he can to
keep in touch with and help the others. Now, the foundation of
team-work and cooeperation, is communication--communication between the
company commander and the men on the firing line--the means by which,
the medium _through_ which he will make known his will to the men on
the firing line. As stated before, because of the noise and confusion
on the firing line this is no easy matter. The ideal way would be for
the company commander to control the company by communicating direct
with every man on the firing line, as graphically shown on the
following page:

[Illustration: Fig. 49]

However, in the noise and confusion of battle it would be utterly
impossible for all the men to hear the captain's voice. Experience
shows that from 20 to 35 rifles are as many as one leader can control.
The captain, must, therefore, control the company through the platoon
commanders--that is to say, he _actually directs_ the fire and the
platoon commanders, assisted by the squad leaders, _actually control_
it. In other words, the captain communicates with the men on the
firing line, he makes his will known to them, through his platoon
commanders, as graphically shown in this diagram:

[Illustration: Fig. 50]

However, in order for our system of communication to be successful,
each and every man, as stated above, must know and do his part and
endeavor all he can to help the others. If this is done, then the
different parts and elements of the company will dove-tail and fit
into one another, resulting in a complete, homogeneous whole, in the
form of an efficient, pliable, manageable instrument in the hands of
the company commander. And this is the object, the result, sought by
practice and instruction in field firing, and which will be obtained
if the captain, the platoon leaders, the squad leaders, the file
closers, the musicians, and the privates, will perform the following
duties and functions:

=1435. The Captain.= (_Fire direction._)

The captain _directs_ the fire of the company or of designated
platoons. He designates the target, and, when practicable, allots a
part of the target to each platoon. Before beginning the fire action
he determines the range, announces the sight setting, and indicates
the class of fire to be employed, and the time to open fire.
Thereafter, he observes the fire effect, corrects material errors in
sight setting, prevents exhaustion of the ammunition supply, and
causes the distribution of such