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MAWEUVRES, MILITARY
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See also:MAWEUVRES, MILITARY . Manoeuvres may be defined as the higher training for See also:war of troops of all arms in large bodies, and have been carried out in most countries ever since the first formation of See also:standing armies. In See also:England no manceuvres or camps of exercise appear to have been held till the beginning of the 19th See also:century, when See also:Sir See also: But with the passing away of the great king they became more and more pedantic, and the fatal results were shown in 18o6. After the See also:Napoleonic wars yearly manceuvres became the See also:custom in every large See also:Continental army. Great See also:Britain alone thought she could dispense with them, perhaps because of the See also:constant See also:practical training her troops and See also:officers received in the various See also:Indian and colonial wars:
and it was not till 1853 that, by the See also:advice of the See also:Prince See also:Consort, a See also:body of troops were gathered together for a camp of exercise on Chobham See also:Common, and that eventually a standing camp of exercise was evolved out of the temporary camp formed during the See also:Crimean War at See also:Aldershot.
Most continental armies have, since the great successes of the Germans in 187o, copied more or less their system of military training; hence it is appropriate to consider their methods first. The whole training of the army is based on a yearly See also:programme of See also:gradual progression, from the joining of the recruits in See also:October to the training by squads, companies, battalions and regiments, the latter See also:finishing their See also: Thus a See also:series of pictures of war is presented, but the manmuvres are hardly a test of the skill of the See also:rival leaders. But, just as in See also:recent years in France this practice has been modified, so also the entire See also:liberty given to commanders in the German manoeuvres in 1906-7 had to be curtailed in the following years owing to the See also:strain of forced See also:marches which it entailed on the troops. In See also:Russia the See also:climatic and social conditions, and the See also:distribution of the army, necessitate a quite See also:peculiar system. The troops leave their See also:barracks and move into standing camps, generally in May, and in these for about three months their training up to that in battalions is carried out on the See also:drill ground. Camps of mixed See also:units are then formed for a See also:month, and from them, but always over the same ground, the manoeuvres of regiments, brigades and divisions are performed. Then follow the so-called See also:mobile manceuvres, which last for ten days or a fortnight. Of all See also:European manoeuvres these are perhaps the nearest approach to war, for the sides start a great distance apart, and ample time is allowed for See also:cavalry See also:reconnaissance. Besides, the See also:Russian soldier does not require elaborate arrangements for supply; hence the director is not so tied down by See also:consideration of this See also:matter as in other armies. A See also:political See also:colour is sometimes given to such large assemblages of troops, especially when the manoeuvres take See also:place in frontier districts. In England the military authorities have See also:long been hampered in the organization of manceuvres by the See also:necessity of carrying them out on very limited portions of See also:government See also:land or on areas See also:lent as a favour by, or hired from, private individuals. There has been no want of recognition by the military authorities of the necessity for, and value of, manoeuvres, and the training at the camps of instruction has been supplemented as far as possible by small manoeuvres on such portions of See also:country as could be made available. But, with the exception of spasmodic efforts in 1871 and 1872, it was not until 1897 that the government allowed itself to be convinced by its military advisers, and passed a Military Manoeuvres See also:Act, by which certain districts could be " proclaimed " for purposes of manmuvres, and troops in consequence could See also:traverse all ground. In 1898 the first manoeuvres under this Act were held in Wilts and See also:Dorset, and were intended to be repeated at fixed intervals in future years. In addition, every effort was made to add to the existing permanent training grounds for troops, and ground was acquired on See also:Salisbury See also:Plain with the intention of developing it into a second Aldershot. But the training on those well-known grounds, excellent as it is in itself as a preparation, is not " manoeuvres," and never can do away with the necessity for them, with a more or less free hand given to the leaders over fresh country. Much misconception prevails as to the nature and See also:limitation of the military instruction to be imparted at manoeuvres. Manoeuvres are a school for the leaders, in a less degree for the led, and conse- ' The " general See also:idea " is a document, communicated to both sides, containing such general See also:information of the war—the supposed frontiers, previous battles, &c.