Such a position as that at d, fig. 80, is good, but protected or concealed communications must be made for the supports coming from e over the brow of the hill.
Another possible position for the infantry line is at f, fig. 81, with the guns on the high ground behind. They might easily be quite concealed from the enemy’s artillery. The drawback is that no retirement up the exposed slope would be possible for them, except at night. The fire from f will be grazing, which will be a great advantage as compared with the plunging fire that would be obtained from a position up the hill.
It is idle, however, to give more than the most cursory consideration to sections of imaginary positions. It is only by actual practice on the ground that skill can be attained in laying out positions, and only a trained soldier with a good eye can succeed in it. Briefly, the advantages of view and position given by high ground must be paid for in some degree by exposure to the enemy’s artillery; and at least as much consideration—possibly as much labour—must be given to communications with the fire-trenches as to the trenches themselves. Irregular ground simplifies the question of concealment but also gives cover to the enemy’s approach. The lie of the ground will itself dictate the position of the trenches, subject to the predispositions of the responsible officer. On flat featureless ground the general trace of the trenches should be irregular. This makes a more difficult target for artillery, and affords a certain amount of cross and flanking fire, which is a very great advantage. Great care should, however, be taken not to expose the trenches to oblique or enfilade fire; or at least to protect them, if so exposed, by traversing.
Concealment of trenches is generally attempted by covering the freshly turned earth of the small parapet with sods, leafy branches or grass. In this connexion it should be remembered that after a day or two cut leaves and grass wither and Trenches. may become conspicuous against a green surface. Where the ground is so even that a good view of the foreground is possible from the surface level, the trench may be made without a parapet; but this entails great labour in removing and disposing of the excavated earth. A common device is to conceal the parapet as well as possible and to make a dummy trench some distance away to draw fire.
Besides the direct concealment of trenches, care must be taken that the site is not conspicuous. Thus a trench should not be placed along the meeting line of two different kinds of cultivation, or along the edge of a belt of heather on a hill-side, or where a difference of gradient is sharply defined; or where any conspicuous landmark would help the enemy’s artillery to get the range.
Trenches are broadly distinguished as “fire trenches” and “cover trenches,” according as they are for the firing line or supporting troops. The following simple types are taken from the 1908 edition of Military Engineering (part 1): “Field Defences.”
Fig. 82 is the most common form of fire trench, in which labour is saved by equalizing trench and parapet. This would take 1½ to 2 hours in ordinary soil. Fig. 83 shows the same trench improved by 2 or 3 hours’ more work. Fig. 84 shows a fire trench without parapet, with cover trench and communication.
| From Mil. Engineering: Field Defences (1908), by permission of the Controller H. M. Stationery Office. |
| Fig. 84. |
The addition of a loophole of sandbags on the top for concealment (called head-cover), gives increased protection, but at the cost of greater prominence for the parapet (fig. 85). Overhead cover can only be provided in fire trenches by giving the parapet still greater height and it is not usually done. Portions of the trench not used for firing can, however, be given splinter-proof protection by putting over them branches or bundles, covered with a few inches of earth: or by boards, or sheets of corrugated iron if they can be had. A better plan when time permits is to provide cover trenches immediately behind and communicating with the fire trench.
| From Mil. Engineering: Field Defences, by permission of the Controller H. M. Stationery Office. |
| Fig. 85. |