WARFARE OF MODERN TIMES. 83 



which brings the ranks into place ; the eighth company establishes itself on 

 the alignment, the seventh wheels to the right, and as soon as it is opposite 

 the right flank of the eighth comes on the left into line, the other companies 

 wheel on the same ground as the seventh, and come successively into line 

 in the same manner. If the march was by platoons from the left, as in fig. 

 24, and it is desired to form companies in retreat and present the full front 

 again to the enemy, the manoeuvre is as in jig. 27. Here the first rank is 

 foremost, and would, therefore, by the subsequent formation be brought 

 into the rear ; to avoid this the platoons are countermarched, then form 

 companies according io pi. 29, Jig. 15, establish the line of battle as shown 

 by that figure also, and then the whole line is faced to the front. 



Oblique marches are designed to move a direct line of battle over a 

 diagonal, and are made with unbroken front by each file making the eighth 

 face in the direction indicated by the leader, and then marching forward in 

 that direction. If, however, an oblique front is to be moved in a parallel 

 direction (Jigs. 31 and 17), then the front is broken into sections, which 

 wheel inwards so far as to be perpendicular to the line of march, and then 

 move direct to the front by sections until the left flank of each comes upon 

 the new alignment, when they halt and are wheeled into line. (Here also 

 the engraver has reversed the number of sections in the new position.) If 

 a line of battle, which with about-face has marched obliquely by com- 

 panies from the left flank (Jig. 28, the unhatched part), is to take a new 

 position, with the front to the enemy and parallel, therefore, to the first, 

 then points are established upon the new line, which being done the com- 

 panies move by a flank in the proper direction on to it, and are there wheeled 

 into line and fronted towards the enemy. If the new line, oblique to the 

 line of march, intersects this (fig. 29), then the command "Halt!" is given, 

 the points are established in the new line, part of the companies move by 

 the right flank, the other part by the left upon this, and on reaching it are 

 wheeled and fronted as before ; in this case, however, part of the com- 

 panies (here the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth) must pass over the align- 

 ment until their left flank rests upon it. 



The march by a flank, when not made with unbroken front by a face 

 of the whole line, may be either in companies or platoons. In the march 

 by the right flank {fig. 10) the companies or platoons wheel together to the 

 right and then move off" in column, the first in front. The line is re-estab- 

 lished by the commands, " Halt !" and " Left into line, wheel !" In the march 

 by the left flank (fig. 11) the wheel is to the left and the second platoon is in 

 front ; the line is re-established by a wheel to the right. If the march is to be 

 by the left flank, yet with the first company or platoon in front, then a kind 

 of countermarch is made (fig. 14). All the companies wheel to the rio-ht ; 

 on the next command, " March !" the first company wheels again a half- 

 circle to the right, and then marches direct to the front along the former 

 line. The other companies follow and wheel on the same ground as the first. 



A column is formed so soon as the companies approach each other so 

 closely that the distance between them is no longer the length of a com- 

 pany as usual, but at most one pace from the line of file-closers. The 



559 



