Solutions to Short Problem 4
From the 'Infantry School Mailing List'
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 3 June 2026, The Tactical Notebook published the fourth of these.
This article provides both the solutions published at the end of the problem, as well as an overview of the solutions offered by participants in on-line meetings (‘Zoomdezvous’) of the Decision Game Club. So, if you would like to play your way through the series, please engage that exercise before reading this post.
Like its predecessors in this series, Short Problem Number 4 presented students with two similar situations, each of which differed slightly from the other.
Published Solutions to Problem 4
The section in Sketch A occupies a firing position on hill Y. Attempts to build up the line of scouts in this situation probably would result in (either) heavy losses and destruction or material lowering of the section’s combat efficiency.
The section forms what may be called a firing line but no attempt is made to keep a straight line or regular intervals between men. In fact this is avoided. Advantage is taken of local cover.
The section in Sketch B builds up on the line of scouts. The firing position of the scouts in this case is suitable and can be reached without undue exposure.
Invariably building up on the line of scouts is faulty procedure as the scouts will usually be in an unfavorable locality when fired on.
Likewise, while the sketches show six scouts in each case, the invariable use of all the scouts of a section is an error. If two will suffice, only two should be used, and the strength of the section conserved.
Solutions Proposed at Meetings of the Decision Game Club
On Saturday, 30 May 2026, participants in two on-line meetings of the Decision Game Club worked through both parts of this problem.
Most solutions to both parts of the problem involved variations on the theme of fire and maneuver, with some favoring a larger base of fire and others preferring a larger maneuver element. Participants also offered different ways to employ automatic rifles, with some placing both of them with the maneuver element, others placing both with the base of fire, and a few keeping them with their parent squads.
No participants raised the issue of the proper number of scouts to send out. I used this fact to spark a discussion about the purpose of the problem and, in particular, whether its author wished to give students an opportunity to question the frameworks of the problems they have been given.
Source
‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 32 (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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