COVER AND TRENCHES
This war is being fought out, not in great open battles, but in
successive conflicts from the security of trenches in what "Papa
Joffre" has called the "nibbling process." It is not simple work but
such as calls for healthy bodies, trained minds, and steady nerves.
Quick action is often necessary. Independence of thought, ingenuity and
personal courage, combined with implicit obedience, make up the ideal
soldier.
The training through which a civilian must go, then, will be such as to
develop these qualities. Every syllabus of training must be drawn up
with this in view, and all the time the attention of the officers must
be kept on the fact that the training must be such as to make soldiers
who will be efficient in the kind of war that is being waged. Much that
has been written in the text books for armies has had to be discarded
as out of date. It is no exaggeration to say that the British knew very
little about modern warfare when we went to France, in spite of the
fact that we had, during this century, waged a war in South Africa,
not to mention the numerous border engagements in India. We did not
know the tremendously important part that artillery was to play; we
knew practically nothing of the use of bombs; we had never made gas and
did not know its constitution; and in the work of trench construction
we were in the kindergarten class. Our enemy taught us many of these
things and we learned them slowly. Now we have reached his standard and
gone past him as the Tanks testify. But in pure frightfulness we can
never compete with him and never intend to.
Eight hours a day of hard but varied training was our rule with
frequent evening lectures. Conditions were arranged as much like those
on active service as possible, even to the use of "live" bombs. Men are
very reluctant at first to handle these explosive little instruments of
war, and they must be given confidence in themselves long before they
reach the firing line. There they are used as freely as a mechanic uses
a machine.
It is said that one general who was training his men in the Midlands of
England had a difficulty in getting them to keep their heads down. They
could not see the necessity for it and always wanted to see all that
was going on. Now in actual warfare the individual soldier is able to
see very little of what is transpiring round about him, and he has to
be content to come through with a whole head. Accordingly the General
served out to a few trustworthy men a number of live, ball cartridges.
During the manoeuvres the men who would put their heads up heard some
of these missiles singing round their ears, and soon learned that it
was unwise to be too curious. I am not sure that I would recommend this
method--for were an accident to happen it would bring disgrace and
dismissal to the officer who had employed it--but it is certainly an
effective means.
One of the first things to be insisted upon in training a man is
that he learn the use of COVER. He must learn not only that cover
is necessary, but also what constitutes effective cover of various
materials. The most common form of cover is that afforded by piled up
earth. A rifle bullet fired at short range will pierce about forty
inches of earth so that nothing less than thirty-six inches can be
considered as giving protection from ordinary bullets. Where sand can
be obtained ten inches less will suffice. Ordinary turf is not nearly
so good and nothing less than five feet in thickness is sufficient.
Bricks are effective. If they are placed end on giving a thickness of
nine inches this will be found sufficient so that a man can feel fairly
secure from rifle bullets standing behind an ordinary brick wall. Where
wood is used much depends on its degree of hardness; thirty inches for
hardwood and forty-five for softwood can be taken as affording complete
protection. Any of the harder substances such as iron and steel, etc.,
are preferable, but they can seldom be obtained. Of ordinary iron plate
three-fourths inch is necessary and less for the different varieties
of steel. Usually several of these media must be used. Boards can be
arranged with stones and sand or litter, etc., between them. The point
to be remembered is that the required thickness must be obtained, not
at the base of the cover but at the top, to support which a much larger
base will usually be required.
When a man has learnt what thickness of materials he needs to have
to protect his life, it will be a good thing to take him out and let
him see how far bullets are able to pierce these media by actually
firing at them from point blank range. That will give him a respect for
bullets and impress the lesson on him.
But he must also be told that cover that protects is only half what is
required. It must be such as to allow him to become offensive while
giving him defence. The problem is a simple one in actual trenches,
where he has no alternative but to build them continuously and then
fire over the top or through loopholes of steel. But when more open
fighting develops he must learn that his business is not only to get
reasonable protection for his own body but to be able to bring his
rifle to bear on the enemy. This necessitates a certain amount of
exposure. Certain devices have been developed during this war to allow
a man to fire his rifle from beneath the parapet of the trench by means
of specially adapted periscopes. These are of great use for snipers but
cannot be used by all the men.
