What is a picquet?

[Gardenerbill]

In the battalion war diary I am currently reading I came acroos the following:

 

'The patrol moved straight up the road on to the high ground north of Troyon and succeeded in locating a German picquet'

 

So what is a picquet?

[Acknown]

Oxford English Dictionary says alternative spelling for picket. Wiki says 'Picquet (military), a small temporary military post closer to the enemy than the main formation'. So, I think it's a listening post or standing patrol, to give advance warning of enemy approach.

Acknown

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks I thought that it was something like that.

[ServiceRumDiluted]

On 08/12/2017 at 07:51, MrSwan said:

Picquets might be assigned to other ad hoc tasks, such as guarding a water supply, or a downed aircraft. 

 

Presumably from where we get 'picket line'?

[PhilB]

On ‎08‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 07:51, MrSwan said:

Picquet has a broader meaning than simply a military post. It is used to describe a form of military duty for junior ranks, in the sense of sentry or guard. For each twenty four hour period there was (and is) an orderly officer, orderly sergeant, and one or more picquets, the standard being the fire picquet ("fire bucket"). 

Yes, one camp I was in at Arborfield had a normal front gate/armoury guard and a roving piquet. Two men at a time (2 on, 4 off) wandered around the camp all night looking for intruders. It was very boring and the only excitement came when we were instructed to look for a cook who had gone berserk with a carving knife, attacked the cook sergeant and run off somewhere. We didn`t search too diligently.

[Crunchy]

A piquet is a small security element, and can take any form either in the field or in barracks. 

Edited 17 December , 2017 by Crunchy

[KGB]

As in the short story about the Civil War, 1861-65 "Double piquet". 

[Acknown]

This has nothing to do with Gardnerbill's question, but I saw this description of a type of soldier's punishment during a visit to The Keep Military Museum in Dorchester recently (I didn't record the era, 19th Century?):

PICKETING

The victim was suspended by the wrist to an iron ring, let into a wall or a high post, and one of his heels was permitted to rest upon a sharpened stake just blunt enough to break the skin. Thus the whole weight of the body was placed upon the bare heel and upon the bare wrist.

Makes you think ...

Acknown

[Ian Riley]

I can't think of a faster way to render a defaulter unfit for service. Seems totally counter-productive.