The first volume of the Infantry School Mailing List, which rolled off the press in 1931, offered readers a set of sixteen short tactical problems. On 12 May 2026, The Tactical Notebook published the first of these.
This article provides a paraphrase of the solution published at the end of that problem. So, if you would like to play your way through the series, please engage that exercise before reading this post.
The paraphrase changes the voice and person of the text, replacing passive constructions with active ones and the impersonal third person with the Verantwortungsfreudig ‘I’.
Please note that the problem asked players to provide two distinct solutions: one that presumes that the battalion in question enjoys both combat experience and first-class training and another that assumes the absence of those advantages.
Solution to Problem 1
Assuming both combat experience and good training …
I order the advance guard company (already in contact with the enemy at the intersection of the stream and the road) to attack astride the road in the direction of A.
I attach a four-gun machine gun platoon to the second rifle company. I order that reinforced company to move to the general vicinity of D and attack to the southwest.
I order the third rifle company to move into the general vicinity of H, where it will serve as my reserve.
I order the machine gun company (which retains two of its three platoons) to support the attack from positions on B.
I order the second company to fire a rocket when it is ready to attack. This rocket will serve as the signal for the overall attack.
Assuming neither experience nor extensive training …
I order the advance guard company (already in contact with the enemy at the intersection of the stream and the road) to attack astride the road in the direction of A.
I order the second company to move to E and attack ‘slightly south of west’.
I order the third company to move to the woods at C, where it will serve as my reserve.
I order the machine gun company to the hill at B, where it will support the overall attack.
I order each company to report (by messenger) its readiness to attack.
I will be located with the second company.
I will fire the rocket that signals the start of the attack.
Rationale
A new company commander will have his hands full directing his three rifle platoons. Thus, I decided against attaching a machine gun platoon to any of my rifle companies.
I wished to preserve my companies from the need to make abrupt changes of direction. Thus, I avoided setting up a situation that would call for rifle companies to converge.
With experienced troops, I could trust the decision to begin the attack to one of my company commanders. With a green outfit, I kept that decision to myself.
I wished to provide my inexperienced troops with routes marked by easy-to-find terrain features. Thus, I ordered my second company to launch their attack from E, which is the only place where the rough road intersects the only stream on the battlefield. Likewise, I placed my reserve company in the only patch of woods in the area.
Solutions Proposed at the Decision Game Club
On Saturday, 16 May 2026, participants in one of the weekly meetings of the Decision Game Club worked through this problem.
Some decided to conduct a double envelopment, ordering one company to attack from positions north of the road and one from positions south of the road.
Others opted for a single envelopment, with two companies attacking from positions north of the road.
Some ordered the first company (which made contact with the enemy at the place where the road crossed the stream) to attack. Others ordered it to withdraw to hill B, thereby creating a trap just east of the junction between the road and the stream.
Some attached machine gun platoons to companies.
Marvelous to say, no one kept a company in reserve. When asked to explain this decision, all responded with words to the effect of ‘I wanted to be as aggressive as possible’.
Source
‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) (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)
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