Withdrawal from a Threatened Point
Translation details
Model:mistral-medium-2604.Translated text
Section titled “Translated text”Game marked with an asterisk in the book: more suitable for older scouts.
The White Patrol set up camp on a clear evening. They surrounded themselves with guards, knowing the enemy is nearby, and are prepared to abandon the camp if alarmed. Indeed, the enemy approaches and disturbs the guards. (The Red Patrol does this intentionally, thereby revealing their own position). The patrol leader then alerts the camp in the greatest silence and withdraws without a sound from the threatened location. The goal is to, as it were, vanish into the earth so that the Reds do not realize where the Whites have gone or where they have set up a new camp. Then the Whites win. Various methods of misleading the enemy and leading them onto a false trail may be used. (For example, sending one scout in a different direction who acts carelessly—either by stomping loudly or pretending to converse with a comrade—draws the pursuit, only to suddenly disappear and rejoin the patrol, etc.).
This is the task of the Whites. The Reds, on the other hand, must not lose contact with the Whites, must not be deceived, and must follow their trail step by step; or, if they fail to do so, within a specified time (not too short!) they must locate the new camp.
In this exercise, the task of one side can be made easier or more difficult. For example, it will be easier for the Whites to withdraw if the Red Patrol approaches as a whole, since the enemy’s location will be known—more difficult if the Reds are allowed to scatter and use various tricks. For instance, guards may surround the camp from three sides, while the fourth side is openly disturbed. No matter which way the Whites go, they will encounter a Red who will not reveal their presence but may later signal to their comrades. Will the Reds find them in time, or will the Whites, upon noticing a pursuer, use a method to drive them off (e.g., by threatening to break their staff, which can be established before the game as a rule for encounters applicable only to the Whites), and in the meantime disappear? Or, suspecting they are being tracked, will they set up camp only for a moment, then vanish again and set up camp in a third location?
Another rule can be added: the Whites must retreat whenever they encounter at least 2 (or 3) Reds together. Such a condition, of course, also makes the Whites’ task more difficult.
The exercise area must be limited, and the time must be specified. A designated meeting place for the end must also be indicated.
If the exercise is not done in the evening but during the day, it should be made easier for the Whites, and above all, it should be conducted in terrain that is not very open, with varied topography and ground cover.
Source scan: Polona / National Library of Poland, marked “Public domain”. View scan — PDF pages 159–161.
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: 153–155 / PDF 159–161
- Digital edition: Digital edition · Source record
- Open the edition at the relevant page: p. 153
- Read the source text: hwp-078