—as would be matters of common knowledge. The " special idea " of each side cornprises the instructions upon which it is acting.quently the See also:minor details of instruction must be completed, and the troops fully trained as units, before they can take See also:part in them with See also:advantage. The time during which large bodies of troops can be kept together for manceuvres is too See also:short, and the expense too great, to justify time being spent on exercises which might as well be carried out in the See also:ordinary stations or at the great training camps. There-fore it may be laid down as a principle that manceuvres, properly so-called, should be begun with units not smaller than a brigade of infantry on each ,side, with a due proportion of the other arms attached. It is useful if these can precede the manoeuvres of larger bodies, as the training is then progressive and the result more satisfactory.' The choice of ground is of great importance. Its extent should be proportionate to the force to be employed and the nature of the instruction to be imparted. It should not be too hilly nor yet too flat, but both descriptions should be judiciously combined; and regard must be had to the See also:water supply and the road and railway See also:net for the convenience of the supply service. Once the ground has been selected, the general and special ideas must be so framed that the troops are thereby confined to the chosen ground without seeming to tie the hands of the leaders of sides. It is of great advantage if the same idea can be maintained throughout each series of operations, as thereby the See also:interest of all concerned and the likeness to actual warfare are increased; and, if possible, the " See also:state of war " should be continuous also. Within the limits of the special idea, the utmost latitude should be See also:left to leaders; but if the orders of one or both sides seem to render a collision unlikely, the director should so modify the special idea as to compel one or other to re-See also:cast his orders in such a way that contact is brought about. Such interference will scarcely be necessary after the first issues of orders in each series. In war the number of marching days vastly outnumbers those of fighting, but in manoeuvres this must not be allowed ; tactical instruction is what is desired, and a manoeuvre day in which none is imparted is not fully utilized. It is not necessary that all the troops should be engaged, but at least the advanced bodies must come into contact, and the See also:rest must carry out marches as on active service. Each See also:action should be fought to its end, " Cease firing " being sounded when the crisis has been reached; and on a decision being given by the director, one side should retire and the fight be broken off in a proper military manner. The troops should place outposts each day, and act in all respects as if on active service. The quartering and supply of troops are the chief difficulties in the arrangement of manoeuvres, and afford ample opportunity for the practising of the officers and departments responsible for these matters. In England, where in See also:peace it is not possible to See also:billet troops on private individuals, quartering must be replaced by encampments or bivouacs, and the selection of ground for them affords invaluable practice. If possible, their position should be selected to conform to the military situation; but if it is found necessary, for reasons of water or See also:food supply, to withdraw troops to positions other than such as they would occupy in real warfare, time should be allowed them on the following day to regain the positions they would otherwise have occupied. It is next to impossible, for various reasons, See also:financial and other, to organize the food supply in man-oeuvres as it would be in war. Sufficient transport cadres cannot be kept up in peace, and consequently recourse must be had to hired transport, which cannot be treated as a military body. Again, food cannot be requisitioned, and See also:local See also:purchase at the time cannot be trusted to; so depots of supplies must be formed beforehand in the manoeuvres area, which more or less tie the hands of the supply service. Still, with a judicious choice of the points at which these are formed, much may be done to approximate to service conditions, and the more nearly these are realized the more instructive for the supply will the manceuvres become. Finally, a word must be said as to the See also:umpire See also:staff, which represents the bullets. The most careful selection of officers for this important See also:duty is necessary, and they must have sufficient authority and be in sufficient number to make their See also:influence everywhere See also:felt. Their See also:principal See also:object should be to come to a decision quickly, so as to prevent the occurrence of unreal situations; and by constant intercommunication they must ensure uniformity in their decisions, and so maintain continuity of the action all over the manoeuvres battlefield. (J. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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