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"The Plattsburg Manual A Handbook for Military Training"

For this purpose
each man must constantly keep within sight and hearing distance of the
leader. A patrol moves cautiously, taking advantage of all available
cover, seeking in every way to see without being seen. It halts
frequently to listen and make careful observations of its surroundings.
Except at night a patrol should not move on roads. Villages and
inhabited places should not as a rule be entered. During the daytime it
seeks high ground from which it can scan the country and at night it
seeks a position from which the sky line can be observed.

ENCOUNTERING THE ENEMY

If a small hostile patrol is encountered it is generally better to
remain in concealment and let it pass than to attack. The noise of a
fight may be heard by the enemy, the presence of the patrol therefore
indicated, and the enemy will take further precautions to oppose its
operations. If the patrol is suddenly attacked or surprised by a
superior force, the patrol should at once scatter in all directions and
the members make their way back to the last place designated as a
meeting place and then after reuniting continue the reconnaissance.


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