Training documents can be easy to read too literally when first working in an archive. Experience with the material and conversations with serving personnel help reveal the purpose of particular restrictions. Exercise and fighting instructions can include limits chosen to avoid damage or expense during training. A prohibition may therefore indicate an action that is possible but normally too costly to practise. Establishing its combat significance requires understanding the circumstances behind the rule.
Notable Point · 3:51:27-3:52:49
Reading exercise manuals as historical evidence
Exercise instructions encode costs and safety limits that historians need to distinguish from wartime capability.