Learning to Approach Stealthily
Translation details
Model:mistral-medium-2604.Translated text
Section titled “Translated text”a) The terrain abounds in various small cover: uneven ground, bushes, stones, etc. The patrol leader stands in the middle; everyone scatters in different directions to a distance of 500 paces and drops to the ground, concealing themselves behind cover. On a given signal, the scouts approach the patrol leader as closely as possible, unnoticed, and presenting the smallest possible targets (i.e., staying low to the ground and using the terrain’s unevenness), while keeping their eyes on him the entire time.
Meanwhile, the patrol leader performs various movements (the sequence of which he has previously written down on a piece of paper): now he wipes his forehead with a handkerchief, now he sits down, turns around, removes his hat, spreads his arms, kneels, shields his eyes, etc. Despite their stealthy approach, all scouts must follow his movements and try to memorize them. Naturally, there should not be too many movements, nor should they follow one another too quickly.
After the allotted time has passed, everyone stands up on the patrol leader’s signal, and it will then be seen who has approached the closest. Approaching completely unnoticed becomes generally impossible if the patrol leader constantly looks around and watches the scouts’ movements; one or another may disappear from his sight only for a short time. This could only be achieved in completely covered terrain, but then the patrol leader would also be invisible. However, the purpose of this exercise is different: namely, to test whether the scout makes use of the terrain’s cover, presenting the smallest possible target, whether he avoids careless movements, does not unnecessarily expose himself, and whether, while approaching, he continuously observes the one being approached. Therefore, even if the patrol leader spots a scout, he does not consider it a mistake. Only when he notices a truly incorrect approach does he give a whistle signal. Everyone remains motionless, and the one indicated by hand (or with a flag) stands up. On a repeated whistle, the exercise continues.
Three whistles signal the end of the approach. Now comes the examination. Each scout reports what he observed during the approach, and the patrol leader records each observation next to the scout’s name. Who now followed best, as he noticed the most? Since it may happen that one scout approached the closest, while another saw the most, the patrol leader adjusts the rankings, moving one back and another forward, as the exercise was intended to test both skills equally.
b) An exercise somewhat different from the previous one. The terrain is the same; the scouts are at a distance of 150–200 paces from the patrol leader. He behaves like a sentry: he stands still, then slowly takes a few steps and stops, facing a different direction, etc. All movements are performed slowly.
Each scout takes advantage of this: whenever the sentry is not looking in his direction, he quickly moves from cover to cover, ensuring he is already hidden when the sentry turns his gaze toward him. If the sentry spots someone during movement, or if a scout, failing to hide in time, is seen on open ground, the sentry orders him to stand up. Who will approach the closest?
Source scan: Polona / National Library of Poland, marked “Public domain”. View scan — PDF pages 147–148.
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”- Type: game
- Traits: Not stated in the source
- Source: Zygmunt Wyrobek, Harcerz w polu: zabawy i gry terenowe (1946)
- Printed pages: 141–142 / PDF 147–148
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 141
- Read the source text: hwp-068