breaks through the enemy ring from the outside. It tears through the town with two truckloads of ammunition in a storm of enemy fire. It is the saving of Sturmtruppe Picht.

As the third night approaches in the embattled Turnu Severin the depleted companies lie between the houses, dug in at picket fences, and, loaded with ammunition, await the last and most intense effort of the Romanians. The terrain ahead of us swarms with enemy. In the darkness signal rockets break forth. Then the nightly assault breaks loose. The defensive fire roars. Wounded scream ahead of us. Not an enemy gets into the town.

When the noise dies down in the morning of 26 November 1916, we pull ourselves out of the rifle pits. Two paces ahead of my machine gun lies the nearest Romanian and beyond him a long assault wave of dead. The wide terrain before the city is lifeless. The enemy has withdrawn.

A day of rest to collect the tremendous booty, to bury about six-hundred dead, and care for the numerous wounded. On 26 November, the detachment is assigned to the Austro-Hungarian command of Colonel von Svico, whose brigade is pursuing the withdrawing enemy.

As part of and at the head of this unit, Detachment Picht ruthlessly drives the gradually dispersing 1^st Romanian Division to the southeast along the north bank of the Danube. The detachment pushes on through Rogava, Cetatea, Bailesti, Piscu, Bureni, Aftumati, giving the enemy no rest. In daily battles his rearguards are overthrown, prisoners and booty captured.

Finally, on 5 December 1916, the enemy sets up a line of resistance on the Alt River. The bridges ahead of him have been demolished in time by the German Ninth Army. He cannot withdraw to the east. Here the detachment captures thirty officers, one thousand seven hundred and seventy men, four artillery pieces, and much material.

On 6 December 1916, on the day of the conquest of Bucharest, there occurs the last act of this heroic combat. In the midst of a hot assault, in a cracking fire fight, suddenly the noise ceases. Bearers of a flag of truce appear at the edge of the village of Tia Mare. To avoid further bloodshed, the remainder of the 1^st Romanian Division, including nine staff officers, eighty-two officers, three thousand and six hundred men, seven artillery pieces, four machine guns, eighty vehicles, and a great deal of war material, lays down its arms.

Gustav Ponath (A. Vollmer, translator) ‘Operation of a Detached Force in Rear of an Army: The Opening of the Iron Gate, Rumania, 1916’ Review of Military Literature (Number 49, June 1933) pages 42-47 (Hathi Trust)

Gustav Ponath Die Geschichte des 5. westpreußischen Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 148 (History of the 5^th West Prussian Infantry Regiment Number 148) (Oldenburg i.O., G. Stalling, 1933) pages 265-279 (Württembergische Landesbibliothek)

Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson On Armor (Westport: Praeger, 2004) pages 19-23

On 27 February 1898, Karl Albert Gustav Ponath, a pastor serving a rural community in the Prussian province of Pommerania, welcomed his third son into the world. Ten years later, that son, Gustav Karl Ernest Ponath, entered the cadet school located in the castle of Plön, the capital of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.

The outbreak of the First World War found Ponath studying at the senior cadet school in Lichterfelde, then a suburb of Berlin. Within hours of mobilization, he reported for duty, as a senior officer candidate, with the 5^th West Prussian Infantry Regiment, Number 148.

The first number in the name of the unit indicates its place in the list of infantry regiments belonging to the province of West Prussia. The second number tells us that the outfit is the 148^th infantry regiment to be formed for service with one of the armies of the German Empire (other than that of the Kingdom of Bavaria, which numbered its regiments in separate series.)

In attending the cadets school at Plön and Lichterfelde, and joining Infantry Regiment 148, Gustav Ponath followed a trail blazed by his older brothers Johannes (‘Hans’) and Friedrich (‘Fritz’). On 23 August 1914, Lieutenant Friedrich Ponath, who had been seconded to the 1^st Jäger Battalion, died while fighting the Russian invaders of East Prussia. Three days afterwards, Lieutenant Johannes Ponath received a wound that put him out of commission for several months. Johannes Ponath, who appears in the photo at the top of this post, would later command rifle companies of Infantry Regiment 148, suffer two additional wounds, and 27 July 1917, die while serving as an aerial observer.

