686. The battalion marching in line of battle, when the colonel shall wish to cause it to oblique, he will command:
1. Right (or left) oblique. 2. MARCH (or double quick—MARCH).
687. At the first command, the senior major will place himself in front of, and faced to the color-bearer.
688. At the command march, the whole battalion will take the oblique step. The companies and captains will strictly observe the principles established in the school of the company.
689. The first command will be briskly repeated by the captains of the companies of skirmishers. At, the command march they will step off, and be governed by the principles prescribed in the school of the company.
690. The senior major in front of the color-bearer ought to maintain the latter in a line with the centre corporal, so that the color-bearer may oblique neither more nor less than that corporal. He will carefully observe also that they follow parallel directions and preserve the same length of step.
691. The lieutenant-colonel will take care that the captains and the three corporals in the centre keep exactly on a line and follow parallel directions.
692. The colonel will see that the battalion preserves its parallelism; he will exert himself to prevent the files from opening or crowding. If he perceive the latter fault, he will cause the files on the flank, to which the battalion obliques, to open out.
693. The colonel, wishing the direct march to be resumed, will command:
1. Forward. 2. MARCH.
694. At the command march, the battalion will resume the direct march. The senior major will place himself thirty paces in front of the color-bearer, and face to the colonel, who will establish him, by a signal of the sword, on the direction which the color-bearer ought to pursue. The latter will immediately take two points on the ground between himself and the senior major.
695. In resuming the direct march, care will be taken that the men do not close the intervals which may exist between the files at once; it should be done almost insensibly.
Remarks on the oblique march.
696. The object of the oblique step is to gain ground to the right or left, preserving all the while the primitive direction of the line of battle.
697. It is then essential that the corporals in the centre of the battalion, and the captains of companies, should follow parallel directions, and maintain themselves at the same height; without which they will give a false direction to the battalion.
698. The colonel and lieutenant-colonel will exert themselves to prevent the files from crowding; for, without such precaution the oblique march cannot be executed with facility.