[MR] What's the differenece between a column and line in a battle?

[Sean D. Sorrentino]

Maria,
     from back in my Army days,

assume you have a platoon with 4 squads of 10 guys
each (40 people)

when the get into formation, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th
squad leaders form up on their own right, one behind
the other. then their respective squads form up to the
left of their leaders. it looks like this

              platoon Sgt
         X X X X X X X X X 1SL      
         X X X X X X X X X 2SL     
         X X X X X X X X X 3SL
         X X X X X X X X X 4SL

where X = soldier
      1SL= first squad leader, etc.

all the soldiers and squad leaders are facing the
Platoon Sgt, and the Platoon Sgt is facing everyone
else. this is a LINE FORMATION

a group of guys, 10 wide, is a pain in the behind to
manuver dow the road, so in order to facilitate
marching around (the best method of moving a group!)
the platoon Sgt would order "Right Face!" this would
make everyone turn right, (duh) so that the squad
leaders are now in front, and all the soldiers are
facing their squad leaders. the Platoon Sgt could
order, "Forward March!" (never "harch" or some other
silly Hollywood crap) and they would all set of as a
group, 4 wide and ten deep. this allows the platoon
Sgt, who is marching along the left side of the
platoon about 2/3rds back, to manuver his group of 40
people around corners and down narrow streets. this is
a COLUMN FORMATION.

now, each has advantages and disadvantages. assuming
that you would want to defend a front, it is usually
best to spread out a bit and prevent your enemy from
running around you. a LINE would allow you to cover
the most ground from left to right. it takes a
determined effort to punch through 4 lines of people.
lets say that you saw your enemy lined up 4 deep and
10 wide, and you wanted to punch through. you could
assume the COLUMN formation and run at them (3 steps
only, please!) hoping to concentrate the weight of 40
guys behind just 4 people. 

there are others, but this should give you the basics
of these two useful formations. 

good question, BTW. i bet that for every person who
knows the answer, there are 10 who do not. 
Domenico


Sean Sorrentino
Email:
sean at seansorrentino.com
check out my photos @
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/sdsorrentino


	
		
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