In the last week of August of 1914, and thus the same week in which one of his brothers died in action and the other fell wounded, Fähnrich Ponath commanded a two-gun platoon of the Machine Gun Company of his infantry regiment. He performed so well in that role that he won both the Iron Cross (Second Class) and promotion to the rank of lieutenant. Thus, on 1 October 1914, Gustav Ponath became the youngest commissioned officer in any of the armies of the German Empire.

Gustav Ponath Die Geschichte des 5. westpreußischen Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 148 (History of the 5^th West Prussian Infantry Regiment Number 148) (Oldenburg i.O., G. Stalling, 1933)

The following post provides the author’s solutions to one of the sixteen short problems published in the very first (1930-1931) issue of the Infantry School Mailing List.

If you have yet to read, or, better yet, work through this problem, please do so before looking at the solutions.

The Blue regimental commander recommends that the veteran regiment be withdrawn under cover of darkness, and moved by night to the woods southwest of B with a view to making a surprise attack on the enemy to the north at dawn or operating against his rear. The peace-strength regiment to take over security missions to the west and southwest.

The Blue regimental commander believes in the offensive and in maneuver. He reasons that Blue success at A now has almost no bearing on operations as a whole and that the threat near C will be slow materializing. The decisive fight will be near B. He desires to assist the Blue effort there to the utmost.

With veterans he considers it practicable to withdraw the troops now in contact with the enemy, under cover of darkness, march several miles at night, and prepare to attack in still another direction soon after daylight. This puts the stronger regiment in the decisive fight, leaving the simpler holding mission to the partly trained troops.

With all troops partly trained, a simpler maneuver is advisable. The peace-strength regiment is turned over to the commander of troops at B; the war-strength regiment withdraws to the 5:00 PM position of the peace strength regiment under cover of darkness and provides security. Depending on the situation portions may be available later to-morrow to assist the operations near B.

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 53 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

Milstack Saturday showcases the best articles I read on Substack in the past seven days.

Over at Modern Warfare, JG provides a précis of the drone war fought in Ukraine between 2022 and the present.

Over at Tim’s Substack, Tim Lynch chronicles a camping trip that gave some recently retired Marines an opportunity to celebrate the joys, and revisit the sorrows, of their service in Afghanistan.

Over at the Connecting File, Robert Gortner uses a tactical decision game to explore the ins and outs of a new type of rifle platoon.

Over at la Voie de l’épée, Michel Goya continues his tour d’horizon of warfare in the present-day world. (Deepl did a good job of translating this article.)

Over at Fred, Fred Leland applies the Schwerpunkt to the operations of police departments.

The following problem appeared in the first semi-annual volume of the Infantry School Mailing List, which rolled off the press in 1931. (This periodical, which might well be described as a journal in all but name, replaced the collections of mimeographed instructional materials that the US Army Infantry School sent out to subscribers in the 1920s.)

For the philosophy behind theses problems, please see:

This problem places players in the role of a regimental commander who must devise and describe three courses of action.

Each black silhouettes represents a full-strength friendly battalion. A gray silhouette depicts a battalion that has suffered heavy losses. Each red silhouette stands an enemy force of comparable size.

SITUATION

A Blue force has the mission of preventing enemy troops from moving southeast through the Pass A.

One Blue battalion on Hills B, C and D was attacked this morning by an enemy force and driven back. An additional Blue battalion arrived this afternoon and the Blues attacked.

At 6:00 PM the attack was slowly progressing. The 1^st Battalion, somewhat disorganized and at about 60 per cent effective strength, is generally east of the road. The 2^nd Battalion is [located] to the west.

