The members of the class should not be required to make a written solution to this situation.
After all questions have been answered the class is ready to proceed to the solution of the next situation.
1. Conduct the class to the point where the situation is to be taken up for solution.
2. Hand out Situation No. 4. Read situation aloud and explain it. Explain action of point, when enemy encountered.
3. Solution: Signal Down. Information to advance party commander. Join leading men. When open fire. Firing data.
4. Explain action of reconnoitering and fighting patrols. Necessity for the training of N. C. O.’s.
The Director now passes out slips, bearing Situation No. 5, to the members of the class.
When the point opened fire the enemy retreated under cover of the woods (or such cover as is actually available). They did not return the fire. You, Sergeant Roberts, observe two riderless horses galloping through the woods.
When the members of the class have had a chance to get their bearings the Director reads the situation aloud and points out the direction in which the enemy retreated and where the riderless horses are at this time.
_The Director_: “Lieutenant Williams, what is your estimate of the enemy?”
_Lieutenant Williams_: “I should say he forms a reconnoitering patrol sent out to secure information about our movements. He has not yet gained the information he desires or he would have given us a fight. Again, had he been the advance element of a larger body he would have engaged our point and by now we would begin to see evidences of the troops following him.”
_The Director_: “Is there any member of the class who does not agree with the views just expressed?”
_Captain Hastings_: “I agree with them in the main, but it seems to me that the enemy would have opened fire if for no other purpose than to make trouble for us and cause delay to our troops.”
_The Director_: “We must always give the enemy credit for being up to his job. The moment we opened fire the leader of that patrol knew that he had encountered a fighting element of our forces. If he stops to engage in a fight, he knows that every minute that passes makes it just that much more difficult for him to make his get-away. He knows that we are going to close on him right away and he will not get the information he has been sent out to secure. You must always remember that a reconnoitering patrol does not fight except when it is forced to do so in self-defense, or when it has secured all the information it wants, has sent it back, and then turns itself into a fighting patrol to delay the advance of the enemy. Are there any other points to bring up about the mission of the enemy?