Solutions to Short Problem 12

The following post provides the author’s solutions to one of the sixteen short problems published in the very first (1930-1931) issue of the Infantry School Mailing List.

If you have yet to read, or, better yet, work through this problem, please do so before looking at the solutions.

Note

The author of the problem used the following conventional symbols to depict the boundaries between units of different types.

SOLUTION TO PROBLEM NO. 12

(1) For boundaries see sketch.

(2) The northern regiment would attack with two battalions in assault and one (the one which was somewhat disorganized) in reserve. The southern regiment would attack in column of battalions, the last one being in brigade reserve.

The assault battalion of the south regiment making the envelopment, would advance initially in column of companies as the situation is somewhat obscure there, and it does not know where it will meet resistance. The battalion in regimental reserve (the second battalion in the column) would be echeloned on its southern flank.

Assault battalions to the north would each employ two (of three) rifle companies in assault.

The attack should be an envelopment of the southern flank (of the enemy force). There is better cover there, and ridges are parallel to direction of attack.

It is desirable for the sake of simplicity for one regiment to make the secondary and the other make the enveloping attack, and not have to attack any of the front of the enemy position. This is feasible in this situation.

Commentary

Problem 12 requires students to draw unit boundaries before asking them to devise a scheme of maneuver. In other words, it puts the cart before the horse. The solution compounds this error by presuming a plan for an envelopment from the south.

With these things in mind, I find myself wondering about the following possibilities:

1. That a clerical error removed the scheme of maneuver from the description of the problem.

2. That the author of the problem made deliberate mistakes in order to provoke pushback from his students.

Sources

‘Infantry Problems’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) page 49 (Internet Archive)

The Internet Archive preserves scans of microfilmed copies of all thirty volumes of the Infantry School Mailing List. However, it catalogs them under the heading of the Infantry School Quarterly, which succeeded the Mailing List in 1947. (Internet Archive)

The Hathi Trust provides links to scanned-from-paper copies of some, but far from all, issues of the Infantry School Mailing List (Hathi Trust)

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