A third [friendly] battalion has arrived at the locality shown. Some officers of this battalion have preceded the battalion and are familiar with the terrain. Darkness falls at 7:00 PM. Additional enemy troops, marching toward A, went into bivouac at 5:00 PM, 17 miles northwest of A.

(1) All Blue battalions are well-trained veterans.

(2) Two Blue battalions are well-trained veterans; the last battalion to arrive is only partly trained.

(3) All of the Blues have had very little training.

REQUIREMENT

What does the Blue commander intend to do in each case?

I invite paid subscribers to to use the comments section to share their own answers to the questions posed.

I will post the original (1931) solutions to the problem, as well as my own commentary, on Sunday, 23 August 2026.

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 54 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

You can find a copy of The Islanders on the webpage of the Kipling Society.

In the week to come, the staff of The Tactical Notebook, both real and imaginary, will find themselves hard at work setting up a forward operating base. Thus, we will, over the next seven days, fewer articles will appear on this blog than is usually the case. To be more precise, we will post little more than the weekly episode of Milstack Saturday, the solution to Short Problem 13, and Short Problem Number 14. Meetings of the Decision Game Club and the operations of Extra Muros will continue as usual.

We will, of course, pause subscription billing during this period.

If you seek something to read during this hiatus, I recommend that you …

• dive into the back catalogue of The Tactical Notebook, whether by using The Gateway, our Archive, or the links at the bottom of most posts

• explore the many fine offerings of the Warfare Mastery Institute

• enjoy some of the four hundred and fifty-one articles posted on Extra Muros during the past three years

The following problem appeared in the first semi-annual volume of the Infantry School Mailing List, which rolled off the press in 1931. (This periodical, which might well be described as a journal in all but name, replaced the collections of mimeographed instructional materials that the US Army Infantry School sent out to subscribers in the 1920s.)

For the philosophy behind theses problems, please see:

This problem places players in the position of a regimental commander who must recommend a course of action to the commanding generals of the brigade and division to which his regiment belongs.

The black silhouettes represent friendly regiments. The red silhouettes stand for enemy forces of comparable size.

Blue troops are detraining 25 miles east of the woods shown in the sketch. Detachments have been pushed forward to the stream to cover detrainment. An enemy is advancing from the west.

A Blue regiment of veterans at war strength was ordered to prevent a crossing in the vicinity of A. Detachments from another division guard crossings to the north, and cavalry those to the south, where a strong hostile effort is not expected.

A hostile crossing at A early to-day drove back the defenders. In the afternoon, the regimental reserve made a successful surprise attack on the enemy’s northern flank. At 5:00 PM the enemy was still resisting but was being driven back toward A in confusion. A partly trained Blue regiment at peace strength is attached to the veteran Blue regiment and has just reached the hills near D.

At 5:00 PM the commander of the Blues near A learns that strong enemy forces have crossed the stream to the northeast and overrun the defenders and penetrated deeply. They are still advancing. As fast as additional Blue troops detrain, they are being moved toward B. All available Blue troops near B, some seven or eight battalions, will attack at dawn from the general position shown on the sketch in an effort to stop hostile progress and allow detrainment to continue.

The cavalry on the south after successful resistance up to noon was driven back by a hostile crossing at C. The situation is obscure but the cavalry still resists. The sketch indicates the situation at 5:00 PM.

At 5:00 PM the Blue regimental commander submitted to his superiors a recommendation for future operations of the force under his command.

REQUIREMENT

The recommendation. How would this be affected if all the Blue troops were only partly trained?

I invite paid subscribers to to use the comments section to share their own answers to the questions posed.

I will post the original (1931) solutions to the problem, as well as my own commentary, on Sunday, 16 August 2026.

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 50 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

The following post provides the author’s solutions to one of the sixteen short problems published in the very first (1930-1931) issue of the Infantry School Mailing List.

