Night Operations for Infantry Compiled for the Use of Company Officers — Reading Companion

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Authors: Dawkins, C. T., 1858-1919 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2017 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Infantry drill and tactics Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 13,223

Reading time 58 min

Text sections 8

The catalog record for Night Operations for Infantry Compiled for the Use of Company Officers — Reading Companion provides practical reading context through 13,223 words, 58 min estimated reading time, and 8 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 27.7 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Infantry drill and tactics,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #55247

A 1916 British Army manual for company officers on training infantry in night operations, emphasizing structure, silence, and reconnaissance. The text moves from elementary sensory drills to tactical formations, assault procedures, and defensive outpost work, with recurring attention to the tension between preparation and battlefield chaos.

Editorial Edition Score 4.5/5

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg55247

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The Importance of Careful Training in Night Operations 1

Elementary Instruction 8 Training of Vision 8 Training of Hearing 9 Finding Bearings 10 Moving in the Dark 11 General 14

General Remarks on Night Operations 16 Definitions 16 Importance of Careful Preparation 17 Plan of Operations 20 The Framing of Orders for Night Operations 21 Protection during Operations 22 Maintenance of Connection 24 Rifle Fire in Night Attacks 25 Caution necessary in planning Night Operations, but Resolution Essential in their Execution 25

Defence against Night Attacks 26 Passive Defence Useless 26

Training a Company for Offensive Action 29 Instruction in Reconnaissance 29 Night Marches 30 Night Advances and Night Attacks 32 Guiding Troops across Country at Night 37 The Assault 39

Training for Defensive Action 41 Outposts 41 Position of Piquets at Night 43 Readiness for Action 44 Cover for Groups 46 Marking of Route to and from Piquets 46 Sentries Challenging 46 Sentries Firing 47 Action of Outposts in a Night Attack 48

Miscellaneous 50 Training and Employment of Scouts 50 Searchlights in Attack and in Defence 53 Flares, etc. 54 Hand Grenades 55 Luminous Discs 56 Pocket Electric Lamps 56 Connecting Ropes 56 Passing Fences 57 Entrenching by Night 58 Wire Entanglements 59 Halts at Night 59 Recognition of Friends at Night 59 Knowledge of the Moon and Stars 60 Constant Practice the only Means of acquiring Knowledge 62 Conclusion 63

NIGHT OPERATIONS FOR INFANTRY.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL TRAINING IN NIGHT OPERATIONS.

Although in recent years there has been a marked increase in the practice of night operations, yet I doubt if the majority of officers have realized that the changing conditions of war tend to make night fighting a much more common occurrence in the future than it has been in the past. A brief study of the accounts of the Russo-Japanese War shows that, as time went on, both combatants evinced a growing tendency to resort to night attacks, and to employ in their execution forces of considerable strength; it is, therefore, reasonable to assume that in future wars similar circumstances will compel the adoption of similar methods. Moreover, if we consider the results which are likely to follow from the facilities for the acquisition and the rapid transmission of information offered by airships and wireless telegraphy respectively, and from the increased efficiency of fire-arms, we are compelled to realize that in all future wars operations carried out under cover of darkness, not only for the purpose of massing troops in a favourable position for further action, but also for the actual assault of particular localities, will become a matter of constant occurrence. Indeed, as a French officer, from whose book[A] I have gathered many hints on night training, points out, night fighting can no longer be regarded as something abnormal and exceptional, but as the power of fire-arms increases, so will combats in the dark become more frequent and necessary.

[A] “Guide pour le Chef d’une petité unité d’infanterie opérant la nuit, par Le Commandant Breveté Niessel.”

For this reason it seems to me to be most important that we should establish a systematic method of training our men. It is an axiom that in order to master any subject properly the student must first be instructed in its elementary details, and it is in this respect that at present our system fails. During the annual course of training a few night operations are carried out by companies, by battalions, and by brigades, but during the rest of the year little attention is paid to night work, and, in many units, at any rate, no attempt is made during the winter to give the soldier that elementary instruction which is indispensable to fit him to take an intelligent part in operations in the dark.

It must be remembered that many of our men up to the time of their enlistment have passed their lives entirely in large towns, and have rarely been beyond the range of street lamps. Such men, when first taken out in the dark, are helpless; they start at every shadow, stumble even on level ground, make a terrible amount of noise, and are generally in such a state of nervous excitement that they are hardly responsible for their actions. Yet these same men, by a short course of careful, individual instruction, can be trained to work together with confidence on the darkest night, and when once they have gained confidence their further instruction is comparatively easy.

