line of science

chained_bear commented on the word line of science

"LINE of science, is a new military movement which is substituted for the oblique step, and also for the common wheel of 90 degrees; instead of describing quarter circles as in the wheel, each man makes a half face, and marches directly to the point in the new alignment which he is to occupy, and makes another half face, which brings him to the required front. By this mode of changing the position, 90 degrees right or left, there is not only time saved in each man moving on the hypotenuse of the rectangled triangle, instead of the periphary (sic) of the circle, but there is another advantage in the change of positions by this method. In the common wheel to front the enemy, the platoons are exposed to a raking fire from the moment they commence the wheel, until it is completed. In the change of position by the line of science, no man is exposed to the fire of the enemy until he steps into the new alignment, and is ready to act himself, for the last man that steps into the new line, covers all those that succeed him. — From the commencement of this movement until it is finished, there are two lines, one diminishing and the other increasing. They make a right angle at the point de appui." (citation in list description)

October 9, 2008