Meld fortification. 
67 
in. The disadvantages of the breastwork type are : they are more 
conspicuous—a serious objection—and they require some revetment to 
make the earth stand at a slope convenient for a man to fire over, 
which means extra labour. There is room for the exercise of much 
skill in arranging for effective revetment with simple materials ; sods, 
clods, stones, reeds, brushwood, timber, &c., must be used as procur¬ 
able. There is a practical difficulty, that with several kinds of 
revetment, continuous hurdle work for example, the construction of the 
revetment cannot well go on simultaneously with the excavation of rear 
trench, unless the men in the trench are spread very wide apart, so 
as to be able to throw their earth in between the revetters. A better 
plan is to excavate the front trench (technically called the ditch) first, 
backing the earth up against the revetment, which must be pushed 
on as rapidly as possible, the (rear) trench being executed by the 
revetters as soon as they have finished the revetment. I would here 
point out that gabions and fascines can never be made for revet¬ 
ments for “ hasty ” intrenchments; they take too many men and 
too much time to make. They may be used, particularly fascines, for 
improving hastily made works when more time is available, or in the 
construction of field redoubts. Rough faggots or logs would, how¬ 
ever be very useful in all types of works. A few sand bags or other 
bags may very often be available, and are most useful for providing 
head cover in the form of loopholes. 
In providing cover for supports (and reserves where it is necessary) 
the condition of being able to fire from the cover is no longer binding, 
and we can get increased protection by resorting to greater depth of 
cover. Fig. 5 shows a section suitable for fairly stiff soil, the rough 
revetment of sods and clods is desirable to bring the cover of the 
parapet as near to the trench as possible. The small berm is left to 
prevent the weight of the parapet causing the front of trench to fall in. 
Fig. 5. 
Where the soil is not stiff enough to stand at such steep slopes as 
these shown, then the sides of the trench must be made easier, and 
possibly overhead cover provided. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show some simple 
types of such cover. It must be remembered that troops can be 
10 