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The manual opens by asserting that the Russo-Japanese War demonstrated a growing reliance on night attacks, and that future conflicts will compel similar methods. This claim frames the entire work as a response to a tactical shift, not a theoretical exercise. The author, Brigadier-General C. T. Dawkins, writes in a direct, prescriptive voice, often using first-person plural (“we”) to align himself with the officer-reader. The structure is methodical: each chapter breaks down a phase of night operations—elementary training, reconnaissance, the assault, defensive action—into numbered sub-sections. Recurring images of darkness, silence, and the fragility of communication run through the text, as when Dawkins warns that “sudden outbursts of fire without any due cause occasionally occur in all armies.”

From Sensory Drills to Tactical Formations

The book’s first substantive chapter, “Elementary Instruction,” treats night operations as a set of physical skills to be drilled: training of vision, hearing, finding bearings, moving in the dark. This progression from individual senses to collective movement mirrors the manual’s larger arc. Dawkins insists that “constant practice” is the only way to acquire competence, and he repeatedly warns against neglecting fundamentals. The structure of the text itself enforces this—each new topic builds on the previous one, so that by the time the reader reaches “The Assault,” the earlier sensory exercises feel like necessary prerequisites. The author’s voice is that of a seasoned instructor who has seen what happens when training is skipped.

The Assault: Silence vs. Cheers

In the section on the assault, Dawkins presents a rare moment of explicit debate. He lists arguments for and against cheering during a night attack: cheers encourage one’s own men and discourage the enemy, but they also warn the enemy and reveal the attackers’ strength. His personal preference is for silence, because a silent assault may leave the enemy’s reserves uncertain of what has occurred, buying time for the attackers to consolidate. This passage is notable for its balanced, almost Socratic structure—Dawkins lays out both sides before giving his own reasoning. It also reveals a recurring concern: the difficulty of controlling information at night. The manual’s emphasis on “maintenance of connection” and “protection during operations” echoes this same anxiety about the breakdown of communication in darkness.

Defensive Outposts and the Threat of Surprise

The chapter on defensive action opens with a blunt statement: “The first brunt of a night attack necessarily falls on the outposts.” Dawkins criticizes peacetime maneuvers for often declaring an armistice at night, which he believes robs infantry of realistic practice. He insists that outpost duty, though “extremely harassing,” must be performed under strict discipline. The text then details the positioning of piquets, the use of reconnoitring patrols, and the importance of entrenching. A striking detail is his admission that with weak companies, “the position of piquets, and even of groups, may be marked with flags”—a pragmatic concession that undercuts the ideal of constant vigilance. The section ends with a warning that passive defence is useless; a piquet’s best protection is a “resolute counter-attack.”

Tools of the Night: Luminous Discs, Ropes, and Stars

The final chapter, “Miscellaneous,” collects a range of practical devices and techniques: searchlights, flares, hand grenades, luminous discs, pocket electric lamps, connecting ropes, and methods for passing fences and entrenching by night. This section reads almost like an inventory, but it is unified by a recurring theme: the need to adapt ordinary equipment to the special conditions of darkness. For instance, Dawkins discusses how to use luminous discs for marking routes, and he devotes a paragraph to “knowledge of the moon and stars” as a navigational aid. The tone here is less urgent than in earlier chapters, more encyclopedic. Yet the final sentence—“Constant Practice the only Means of acquiring Knowledge”—ties the miscellany back to the manual’s central argument: no tool or technique can replace trained instinct.

Dawkins’ manual is best read as a sequence of escalating problems: from the individual soldier’s senses, to the squad’s movement, to the company’s assault, to the outpost’s defence. The recurring image is of a commander trying to impose order on a situation that constantly threatens to dissolve into confusion. Readers interested in military history will find a clear picture of pre-1917 British tactical thinking; those studying the literature of command may note how the manual’s structure itself enforces a kind of discipline on the reader, mirroring the training it advocates.

That rainy afternoon, the manual’s insistence on silence and preparation for chaos left me oddly hollow. I kept thinking about the men trained to move unseen, yet so exposed. Later, tracing the damp windowpane, I picked up Woman's Endurance — Key Ideas to Explore, and found a softer, though no less demanding, kind of fortitude. The discipline differed, but the quiet weight of holding oneself together felt familiar.