Individual training should begin by familiarizing the trainee with the peculiarities of the night. His eyes and ears must be conditioned to a variety of unaccustomed impressions. Since this conditioning process is gradual, it may be practical to start with lectures and demonstrations. Competitive exercises should be initiated as early as possible since they arouse the trainee's interest in night combat. The recruit must learn that at best he can perceive only the outline of an object without any detail. Since he can observe better from below than from above, he must get down on the ground. Distances are difficult to estimate in the dark and the position of a distant light can, therefore, be easily misjudged. By lighting a flashlight, a match, or smoking a cigarette the soldier might betray his presence even to a rather distant foe.

Sounds are transmitted most clearly at night, and the trainee must learn to differentiate between ordinary noises and those that should arouse suspicion. By putting his ear to the ground he will often be able to hear noises that are otherwise inaudible. To familiarize the trainee with nighttime conditions, preliminary marksmanship and range firing exercises should be shifted to the hours of darkness at an early stage in the training. Cross-country night marches may occasionally be combined with practice alerts. Since a sudden drop in temperature during the night or unexpected ground fog during the early morning hours may affect the trainee's health, he must be taught to take appropriate precautions.

During the next stage of individual training the recruit should learn to orient himself by the stars, by prismatic compass, by tracer and various other types of signals, and by terrain features briefly observed during daylight. He must know how to move silently, both erect and prone, at first across familiar, then across unfamiliar terrain, taking every precaution not to attract the enemy's attention by the clatter of weapons or equipment. During daytime he must prepare heavy weapons positions for fire against potential night targets. In addition, his training should include practice in patrolling and close combat at night, use of pyrotechnic signals, performance of sentry duty, attacks on enemy outposts, employment of entrenching tools without attracting attention, messenger duty, etc.

In peacetime, individual training is followed by unit training beginning at squad level. In the wartime training of replacements, one may discard this systematic program and use a mixed schedule if the need for additional manpower is urgent and if experienced, outstanding instructors are available. Such a mixed program consists of alternating individual with unit training by scheduling, for instance, two days of individual training, followed by one day of squad and one day of platoon training, and reverting to one day of individual training, etc. The objective in setting up such a schedule is to obtain effective teamwork at the earliest possible moment. The attached tentative training charts, based on the practical experience of a German training instructor for armored units, contain suggestions along these lines. (Appendices I-VII) The disadvantage inherent in this type of program is that both the instructor and the trainee may be overtaxed by such a crowded schedule. Careful supervision of the training activities is therefore indicated.

Magazine articles and contents are copyrighted property of the respective publication. All copyrights, trademarks, and other rights are held by the respective magazines, companies, and/or licensors, with all rights reserved. MagWeb, its contents, and HTML coding are © Copyright 2002 by Coalition Web, Inc.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com