If you have yet to read, or, better yet, work through this problem, please do so before looking at the solutions.

The author of the problem used the following conventional symbols to depict the boundaries between units of different types.

(1) For boundaries see sketch.

(2) The northern regiment would attack with two battalions in assault and one (the one which was somewhat disorganized) in reserve. The southern regiment would attack in column of battalions, the last one being in brigade reserve.

The assault battalion of the south regiment making the envelopment, would advance initially in column of companies as the situation is somewhat obscure there, and it does not know where it will meet resistance. The battalion in regimental reserve (the second battalion in the column) would be echeloned on its southern flank.

Assault battalions to the north would each employ two (of three) rifle companies in assault.

The attack should be an envelopment of the southern flank (of the enemy force). There is better cover there, and ridges are parallel to direction of attack.

It is desirable for the sake of simplicity for one regiment to make the secondary and the other make the enveloping attack, and not have to attack any of the front of the enemy position. This is feasible in this situation.

Problem 12 requires students to draw unit boundaries before asking them to devise a scheme of maneuver. In other words, it puts the cart before the horse. The solution compounds this error by presuming a plan for an envelopment from the south.

With these things in mind, I find myself wondering about the following possibilities:

1. That a clerical error removed the scheme of maneuver from the description of the problem.

2. That the author of the problem made deliberate mistakes in order to provoke pushback from his students.

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 49 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

‘The committee of the whole is called to order.’

‘Opa!’

‘Before we review Type 56: The Story of China’s Army, let’s make a list of the things that make for a first-class video channel. Mel, what do you think?’ (YouTube)

‘Solid narrative structure.'

‘Check. Good story telling. Thalia, what’s your chief desideratum?’

‘True tales, told in sufficient detail to allow folks to turn them into decision-forcing cases.’

‘Check. The means of making map problems.’

‘Historical map problems!’

‘I stand corrected. The means of making historical map problems.’

‘And, what, Clio … I mean Madame Chairmuse … do you like to see in a video channel?’

‘Historical accuracy. That is, I want to watch someone with deep expertise tell stories drawn from first-hand sources.’

‘Now, let’s hear from the Muses of Literature.’

‘Terpsichore, Muse of Empathy, Role Play, and Character Development, what do you look for in a video channel?’

‘Stories centered on real, relatable characters.’

‘Check. The personal touch.’

‘How about you, Calliope?’

‘As you know, I prefer stories to abstractions.’

‘And active verbs to equations.’

‘You’ve been reading our posts on Extra Muros!’

‘Always.’

‘Euterpe, what sorts of things do you seek?’

‘Well, as Muse of Philology, I like programs in which the presenter presents foreign words and phrases in their native form and, better yet, pronounces them correctly.’

‘外语短语发音准确’ (Deepl)

‘Precisely.’

‘Now for the Library Troika. Urania, Muse of Card Catalogs, Indices, and Search Engines, what do you like to see in a video channel?’

‘I like channels that make it easy for viewers to find videos of particular interest.’

‘Check. Good labels, good thumbnails, and well-chosen hashtags.’

‘Polyhymnia?’

‘As you might imagine, I like video channels that provide viewers with lists of sources. However, as I have yet to encounter one of these, I will go with a presenter who doesn’t take himself too seriously.’

‘Check. A sense of humor.’

‘To wrap things up, Erato, Muse of Bibliography, if you please.’

‘I find myself in the same boat as Polyhymnia. That is, as I have yet to encounter a video channel that provides its programs with proper bibliographies, I will express my fondness for presenters who dress in ways that match the tales that they tell.’

‘Check. Appropriate costumes.’

‘So, now that we’ve laid out our desiderata, let’s review Type 56: The Story of China’s Army. (YouTube)

‘Madame Chairmuse, a point of order, if you please.’

‘Yes, Thalia.’

‘I think that we already have.’

‘Have what?’

