If the trench should be successfully taken and all the enemy disposed of, the first work to be done is to "reverse" it, and connect it up by communicating trenches with the old position. For this work engineers are sent immediately behind the infantry, and they carry with them quantities of sand bags and shovels and picks and wire, etc., with which to complete this task. Of course the infantry must also help, and for this purpose it will be as well for each man to take with him a few sandbags on his back—not enough to encumber him, but sufficient to be of service in putting up hasty defences.
The test of the success of the action will come as soon as the enemy is able to organise a counter-attack. He will know the range of the trench to a nicety and will not be slow to hurl the weight of his shells against it. Then, too, he will try to bring up reserves, who with bayonet and bomb will attack their old position. For many weary hours the infantry may be busy on this task of repelling counter attacks, and consolidating their new position.
So many details have to be cared for in an attack that it is well to rehearse it thoroughly beforehand and to see that every individual knows just exactly where he is supposed to be and what he is to do. Only in that way will confusion be avoided. It will be necessary also for the attackers to wear distinguishing marks in the form of a white band on the arm or a white piece of cloth on the back if the attack is to be made in the darkness or with poor light.
The question of prisoners inevitably comes up. What is to be done with them? How are they to be taken care of? It will be seen that this is a big problem in an attack where men cannot be disengaged from their tasks of taking trenches without greatly weakening the operation. To tell off men to look after prisoners when every man is needed to break down the resistance that is still being offered by others of the enemy, is a procedure obviously surrounded with dangers. And yet, in the interests of humanity it has to be done, for the only other alternative is to take no prisoners. At the battle of Loos many of the German prisoners that we took came to us in embarrassing mobs. They were weak and hungry and required little persuasion to lay down their arms. Under these conditions we could manage a great many prisoners with a few armed men. Where they surrendered in ones and twos we found there was a disposition on the part of some of our troops to disengage themselves from the battle to lead them back. A man is naturally proud of the fact that he has taken a prisoner and wants to deliver him himself. But we insisted that they be turned over at the earliest opportunity to others who were in charge of small numbers of prisoners, and that as soon as possible they be given into the charge of men who were slightly wounded, but who could still be relied on to give a good account of themselves if trouble arose. It is also a good thing to have a quantity of loose telephone wire about—as almost always happens in a battle—and wind this round the prisoners, making sure that they keep their hands in the air. Even barbed wire will do, though it is not so comfortable for the prisoners concerned, and it may be necessary to relax the rule about keeping both hands up!
Raids are attacks on a small scale, and on a definite portion of the enemy's line. They are usually carried out by parties varying in number from twenty to a hundred commanded by one or more officers. Almost the same preparation as for an attack is necessary in most cases to break down the barbed wire before the lines. But in some cases they are carried out as surprises and then other means must be relied on to overcome the difficulties of the barbed wire. As in the case of attacks, rehearsals must precede the operation itself so that every man will know exactly what he is supposed to do and where he is supposed to be. In a recent raid during the time that the snow was on the ground, the Canadians secured a number of women's nightgowns and put them on over their uniforms. In this remarkable garb they proceeded over No Man's Land to visit the German lines.
If artillery preparation has been given, that must be depended on to have broken the wires and the thing to be done then is to reach the enemy parapets before they have time to recover and bring the machine guns into action. But by far the greater number of raids come as surprises to the enemy. They do not hear the men beyond their parapets lying on their stomachs and busily cutting the wires with their snips. The first they know of it is when a bomb lands in the trench or else the body of one of the attacking infantrymen, as he enters their stronghold to begin his work of destruction. In raiding parties, more than at any other time it is well to remember the adage that "silence is golden," and that the best results can only be obtained if every man is determined to follow his instructions to the very letter. If the party is cut off by superior forces it must make up its mind as to what it is going to do, though most men, I am sure, will prefer to fight to the death rather than surrender.
CHAPTER XII
EQUIPMENT FOR THE FIELD
The question is often asked by prospective soldiers as to what is the irreducible minimum that a man should take to war, in the way of equipment. I say irreducible, for it is to the interest of the infantryman who has to carry practically all his belongings on his back, to reduce his load as much as possible consistent with efficiency and comfort. The tailors in London who undertook the tasks of equipping young officers for the trenches, having more interest in making sales than anything else, did their best to persuade their victims that the omission of one of dozens of things they proposed would expose them to very grave risks. No one could possibly have carried all the equipment they suggested and no Army Service Corps would ever have been able to handle it as baggage. Some of the men who fell victims to these outfitters went to France looking more like "Xmas trees" than anything else, for it was only when there was no more room on their bodies to hang anything that these excellent gentlemen were satisfied, and let them depart.