- fore, advance in a rather dense formation in the areas favorable
for such a procedure, while weak forces only will be found on open and fire swept ground. The advance is regulated by designating the objective of the attack and by stipulating the necessity of mutual coöperation."
This French group attack owes its existence to the silently accepted fact that an open plain cannot be crossed when swept by unsubdued hostile fire; it reckons with an unfavorable terrain such as an attacker will only find in exceptional cases. We by no means fail to recognize the fact that individual portions of the attacker's force, when favored by the terrain, will be able to advance more quickly than others, and that other portions may even be compelled to discontinue their advance for a time; but it seems a precarious proceeding to lay down this result of the hostile fire effect as a guide in the training of troops. The group tactics of the Boers stood the test only on the defensive; they could not prevent individual groups from being attacked by far superior forces. In an attack, the units favored by the terrain will constitute the framework upon which the units which are compelled to advance more slowly, will form. There is, however, danger that these leading groups will succumb to the superior fire of a defender who is deployed on a broader front. Although this may not happen, the spirit of the regulations tempts leaders to drive everything forward, to rush ahead with isolated parts of the force. An additional drawback of these systematic group tactics lies in the difficulty of deploying the troops moving in the narrow avenue of approach. If the French infantry really desires to avoid the plain and wants to stick principally to cover, who will guarantee that the great freedom allowed it, will not cause it to crowd together under cover, lose the direction to its objective, and become completely mixed up?[1] This danger is the
- ↑ The plentiful cover along the ravine of the Mance brook was by no means an actual advantage for the Ist Army. The 18th of August presents the strange phenomenon of the success of the attack on St. Privat, made over terrain devoid of cover, and the failure of the attack on the French IInd Corps, made over the most favorable terrain imaginable.
