[MR] Atlantia Digest, Vol 33, Issue 20

[Bill Mauldin]

Columns and lines... from a modern veteran's prospective.

Even today's military use both. Let's say you have 40 combatants. You
arrange them in 4 columns of ten. To march down the street this only takes
up one lane of traffic. To get the column to make a left turn a commander
orders  "column left, march." The people in the first line begin marching a
squared radius. The folks behind are still going in the old direction until
they reach the spot to execute their turn. "Left flank, march" would have
all 40 turn to their left all at once and march 10 wide.

If you desire to talk to or inspect a formation, you come to a stop and have
everyone turn 90 degrees at once, thus having 4 lines of ten spaced where
more of them can see and hear what is going on.

In the Rev. War. Lines of 3 colums were stretched across a field. Once one
group fired their weapon, they knelt and reloaded as another line in the
formation fired their weapons. This is also useful with archers.

Romans used columns to get to a battle field then turn and become lines. The
first line or two would lock their shields in a shield wall. The troops
behind them would have the long javelins, short swords, and spears and have
the mobility of not having to carry a shield while still having a degree of
protection. (This is just one use or their formation options.)

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