text: Retrograde
  to retain the integrity of their forces. This helps retain their freedom of maneuver and inflict maximum
  destruction on enemy forces.
  11-30. Commanders and their staffs identify ground and air avenues for enemy attacks and friendly
  counterattacks. When avenues of approach diverge or pass from one assigned area to another, adjacent units
  coordinate with each other. Using the results of IPB, units designate initial and subsequent delay positions
  on key terrain that covers likely enemy avenues of approach throughout the depth of the assigned area
  allocated to the delay mission.
  11-31. Commanders of delaying forces must maintain a mobility advantage over their attackers. They
  maintain this advantage by fully using the mobility inherent in their available combat and tactical systems.
  Engineering and fire support enablers are critical to this effort. Units take additional steps to enhance friendly
  mobility and degrade enemy mobility, such as building combat trails between delaying positions and
  preparing bridges over major rivers for demolition. The delaying force should be capable of constructing
  large numbers of obstacles and delivering long-range fires. For example, while the enemy force travels in
  movement formations that allow it to press its attack, the delaying force aims to engage the enemy force as
  early and often as possible. This forces the enemy out of their preferred formations and into a series of time-
  consuming deployments into assault formations.
  11-32. Air defense of a delaying force has three main considerations: the protection of the force while it is
  in position, the protection of any forces left in contact, and the protection of the force as it moves to the rear.
  Priority should be toward maintaining the mobility of the force. Air defense assets remain mobile yet able to
  engage aerial targets with little advance warning. These assets should work in teams and be able to move to
  the rear in alternating bounds. This ensures that dedicated air defense assets are in position and that they have
  the flexibility needed to keep pace with operations. Air defense firing points are not obvious positions that
  an enemy force would target as part of preparation or supporting fires. The brigade air defense and airspace
  management element provide early warning of enemy air attack over combat net radios using the command
  net at brigade echelons and below.
  11-33. Flanks and gaps between units are always areas of concern. In a linear deployment, attacking enemy
  forces can bypass or outflank the delaying force if coordination between adjacent friendly units is weak or if
  one unit creates a gap by moving rearward too rapidly. Therefore, units designate BPs to guard approaches
  into the assigned area. Adjacent units of different commands exchange liaisons to ensure coordination.
  11-34. Displacement criteria should specify at what point—either event or time driven—the delaying force
  should begin its displacement. Units calculate enemy closure rates for the terrain and compare them to
  friendly displacement rates between positions. Units can calculate movement times by comparing time and
  distance factors. Units determine required obstacle effects and emplacement locations by applying the enemy
  force’s probable closure rates and formations to available mobility corridors. This also helps them determine
  if and where delay forces will be required to or likely to be decisively engaged to achieve their delay
  objective. Careful consideration of the mission variables, especially terrain analysis, is an inherent part of
  delay planning.
  Characteristics of the Delay
  11-35. Commanders must clearly describe three certain characteristics to their subordinate conducting a
  delay mission. First, they direct one of two methods: delay within the assigned area or delay forward of a
  specified line or terrain feature for a specified time. Commanders usually base that time on another unit
  completing its activities, such as establishing rearward defensive positions. A mission of delay in the assigned
  area implies that force integrity is a prime consideration. In this case, the delaying force delays enemy forces
  as long as possible while avoiding decisive engagement. Generally, this force displaces upon meeting
  predetermined criteria, such as when an enemy force reaches a disengagement line. The control measures are
  the same for both alternatives except that during a delay forward of a specified line for a specified time,
  commanders annotate the PL with the specified time. If commanders establish delay lines, mission
  accomplishment outweighs preservation of the force’s integrity. It may require that delaying force hold a
  given position until ordered to displace. Figure 11-4 on page 11-8 depicts a delay forward of a specified line
  for a specified time.