IV. Mines
We will consider mines only from the point of view of defense by infantry against them. This consideration will therefore have no relation to mine warfare or the construction of countermines by engineers.
Let us consider a concrete example where the enemy is about to explode a mine under your first line of trenches (examine accompanying diagram, Precautions against a Mine). When it has been definitely discovered that the enemy has a mine gallery under your first line and there is no means of combating it by countermining, etc., the infantry in the position must take certain precautions. By listening devices the powder chamber is located. The extent of the crater is also calculated. A new first line is constructed behind, excluding the mine crater and at a distance of about 30 yards from its lip. This re-entrant angle of the first line is made by using boyaux on the flank if they exist. A cover trench is also constructed behind this first line. The infantry moves back to this new line behind the threatened area of explosion. Every other defensive precaution is taken against the explosion and the accompanying assault of the enemy.
Heavy bombing posts are located on the flanks of the crater. The position of these posts is usually at the point of change of direction of the old firing line with the new one of the re-entrant angle. Dugouts may be constructed close to these bombing posts for the protection of the grenadiers during the explosion. Immediately the explosion is over, these grenadiers man their posts and establish a heavy barricade between the posts and the crater by using hand grenades. If the enemy attempts to enter the crater, these grenadiers can make it untenable by throwing hand grenades into it.
Automatic rifle or machine gun emplacements are also located on both flanks of the crater. Their function is to establish flanking fire on hostile troops attempting to approach the crater.
Rifle grenadiers are stationed in the line of trenches to establish a defensive rifle barrage out in front of the crater.
The riflemen will usually occupy the near and flank lips of the crater. They will not occupy the lip of the crater nearest the enemy until it is ascertained that the enemy has no more galleries.
A rocket post is located in the first line on the flanks of the crater. As soon as the crater is exploded, a rocket is sent up from this post calling upon the artillery for a defensive barrage. Usually, special artillery is detailed for this extra fire. It is a reinforced fire, or a combination of preventive fire and protective barrage. It is established on the enemy’s first line rather than in “No Man’s Land” as a purely defensive barrage.
With all these precautions taken, the infantry await the explosion of the mine.
A Selection from the Catalogue of
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
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IT IS THE REAL STUFF
OVER THE TOP
BY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER WHO WENT
ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
MACHINE GUNNER, SERVING IN FRANCE
AUTHOR OF
“FIRST CALL”
For a year and a half, until he fell wounded in No Man’s Land, this American soldier saw more actual fighting and real warfare than any war correspondent who has written about the war. His experiences are grim, but they are thrilling and lightened by a touch of humor as original as the Soldiers Three. And they are true.
12º, 16 Illustrations and Diagrams, $1.50 net,
By mail, $1.60
TOGETHER WITH TOMMY’S DICTIONARY OF THE TRENCHES
“Over The Top with the Best of
Luck and Give Them Hell!”
The British Soldier’s War Cry, as he goes over the top of the trench to the charge
GUIDE POSTS TO BERLIN
FIRST CALL
BY
ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
Author of “OVER THE TOP”
12º. Illustrated. $1.50 (By mail, $1.65)
In the amazingly vivid and simple way that has made Over the Top the most widely read and talked of book in America, and the most successful war book in all history, Empey tells the new soldiers
What they want to know
What they ought to know
What they’ll have to know
and what their parents, sweethearts, wives, and all Americans, will want to know, and can do to help.
A practical book by an American who has been through it all.
The chapters headed “Smokes” and “Thank God the Stretcher Bearers” will stand among the war classics.
Here is advice, here are suggestions, overlooked in other books, that will safeguard our boys in France.
The Making of a Modern Army
And Its Operations in the Field
A Study Based on the Experience of
Three Years on the French Front
1914–1917
René Radiguet
Général de Division, Army of France
Translated by
Henry P. du Bellet
Formerly American Consul at Rheims
Illustrated
The younger Americans who are now in training for active service in the field, and particularly those who have secured commissions as officers or who are preparing to compete for such commissions, will have a very direct interest in the instructions and suggestions presented by General Radiguet in regard to the organization of an army and the method of its operations in the field. General Radiguet’s treatise is based upon a varied experience in the campaigns of the present war.
The old text-books must be put to one side. The methods of organization and the methods of fighting have alike changed. It is only those who have had responsibilities as leaders in the present war whose instructions can be accepted as authoritative.
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