Lesson-7-scouting-and-patrolling

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Tactical movement includes methods of using coverand concealment, combat formations, creeping andcrawling, and other techniques by day and by night.Demonstration is quick and easy, but supervised applicationis necessary. Once learned, these techniques should beenforced in the field or they will be forgotten. (Exception:make one round out of 300 live and even reenactors willuse these techniques. Note: this is a joke. Do not try this inthe field or at home.) Camouflage. FM 21-75 includes basic tips oncamouflage. For those who want to know more about principles and methods, the Engineer FieldManual on Camouflage (FM 5-20) is of some interest (thoughit concentrates on camouflaging larger places and structures),and TM 5-267 of June 1943 has excellent illustrations andpractical explanation. Four reenactor purposes, FM 21-75 willgenerally suffice. Some guidance in the manual is not entirelypractical—making green face stain by crushing grass is notworth the effort. Note also that natural garnish for the helmetand pack looks good at first, but needs to be changed regularly,as a smart enemy will start shooting at small patches ofdead vegetation. Soot from the field kitchen is a good darkeningagent. Don’t use soil—you don’t know what’s in it, and itmay cause skin problems. At night, shoe polish is excellent;however, it’s a handy cheat to put skin cream or cold creamon the skin first if you don’t want to take the polish off withsteel wool.Don’t forget to darken the hands and neck; never forgetto button the collar of your jacket if you are wearing a white tee.Fitness. This often a sensitive topic for reenactors, but it needs to be considered. There arethree compelling reasons:1. Health and safety. Even simulated tactical operations arephysically challenging, and scouting and patrolling especially so.If your unit is a “hang around” group that does low-impact publicinterpretations, risk and challenges are low. If your unit wantsto go to the field and try strenuous activities, a minimum level ofaerobic fitness is essential if you are going to be able to performyour duties safely.2. Performance. If you are tired and lacking stamina (“makingthree tracks”, as we used to put it)a leader will be compromised;if you’re a private in the rear rank, you will hold the others in your team back.3. Impression. Soldiers in WWII were on average much younger than typical reenactors. Ifsome in the unit are fit enough to go on a night patrol and others are not, your unit will be split.This causes team-building problems.4
Patrolling.A patrol begins with a requirement from above. It may well come from the battalion S-2 becausehe needs specific information about enemy activities that can best be gathered by a smallreconnaissance patrol. It may come from the commander and the S-3 as a mission to sting theenemy with a combat strike of limited scope (raid or ambush). Soldiers don’t usually just sitaround eating K rats and suddenly decide to go on a patrol because nothing else is going on. Apatrol has a specific purpose, and that is usually determined by battalion or higher.Let’s see what happens (by the book) when a patrol requirement comes down. The situation: Friendly forces: 1/175 Infantry occupies a defensive position on the westside of UPATOI CREEK. 2 The 1st and 3rd platoons of E Company are deployed on the MLR,west of the Upatoi on a low ridge that commands the marshy land to the front; 2nd platoon is inreserve. (See map.)Figure 1: Area of operations, E/175th. This overlay shows only details for E Company; to the right (south)of the E Company sector is F Company/175; to the north (not shown) is B Company/1/175. The placementof Easy’s heavy weapons (mortars placed in battery, LMG’s on the flanks) is shown, as well as thelocations of two OP’s, one from each platoon forward, covering the Upatoi line. [NOTE: If you have no2 For those not familiar with this name of great consequence: Upatoi Creek is a tributary of the Chattahoochee Riverin western Georgia near the Alabama border. Fort Benning lies near the confluence of these great waterways, whichbear Cherokee names. Anyone who has had the fortune of training at Benning knows the Upatoi only too well, astream celebrated in song: Far across the Chattahoochee/To the Upatoi/Stands our loyal alma mater/ Benning’sSchool for Boys. Get used to it; many of our maps in this course and others are of Fort Benning.5
Page 1 and 2: tacticsPRO TIPS:The InfantryLesson
Page 3: be considered expendable (exception
Page 7 and 8: The ground recon. Whenever possible
Page 9 and 10: disperse, we’ll rally 100 yards t
Page 11: LESSON SUMMARY1. The tasks of scout

Lesson-7-scouting-and-patrolling

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