8 
On the 18th August, in the heat of the battle, Prince Hohenlohe was informed 
that his ammunition column of the guard corps had been exhausted by the III. 
and X. Corps. Luckily for the Germans the commander of the II. Corps Park 
of his own initiative had already sent orders to the park to advance from Thiancourt. 
The distance from there to St. Marie aux Chénes was 19 miles. But the corps 
park had not even waited for the order to advance. 
Two sections advanced straight on the field of battle, forcing their way through 
the masses of transport waggous, field hospitals, etc. which cumbered the roads 
and, on the evening of that day, was able to supply each battery with a couple of 
waggons. ‘The objection to initiative action on the part of commanders of 
parks is that, to a certain extent, the parks may escape from the control of head- 
quarters. We suggest below, methods by which this danger may be obviated to 
a great extent. But we would commence by again insisting on the importance of 
initiative. When we consider how difficult it is to find subaltern officers who do 
not fear responsibility and how timidly they exercise the independence entrusted 
to them, how can we expect to impart the courage of initiative by regulations 
which are themselves extremely narrow in their wording? Undesirable as we 
consider it to copy the Germans in all their ideas of the conduct of war, it would, 
at least, be well to imitate that spirit of independence which is inculcated as a 
fundamental principle through their whole corps of officers. 
Initiative on The danger of initiative ‘action, as regards the ammunition supply escaping 
pene ee! from the control of head- -quarters, may lead to the blocking of the roads in case 
of echelons. of a retreat. Much of this danger is due to the pernicious habit in military 
circles of coupling the words “park ” and “train.” <A park in modern days 
represents a perfectly equipped, organized and disciplined unit capable of 
maneeuvring. ‘Train is, or may be, something quite different. 
Let us consider what precautions can be taken by a park commander to avoid 
any danger of blocking roads in case of a sudden retreat. We must remember 
that a well equipped park can move rapidly from place to place even at a trot. 
Now let Z be the length of a column of route of a park and let us take 200™ 
a minute as the pace of a slow trot, both for the column and for the transmission 
of orders. We can easily calculate (see below) how far the column should send 
out scouts towards the troops in front so as to avoid delay in case of retreat. 
This distance is 2 the depth of the column, let us say even #. ‘This gives us the 
minimum distance for the park from the ¢ail of troops in front. 
Calculation— 
i, ae renner Settee eae) 
direction of retreat. 
Park. 
A = point to which scouts are sent by park. 
X = distance from 4 to B. 
2 = time of movement. 
200 
oes 
a = time for transmission of orders from 4 to B. 
oa 
AC inne required by infantry moving 80™ a minute to get from 4 to B. 
0 5 
In order that the park may get away before the infantry reach B, we must 
make— 
XG xX L Q 
ao an © ap Sag 
