LETTER II
W X Yare Pill BoxesW & Yhave been captured by usXstill holds out
W X Yare Pill BoxesW & Yhave been captured by usXstill holds out
W X Yare Pill Boxes
W & Yhave been captured by usXstill holds out
December 7, 1917.
My dear Dick,—
I will now proceed to set you a few problems in illustration of the axioms which I gave you at the end of my last letter.
The first will be on the subject of taking a German pill-box, for I have heard of many instances of a pill-box holding up the advance of a whole brigade for a very considerable period. I have also heard how many gallant but badly devised attempts to carry it have failed, and the lives of officers and men have been sacrificed in vain, and how eventually a better commanded platoon has succeeded in taking it with very little loss.
W,X, andYare three pill-boxes about 150 yards apart. We are attacking in the directionof the arrows, that is, in a northerly direction.
Our men following close behind the barrage took pill-boxesWandY; but, partly owing to the conformation of the ground and partly for other reasons, we failed to takeX, and this pill-box is now holding up the whole of our advance betweenW, wood, andY, knoll, with a machine gun, which is being fired from the inside of the pill-box, and which sweeps the whole ground between these points so effectively that directly we attempt to advance our men are mown down.
It is apparent thatXhas only one machine gun in action, though this is a very efficient one.
From the contours on the sketch, it is evident that the ground is convex in formation, that is, that it is nearly flat betweenXandH¹, but that it slopes rapidly betweenH¹ andH, betweenB¹ andB, and betweenC¹ andC.
The slopes are covered with brushwood. The ground between contour 120 and the pill-box is meadow land.
The platoon originally told off to attackXwas wiped out.
You have been ordered to takeXwith your platoon and to do so as quickly as possible. When you receive these orders you are yourself atH, and, as you will see from the sketch, are not under fire fromX.
What steps will you take to carry out your orders?
Do not enter into an elaborate dissertation, but give short, concise orders, and if you desire to do so, append a short statement saying why you gave these orders.
As there is only one machine gun in action, ifXbe attacked simultaneously fromB¹ andC¹, either one party or the other should succeed in getting to the rear of the pill-box and blowing in the door.
No. 4 Section with the Lewis gun will choose a position somewhere to the north ofH, and onmy signal will open a rapid fire on the loopholes of the pill-box atX. No. 3 Section will choose a position nearB¹, and when the Lewis gun opens fire, they will open a rapid rifle-grenade fire onX. One minute after the Lewis gun has opened, No. 1 Section will rush in fromC¹ and No. 2 Section fromB¹.
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I am aware that in the foregoing problem I have made the task of the platoon commander a very simple one. I wished, however, to avoid any points of controversy. If the ground should not be so advantageous for your attack as that above depicted, the principle, viz. movement combined with fire, still remains the same. You should bring a converging attack to bear and advance your men under cover of the fire of your rifle grenades and Lewis guns, and by pushing men forward from one shell-crater to another, you should generally be able to achieve your object if your plan be evolved on sound principles. It is also possible that smoke bombs could be used with advantage if the wind be favourable.
The above problem is one which has often been put to young officers on the battlefield, and they have not by any means always given a satisfactory answer to it, simple as it is.
Your affectionate father,“X. Y. Z.”