The Plattsburg Manual Part 44

Sound travels at the rate of about 366 yards a second. Therefore, multiply the number of seconds intervening between the flash of the gun and the report of the same by 366, and the product will be the distance in yards to the gun.

RANGE-FINDING INSTRUMENT

Each company is equipped with a range-finding instrument. All company officers and sergeants should be proficient in using it. The accuracy of this instrument will greatly depend upon the skill of the user, and the visibility of the objective.

TRIAL SHOTS OR VOLLEYS

"If the ground is so dry and dusty that the fall of the bullets is visible through a gla.s.s or with the naked eye, a method of determining the distance is afforded by using a number of trial shots or volleys.

The method of using trial volleys is as follows: The sights are raised for the estimated range and one volley is fired. If this appears to hit but little short of the mark, an increase of elevation of 100 yards will be used for the next volley. When the object is enclosed between two volleys, a mean of the elevation will be adopted as the correct range.

The range may be obtained from a near-by battery or machine gun. This is the best method when available."--Small Arms Firing Manual.

ESTIMATING DISTANCE TEST

This test is usually held after the record firing on the range has been completed. No distance used in this test will be less than 547 yards (battle sight range) or more than 1200 yards, which is considered the extreme range for effective fire of individuals or a small command.

Should a soldier fail three times to make the necessary percentage in these tests, his rifle qualification will be reduced one grade. For the specific conditions governing this test, see Small Arms Firing Manual.

RANGE FINDERS

Five or six enlisted men, selected by the company

[Ill.u.s.tration: This shows the path of the bullet (Line of Trajectory) of the 1917 Rifle (Enfield).

The Line of Aim, we see, connects the eye, the rear sight, the front sight and the bottom part of the target. It is a straight line.

We see that the Line of Trajectory crosses the Line of Aim at two points. The distance between these points is 452 yards. Therefore, 452 yards is the Battle Sight Range for the 1917 Rifle.]

To hit the target squarely when it is 200 yards away, the Line of Aim must be under it, as shown in the diagram.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE 1917 RIFLE (ENFIELD)]

commander from those most skilled, will be designated as "Range Finders." These men are practised in estimating distance throughout the year. Their practice will be on varied ground and at distances up to 2000 yards. These men a.s.sist the company commander when the company is on the defensive, in estimating the distances to the prominent objects in view before the action commences; and at other times when the company commander needs their a.s.sistance.

CHAPTER V

TENT PITCHING

On the hike the camp will be laid out daily in advance by a staff officer. The company being halted and in line, the company commander gives the order: FORM FOR SHELTER TENTS.

The first sergeant and right guide fall in on the right of the company.

The blank files in the squads have to be filled by men from the file closers, and the remaining guides and file closers form on the left flank or at such places as may be designated by the company commander.

The company commander next gives the order: 1. Take interval, 2. To the left, 3. MARCH, 4. Company, 5. HALT.

At the second command (to the left) the rear rank men march backward four steps of fifteen inches each and then halt.

At the command MARCH, all face to the left and the leading man of each rank steps off. The remaining men step off in succession, each following the preceding man at four paces. The rear rank men march abreast of their file leaders.

The company commander gives the command HALT when all have gained their intervals. At this command all halt and face to the front, dressing to the right. The more quickly you dress and establish the line of tents, the more quickly you will be relieved of those heavy packs. This is the time to brace up and give the company commander your support by giving him your attention. If you cover in file accurately as you take interval you will often be accurately aligned upon halting.

The next command is: PITCH TENTS. At this command each man steps off obliquely to the right with the right foot (about thirty inches) and lays his rifle on the ground, b.u.t.t to the rear and near the toe of the right foot, muzzle to the front, barrel to the left. He then steps back to his original position. During this process of "grounding" the rifle, the front rank man must keep his left foot strictly in its position.

Each front rank man then draws his bayonet from the scabbard and sticks it in the ground by the outside of his right heel. Now in order to insure the bayonet being properly aligned, thus producing a straight line of tents, the company officers (first and second lieutenants), sometimes are required to align the line of bayonets while the men are unslinging and opening their equipment. The equipment is then unslung and laid on the ground. The packs are opened and the shelter half and pins removed therefrom. Each man spreads his shelter half, small triangle to the rear, on the ground that the tent is to occupy, the rear-rank man's shelter half being on the right. Then the front-and rear-rank men b.u.t.ton the halves together, the rear-rank man's half on top. The guy loops at each end of the lower half are then pa.s.sed through the b.u.t.ton holes provided in the lower and upper halves; next the whipped end of the guy rope is pa.s.sed through both guy loops and secured; this is done at both ends of the tent, the rear-rank man working at the rear and the front-rank man at the front.

Each front-rank man then inserts the muzzle of his rifle under the front end of the tent and holds the rifle upright, sling to the front, heel of the b.u.t.t on the ground beside the bayonet. The rear-rank man comes to the front of the tent and pins down the two front corners on the line of bayonets, stretching the sides of the tent taut. He then inserts a pin in the loop of the front guy rope and drives it in the ground at such a distance in front of the rifle as to hold the rope taut. Then both men proceeding to the rear of the tent, each pins down a corner, stretching the sides and rear of the tent taut before driving the pin in. The rear-rank man next inserts an intrenching tool or a bayonet, in its scabbard, under the rear end of the tent, the front rank man pegging down the end of the guy rope. The rest of the pins are then driven by both men, the rear-rank man working on the right.

The front flaps of the tent are not fastened down, but thrown back on the tent.

In pitching the tent, it is absolutely necessary that the front-and rear-rank men work together. Team work is essential.

When the camp site is small, it is necessary that each

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arrangement of Field Equipment in Shelter Tent

Elevation]

company pitch its tents in two lines facing each other.

The following ill.u.s.tration shows the arrangement of the articles of the equipment when they are laid out for inspection. During the inspection, each man stands at attention in front of the corner pin of his own shelter half on a line with the front guy rope pin, unless ordered to the contrary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN]

CHAPTER VI

SIGNALS AND CODES

1. GENERAL SERVICE CODE. (INTERNATIONAL MORSE CODE.)

Used for visual (except semaph.o.r.e) and sound signaling, radio telegraphy, on cables using siphon recorders, in communication with the Navy, and in intra-field artillery buzzer communication.