In open fighting men often make the mistake of seeking cover in what
is obviously the most protected place from rifle bullets, but equally
obvious to those of experience as the most likely place for the enemy
to choose as marks for his artillery. Orchards, woods, houses, etc.,
come within this category, and it is only experience that will teach a
man what places to choose and what places to avoid. Wherever the enemy
can view the approaches to these shelters, either by direct vision from
their positions or by means of aeroplanes or observation balloons, they
become dangerous as cover.
Modern trenches are intended to give cover from fire and from view.
They are seldom roofed over, so that, as a matter of fact, they can
be seen from the air, but it is not by any means an easy task either
for an aeroplane to drop bombs there (a ditch three feet wide) nor
yet for the artillery to hit them. But we seldom are able to inherit
trenches--they usually have to be dug under cover of darkness while the
enemy is sniping. For this purpose each man in the British army carries
a small entrenching tool on his back, as well as two sandbags. Every
man is trained in the use of this valuable little tool, and soon learns
never to be without it. When, during an advance, he needs to provide
cover for himself, he throws himself down on the ground placing his
rifle at his left side, and begins to dig away the earth at his right
side, throwing the loose earth up in front of him. Just as soon as he
can he takes the sandbags from his back and fills them, placing them
in front of him. Under this imperfect cover he proceeds to deepen the
hole till he can roll his body into it. This miniature trench should
be two feet wide and three feet long. Then if time permits he should
add small comforts such as a recess for his feet, drainage for water,
etc. He will find that he needs to dig down to about two feet, all the
time throwing the earth out in front and occasionally pushing it out a
little so as to make it of sufficient width, for, of course, he will
be seeking to get a parapet of about a yard in thickness at the top.
If he has an opportunity of firing he should do so, not over the top
of his cover but round the right side of it. To fire over it is to ask
for trouble. The body and legs should be placed in such a position that
they are covered as much as possible by the earth thrown up in front.
If an advance has to be made from this position, the small trench will
have served its purpose in giving temporary shelter. But there are
times when troops have to consolidate positions won in this way, and
on the site of these primitive trenches, more elaborate ones have to
be made. At the battle of Neuve Chapelle the troops took up a certain
line, dug themselves in in a rough way, and then during the night they
set to work to construct the very trenches that still shelter them to
this day. But it was due to the entrenching tools and the few sand bags
that they were able to hold the line during the hours of daylight, and
when the next morning dawned they had a fairly adequate protection.
While the question of cover is very important, I do not wish to convey
the impression that men should have this subject always in their minds.
To use a rock or a tree or a mound of earth as a temporary shelter is
one thing; but to continue to hide behind it at the time an advance
is needed, is another. The man who hesitates to go forward when he
has recovered his wind, but who takes care of his precious skin by
remaining under cover, is worse than useless. The object of all troops
must be to get into touch with the enemy and drive him out with the
bayonet. Cover will help to keep a man alive for a little while to be
able to do that work.
When through adverse circumstances--usually the presence of the
enemy in superior force--an army has to go to ground, it sets to
work in dead earnest to build its trenches. We have learned that the
best fortifications that can be got are those that are constructed
in the earth. The guns of Verdun have practically never been in
operation--indeed at the present time there are no guns in the old
forts--and the reason for this is that earth works of such strength
were thrown up at a distance from the forts that the Germans were never
able to get their heavy guns to bear on them. The forts of Liége, and
Namur, and Antwerp all fell before the great howitzers, but the earth
works of Verdun were too much for them. It is doubtful if large forts
will ever again be used in inland places, for the earthworks have
proved their great superiority.
