The Picquets aim at denying to the enemy, any point from which he could bring effective rifle fire to bear on the troops being protected. That is to say lenghts(???) 1400 yards(???) from the road must be watched. It is not possible to go futher afield.
The Main Body will be mostly behind the Transport company to home(???) procedure.
The Readguard is constantly reinforced by Picquets coming in & need us be very strong. May a Battalion were usually be sufficent. The Rearguards object is mostly to see the columns safely into camp it does not aim at inflicting loss. Mountain guns will be useful to keep the enemy at a distance while picquets are withdrawn to. As the enemy often presses reaguard rather daily (???. Machine Guns (underlined) will sometimes find good targets if with the rearguard. Once they have got "on" it will probably choke off the enemy for the rest of the day.
The strength of the advanced and rearguard does not vary much. More troops are unwieldily (???). A Brigade is the smallest force that is likely to move on its own, but with longer forces these strengths hold good.
It is possible that the Adv. Gd. may meet heavy opposition. If it does the best thing usually is to camp on the spot & send out porters (???) to