To test a man’s ability to keep a given direction when moving at night, the following plan is useful. Having chosen a spot from which no prominent landmarks are visible, the instructor, accompanied by the recruit, will advance towards it from a distance of not less than 200 paces. While advancing the recruit must take his bearings. On arriving at the spot chosen the instructor will turn the recruit rapidly round two or three times, and then order him to continue his advance on the same line as before.
For this exercise three or four recruits, with the instructor on the directing flank, will be placed in line at about one pace interval. Some clearly visible mark, such as a lamp, should be placed as a point for the directing file to march on. The instructor will impress upon the men the importance of lifting the feet up high and putting them down firmly and quietly, also of keeping in touch with their neighbour on the directing flank, and of conforming to his movements without sound or signal. The pace must be very slow, and frequent halts made to test the quickness of the men in working together. As the instruction progresses, each man in turn will take the instructor’s place on the directing flank, and the light on which they are marching should be obscured at intervals, in order to test their ability to maintain the original direction.
When the recruits have thoroughly mastered the foregoing principles they should be taken to more difficult ground, and gradually advanced to work together in larger numbers. They must be taught to turn into single file for the purpose of passing obstacles, and to form up rapidly in single rank again without noise or confusion. It must always be remembered that the rougher the ground, the darker the night and the longer the line, the slower must be the pace and the more frequent the halts. After passing any obstacle, such as a ditch, hollow road, etc., which does not necessitate turning into file, it is always advisable to halt and make sure that the alignment is correct. After passing an obstacle men instinctively line up parallel to it; consequently, if the obstacle does not lie exactly at right angles to the line of advance, the direction is lost. I remember seeing a brigade thrown into complete disorder by the neglect of this precaution, after successfully advancing for about 1,000 yards on a very dark night. In this case one flank of the line crossed a hollow road, lying at an angle to the direction of the advance, and forming up parallel to it advanced across the front of the rest, and altogether broke up their formation.