Trenches are laid out and dug as shown in the accompanying diagram
[Figure 4]. They do not consist of one long straight line, but what
may be described as a succession of little rooms, about twenty feet
long, seven feet deep and three feet broad. They are seldom roofed
over. Each little room is connected to the ones on either side by
a trench that runs behind the four-feet-square traverse that is of
solid earth and which serves the purpose of localising the effect of
shells, bombs, etc. If the trenches were in one straight line, a shell
that fell there would be liable to injure a great many men; whereas
under the present system the traverse acts as a buffer and limits the
radius of its explosive force. The trench itself is dug about three
feet deep, care being taken to lift off the top layer of grass and
keep it aside to place over the front of the earth on completion of
the trenches, to render them less visible. As the earth is lifted out
it is thrown to the front and rear, and some of it put into sandbags
which are then laid like stones as shown. The front part of the trench
is then called the parapet and the rear part the parados. Both must be
made strong, the parapet for reasons already given, and the parados
in order to protect the men from the force of shells that fall just
behind the trenches. About a foot from the ground there is placed a
board that is called the "firing step," on which the men stand when
they are about to fire. I have said that there is seldom any roof over
the trenches. It is difficult to cover in the trenches because of the
limited supply of materials. Then again it is questionable if roofing
pays; for, admitting that they may be able to keep out small bombs and
rifle bullets, they can never hope to be able to keep out shells. The
Germans used to roof in a great deal--but then they were there to wage
a defensive war and did not propose to move for a good while.
In some ground the earth will "hold itself up" at the sides of the
trenches, in other ground it will have to be revetted. This is done
with chicken wire, or with willows or old staves where they can be
had. It is important to have the sides firm, or else in wet weather
especially, they will prove a nuisance to the occupants of the trenches.
Some kind of floor should be provided for the trenches. The simplest
and best are made in the following way: Take two seven-inch boards
about ten feet in length, nail them together to make a fourteen-inch
plank, and then cover the whole with fairly fine chicken wire. Place
these boards on the ground with the side on which the wires are joined
downwards. They keep the feet from slipping, are easily cleaned by
being upended when they are dry, and allow the space under them to
be reached easily to pick up scraps of food, etc. There is nothing
more heart breaking than having to pursue your weary course for
miles, sometimes, up trenches with slippery sides and sloping, wet,
treacherous bottoms.
In each trench there must be dugouts for the men to sleep in. The
first ones that are made will be very primitive, and will be very much
like a fireplace in a room--simply excavations in the back wall of the
trench almost on a level with the bottom of it. At first they used to
be dug in the front of the trench, but this practice was discontinued
as it was found to weaken the power of resistance of the very important
parapet. In the course of time more labour can be expended upon the
dugouts, and it will be found advisable to construct them of uniform
size, six feet long by four feet wide by four feet high. By having them
uniform we give the engineers a chance to make frames that can be used
to support the roof and the sides and bring them well from the rear to
construct the dugouts. These dimensions do not make a very commodious
home for four men, but never more than three of a section (of four) are
off duty at the same time, and besides there is considerable danger in
having large dugouts, as they present a correspondingly larger target
for the guns. A direct hit on a large dugout will often bring the whole
thing crashing about the ears of the inhabitants. My own adjutant
and one of my brother officers were killed by falling beams in large
dugouts. The entrance to the dugouts must be kept as small as possible
so as to protect the occupants from shells that fall just outside.
The Germans used to follow the custom of digging many of their "funk
holes," as they were called, many feet underground. Sometimes they went
down twenty and even thirty feet. The idea of this was that they could
retreat into these secure places during a bombardment and then emerge
with their machine guns as soon as the attacking infantry had started
to approach over "No Man's Land." We never followed that custom, for
while it will work at times, yet the attacking infantry may be upon you
before you are aware of it and have you at their mercy with bayonets
and bombs from the parapet. This the Germans have learnt to their cost
many times on the Somme.
Many efforts have been made to construct dugouts, reasonably near the
surface, that would be shell proof. This is a most difficult matter.
It is easy enough to make them shrapnel-proof. A layer of galvanised
iron on the roof covered with a foot of loose earth will accomplish
this for the velocity of shrapnel is not great. But with high explosive
shells it is different. It was seen at Liége and Namur what terrific
effects high explosive shells fired from howitzers could have even
on re-enforced concrete. I am told that at Port Arthur, a Russian
General was killed in a shelter that was covered with over twelve
feet of concrete. The closest we can approach to a shell-proof dugout
on the field is as follows: Dig an approach trench about ten feet
deep, leading into a hole of this depth, by any dimensions you may
choose--say six feet square. Put in supports for the roof that shall be
four feet from the floor. Roof in with steel rails, such as are used on
railroads, then cover them with two or three layers of bricks that have
been broken into small pieces. Leave a five-foot air space and then
place an exactly similar roof above and cover the whole with earth.
