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have also to be carried out, and communication with the Main Body has to be maintained. For the purposes of reconnaissance and communication Aircraft are even more effective than in Advanced Guard work, while observation patrols supplement and confirm the reports of aerial observers. The work of protection varies with the nature of the country through which the Guard and the Main Body are moving at the particular time. In open country the Flank Guard may be keeping pace with the Main Body at a regularly maintained interval, and on parallel lines. In close country, and in hilly or mountainous districts, it may be necessary to occupy a successive series of tactical positions on the exposed flank, any of which can be reinforced and held at need to safeguard the passage of the Main Body. In order that the whole column may be protected, from the head of the Main Body to the train in rear, unbroken touch must be maintained both with the Advanced and the Rear Guard, and incursions between these forces and itself must be prevented by the Flank Guard. {116} In addition to the protection of a column on the march, Flank Guard work is of the highest importance on the Lines of Communications and in the protection of Convoys. On the _Lines of Communications_ raids from the air or land may always be expected in Manoeuvre Warfare, and one flank is usually more vulnerable than the other. A _Convoy_, when parked, is liable to attack from any quarter; and when on the march it may be assailed from any direction, especially when the adversary can detach mounted troops, or infantry rendered mobile by motor transport, or raiding bodies carried in Aircraft. Frequently, however, one flank only of the Lines of Communications is vulnerable owing to the geographical or tactical situation, and the work of protecting traffic or Convoys on the Lines of Communications is Flank Guard work, with due precautions against surprise from all quarters, the Main Guard remaining with the Convoy and securing its safe arrival at its destination, rather than seeking an encounter with the enemy. The most efficient way to protect a Convoy is to piquet the road daily with troops sent out from posts on the line; but when it is necessary to send a Convoy by a route which cannot be protected in this way a special escort must be provided. The commander of an escort will not engage the enemy if his task can be accomplished without fighting. If fighting is
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