Infantry Rural Combat: Tactical Movement (Part 2)

This short article is the second part of a 2-part article taken from our new Squad-Level Infantry Rural Combat book and online course. The article discusses how to incorporate individual movement techniques into small-unit tactical movement in a real-world combat scenario. We welcome your reactions, comments and ideas on our Facebook page and if you like the article, click below to check out the book on Amazon or enroll in the online course and earn your completion certificate.

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Combat Applications: Situational Awareness

As already discussed in the previous article, whenever you slow down or stop when moving near a piece of cover, you should focus your attention on looking for the enemy. However, to truly be effective at spotting enemies on the battlefield, you must do a lot more than simply “keep your head on a swivel” as conventional wisdom would suggest. When most people keep their head on a swivel they are subconsciously looking for (or expecting to see) the image on the lower left. However, in reality, a more skilled and competent enemy might look more like the image on the lower right. The only way you are going to detect the enemy on the lower right is not by swinging your head around on a swivel, but by knowing exactly where to look and focusing on that spot to identify any small inconsistencies in color, glare, movement, shadow or outline.

Looking for the Enemy - What to Expect

When you keep your head on a swivel, you are looking at everything around you. However, most of what is around you is not worth too much of your attention, at least nothing more than a quick glance. For example, the picture below shows a typical wooded area that is relatively open and free of vegetation. The large trees provide good cover should you make contact with the enemy. There are a number of places where enemies could be hiding in this picture but there are also many places where the enemy is most likely not hiding.

Unless you are facing an enemy that operates in subterranean tunnels or buries himself, there are most likely no threats in the open area that is plainly visible around you, marked in red in the image below. While you should not completely ignore this area, you can focus your attention on areas where the enemy is more likely to be hiding.

Where Not to Look - Isolated Cover

Another place where enemies are less likely to be hiding is behind pieces of isolated cover. The reason for this is because while isolated cover might provide good protection and concealment initially, it doesn’t offer any safe route of retreat. If you hide behind a piece of isolated cover when adversaries are close by you are essentially stuck there and it is only a matter of time before you get flanked. Most enemies will not want to put themselves in this position. Pieces of isolated cover also present less of a threat because there are only so many enemies that can hide behind a single isolated tree, rock or log. For all of these reasons, when searching for the enemy, you can focus less of your attention on isolated cover. However, it is important to remember that not all enemies might be smart or rational and some may have no fear of sacrificing themselves to kill a few members of your unit. Such enemies might have no problem hiding behind isolated cover, waiting for you to pass by and then opening fire or tossing a grenade, knowing their chances of escape are minimal. Therefore, depending on the environment and the nature of your enemy, you still may need to remain aware of potential threats hiding behind isolated cover.

Where Not to Look - Brush with No Cover

While it is not impossible, it is less likely that enemies will hide in thick bushes that provide no actual cover or protection from bullets. There are several reasons for this. First, smarter, more competent enemies will try to take advantage of both cover and concealment, not just concealment. Second, finding a good prone firing position in very thick bushes or briars can be difficult. In most cases when you lie down, you won’t be able to see more than a foot in front of you because bushes are blocking your view. If you move far enough forward to see more clearly, the bushes will no longer be masking your position. It can also be uncomfortable to lie down in thick brush for long periods and difficult to change positions or adjust your aim. For all of these reasons, enemies will tend not to lie tangled in the middle of bushes with no cover. However, skilled enemies can camouflage carefully prepared, dug-in or fortified positions to look like natural brush. Less skilled enemies may also hide behind bushes, even though doing so provides them little cover or observation. So, you should not completely discount bushes when searching for the enemy.

Most Likely Enemy Positions

Open/clear areas, isolated cover and brush with no cover are just a few examples of places where the enemy is less likely to be hiding. As you search for the enemy, use common sense and past tactical experience to anticipate the locations where the enemy is most likely to be, then focus on those areas carefully. Look for small inconsistencies in color, glare, movement, shadow or outline. Look for disturbed earth, overturned leaves, broken or disturbed branches, flattened grass, moss scraped off rocks or trees etc. You may not be close enough to see such small details but do your best to identify even the smallest signs of enemy presence. Returning to the picture below, having ruled out the less likely places where an enemy could be hiding, we can zero in on two spots that present a greater threat. The two areas marked in green near the large fallen logs offer a combination of cover and concealment where more than one person could hide. It would also be easier for enemies hiding in these locations to pull back or break contact, particularly in the location on the left. While skilled enemies would know it is not always ideal to pop up and fire over a fallen log (because popping your head up over a piece of cover makes you easier to spot) they might stay low to the ground and shoot around the log or use a combination of cover provided by the log and nearby trees, along with concealment provided by bushes. This is an example of the type of enemy activity you should be looking for around the two fallen logs. It is also important to remember that even if you do not spot the enemy before he opens fire, by using the techniques just described you will have a must better chance of pinpointing the enemy after he opens fire. In many cases, infantry units come under fire and it takes a while to identify where the fire is coming from. This process speeds up if you are already expecting the fire to come from specific locations and know where to look.

Planning Your Reaction

Once you determine the locations where the enemy is most likely to be hiding, you should use that information to help you decide where to seek cover should you take fire from that direction. You may choose to alter your path towards a different piece of cover that offers better protection in the direction of greatest threat. In some cases you might identify two pieces of cover, one that provides better protection against an attack from the right and one that offers better protection against an attack from the left. The more you can use your brain, anticipate enemy actions and prepare to react quickly, the better your chances of survival should you come under fire. However, it is also important not to overthink the situation and try to pre-plan every action in response to every possibility. When you first practice going through the process explained above including moving from cover to cover, looking for the enemy and planning your reactions accordingly, you might feel overwhelmed or confused, just as shooting a weapon or performing a hand-to-hand fighting movement can seem awkward at first. However, the goal is for all of these thoughts and actions to become instinctive or second nature. When you walk by a potential threat area to your left, you will instinctively feel exposed and gravitate towards a piece of cover that protects you from that direction. The goal is to develop a “game sense” for combat just as skilled athletes develop a game sense for their sport.