It is fortunate that Napoleon has recognized the advantage of giving
to every soldier an entrenching-tool. His authority is the best answer
to the ridicule which has been thrown upon those who proposed it. An
axe will be found to inconvenience the foot-soldier as little as the
sword he wears at his side, and it will be infinitely more useful. When
axes are given out to companies, or are carried by fatigue-men during
a campaign, they are soon lost; and it often happens, when a camp is
to be formed, that a difficulty arises in cutting wood and building
huts for the soldier; whereas, by making the axe a part of every man’s
appointments, he is obliged to have it always with him; and whether
the object be to entrench himself in a village, or to erect huts in a
camp, the commander of a corps will speedily see the advantage of this
innovation.
When once the axe has been generally adopted, we shall, perhaps,
see the desirability of issuing pickaxes and shovels to particular
companies, and also the benefit of more frequent entrenchments. It is
more particularly during retreats that it is important to entrench when
the army has reached a good position; for an entrenched camp not only
furnishes the means of rallying troops which are pursued, but if it be
fortified in such a manner as to render the issue of an attack doubtful
to the enemy, it will not only sustain the _morale_ of the soldier in
the retreat, but afford the general-in-chief opportunities for resuming
the offensive, and profiting by the first false movement on the part of
his adversary. It will be recollected how Frederick, in the campaign of
1761, when surrounded by two Russian and Austrian armies, whose united
force was quadruple his own, saved his army by entrenching himself in
the camp of Buntzalvitz.