The New York herald., 1922-07-02
Modern Tactics Would
Be Very Different

Modern Tactics Would
Be Very Different
"a modern force of $1,000 men or
dered to attack similar position over
ground such as was crossed by Pick.
ett's charging men would proceed in
very different manner. illustrating
the change brought about in warfare
by modern weapons and new inven-
tons. Whereas in the civil war troops
were formed shoulder to shoulder in
lines two deep, troops nowadays ad-
vance in depth. Taking the regiment
as an illustration, 1t is interesting to
examine the differences in formation
for assault Forming for assault was
very simple, according to civil war
tactics. The regiment would simply
come to the front, that is. it would
form in two lines; IL the regiment con-
sisted of thousand men, 500 of these
W ould stand shoulder to shoulder in the
front line. with 500 in line eighteen
inches behind them. In the advance
they were expected TO keep this line.
closing up on the center as casualties
occurred. Because 1t was impossible
to load the muzzle loading rifle on the
run or even at swift walk, the
troops seldom fired during the charge,
but advanced without firing, relying
on the shock of their weight and the
bayonet.
I'm engaging in battle the soldiers
were instructed to stand in line and
fire volleys at the enemy from the
standing position. This system was
adopted from the old style standing
armies of Europe and, particularly in
the early days of the war, was rigidly
adhered to. There are cases on record
of regiments of Union and Confed-
crate infantry standing in line within
100 yards of each other ana firing
Solley after volley at each other until
one force was practically wiped out.
In the later days OF the war. however,
every advantage was taken OF cover
and much greater mobility developed,
although this was always limited by
the difficulty of loading the muzzle
loading rifle while lying down.
Advent of Machine Gun Has
Wrought for Soldiers Benefit
The advent of the breech loading
rifle and, later. of the magazine mill
tary rifle brought about a revolution
In military tactics. Instead OF stand
ine erect TO fire volleys all troops, af-
ter the adoption of the breech loading
gun, were taught to lie down, thus Of
fering a smaller target to the enemy
and securing better rest for their
own aim. The advent of the breech
loader and improvements in artillery
also eliminated the shoulder to shoul-
DER attack Later, the machine gun
and the automatic rifle rendered IL
necessary to still further disperse and
.Geploy the attacking groups so as to
minimize the chances Of casualties and
to decrease the size of the target Of
fered. The modern force advancing
to the attack OF Cemetery Ridge at the
point where Pickett's charge occurred
would expect to meet a number or
kinds OF resistance. First they would
be exposed from the beginning to an
intense and searching artillery fire and
bombs and machine gun fire from the
air. Then they would have 10 deal
with strongholds containing machine
StnS dLlu dulOHidblI Ihlrcs llltl tht
fire of the troops holding the defensive
line would have TO be counted upon
and, finally work at close quarters
might be necessary, although actual
bayonet combat has almost disap-
peared from present day warfare.
In considering such an attack Il is
assumed that the force holding the
lines held by the Union army would
be part OF a mobile force holding a de-
fensive position and not part OF fixed
force In trench warfare such as ex-
irted on the western front in Europe.
In tho case of trench warfare the de-
fenstvs troops occupy defensive zone
rather than defensive position. That
is. instead Of merely one line to be at
tackled there are many lines OF de-
fensive works equipped with barbed
wire and concrete and steel machine
gun emplacenents For attacking such
position great concentrations of
light and heavy artillery are required
as well as tremendous Infantry re-