Platoon (Problem II)

Decision-Forcing Case

This is the this post in a series. If you have not done so already, you will probably want to start at the beginning, with the post called Platoon (Background.)

This sketch, which depicts the platoon running down the slope, was drawn by André Laffargue, the protagonist of this case.

You decide to move down the slope as quickly as possible.

You command your sections to form columns of two, with a distance of 20 meters between the two columns.  You place yourself at the head of the formation and give the command to move forward at the double.

After running, with full pack, for a hundred meters or so, you begin to get very hot.  You also feel somewhat silly.  Nonetheless, you press on.

After three hundred meters, your men begin to slow down, and you switch from double-time to the ordinary walking pace.

When you reach the first bit of high ground in your path, you see that several other platoons are using the road, marching towards the northeast.

What do you do?

Please feel free to use the comment section to describe your solution to this problem. In doing this, please take care to avoid any information that would spoil the problem for your fellow readers.

The next step in this exercise is the presentation of the historical solution, which can be found at the start of Platoon (Problem III). If you wish to reap full benefit from this decision-forcing case, please refrain from reading the historical solution until you have come to a decision.