 Night combat offers exceptional opportunities for success because of the possibility of achieving surprise and capitalizing on adverse psychological effects on the enemy during darkness. Basically, the fundamentals involved in night attacks are the same as in daylight attacks. However, in a night attack, the problem of control and coordination is much greater. Dispersion is less and movement is considerably slower. You will now see an example of a tank company team conducting a night attack. This is the general situation. The 1st Brigade, 25th Armored Division has been exploiting north with a mission of seizing objective red. Task Force 2-11 has been leading the advance. At dusk, Team Alpha, the Task Force advance guard, is stopped by accurate anti-tank, small arms and artillery fires from hills 501 and 420 south of objective red. The commander of Task Force 2-11, Lieutenant Colonel Hart, has decided to eliminate the enemy positions because he is unable to bypass. He is now issuing his attack order. Since the enemy's major security forces have been driven in by Team Alpha, he feels that surprise can be gained by starting his attack that night without illumination and illuminating when detected by the enemy. He plans to employ teams Charlie and Bravo to conduct the attack from a new direction. When Team Charlie has seized hill 501, designated objective green, and Team Bravo has seized hill 420, designated objective yellow, Team Alpha will lead out in a continuation of the advance to objective red. Team Charlie, commanded by Captain Horton, consists of three tank platoons and one mechanized rifle platoon. Team Bravo, the mechanized rifle company team, is under the command of Captain O'Hare. Team Alpha is commanded by Captain Krebs. At the conclusion of the Task Force Commander's order, the team commanders and the representatives of the support elements will formulate their plans for the operation. Our attention in this film will be focused on Captain Horton and Team Charlie as they prepare for the coming attack. Captain Horton is now back at his own command post. Prior to returning, he issued a warning order to his unit. Now he briefs his subordinates on his tentative plan. This is the plan. Team Charlie will move in column formation from its present location to the attack position, then to the line of departure on these platoon routes. The reason the line of departure is along this main road is because in night operations, control is facilitated by use of readily identifiable terrain features such as highways, ridge lines and stream lines, wood lines and so forth. Captain Horton will move his platoons across the line of departure in platoon columns. Phase line white assigned by the Task Force Commander will be utilized to assess the team commander in controlling the movement of his unit. When Team Charlie reaches the probable line of deployment established by the Task Force Commander, it will take up attack formations and assault the objective. However, if it is detected prior to reaching the probable line of deployment, it would immediately deploy. Beyond and to the flanks of the objective is a limit of advance established by the Task Force Commander to prevent Team Charlie from coming under friendly protective fires. Team Charlie will not cross beyond this line unless ordered to do so by the Task Force Commander. The Task Force Commander has also assigned boundaries to designate the lateral limits of the team's zone of action. At the conclusion of his briefing, Captain Horton and his key personnel will make a visual reconnaissance of the team's routes of movement and zone of action. During his reconnaissance, the team commander selects an attack position. The position must be large enough to accommodate his entire force in the formation it will use in crossing the line of departure. In night operations, the attack position may be closer to the line of departure than in day operations. Captain Horton chooses routes for the movement of his platoons from the attack position to the line of departure. From a vantage point, he selects platoon points of departure from the line of departure. He also selects the direction of attack for each platoon from the line of departure to objective green. In addition to a daylight reconnaissance, if time permits, each platoon leader will make a night reconnaissance to determine the degree of visibility of his platoon sector, his assigned routes, and his platoon points of departure. When Captain Horton and his subordinates are finished with their reconnaissance, Captain Horton will formulate his plan of attack, then issue his order. Attack orders should be complete, covering all details of the operation. They should include the situation, the mission, execution, administration and logistics, and command and signal matters. Briefly, this is Captain Horton's order. The first tank platoon under the command of Lieutenant Turk will attack on the left and seize and secure the west portion of objective green. The second tank platoon under the command of Lieutenant Robinson will attack in the center and seize and secure the north portion of the objective. The third tank platoon under the command of Lieutenant Bushnell will attack on the right and seize and secure the east portion of the objective. Once the attack is detected, or upon reaching the probable line of deployment, all tank platoons will move into line formation and all means of illumination and supporting fires will be employed. Extreme caution must be exercised to coordinate fires and movement on the objective. The mechanized rifle platoon under the command of Lieutenant Reardon will follow the second tank platoon and be prepared to dismount on order. Sergeant Moran, scout squad leader from the armored cavalry platoon, will place guides on the line of departure to assist the platoons in arriving at and crossing the platoon points of departure. Sergeant King, the 4.2-inch mortar observer, will provide fires on call. Lieutenant Condon, the artillery forward observer, will continue the normal harassing fires until the team is detected. At that time, close support fires will be placed on the objective and shifted beyond it on call. He will also be prepared to provide illumination in the zone of action from the time the team crosses the line of departure until the objective is taken and to fire illumination and high explosive rounds beyond the objective. Light aircraft will be used to assist in the illumination of the objective by dropping flares. When required, tanks from Team Alpha will illuminate the team's boundaries. Team Alpha's tanks are used to prevent dissipation of the combat power of the attacking teams. Team Charlie will cross the line of departure in one hour. At the conclusion of Captain Horton's order, the platoon leaders will carry out their troop leading procedures, then return to their platoons and issue detailed orders to their personnel. Thus, every man on the team will know exactly what his job is. Equipment is checked and infrared periscopes are installed. The scout squad now moves out to the line of departure to act as platoon guides. The ground surveillance radar section will assist in securing the line of departure. Ten minutes later, Team Charlie moves out to the attack position. The team moves toward the attack position in column formation. First platoon, command group, second platoon, mechanized rifle platoon, third platoon. In night operations, commanders maintain maximum control of their units by keeping them in column formation as long as possible. At the attack position, the team changes formation from company column to platoon columns and continues forward to the platoon points of departure on the line of departure. At the line of departure, the guides from the scout squad assist the platoons in crossing at their designated points of departure. In night combat, men and vehicles are identified through pre-established means. In this case, guides are identified by luminous armbands. Officers are identified by vertical luminous strips on the rear of their helmets. Non-commissioned officers are identified by horizontal luminous strips, tanks by luminous markers on the turret, and armored personnel carriers by luminous markers or panels. After crossing the line of departure, Team Charlie's tank platoons move out along their directions of attack toward Hill 501 and are now approaching the probable line of deployment. On Hill 501, the enemy forces are alerted to Team Charlie's advance and commence firing defensive fires. Receiving the enemy fire, Team Charlie is forced to deploy into line formation. Denied rifle platoon deploys behind the second tank platoon, ready for commitment by the team commander.