INFANTRY AND ITS WORK.
Before I describe the German invasion of Belgium, I must explain
certain military terms which will crop up again and again in the
following pages. Unless you understand these terms, you cannot read war
news intelligently.
An army, you know, is a body of armed men, trained and organized and
disciplined for the work of war. Most of the fighting men in an army are
either infantry, cavalry, or artillery. Let me tell you something about
each of these "arms."
_Infantry_ are foot-soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets. In time of
peace you have seen them marching by in their scarlet and blue uniforms
and smart spiked helmets. You have also seen the Highlanders, with their
waving feather bonnets, short scarlet coats with yellow facings, white
belts and gaiters, plaid stockings, and bare knees. In time of war all
these fine uniforms are discarded, and the men are dressed in khaki.
Every foot-soldier belongs to a _regiment_, and is one of a _company_
of that regiment. A company consists of 227 men of all ranks, and is
commanded by a captain or major, with a captain as second in command.
Every company is divided into four platoons under lieutenants, each of
whom has a sergeant as second in command, and each platoon consists of
four sections under junior sergeants, corporals, or lance-corporals.
In the British Army four companies form a _battalion_, which has been
well called the household or family to which the soldier belongs. It
consists, when at war strength, of 1,007 men, including what is called
headquarters--that is, the battalion staff, the men of the machine-gun
section, the signallers, pioneers, and the bandsmen who in time of war
serve as stretcher-bearers. A battalion is commanded by a
lieutenant-colonel, who is assisted by a major, an adjutant, a
quartermaster, together with a number of sergeants, orderlies, and
clerks. The adjutant is specially responsible for the book-keeping of
the battalion, for issuing the orders, and for seeing that all military
duties are properly performed. The quartermaster has charge of the
stores, clothing, and the equipment of the men.
The strength of an infantry force is reckoned in battalions, not in
regiments. Four battalions--that is, 4,000 men--form a _brigade_ of
infantry, which is commanded by a brigadier-general, who is assisted by
a brigade-major and a staff-captain.
Foot-soldiers are now armed with what is called a magazine rifle. The
short Lee-Enfield,[178] which our infantry carry, can fire a dozen aimed
shots in a minute; and if the magazine is opened, the ten cartridges in
it can be discharged in less than thirty seconds. With this rifle, which
is sighted up to 2,800 yards, a man can hit a large object a mile and a
half away, and if he is a good shot, can kill a man at half a mile. The
cartridge--which contains bullet and powder in one case--is so light
that a man can carry his one hundred and twenty cartridges without much
discomfort. The powder used is smokeless, so that it is almost
impossible to tell where the shots come from if the riflemen take
_cover_--that is, if they conceal themselves behind bushes, rocks, or
hedges. British soldiers are exceedingly good at taking cover, and they
learnt the art from the Boers in South Africa. They are careful to
notice the folds and waves of the ground, and to take advantage of
everything which will hide them from the enemy. A skilful leader can
march his company or platoon across country so that a man sitting still
half a mile away from his route cannot catch as much as a glimpse of it.
[Illustration: Territorial Infantry marching along Fleet Street, London.
Most of these men in private life are lawyers.
_Photo, Record Press._]
Before a man can fire accurately at a distant enemy he must know the
range, and must sight his rifle accordingly. To show you how this range
is found, let us suppose that a platoon sees a party of the enemy on a
ridge in front of it. At one end of this ridge there is a little sand
heap. "The lieutenant calls for three good shots from your section, of
whom you are one. You go up and lie down, and your section commander
tells you that you are to fire at the sand hill to get the range, which
he thinks is 800 yards. You fire at 800 yards, and see no result; the
next man fires at 750--no result. The third man fires at 700, and the
sergeant, with a field-glass, sees a splash of dust on the sand heap.
That settles the range."[179] When the troops occupy a position some
time before the enemy is in sight, it is usual to mark distances. "Half
a dozen men are told to cut sticks from the nearest trees, and to tie
red rags on to each of them. Then they are to pace 600 yards in a
straight line to the front, stepping yards as well as they can, and then
to plant their sticks so that the line of red sticks may mark the 600
yards line from where their comrades are lying down."[179]
Each infantryman carries a short bayonet, about twelve inches long. When
a charge is ordered, the bayonet is fixed on to the end of the
rifle-barrel, and is used as a thrusting-sword. British soldiers have
always been famous for their prowess with the bayonet. A bayonet charge
usually occurs when an enemy has been beaten by gun fire, and his
trenches are carried by a final rush.