‘Provided our readers with a list of the nine virtues of Type 56: The Story of China’s Army.’ (YouTube)

‘In that case, the meeting is adjourned.’

‘Opa!’

Milstack Saturday showcases the best articles I read on Substack in the past seven days.

The Warfare Mastery Institute warns us of the ‘Hidden Dangers of Autonomous Systems’.

Wes O’Donnell describes an encounter between a fully-manned Russian warship and a remotely-crewed dragonboat called Stormborn.

Wargaming Weekly reviews ‘the most important wargaming book of 2026’.

The Bazaar of War continues his chronicle of the Chattanooga campaigns of 1863.

The Modern Caesar advises us to read biographies.

Missile Matters tracks programs to produce low-cost cruise missiles.

Type catalog.archives.gov into your friendly neighborhood search bar. (Avoid archives.gov, which will give you fifty-odd links, none of which will take you to the catalog.)

The search bar at the end of catalog.archives.gov gives you two options - Search and Advanced Search. Let’s start with Search. (I will explore Advanced Search in a subsequent article.)

Type a suitably martial expression in the search bar. I chose ‘French trench mortars’.

This phrase turned up close to seven thousand hits, each one of which relates to a document, photo, or film.

As I am looking for films, I clicked the familiar engine oil funnel (can you tell I drive a KIA Soul) marked Filters. Then, under Type of Materials, I selected (the delightfully old-timey category of) ‘Moving Images’

Now, you may wonder why Moving Images outnumber Photographs and other Graphic Materials. (I certainly did.) The reason, alas, is the irritating practice of placing paper documents that describe films in the same category as actual movies.

What is worse, you won’t be able to distinguish items that contain both films and documents from those that hold nothing but documents until you explore the item in question.

The first item on the list that I examined contained two films and ten pieces of paper. Moreover, to get to the films, I had to scroll past nine of the aforementioned documents. (US National Archives)

At this point, you will have figured out that the need to dig through so much paper in order to find films brings out (Merle Haggard, please call your answering service) the fighting side of me. Nonetheless, they often contain descriptions of the people, places, and units being filmed. Thus, while I enjoy the option of downloading each of the films by its lonesome, I decide to hit the button that says Download Complete Production File.

Alas (and, indeed, alack) this yielded a PDF that contained the paper elements of the file, but no video recordings. Thus, I downloaded the two films the old-fashioned way, that is, as individual MP4 files.

None of the footage, by the way, showed French trench mortars. The first film, however did show Doughboys of II Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces, which served until British command in France and Flanders in 1918, training with 3-inch Stokes mortars and French 37^mm guns.

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The following problem appeared in the first semi-annual volume of the Infantry School Mailing List, which rolled off the press in 1931. (This periodical, which might well be described as a journal in all but name, replaced the collections of mimeographed instructional materials that the US Army Infantry School sent out to subscribers in the 1920s.)

For the philosophy behind theses problems, please see:

Like Problem Number 11, Problem Number 12 asks you to do something other than devise a plan. However, in meeting the requirements, you will have to imagine the effect of the decisions you make on your ability to do things in the immediate future.

SITUATION

Orders have been issued for the attack of the Blue brigade at 4:30 PM. Enemy troops hold hills B, C and D in force. The Blue advance guard holds hills H and K. The battalion in the south suffered rather heavily in taking K and is somewhat disorganized.

One regiment of infantry is in M, the remaining battalion of the regiment which furnished the advance guard is in L.

REQUIREMENT.

(1) Draw boundaries between regiments and assault battalions.

(2) State the size of the brigade reserve and the formation of each regiment.

In this problem, ‘formation’ describes the relationships among battalions. Thus, for example, a regiment might advance in column of battalions, line of battalions, or with two battalions on line and one in reserve.

I invite paid subscribers to to use the comments section to share their own answers to the questions posed.

I will post the original (1931) solutions to the problem, as well as my own commentary, on Sunday, 9 August 2026.

