Solution to Short Problem 2
From the Infantry School Mailing List of 1931
The very first issue of the Infantry School Mailing List contained a set of sixteen short problems, each of which consisted of a sketch map and a simple description of a tactical situation.
At the end of each problem, the anonymous author of the problems attached a ‘solution’. This, he stressed in his foreword to the collection, might not be the only acceptable response to the situation, let alone the best one. Rather, he asked that readers view them as ‘tendencies’ rather than ‘cut and dried’ commandments.
In keeping with this spirit, the ‘solutions’ posts in this series - which follow the ‘problem’ posts by several days - will usually provide both the solution included with the original version of a problem and the courses of action devised by participants in on-line meetings of the Decision Game Club.
This post, however, takes a slightly different form. As I decided to leave the second problem in the collection out of the roster of games engaged at meetings of the Decision Game Club, it consists only of my paraphrase of the solution published in the Infantry School Mailing List.
Before reading this solution, I recommend that you work through the problem that precedes it.
As Short Problem 2 builds upon one of the solutions to Short Problem 1, I recommend that you engage that exercise as well.
SOLUTION TO PROBLEM NO. 2
The company will move north, using the eastern part of the small wood at C to conceal its movement into the forest at the top of the map. Once in the forest, it will continue to move north until it reaches the unimproved road.
The company will move west on the unimproved road until it reaches the western edge of the forest, in the vicinity of E.
An advance guard, made up of a single squad, will march ahead of the company. Scouts will deploy on both flanks of the column.
The company will move in column of platoons. The platoons will move in columns of twos. The First Sergeant will bring up the rear.
As the company approaches the western edge of the forest at E, I will
make a personal reconnaissance of the area
observe the enemy position
ask the platoon commanders to join me at my position
issue orders for the attack
This solution places a high value on concealment. Thus, whenever possible, the company moves through wooded areas.
At the same time, however, woods might conceal enemy forces. Thus, the company moves in a column of platoons, which facilitates maneuver, control, and quick reaction to the unexpected.
If the company marched on a wider front, it might suffer from confusion, loss of direction, and the intermingling of units.
Source
‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 27 (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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