Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/80

 distances between platoons are assumed to be 6 paces (Austria, France, Italy, Russia, 5 paces). (See p. 62).

For a company consisting of 200 rifles, the following would be the forms:

The other advantages praised by advocates of the four-unit company are:

1. That a smaller platoon is more suitable for field service—that a picket is perhaps only in the rarest cases to be made 60 men strong.

2. That a small platoon makes a better and more comprehensive employment of the company in action possible, as the company commander has an opportunity to use 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 of his company according to the requirements of the situation, while the three-unit company affords less favorable combinations, permitting only an employment of 1/3 or 2/3 of its strength.

These advantages can also be obtained in the German company by the employment of sections (1/6, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 5/6) so that the objections to the three-unit company would appear to be groundless.

The platoons (in Italy called plotone, in France, section) are subdivided into sections (demi-sections, Halbzüge), in Austria into two skirmish groups (Schwärme) of 4-7 files each, and, when consisting of 16 files, into four skirmish groups (in Italy this is also done, the groups being called squadriglio). In Germany the platoons are divided into