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 50 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

Napoleon may or may not have said that one hundred years would see Europe dominated by Cossack or Uhlan. At all events a contest between Slav and Teuton has been long foretold and carefully prepared. We believe that the decision when it comes will depend upon the relative values of the types of national cavalry employed.

Eighteen years ago when the Uhlan was picketing his horse in the Gardens of Versailles it did not look as if he would soon lose his prestige, and later when the Cossack failed of dazzling results in the Balkan campaign [of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878] it did not look as if there need be doubt as to the issue of a struggle between Uhlan and Cossack, on the sandy plains between the Vistula and the Oder. But the Russians have learned much in the last two years, while the Prussians and Austrians have been at a stand-still in many matters-particularly in all [things] pertaining to cavalry.

German cavalry is the pride of the race; officered entirely from the nobility, even the sons of the great Chancellor [Otto von Bismarck] fought in its ranks as privates. Filled with the romance and traditions of a glorious history, it need not be doubted that it has all the confidence of those hard-headed nobles who so freely gave their lives for an idea at Crécy and Morgarten.

Germans point to great results and say that by such should their methods be judged, but they ignore the fact that they have only encountered inferior representatives of the same cavalry school with themselves. The Cossack shocks the sentimental idea of cavalry. The glitter and the tinsel that comes from old days of joust and tourney are not in his line. He wears not a button or a bright thing about him, and he rides his little plug of a horse holding his knees almost as high as his chin.

His seat resembles that of a monkey in a circus race. The haute école and the manége he regards as mere cavalry quackery, the reposte and point he takes to be obsolete practices of a discarded weapon. He is ungainly and ugly. But he may be relied on to apply the homely maxim of an American cavalryman, and he will be sure to ‘git the most men thar first’; and in a scrimmage he will be a bad man to meet.

The German military system seems now, as in the days of Frederick, to consist of a single prodigious warrior with a crowd of gallant gentlemen, his blind followers, in a plane immeasurably beneath him. It will be remembered that Frederick [the Great, who died in 1786] was only dead twenty years when [on 14 October 1806, the battles of] Jena and Auerstadt were fought.

Military men wonder if the creations of the mighty [Helmuth von] Moltke [the Elder] may not be as rudely tested in the next war as were those of Frederick in 1806. The Russians have been hard at work gathering together all that was useful in German methods; but under the influence of younger and more progressive men they have not been bounded by German experience alone; they have culled from many fields of improvement in the art of war.

The Russians have been attentive students of our experience. The Germans have despised the struggles of our undisciplined militia. General [William T.] Sherman says in his recent article in The Century Illustrated that he found Russian officers well versed in our campaigns, while the Germans in self-sufficient confidence rested content with their laurels.

The Germans ignored the use of field entrenchments and they entered the [Franco-Prussian] War of 1870-1871 with incorrect battle tactics for infantry, and they will practice in the next war the errors of one hundred years in the use of cavalry. The Russians on the contrary have freely used field entrenchments, and [Russian general Mikhail] Skobelev drew the inspiration of his masterly use of successive lines of skirmishers from American battles.

The Russians have now Americanized their cavalry. No German by merit alone can rise. A Russian soldier may reach the highest command; Skobelev’s grandfather fought in the ranks in the Napoleonic wars and he was himself a lieutenant-general at the age of 32. [General Mikhail] Loris-Melikov [of Armenian origin] is an Asiatic. [Maksud] Alikhanov [-Avarsky], from a cashiered subaltern disgraced to the ranks, has fought himself into the positions of general officer and governor of Merv [in Turkmenistan].

Within a few hours of the declaration of war, the cavalry, which is maintained on a war-footing, will be sent across the frontier to harass the enemy, to delay his mobilization and concentration, to burn, pillage and destroy. This action by the horsemen of both armies will at once result in one or more great cavalry battles. A decisive defeat of either side will be defeat of the entire cavalry of a nation, and disaster at such a time cannot be subsequently remedied within the limits of a modern war.

