JC 
PRECIS 
AND 
TRANSLATION. 
“REVUE MILITAIRE DE L’ETRANG-ER.” 
JANUARY, 1893. 
TACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
BY 
GENERAL DRAGOMIROV. 
/ 
PRECIS BY 
LIEUT.-COLONEL J. H. G. BROWNE, late R.A. 
The Invalide Russe published some time ago a summary of the observations made 
by General Dragomirov upon the exercises and manoeuvres carried out by the 
troops under his command. The General’s reputation, and the influence which 
he has acquired in the Russian army, render these observations especially valuable. 
He is the author of a “ Manual for the Preparation of Troops for Battle,” in 
which he strongly advocates a gradually progressive system of tactical instruction, 
grouping the different units together by twos, threes, and so on, without skipping 
any intermediate combination. He considers that manoeuvres executed with the 
three arms combined can only be really useful when preceded by exercises in 
detail of this description, in order to make sure that every unit is competent to 
play its own part. 
With this object in view he would, previously to the manoeuvres, practise, actually 
upon real ground, the attacks of cavalry against infantry and artillery, the tactics of 
marches, &c., &c. After this movements of the three arms combined should be 
practised, first without any tactical hypothesis, and then against a marked or 
skeleton enemy. But, according to General Dragomirov, the preparation of 
troops for w T ar is very insufficient if it stops short at ordinary tactical instruction. 
It should aim at true military education : that is to say, the development in the 
individuals of each unit, in the units of the same arm, even in the different arms, 
of that spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice which the necessities of war im¬ 
peratively demand; a spirit which he calls the “ camaradie de combat .” This 
moral preparation is indispensable to ensure success in war. “Just as a sensible 
man does not hesitate to sacrifice one of his limbs to save his life, so a well- 
trained soldier should not hesitate to sacrifice himself for the unit or for the 
10. VOL. XX. 
