ible, unawares, usually at night. If
the landing be on an open coast, the mass of troops which follow
should immediately throw up earthworks. The entire disembarking must
be made with great speed, for the quicker the landing is accomplished
the less the danger of being disturbed. The most favorable time for
attacking the coast is at dawn, for the landing can take place unknown
to the enemy and day be used for disembarking. As the ships do not
carry a sufficient number of patent boats for landing on an open
coast, special flat-bottom boats should be prepared for unloading
horses and heavy material. The English employ collapsible boats for
landing men, which accommodate a crew of fifty, while the Russians
have flat-bottom boats capable of holding two hundred men, or one
complete cannon. It is recommended that we be permitted to try the
Russian model, which has been well tested. Small power boats should be
employed for tugging, as rowing would be a waste of valuable time. To
permit horses to swim ashore is to be condemned, for it would cause
confusion and delay, and we know from experience that a large number
are sometimes lost. The Americans, in their landing in Cuba, lost
seven per cent. of their horses. For the landing of artillery and
heavy materials small landing bridges must be erected on the beach,
for which prepared material is carried on the transports. The
assembling of the troops must not be permitted on the beach, for all
space there must be kept for the landing of supplies.

If a landing near a harbor is successful, the advance guard will
strive to take the same unawares, to seize those coast sentinels at
hand and to destroy the telegraph and signal service along the coast.
If all this is successful, the transport fleet will be signaled to
draw near. The advantage is apparent in landing in a large harbor or
bay, which affords the possibility of protection from a sea attack,
through the mining of the waters or through the guard of a limited
number of battleships. Earthworks, equipped with cannon and machine
guns, must be thrown up for the protection from the land side.

The piers must be distributed to make sufficient room for
disembarking. The existing plans for improvising landing bridges and
gangways should be extended, in order to expedite the landing. The
piers and bridges will be used for ships carrying horses, artillery
and heavy materials, while the infantry land by boats, under the
protection of larg