The field army of the beaten cavalry will conduct its concentration and first movements, up to the time of actual contact with the enemy, with hesitation and delay. During the great battles which are to bring about the final decision the victorious cavalry will be able to act in the rear of the advance army. The tactical advantages of an independent body of horse with defensive as well as offensive powers, acting as a turning force in a battle, would undoubtedly be great.

If the field army of the superior cavalry is greatly overmatched by its adversary, the result will probably be no worse than a drawn battle.

A collision between German and Russian cavalry would test the two radically different ideas of the arms that are now held over the world. Although it has been customary to speak of all German cavalry as ‘Uhlans’ on account of their success in [the] Prussian wars [of 1864, 1866, and 1870-1871], these cavalry, as well as those of Austria, are composed of lancers, hussars, cuirassiers, and dragoons. The Russian cavalry, with the exception of a few fancy regiments, of the Guard, may be said to have been completely transformed into dragoons since 1882.

The Germans preserve the traditions of the beau sabreur, and affect the head-long charge and the use of cold steel. If they have conceded something to the fire-weapon in allowing some carbines and revolvers to be carried, it has been under a certain amount of protest. They do not propose to use these weapons on horse-back, ‘except as a signal’. They feel, however, that sometimes it maybe necessary to dismount to fight on foot, but for this our German cavalier always feels bound to apologize.

The Russians, on the contrary, have discarded cold steel for hot lead. They are armed principally with the carbines and revolvers, which they use well on foot and on horseback. They are the first European natives to acknowledge that cavalry can fight on foot without losing the distinctive attributes of cavalry. They will apply to the fullest extent the cavalry lessons taught by [Philip] Sheridan and [Nathan Bedford] Forrest in this country, and will be the first to give to Europe the idea of a cavalry army moving with celerity, crossing rivers and mountains without a base of supplies, attacking infantry, cavalry, breastworks or gun-boats, wherever opportunity occurs.

The world maybe prepared for a new surprise when the light horsemen of Russia joins battle with the ponderous horsemen of middle Europe. The Russians can immediately dispose of nearly a quarter of a million of horsemen, outnumbering the cavalry of Germany and Austria combined, by nearly a hundred thousand.

In making a steady soldier and brilliant trooper out of the Cossack, you have a great advantage in his national aptitude, for he is a born horseman, and he has long been accustomed to the use of arms. His term of service is six years with the colors. In other European cavalry his service is three years with the colors. Now, it is well known by those who have tried both methods that the fire-weapon can be more easily learned than the arme blanche by recruits without previous training, so the superiority of the Cossack, adding natural advantages to double this training, becomes apparent.

These descendants of the [Don] Cossacks of [Hetman Matvey Ivanovich Count] Platoff are no longer irregular horse; for some years they have been brigaded with the regular cavalry; they are drilled and armed in the best style; they have a horse artillery of their own and a [supply] train organization that cannot be surpassed; they have telegraph and pioneer attachments, and special scout service. The reports of their practice rides show that in endurance and in celerity of movement they can hardly be equalled in this country, and they surpass the Germans.

Their arrangements for crossing rivers are no more than equalled by the Indians on our plains. But the boldest innovation of the Russian cavalry, and the one from which they will derive the greatest results, is their teaching their troopers to rely upon the revolver in mounted combat. By this the enormous tendency towards changing cavalry into dismounted infantry is checked; and the two distinct rôles of cavalry under modern conditions become clearly defined-namely, its offensive mounted action with revolvers, and its defensive dismounted action with carbines. Whether a campaign next spring would be too soon for a proper appreciation of the value of their innovations remains to be seen.

Russia before now has found safety in the valor of her Cossacks. In 1812, the Cossacks of Hetman Platoff were out-numbered by the cavalry of [French marshal Joachim] Murat.

