The Washington herald., 1918-06-16

driven from New York TO Wash
so sturdy as to allow it to easily
manager.
ours. and fixes as a rule the direc-
tion and the Importance OF the de-
cisive attack. which at the last mo-
ment we. cannot dream Of profound
ly altering,
Information. Then Protection.
At the beginning. the "prepara-
ton" involves. as we have seen. COL
lection Of information as a result OF
exploration. But as the enemy ap-
proaches, intelligence work of this
sort gives place to the work of pro-
lection. But the preparation" must
leave to the high command until the
last possible moment liberty Of ac-
tion to decide, knowing the situa-
tion. what Is to be done; hence the
preparation and the protection
mix together in the same hands.
The adyance-guard then intervenes
to stop the enemy. OF at least to
contain him.
When that moment has come. when
the advanced guard is playing its
part. II is necessary to decide on a
plan of engagement df this is not
already prepared. as often happens
with large unlts). The division of
forces must now be made, unless It
Is decided to break Off the conflict.
In addition to what has been said.
the preparation" must dissimulate
the direction and the moment of the
decisive attack; it must cover the
grouping In the rear, that Is, II must
protect and cover the coming attack
1t must, at the same time. hold
the enemy in the situation originally
determined, forbid him the ways and
means of preparing a maneuver on
his own side: TO do that. he must
be immobiliZcd, and it must be made
impossible for him to assemble a
force sufficient to oppose successfully
the onslaught of our decisive attack.
To achieve these ends, the "prep-
aration" must fight actions with the
| enemy.
To fulhll its double role the prep
aration" must attack the enemy
wherever he shows himself inflict
serious losses 0n him, deprive him
OF his means OF action. paralyze him,
menace him. 30 as to prevent him
from diverting his forces elsewhere.
Its attitude then must be clearly Of
fensive.
Must Hold Enemy.
But 1t must at the same time hold
him II he becomes menacing, ii must
be able and know how 10 resist.
So whatever II does. II must prepare
ways and means of defending itself
with success. To conquer and 10
hold out with firm vigor must then
| be the formula of the "prepa ra ton. -
The small number Of troops which
: it has over u front generally extend
ed will not permit the "preparation'
TO move together on the whole line.
The offensive action will then tend
to break itself into bits: it will be
directed to capturing bits of ground,
points OF support or dominating Dos
itions, whose possession will guaran.
{ tee the easy conquest and the uI-
terror use of the ground which sep
arates them
On a modern field OF battle. where
the resistance is generally organized
In depth, behind a first line Of OBJ
stacles will be found a second line,
and the troops taking part In the at
tacks, when deployed. engaged, con-
founded among themselves. must con-
stantly be taken In hand by the COM
manders OF the smaller units to be
able to undertake new combined eff
forts against the numerous objcctives
which they have TO assault successive
ly, and together, for to act together
Is the Indispensable condition of sue
cess.
The troops OF the preparation -
while il is going on, will soon appear
TO us as engaged. not in a single ac-
tion. but In many partial combats,
Independent of each other. which
have for object the conquest of the
enemy's strong points.
Tenacity Lacking First.
But the enemy will tIy the same
| game as ourselves until he has been
completely mmobilized, or seek to re-
| conquer the positions he has lost, and
so will result series of offensive and
| defensive actions, for the possession
of particular positions. which general
ly will give to the fight of the prep
aration" a peculiar character of te-
nacity. stubbornness and length. wear
ing out the troops and material re-
sources Of the enemy, causing losses
and moral and physical fatigue, all OF
which are results TO be desired.
The long struggle OF the combat OF
preparation" has been called i'm
properly holding battIe;" in real,
lty 1t probably becomes a constant Of
fensive. pursued everywhere. and
moreover under difficult conditions;
and in case Of failure, It transforms
itself into defensive, prepared in
advance and sustained stubbornly
remaining whether offensive or de.
fensive the inverse OF a holding
or delaying battle.
To attack the important positions
on the battlefield, TO take them. tC
install themselves there; to defend
them II tttacked; - retaks them II
they are lost; to nuke ont of them
new bases for further progress IL the