756 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



trenches have been dug on the military- 

 crests at the fringe of these patches, 

 and traverses have been run up from 

 the rear where the reserve trenches are 

 completely out of sight of the enemy, 

 and it is possible for soup kitchens, 

 supplies and reinforcements to come 

 into the approaches without being 

 visible to the enemy. This of course 

 gives a greater degree of safety to the 

 men going forward and enables the 

 first line troops to be relieved at intervals 

 more frequent than when there are no 

 approaches masked by trees. 



"Incidentally trenches in or at the 

 edge of timber can be covered over 

 with timber roofing so there is the least 

 possible difficulty in transporting ma- 

 terial to the men. I have always 

 observed the best trenches in the timber, 

 barring the Blonie line, and where 

 possible and the terrain permitting 

 trenches are over here on the Russian 

 western operations often constructed in 

 the shadow of or near patches of 

 timber. This is often impossible where 

 the strategic points in the terrain happen 



to fall in open places as is frequently 

 the case. 



"Personally I believe that the portion 

 of the forests actually used for the con- 

 struction of military works is too small 

 to seriously affect the total supply. 



"Neither do I think that the destruc- 

 tion by shell fire is worth mentioning. 

 I have observed in a dozen places this 

 effect and the damage is surprisingly 

 small, all things considered. The effect 

 of shrapnel fire on forests is a mere flea 

 bite. A shell bursting above the forest 

 has no effect at all save where the 

 shell case strikes and often that only 

 lops off branches or dents the trunks, 

 especially if the growth be a heavy one. 

 A shell bursting in timber will, of course, 

 destroy a number of trees in the im- 

 mediate vicinity but as a matter of 

 fact such bursts are rare, nearly all 

 shrapnel bursting on time fuses above 

 the tree tops. The few that burst on 

 contact are almost certain to explode 

 in the upper branches where their 

 damage is small, usually resulting in 

 only breaking off a few tops. 



Photo by Underwood & Underwood, New York 



Russian Cavalry Scouts 

 showing the nature of much of the country on which there has been severe fighting. many of these 



great dogs are used by the scouts 