Each battalion has with it two machine guns, manned by an officer, a
sergeant, and sixteen men. Two wagons accompany this section to convey
the guns and their ammunition.
A machine gun is nothing but a rifle barrel fixed into a machine so that
it becomes self-firing. The barrel is surrounded by a large tube filled
with water, to keep the barrel from getting too hot. The gun is so
fixed on a tripod stand that it can be turned round in any direction.
One man carries the gun, which weighs about sixty pounds, to the
selected position, and the other carries the tripod on which it is
fixed. On the march, both gun and tripod are carried in a wagon. Each
gun is supplied with boxes containing 3,500 rounds, and 8,000 more
rounds are kept in reserve.
On the next page you will see a picture of this gun at work. When it is
fixed and sighted, a button is pressed, and the first shot is fired. The
recoil of this shot empties and reloads the gun, and so the process goes
on just as long as the button is pressed. Some three hundred shots can
be fired in a minute very accurately, and the effect on a body of men
advancing along a road or across a bridge is deadly in the extreme.
[Illustration: A concealed machine gun in action.
_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations Ltd._]
Besides their rifles and bayonets, each infantryman carries a light,
short-handled shovel attached to his belt. This is for making trenches
and rifle pits to afford protection against the enemy's bullets. In a
very short time a battalion can "dig itself in," and, thus protected,
fire on the enemy from shelter. A trench a hundred yards long, three
feet deep, and two feet wide, can be dug in easy soil by forty men in
about three hours. Every battalion is accompanied by mules or carts,
carrying picks and additional shovels.
[Illustration: A trench made by infantry.
In the drawing the trench has been cut through vertically to show how it
is made. "a" is the parapet piled up behind the hedge to protect the
firer, who is shooting through a loophole ("d") made of bags of earth.
"b" is the bank of earth thrown up behind the trench to protect the men
from the "back blast" of shells, for when they burst, their effect is
felt as severely behind them as in front. "c" is the bank of earth at
the end of the trench to protect the men from enfilade fire--that is,
from fire along the length of the trench. Frequently trenches are made
in zigzags to avoid this danger.]
A good infantryman must be able to shoot well and march well. If you are
in good condition, you perhaps think nothing of a ten-mile walk. But
suppose you are loaded up, as the soldier is, with rifle, bayonet, and
knapsack, ammunition pouches, haversack, water-bottle, and entrenching
tool, a total weight of about sixty-one pounds, you will find ten miles
a long and very tiring distance. Our infantry usually march at about two
and three-quarter miles an hour on a fourteen-mile march. The French
are famous for what are called "forced marches"--that is, for marches
more than twenty miles in one day--but British soldiers have done even
better. In 1898, before the Battle of Atbara, some of our infantrymen
covered 134 miles--mostly desert--in six and a half days, ninety-eight
miles being covered in four successive days. The men were in fine
condition, otherwise they could not have stood the strain. As it was,
many of them arrived at their destination barefooted, the soles of their
boots having come off owing to the rough nature of the country. This, of
course, made the march all the more creditable.
In South Africa the 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry once marched
forty-three miles in thirty-two hours. When pursuing De Wet in August
1900, the City Imperial Volunteers (C.I.V.) marched thirty miles in
seventeen hours.
[Illustration: The Lee-Enfield Rifle.
A spring (A) at the bottom of the magazine pushes the cartridges up
towards the top. By pushing forward the bolt (B) in the direction of the
arrow, you shove the top cartridge (C) into the chamber (D). After you
have fired, you pull back the bolt, and this pulls out the empty
cartridge case. A small metal leaf can be pushed across the top of the
magazine at E, so that you can load and fire the rifle without using the
cartridges in the magazine. This leaf is called the "cut-off."]
[Footnote 178: For diagram see p. 192.]
[Footnote 179: Quoted from "First Lessons in War," by Spenser
Wilkinson.]