WORKING PARTIES
The infantryman will always be called upon to construct the trench
which he is to occupy. Each company is provided with portable tools,
which the men carry, and each infantry regiment is provided with tools
for the purpose. The digging tools consist of picks and shovels.
When it has been decided to locate fire trenches along a certain
line officers will lay out the cutting lines and mark them with tape
or otherwise. A company will be assigned for the construction of a
definite section of the trench.
Let us work out the procedure, assuming that the work may go on
unmolested by the enemy. Such, however, is not usually the case. The
enemy will do anything in his power to prevent construction work. If,
however, we are familiar with the details of the work and know how
to go about it in an orderly and systematic manner under conditions
of noninterference by the enemy, we will be able to carry out these
details of organization and procedure under more or less trying
conditions when the time comes.
Officers have established the trace of the trench and marked the
cutting lines. It is the ordinary traversed type, 18 feet bays with
traverses 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep, as shown in Plate 14.
The company is composed of, say, twelve squads organized into three
platoons of four squads each. Six bays of the trench have been assigned
to the organization for construction. This gives a task to each platoon
of two bays, including one complete traverse and a half traverse on
each flank.
Tools have been issued to the first and third squads of each platoon,
the front rank men carrying picks and the rear rank men shovels.
The company is marched in column of squads to the site of the trench,
approaching it from the rear, and halted with the head of the column
fifteen paces in rear of and opposite the right of the section
assigned; that is, in rear of the first bay of the section. The second
platoon is then conducted by the platoon commander and halted with
its head opposite the third bay. The third platoon is in like manner
conducted to the rear of the fifth bay. Each platoon commander then has
the two rear squads of his platoon, conducted to a point behind the
bay on his left, _i.e._, the second, fourth and sixth respectively.
This allows two squads for the work in each bay, the leading squad
furnishing the first relief and the rear squad the second.
The leading squad of each column is then marched to a point two paces
in rear of the rear cutting line of the trench, where they take off
their packs and lay their rifles on them. The corporal and his rear
rank man fall out. The corporal assigns tasks, number ones to the first
2-yard section, number twos to the second and number threes the third.
The tasks are shown in Plate 39. The corporal superintends the work.
Number 4 rear rank marks out the cutting lines with his shovel around
the traverses and starts work on them.
Experience has shown that the best method of dividing up the work is to
group the men in pairs, one man with a pick and one with a shovel and
to prescribe that they relieve each other.
[Illustration: _PLATE 39._
_ORGANIZATION OF A WORKING PARTY_]
The leading squads assigned to each bay work at top speed for 30
minutes. At the end of the twenty-eighth minute the corporal of the
rear squad brings his men up and deploys them. At a signal from the
platoon commander the men of the first and third squads drop their
tools, get out of the trench, and proceed to the rear, where they rest.
The men of the second and fourth squads jump into the trench and take
up the task. At the end of another 30 minutes this procedure is again
carried out.
This scheme of assigning tasks and procedure was given an exhaustive
test in 1915 in the course of testing out various types of intrenching
tools. It worked to perfection.
The bays are first completed, after which the traverses begun by No.
4 rear rank are finished up. Great care should be taken to make the
dimensions of the trench as accurate as possible. The squad leader is
held responsible for this. He should provide himself with two sticks.
On one the following lengths are laid off: 1 foot, width of berms, and
height of parapet; 1 foot 4 inches, width of firing banquet, height of
firing banquet above bottom of trench, and width of bottom of trench.
The other stick has the following lengths measured on it: 4 feet,
depth of trench from ground surface to the top of firing banquet; 5
feet 4 inches, depth of trench from ground surface to bottom of trench.
(See Plate 15 for dimensions of standing trench.)
When the circumstances are such that the work of trench construction
is interfered with by the enemy, a modification of the system outlined
here will have to be made, but the details should be adhered to as
closely as possible.
When night work is necessary the trace should be staked out before
complete darkness sets in. If the trace can only be made after dark,
visible reference points needed with white paper, white tape or
screened flashlights may be utilized. Stick to the details of the
deployment, the laying out of tasks and the procedure as indicated for
day work as closely as possible. Avoid making any more noise than is
absolutely necessary; allow no smoking and require such conversation as
is necessary to be made in whispers. Protect the workers by a system of
patrols to the front.
Non-commissioned officers are held responsible for a systematic and
orderly execution of the work being performed by their units. The
captain cannot be everywhere along the line. He has to depend upon the
platoon and squad leaders in the work. That is why you should study it
and know about it so as to be able to make good when the time comes.