DECISION POINT 5
Who | Timeline | Location | Local Time | Clock Time | Event |
Custer | F | The Flats
DD: -107.367 45.502
MGRS: 13TCL15074140 | 1205 | 1302 | Custer instructs Cooke to issue orders to Reno to attack the village. Custer also tells Cooke to stay with the Major until he crosses the river. Keogh follows. |
Course of Action 1: Attack with the Whole Regiment
Advantages
1. Masses the Regiment's combat power into one blow. (Boot them, don't spatter them.)
2. If we push through, we might be able to seize a portion of the village and control hostages.
3. The Indians always run.
Disadvantages
1. Have not located the village
.
2. We know the Indians will fight to protect the village while it flees.
3. If I attack with the whole Regiment, I am not likely to be able to surround them in order to capture hostages.
4. If the Indians are as numerous as Boyer and the scouts think, we could get surrounded ourselves.
5. The Indians will gain time to escape once we make contact.
***Course of Action 2***
Order Reno to attack and see what develops.
Advantages
1. Does not commit the whole Regiment.
2. Allows me to observe and find a weak spot to exploit or to hit the Indians from an unexpected direction.
3. Reno can fix the Indians, possibly giving me an advantage.
4. The Indians always run.
5. Terry will cut off any flight to the north and will arrive in short order
Disadvantages
1. Divides the Regiment.
2. If the village is as big as the scouts think, Reno may get enveloped and destroyed.
3. I don't know where the village is.
4. The Indians will gain time to escape once we make contact.
Course of Action 3
Order Reno to attack and then follow him within supporting distance, about a half-mile behind.
Advantages
1. Regiment remains massed and within supporting distance.
2. The whole Regiment is not committed at once.
3. The Indians always run
4. Even though I am following, I can always try to find a flank if Reno is successful.
5. Terry will cut off any flight to the north and will arrive in short order
Disadvantages
1. Deprives me of some flexibility, I may become committed to joining in the attack.
2. If I join Reno, I won't be able to move to cut off the Village's flight.
3. Don't know where the village is.
4. The Indians will gain time to escape once we make contact.
Comparison of Courses of Action.
Where is the village?
What is the enemy strength?
If the Indians behave as they always do, they will delay Reno while the village tries to escape.
If I don't commit all at once, I may be able to find a way to get around the village.
If I commit all at once, we might be able to blow through, seize the village, and capture hostages.
Don't go in with one boot off.
It looks like I can go up that Coulee to the right, then get behind some concealing terrain and circle North.
If I could have only gone in at night.
Where is Crook? The sounds of the guns might draw him in.
If only I had listened to Benteen.
I have drawn and attached 3 sketches illustrating the COAs. The solid line indicates an ordered axis of advance. The dashed lines indicate a planned axis of advance. You can see in COA 2, Custer has two ways to go. In COA three, the graphic means, in today's terms, Follow and SUpport. that means that unit will provide supporting fire if needed, clear any enemy bypassed by the lead force, police up prisoners and anything else needed to provide help to the forward force. There is also a Follow and Assume mission (not shown) which tells the following force to be ready to take over from the leader.
Recommendation: COA 2
Discussion. Personnelly, I think he decided to go to the right but didn't think to tell anyone. At any rate, this is probably what I would do sitting in my office. I think this is what Reno though Custer would do, through Cooke, and Custer would be in a position to provide support. It separates him enough to see what starts to develop*, but remain frees to pursue another course of action. If he attacked with the whole Regiment, he may have broken through the Indians and got into the village, but the village could have already be ahead of him and he would be subject to envelopment. Immediately going to the right and losing sight of Reno, even though there are vantage points along the river ensures he won't really know what is going on. No point in wishing for the 2nd Cavalry at this point, besides it would have left Terry blind. The Gatlings may have been useful to set up along the creek to provide a base of fire if the regiment has to come back.
Custer should have issued the orders in person, explaining his plan. I would have told Reno to press hard, even if things are going badly and send me messengers knowing what is going on. Tell him he would be watching to see what develops and if he looks like he is having success, I may go to the right. If he is getting whipped, I'll come up and provide a base of fire and we'll find some place to defend and get Benteen up here. In any event, I will let him know what I am doing. I would send a message to Benteen now to come up. It might save me some time. Tell the Sergeant Major to go with two more men and some scouts and lead Benteen here.
The classic thing here to do would be to try and envelop the enemy while the lead force fixes him. After we found the enemy, we were trained to deploy and report the contact, the try to figure out what is going on, and then provide the Troop or Commander a recommendation about how to proceed. When I was in the Squadron's tank company, we would normally be the enveloping force and the forward troop would talk us in and provide supporting fires and we would become the main effort/attack and get the support of the Howitzer Battery to go in. We were pure tank, so clearing the objective could be a problem.
*The German way of war may be summarized "First the Panzers punch a whole, then see what develops." The American way of war is, "Find the Enemy, then call for fire." Except for the 11th ACR who says, "Find the enemy, then pile on."