I need some help, we had a situation last where we had a single line of elephants 4 bases, I shot the 3rd base and killed it with two wounds, therefore breaking the line. I.E. from left to right elephant bases numbered 1 to 4 , by removing the 3rd base there was a 1BW gap in the line. My opponent did not reform the line in the movement phase but in the next turn wanted to charge. I felt he had to reform first by M1 action Redress ranks, none of the other actions seemed to apply IE M8 as within 4 BW of enemy Tug.
Which would mean the elephants would have to suffer another round of shooting before they could be prompted to do something.
I'm not an expert but this is my take. I would be interested to find out if the more knowledgeable players agree. The formation of the Elephant TUG you describe with the gap after shooting is an illegal one as the Elephant TUG is not in edge or corner contact with an enemy TUG. The rules on page 98 section C suggest that because the Elephant TUG is not in combat it will reform for free before continuing with its move.
This is answered in the clarries - you cannot have a gap in a formation unless in combat so a base has to be removed that does not leave a gap.