Imagine two hundred thousand of such soldiers as Nez Percé Joseph and White Bird, and Ollicut [Ollokot], Joseph’s brother, led across mountains and through rivers, for fifteen hundred miles, baffling ten times their number in 1877; drill them in modern tactics; give them the confidence of a powerful nation, arms of the latest model, artillery of their own, and educate the chiefs in every phase of the modern trade of war, and you will form some idea of the cavalry that now awaits the word of the Czar along the western border of Russia.

Eben Swift ‘Cossack or Uhlan’ The Public Service Review (July 1888) (Hathi Trust)

William T. Sherman ‘The Grand Strategy of the War of the Rebellion’ The Century Illustrated (February 1888) pages 597-598 (Hathi Trust)

If Victorian cavalrymen celebrated Opposite Day, dragoons of the nineteenth century would have marked the holiday by LARPing as lancers. After all, where dragoons retained (or at the very least, pretended to retain) the ability to fight on foot, lancers spent more time in the saddle than Gene Autry. To be more concrete, where all dragoons (save officers, senior non-coms, and musicians) carried long arms of some sort, most lancers made do with a pistol or two.

In each squadron of lancers, a puny proportion of the troopers traded their spears for carbines. This custom preserved sentries standing guard over the bivouacs of such squadrons from saying ‘stop, or I’ll poke’. It also provided formed bodies of lancers on active service with a means, however modest it might have been, of breaking unwelcome contact.

The lancers of European armies often, and, indeed, usually, wore an idiosyncratic headdress, one that might be described as the product of a wild weekend that a scholar’s mortarboard spent in the company of a Pickelhaube. Known, from the Polish word for ‘cap’, as a czapka, this served to remind nineteenth-century people of the great debt that the lancers of Victorian Europe owed to the Polish picadors who had served in the armies of the Napoleon.

In its language of origin, czapka started with a chushing sound. Thus, when transposed into German, it often appeared as Tschapka. However, where its kissing cousin czako found new homes in the military lexicons of French (le shako), Danish (chakoten), Swedish (tschakån or schakån), Spanish (el chacó), Italian (lo sciaccò) and English (the shako), as well as German (der Tschako), czapka proved less malleable. Thus, most European lancers found themselves choosing between a reasonable facsimile of the original pronunciation of czapka or replacing the word with a domestic substitute. (In the lancer regiments of the British Army, this seems to have been ‘lance cap’.)

In addition to naturalizing the traditional headdress of the Polish lancer, German-speaking armies adopted the Polish name (ułan) for soldiers of that sort. Thus, in the course of the first few decades of the nineteenth century, the armies of Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Württemberg provided themselves with czapka-wearing lance-bearing regiments of Ulanen.

During the Franco-Prussian War, French journalists of the less than careful kind (none of whom, I am sure, ever subscribed to The Tactical Notebook) adopted the practice of describing all German horsemen, regardless of weaponry carried or headdress worn, as ‘uhlans’. Soon thereafter, their English-speaking colleagues followed suite. Thus, as early as 1888, Eben Swift, of the 5^th US Cavalry, could use ‘uhlan’ as short-hand for the entirety of the cavalry of the freshly-formed German Empire.

In 1890 or so, the armies of the German Empire began to issue lances to horse soldiers of all kinds, thereby breaking the monopoly on such weapons previously enjoyed by Ulanen. As might be expected, this measure, which occurred at a time when photographs began to fill the pages of popular periodicals, reinforced the tendency of folks who lived west of the Rhine to apply the title of ‘uhlan’ to all of the Kaiser’s Kavalleristen.

To be continued …

George B. McClellan European Cavalry (Philadephia: J.B. Lippencott, 1861) (Internet Archive) (Hathi Trust)

Eben Swift ‘Cossack or Uhlan’ The Public Service Review (July 1888) (Hathi Trust)