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ATTACK AND DEFENCE OF A POSITION. 
As regards cavalry, it is impossible to lay down any detailed rules 
for its employment in battle, the general duties that may be ex¬ 
pected of it have already been touched upon. 
Engineers should accompany an infantry attack when possible, in 
order to prepare positions that have been gained as quickly as may 
be against counter attacks. 
Defence. 
There are, speaking generally, two natures of defensive battles, 
one when a General hopes by accepting battle in a favourable posi¬ 
tion so to break his enemy’s strength as to be eventually able to 
obtain decisive success by taking the offensive, and the other when 
some important point or operation is to be covered. 
In the first case a General has a certain liberty of movement, so 
that if the enemy does not attack him in his chosen position, but 
tries to manoeuvre him out of it, he can either advance to the attack 
himself or retreat without compromising his army or the object of 
his operations. He can, therefore, select a position favourable in 
other respects, so situated as to render it probable that the enemy 
may be obliged to attack him, and suitable in extent to the number of 
troops he has available. 
In the second case a General will gain his object if he only suc¬ 
ceeds in holding his ground, but he cannot retreat or permit the 
enemy to get past him without giving up the object of his operations. 
He must, therefore (supposing he is unable to anticipate the enemy’s 
movements by attacking himself), guard all the routes by which tbe 
enemy can advance, and may have to extend his troops over a much 
greater extent of ground than would be generally advisable . 
It may also happen sometimes that a battle is fought under a 
combination of these circumstances, eg., the battle of Waterloo, 
where the Duke of Wellington’s object was both to cover Brussels 
and to obtain a decisive victory over Napoleon. 
To consider first the case when a decisive result is to be aimed at. 
When a General decides that he will accept battle in a defensive 
position the first thing he has to do is to select his position. r J he 
following are the principal points that have to be considered in making 
a selection. In the first place the extent of the position should be 
proportionate to the strength of the force that is to occupy it. 
Inasmuch as mere passive defence will seldom lead to decisive results, 
the object aimed at by fighting a defensive battle will be to make the 
assailant exhaust his strength in fruitless attacks, so that in the end 
the defending force may in turn take the offensive and change a mere 
repulse of the enemy into a decisive defeat. In order to obtain this 
object a part only of the defensive force should be employed in the 
first part of the action, the passive defence, so that the remainder 
may be available to take the offensive when the favourable moment 
arrives. Therefore the extent of the position should be confined 
within such limits that its passive defence may be carried out with a 
