Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.
The cover image has been created for this text and is placed in the public domain.
TACTICS
BY
BALCK
Colonel, German Army.
VOLUME I.
INTRODUCTION AND FORMAL TACTICS OF INFANTRY.
TRANSLATED BY
WALTER KRUEGER,
First Lieutenant 23rd Infantry, U. S. Army,
Instructor Army Service Schools.
Fourth completely revised edition.
With numerous plates in the text.
U. S. CAVALRY ASSOCIATION,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
1911
Copyright, 1911,
By Walter Krueger.
PRESS OF KETCHESON PRINTING CO.,
LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS.
[iii]
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
The translation of this book was undertaken at theinstance of Major John F. Morrison, General Staff, whodesired to make use of it in the course in tactics in theArmy Service Schools.
It is an epitome of the interpretation and applicationof tactical principles in the various armies, discussed inthe light of the tactical views and methods prevailing inGermany, and amplified by numerous examples from militaryhistory.
The professional value of this book to all officers ofour Regular Army and Militia who are endeavoring togain a working knowledge of tactics, is so obvious thatany comment would be superfluous.
Army Service Schools,
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas,
December, 1910.
The first volume of “Tactics,” which appeared in itsfirst edition in 1896, and for which the preparatory workreached back more than a decade, now appears in itsfourth edition in a completely changed form. The lessonsgained in war and improvements in weapons have correctedmany earlier views. While the Boer war confusedthe views on infantry combat and brought forth morelessons in a negative than in a positive form, the Russo-Japanesewar has had a great educating influence, in thatit corroborated the soundness of the lessons gained in theFranco-German war, but also in that it amplified thoselessons commensurate with the improvements in weapons.The fundamental principles upon which success dependshave remained the same.
For a long t