India 2001 books

A general falling back toward his native land along his line of
magazines and supplies may keep his troops together and in good order,
and may effect a retreat with more safety than one compelled to subsist
his army in cantonments, finding it necessary to occupy an extended
position. It would be absurd to pretend that a French army retiring from
Moscow to the Niemen without supplies of provisions, in want of cavalry
and draft horses, could effect the movement in the same good order and
with the same steadiness as a Russian army, well provided with every
thing necessary, marching in its own country, and covered by an immense
number of light cavalry.
There are five methods of arranging a retreat:--
The first is to march in a single mass and upon one road.
The second consists in dividing the army into two or three corps,
marching at the distance of a day's march from each other, in order
to avoid confusion, especially in the _materiel_.
The third consists in marching upon a single front by several roads
nearly parallel and having a common point of arrival.


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