out
by the action of the firing line. It must not be too weak or too split
up. It must be posted where the commander believes it will be needed
for decisive action, or where he desires to bring about such action.
When necessary, parts of it reenforce or prolong the firing line.
(441)

ATTACK

(For the battalion in Attack, see pars. 342-346)

=456. Fire superiority means success; how to obtain fire superiority.=
An attack is bound to succeed if fire superiority is gained and
properly used.

To gain this superiority generally requires that the attack employ
more rifles than the defense; this in turn means a longer line, as
both sides will probably hold a strong firing line. (442)

=457. When frontal attack may be successful.= With large forces, a
direct frontal attack gives the attacker little opportunity to bring
more rifles to bear. However, if the enemy is unduly extended, a
frontal attack may give very decisive results. (443)

=458. When turning movements are allowable.= Owing to the difficulty
of control and the danger of the parts being defeated in detail, wide
turning movements are seldom allowable except in large forces. (444)

=459. Advantages of enveloping attack.= If the attack can be so
directed that, while the front is covered, another fraction of the
command strikes a flank more or less obliquely (an enveloping attack),
the advantages gained are a longer line and more rifles in action;
also a converging fire opposed to the enemy's diverging fire. (445)

=460. Envelopment of both flanks.= An envelopment of both flanks
should never be attempted without a very decided superiority in
numbers. (446)

=461. Enveloping attacks result in local frontal attacks; advantage of
envelopment.= The enveloping attack will nearly always result locally
in a frontal attack, for it will be met by the enemy's reserve. The
advantage of envelopment lies in the longer concentric line, with its
preponderance of rifles and its converging fire. (447)

=462. Cooeperation between frontal and enveloping attacks; the two
attacks to be deployed considerable distance from hostile positions.=
Cooeperation between the frontal and enveloping attacks is essential to
success. Both should be pushed vigorously and simultaneously, and
ordinarily both should move simultaneously to the charge; but at the
final stage of the attack conditions may sometimes warrant one in
charging while the other supports it with fire.

The envelopment o