Small shells will be stopped at the first set of rails, while large
ones may possibly pierce them. But the effect of the explosion will
mostly be taken up in the airchamber and the dugout itself protected.
The reader will readily perceive the difficulty of constructing such
dugout on the field and they can certainly not be provided for the
accommodation of the common soldier however precious his life may be.
As the days go by, every effort must be made to improve the trenches.
This can be done in many ways, some of which will be obvious. The front
line is, of course, the most important one, and the greatest amount of
work has to be done there. But support and reserve lines as well must
be constructed and many communicating trenches. Support lines were
usually dug at a distance of thirty to eighty yards from the firing
line. In them we kept a few men to be used in case of emergency. This
line was an exact duplicate of the front line and was intended to be
used in case we were pushed back. The reserve line was about five to
eight hundred yards back from the front line and was not brought to
any very great degree of completion. Interspersed between these three
lines were many redoubts, or especially strong points containing
machine guns, etc., whose defenders were expected to hold on to the
very last and take advantage of their more secure position to make the
attacker pay dearly for his advance. All these lines had to be linked
up by communicating trenches, which started about a mile in the rear
of the front line and went up in zigzag lines to the latter position,
crossing the other trenches on their way. These communicating trenches
are used for the purpose of bringing up troops and supplies, etc., and
for taking to the rear the men that have been wounded. It is usually
arranged to have some of these trenches "Up" and some of them "Down"
roads. Each line of trenches (except of course the "communicating")
contain dugouts for the use of the troops that hold them. The distance
between the communicating trenches varies from twenty-five yards to
three or four hundred according to the state of perfection of the
trench system.
For special weapons such as machine guns and bomb guns, special
shelters have to be made. Extra strong parapets are provided as well as
head cover of railroad ties, and every effort is made to keep the exact
position of the machine guns secret from the enemy. We soon learnt
that he was very anxious to find our machine guns and would shell us
liberally in the hope of being able to locate them.
Care must be given to the question of drainage. Small ditches should be
dug at intervals of a few yards to lead the water to pits in the rear.
In Flanders, where we were very near river level, we installed hand and
power pumps to keep the water from taking possession of the trenches.
Even then, on rainy days we sometimes were in water up to our waists.
Great care must also be taken in the construction of latrines. The
method that was followed was to dig a short "blind alley" trench at
right angles to one of the communicating trenches, and at a distance of
twelve or fifteen yards from the front line. Starting from the end of
this blind alley, the trench was gradually filled in with earth as it
was used. In other cases biscuit tins were used as receptacles and the
ordinary sanitary squads emptied them at specified times into a fairly
deep pit. These latrines should be well protected with sandbags to keep
the enemy from finding them and training a machine gun on them, in the
knowledge that they were very likely to get some of the men who used
them during the day.
This, I believe, gives the principal points in the construction of the
trenches. Men should be taught to dig them in broad daylight at first
and then when they have learnt the knack, they should be set to dig
them at night. From time to time during their training they should be
made to return--preferably to the same sections of the trenches--to
improve them and maintain them. An excellent scheme is to arrange
competitions among the men to spur them on to invent ingenious devices
for protecting themselves and their fellows during their occupation
of them. At certain times they should also be made to spend a night
and then several nights there, going through the regular routine of
sentry duty, stand to arms, etc., just as they will have to do in real
warfare. Another scheme is to choose opposing sides with trenches
within easy reach, say, twenty-five yards apart. Arrange a three-day
tour of the trenches, and let each side attempt to surprise the other.
Umpires can be stationed in No Man's Land to decide as to the relative
merits of the two sides. At certain times, additional interest can
be given to the conflict by some harmless missiles such as sand bags
(without the sand!) rolled up and made into a ball the size of a base
ball with string. These will also give excellent practice in bomb
throwing.
[Illustration: FIGURE 17:
British soldier fully equipped with pack, entrenching tool, sandbags
and steel helmet.]
The rules of the trenches can be summed up in a few words: "Keep your
spirits up and your head down."