esistance of strong points, which
meant confusion.

Before any charge the machine guns must be "killed." No initiative of
pioneer or Indian scout surpassed that exhibited in conquering machine
gun positions. When a big game hunter tells you about having stalked
tigers, ask him if he has ever stalked a machine gun to its lair.

As for the nature of the lair, here is one where a Briton "dug himself
in" to be ready to repulse any counter-attack to recover ground that the
British had just won. Some layers of sandbags are sunk level with the
earth with an excavation back of them large enough for a machine gun
standard and to give the barrel swing and for the gunner, who back of
this had dug himself a well four or five feet deep of sufficient
diameter to enable him to huddle at the bottom in "stormy weather." He
was general and army, too, of his little establishment. In the midst of
shells and trench mortars, with bullets whizzing around his head, he had
to keep a cool aim and make every pellet which he poured out of his gun
muzzle count against the wave of men coming toward him who were at his
mercy if he could remain alive for a few minutes and keep his head.

He must not reveal his position before his opportunity came. All around
where this Briton had held the fort there were shell-craters like the
dots of close shooting around a bull's-eye; no tell-tale blood spots
this time, but a pile of two or three hundred cartridge cases lying
where they had fallen as they were emptied of their cones of lead. Luck
was with the occupant, but not with another man playing the same game
not far away. Broken bits of gun and fragments of cloth mixed with earth
explained the fate of a German machine gunner who had emplaced his piece
in the same manner.

Before a charge, crawl up at night from shell-crater to shell-crater and
locate the enemy's machine guns. Then, if your own guns and the trench
mortars do not get them, go stalking with supplies of bombs and remember
to throw yours before the machine gunner, who also has a stock for such
emergencies, throws his. When a machine gun begins rattling into a
company front in a charge the men drop for cover, while officers
consider how to draw the devil's tusks. Arnold von Winkelried, who
gathered the spears to his breast to make a path for his comrades, won
his glory because the fighting forces were small in his day. But with
such enormous forces as are now engaged and with heroism so common,