ccur at Austerlitz, Friedland,
Katzbach, or Dennewitz.

I am not aware that Wellington, in any of his battles, ever marched in
deployed lines to the attack of an enemy in position. He generally
awaited the attack. At Vittoria and Toulouse he gained the victory by
maneuvers against the flanks; and at Toulouse Soult's right wing was
beaten while descending the heights to attack. Even at Waterloo, what
fate would have befallen the English army if, leaving the plateau of
Mont Saint-Jean, it had marched in deployed order to attack Napoleon in
position on the heights of La Belle Alliance?

I will be pardoned for these recapitulations, as they seem to be
necessary to the solution of a question which has arisen since my
Summary of the Art of War was written.

Some German generals, recognizing fully the advantages derived in 1813
from the system of columns of battalions, have endeavored to add to its
value by dividing up the columns and increasing their number, so as to
make them more shallow and to facilitate their deployment. With this
view, they propose, instead of forming four divisions or companies one
behind the other, to place them beside each other, not deployed, but in
small columns. That is, if the battalion consists of four companies of
two hundred and forty men each, each company is to be divided into four
sections of sixty each: one of these sections will be dispersed as
skirmishers, and the other three, in two ranks, will form a small
column; so that the battalion, instead of forming one column, will form
four, and the regiment of three battalions will form twelve small
columns instead of three--

[Illustration:

3d Battalion. 2d Battalion. 1st Battalion. --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- --- ------ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ------
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ------ --- --- --- --- --- ---
--- --- --- --- ---]

It is certain that it would be easier to march such a line against the
enemy than if deployed; but these diminutive columns of sixty
skirmishers and one hundred and eighty men in the ranks would never
present the same order and solidity as a single column of a battalion.
Still as the system has some advantages, it deserves a trial; and,
indeed, it has already been practiced in Prussia and Austria.

The same formation applies equally to battalions of six or eight
companies. In this case the battalion would not be formed by companies,
but by divisions of two companies,-