DP-15 Reno- Attack or Defend?

[Deleted]

DP	Who	Timeline	Location	Local Time	Clock Time	EVent
15	Reno, Benteen, Weir	Q	Reno Hill DD: -107.377 45.520 MGRS: 13TCL14374342	1426	1523	CPT Weir talking with Reno and Benteen, requests permission to go forward to relieve Custer, but Reno denies permission. Weir, followed by his Company, goes anyway.

Special Situation: Next to last situation as I see it. Custer, still apparently thinking offensively and perhaps thinking Benteen can come up quickly, decides to go North.




COA 1

Send 1 Company forward to try and location Custer, meanwhile the Regiment (-) prepares to Defend

Advantages
Send's the smallest force possible capable of having a chance of defending itself forward
Allows the rest of the Regiment to prepare defensive positions
A single company can move out faster.
Provides maximum flexibility, the rest of the unit can follow as needed or support the return of the company



Disadvantages
We've already learned three companies do not appear able to defend themselves.
The time to do that was right after Benteen arrived.
Risks doing nothing well.

***COA 2***
Move out with the Regiment (-) to try and find Custer.
Advantages
Force is more capable of defending itself

Disadvantages
Will take time for the trains to come up and unpack/distribute ammuntion.
Need to provide for the defense of the wounded and trains, reducing the size of the Regiment (-) to 5 companies.

COA 3
Spend the time preparing to defend.
Advantages
Can lay out positions, dig in as much as possible, issue ammunition, possibly secure water and break out food for them men.
Place horses and wounded in a protected position.
Masses what is left of the Regiment.

Disadvantages
Likely leaves Custer to his fate.

Comparison. The time has probably passed for us to link up with and operate as a full regiment. The best time to go look for Custer would have been when Benteen arrive and send the lead company out to scout. Pressure on us appears to be decreasing, allowing us an opportunity to dig in. If we move to contact, we need to leave 1 - 2 companies to protect the wounded and trains. 3/7th of the BN is still traumatized by the previous battle. This is really a no brainer.

Recommendation. Defend in Place.

Observations:  The Regiment (-) voted with its feet to haphazardly conduct Course of Action 2. Course of Action 1 should have been done upon arrival of Benteen's battalion and executed by Weir. Even that would have likely been too late. Reno actually made a good decision by refusting Weir's request. However, loyalty and the desire to assist your fellow soldiers can be overwhelmng and one can understand why Weir (and ultimately the others) made this choice. Only binoculars allowing Weir to see the chaos in the distance and Godfrey's independent Rear Guard Action likely saved the Regiment, now under command of Major Reno.

[yanmacca]

I think the option of moving the wounded and packs was a bad mistake.
No wonder they managed only a short distance before they changed their minds.

My take in it is; the two battalions and the packs, consolidated Reno hill and collected plenty of water.
Hare and Varnum sent out to find Custer.
If located, four fit companies would be sent forward.

I decided on that because, they would have had to do something as they would have been branded as cowards.

[quincannon]

The underlying factor that must be considered when evaluating these courses of action is one of where does the prime responsibility of the commander of the Regiment (-) lie. That is really an easy answer to come up with. The commander of the regiment (-), Reno's responsibility lies with those people he has under his direct command. It does not lie with the location and possible rescue of the Custer battalion.

At the point where this decision must be made, nothing is known of Custer's situation. He could have been engaged and handling himself quite well. He could have been surrounded and in a very desperate condition, He could have been stone cold dead along with all that followed him. Finally he could have gone far north or east, after seeing that what he intended to do was not in the cards. That is what Reno must consider. Nothing else.

Reno must first find out the situation, both with Custer, and what the Indians might be also planning for him. He must also determine if the place that fate has handed him for a potential defensive position, is the best place or is there something better, that he could successfully occupy without placing his command in a further state of vulnerability.

The answer is certainly not sending out a company. First off because your manpower situation does not allow for that large a force to be sent out. Secondly, one pair of eyes can see just as well as forty pairs. That course of action is a non-starter.

Marching out with the regiment, could be better stated as marching out with a ball and chain attached to your body, that would prohibit your body from maneuvering. That too is a non-starter.

My chosen course of action is to defend, until such time as the situation is clarified by the due diligence of patrols sent out to gather information. Based upon what they report, you then must consider further courses of action, to include continuance of the defense at your present location.

Who gives a rat's ass if you are labeled a coward for the rest of your days. I assure you the people under your command will not, as they become apprised of the complete situation. Those that do, were not there. The situation Reno found himself in is not unique in history. The exact same thing has happened thousands of times before, and since. I was reading the other day where Company B, 5th Marines were ordered by their commander, authorized by the complete chain of command above him, including the commander of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, to abandon Marines trapped on a ridge above the Changchon Valley. No one wanted to do it. No one ever does, but those are the fortunes of war. People who call people cowards in situations like this have never been to war.

DEFEND, until it is time to do something else.

[yanmacca]

You know the score though Chuck, Reno and Benteen got labelled as such, even with sending out a force to Weir.
You are right, the folks who brand these men as cowards have never even been in the army.

Always annoyed me when I read about the girls in England, giving teenage boys a white feather if they hadn't volunteered for the army in 1914/15, many of these lads never saw home again.

But that's what happened and I have never branded anyone from June 1876 a coward.

The flying tigers was on today, one of the air force guys called the troops "mud marines", which is not I term I have heard before.

[quincannon]

You mean "Flying Leathernecks" don't you. I think the only person that ever used the term mud marines was the guy who wrote the movie script.

Ian: It has been my experience that there are endless numbers of people who have never known war, ready and willing to label soldiers heroes or cowards when they themselves do not know their ass from a hole in the ground. They read Scott and Mallory, and believe every soldier a knight errant, and every knight errant invincible in battle. Seems to me they forget that the other side has their knights errant too.

What annoys me, is that these people think there is nothing better than a glorious death on the battlefield. I guess if you are not the one that has to do the dying then you can think what you please, but soldiers on the battlefield are there to make sure that is your enemy does the dying, and it is the soldiers job to preserve combat power, by any and all means necessary.

[yanmacca]

Yeah the Flying Leathernecks, I always get them two mixed up!

[Deleted]

There is a scene in which Buford and one of his Colonels are riding through the town.  Someone, apparently the Mayor asks words to the effect what we should do?  Buford replies, "Until the shooting stops.  Or you can up the road apiece and talk to Bobby Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia."

They ride on and Buford turns to his Colonel and says, "Politicians and dignartaries bother me.  They are too fat, do nothing but talk and don't think twice about asking a man to die for them."  (Too which I tend to add 'or taking a man's money and spending it.'"