10 
Every orderly must always attach, himself to the unit or officer whose messages he 
is to carry: on the march the orderly follows his battery or his echelon. The 
regulations lay down the moment when the orderly must take up his post for 
action and when he should leave it. The duty of establishing the connection at 
the proper moment rests with the subordinate unit: thus, each battery sends its 
orderly to the Commanding Officer of the regiment, and each wagon-echelon 
sends an orderly to its commander in the fighting line. Although the regulations 
lay down that Nos. 1 should be employed for this duty, this is not an absolute rule, 
and bombardiers and gunners may be employed, provided they have suitable 
qualifications. Each orderly may be told off to keep up one particular connection, 
and he should occupy himself solely with keeping up the connection between the 
two commanders be is told off to. The duties of orderlies must not be mixed up 
with any other duties whatever, and when he is carrying an order no one should 
divert him from this object. He must always know where to find the two com¬ 
manders whom he connects, or, if they are moving, their direction and pace. 
With this object he must always notice the road by which he goes, making use, if 
necessary, of directing points, so as to find his way back without hesitation. If, 
whilst an orderly is carrying a message from one commander to the other, one of 
these latter has changed his position, the orderly should (1), without losing sight 
of the place where the absent commander was before, try to find him, or (2), if 
he cannot do this, return to the commander whom he left last and immediately 
inform him of the rupture of connection. On the other hand, every commander 
who is suddenly obliged to move from his place should (1) inform the other com¬ 
mander with whom he is in connection of his new position; (2) take steps to 
re-establish the broken connection as quickly as possible by leaving on his former 
position a marker, with orders to direct all orderlies arriving there to his new 
position. 
Comparative Value of Different Formations. 
The movements available in changing from one formation to another do not all 
present similar advantages as regards flexibility and simplicity. They are also 
subject to different conditions of time and distance, and, lastly, they do not in 
the same degree facilitate the reception of orders and maintenance of direction. 
Officers must accustom themselves to compare the spaces necessary for the 
execution of different, movements, and in this way they will soon learn the neces¬ 
sity of avoiding certain movements which require too much time and too long a 
use of rapid paces. 
Line at full intervals when moving is a formation that is hard to direct and 
has little depth. On the other hand, columns possess a very high degree of 
flexibility. Manoeuvring at close intervals possesses great advantages. Close 
intervals make the body compact and easily directed, and may be freely used out¬ 
side of the sphere of the enemy’s fire. By opening and closing the intervals it is 
possible to pass all obstacles met with. Artillery should be frequently practised 
in passing every kind of obstacles, and where these do not exist they must be 
constructed artificially. 
# * # * * * 
Artillery Reconnaissance. 
Every fighting position for artillery must be carefully reconnoitred in advance 
by Artillery Commanders. The success of the impending artillery action depends ' 
on this detailed and carefully executed reconnaissance, which is one of the most 
important points in the handling of Field Artillery in war. The reconnaissance 
consists—under conditions fixed by the general tactical objects of the battle, of 
locality, and of the position and action of the other arms and the position of the 
enemy—in (1) choosing the best fighting position for the batteries ; (2) finding 
