523 
TACTICAL PROBLEMS. 
BY 
CAPTAIN J. E. EDMONDS, R.E. 
The examination in tactics for promotion consists, as a rule, almost 
entirely of map problems. 
Except a small book by Karl von Donat, to which attention has been 
drawn in these papers, in which an examination question is worked out 
at length, in a manner, it is said, not approved of by the examiner 
who set it, there is no guide as far as I know as to how these problems 
should be dealt with. Moltke’s “ Tactical Exercises ” deal with very 
large forces, and in many cases require actual reconnaissance of the 
ground. 
It is, of course, easy to find many solutions to a given problem, but 
few of us, I take it, are heaven-born tacticians, and, when one has to 
answer in three hours, six questions, each of which, at the most 
reasonable computation, requires a quarter-of-an-hour’s thought and 
study of the map, and three-quarters-of-an-hour’s writing, it is of 
great assistance to know what other people, who are qualified by 
experience to judge, would do under the given conditions of the prob¬ 
lem. I, therefore, venture to send a notice of a book which has 
recently appeared in France, by Commandant Devaurieux, Chief-of- 
Staff of the 2nd Infantry Division, called “ Cinquanteproblemes tacliques 
discutes el traites sur la carte de Retiel” The problems include almost 
every ordinary operation, outposts under various conditions, marches 
when advancing, retreating, and crossing a flank, positions for battle, 
attack and defence of woods, localities, defiles, rivers, etc., night 
marches and surprises ; minor operations, such as the attack and 
defence of a convoy of vehicles and prisoners, requisitions, protection 
of a railway and reconnaissances. 
The force employed never exceeds a brigade of all arms :—six bat¬ 
talions, three batteries, two squadrons, and a section of engineers. 
The map is, unfortunately, not quite satisfactory. It is the General 
Staff map, scale -soiw> hachured, with the heights of various points 
marked; no contoured map of France, except one on the small scale 
of s^oVfro' with contours 100 metres apart, is available. The places 
are easy to find, as the map is divided into squares with letter and 
number, and these indicators are inserted in the text after the names. 
The whole book is well worth translation. The translation of one 
problem is appended as best showing the method of the author, 
although others are worked out in more detail. 
10. VOL. XX. 
68 
