Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/75

 posted as file closers at facing distance in rear of the rear rank of the company.

Germany.

The non-commissioned officers are posted in the front rank, on the flanks and in the center of the platoons in Russia, Austria, and Switzerland. In Germany and Italy they are all posted in rear of the line as file closers, and it is their duty to supervise the men. In France a part of the non-commissioned officers are posted in the front rank, the remainder as file closers. A German company of 200 men has a front of 100 paces, or 80 m. The infantryman with field equipment occupies a space about 75 cm. square.

The German Infantry Drill Regulations define interval (intervalle) as the space between two elements on the same line, and distance as the space between two elements in the direction of depth. An interval is measured from the left flank of the element on the right to the right flank of the element on the left (or vice versa); and distance in the company and in the battalion is measured from the rear of the element in front to the head of the element in rear (or vice versa). If the distance between two elements is equal to their front, the column is called an "open column", otherwise it is called a "close column."