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Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #26706.
About this book
The Manual of Military Training, Second Revised Edition, is a technical handbook produced by the United States Army to codify the precise movements required of soldiers handling rifles, bayonets, and squad formations. The opening pages plunge the reader directly into a series of step‑by‑step instructions, beginning with the mechanics of “order arms” and progressing through a litany of positions, right shoulder, port, present, trail, and rifle salute, each broken down into numbered actions and hand placements. The text treats the rifle as a “piece,” describing how the right hand grasps the butt, how the barrel is angled, and how the left hand supports the stock, before moving on to bayonet fixing, inspection procedures, and the organization of squads down to the individual corporal’s post.
Written in the terse, imperative style of early‑20th‑century military manuals, the language is dense with numbered directives, parenthetical cross‑references, and a focus on uniformity of motion. Readers who appreciate disciplined, procedural writing, such as historians of military training, reenactors seeking authentic drill, or collectors of period manuals, will find this work a valuable window into the exacting standards that shaped infantry practice before the modern era.
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and carries the hand to the small of the stock.
Each rear rank man moves to the right front, takes a similar position opposite the interval to the right of his front rank man, muzzle of the piece extending beyond the front rank and loads.
A skirmish line may load while moving, the pieces being held as nearly as practicable in the position of =load=.
If kneeling or sitting, the position of the piece is similar; if kneeling, the left forearm rests on the left thigh;
if sitting the elbows are supported by the knees.
If lying down, the left hand steadies and supports the piece at the balance, the toe of the butt resting on the ground, the muzzle off the ground.
For reference, these positions (standing, kneeling, and lying down) are designated as that of =load=. (For Krag rifle as prescribed in 701.) (139)
=186.= For instruction in loading: =1. Simulate, 2. LOAD.=
Executed as above described except that the cut-off remains "off" and the handling of cartridges is simulated.
The recruits are first taught to =simulate= loading and firing; after a few lessons dummy cartridges may be used. Later, blank cartridges may be used. (140)
The rifle may be used as a single loader by turning the magazine "off." The magazine may be filled in whole or in part while "off" or "on" by pressing cartridges singly down and back until they are in the proper place. The use of the rifle as a single loader is, however, to be regarded as exceptional. (Explained for Krag rifle in par. 702.) (141)
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