CARE AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE TRENCHES.
6.—Improvements:
Investigate the work under way for the improvement of defense and prepare plans for further work if necessary.
Obvious improvements are: making additional communication trenches, repairing or completing shelters, listening posts, mining tunnels, wire entanglements.
7.—Ammunition shelters:
See that there are a sufficient number of shelters for rifle ammunition, grenades, rockets and other supplies.
8.—Loopholes and Parapet:
Ascertain the conditions of all the loopholes and have them repaired if need be. (They should cut the parapet diagonally and be concealed in every way possible with vegetation, branches, and the opening blocked when not in use.)
Have all damages to the parapet and to the ground underneath quickly attended to.
See that in each section there are small ladders to permit of easy access to the top of the parapet.
See that means are provided to fire above the parapet in case of an attack.
9.—Drainage:
Attend carefully to the drainage. Have the trench bottom kept convex with small gutters on either side running into pits lined with gabions. If trench bottom is lined with board walks, keep it in repair. Have water pits emptied if necessary.
10.—Sanitation:
Have latrines kept in perfect sanitary order.
Have them filled up and others dug if need be.
Have all rubbish collected and carried out.
11.—Precautions against capture of fire-trench.
Prepare for the obstruction of the communicating trenches in case the enemy should capture the fire trench: Have piles of sand bags above the entrance of each trench ready to be dumped into it. Have chevaux de frise lined up on one parapet of the trench and all held up in such a way by a single wire that when the wire is cut they will fall into the trench. Mines can also be prepared to blow up the trench when invaded. The communicating trench between the fire trench and the listening post should be covered with barbed wire screens or be tunnelled.