October 17, 1014 
Now we get to the first difficulty. The closer you can get 
your eye to the ground level, the safer and more invisible you 
become. 
The ideal trench, which is only a hole laterally extended, 
would, therefore, be something like this. The earth dug out 
LAND AND WATER 
Fig III 
Fi2. I, 
beinT; thrown away behind down a convenient slope or otherwise 
distributed so as to be quite invisible, a very difficult condition 
to satisfy. Still, heaped up bracken or heather, transplanted 
turnip tops, etc., will suffice to hide the firer's head almost 
completely, and his body has the whole thickness of the hill 
as protection against the bullets. 
But now you have practically sacrificed your best chance 
of killing the enemy first — admittedly the best defence in 
principle — for ground is seldom absolutely level, and any bush, 
stone, or even a homely cabbage may intervene to break your 
line of sight, and even in a trench you cannot move sideways 
to clear it, for there are other men alongside of j'ou who want a 
clear field of view just as badly, and they will not give way. 
So from the very first j'our personal interest begins to clash 
with your neiglibours, and you are up against the first lesson of 
co-ordinated action, viz., the necessity of self sacrifice for the good 
of the community which runs through all warlilce action from 
start to finish, and invariably, in the long run, brings Victory 
to the Race in which this instinct of self-sacrifice rules higher than 
the instinct of self-preservation. 
Again, even if no obstacles of the above nature intervene, 
one seldom, in Northern Europe, finds groimd sloping uniformly 
towards the enemy. Generally, the section of the hill-sides on 
which we are now fighting, and shall continue to fight for a long 
time to come has tliis section, viz. : Convex towards the enemy. 
Line of Fire 
Fig IL 
and clearly, if you bring your eyes down to ground level at A, 
an enemy at B, perhaps only twenty yards away, will be quite 
invisible, and if he rushes forward you have no second chance 
to stop him. Again and again positions have been lost because 
this elementary fact has been forgotten by men trying to solve 
other problems to which I shall hereafter allude. 
The common-sense solution of the difficulty will obviously 
be to use a profile shewn in Fig. III. This, at least, extends 
the field of fire very considerably. But it introduces at once 
new complications for it is practically impossible to hide the 
fresh earth of this higher breastwork, it takes, generally, longer 
to make and does not give equal protection. 
Now it happens that the prevailing section of the ground 
in South Africa was almost invariably concave towards the 
enemy: Hence a man in a trench at the top of a slope 
could see indefinitely out to his front, a fact of which the Boers 
at once took every advantage, and we, as usual in South Africa, 
quite rightly at once copied their example. But when we came 
back to England and began teaching the deep Boer trench 
as applicable to the very different circumstances, we blundered 
mto a very bad hole indeed. Fifty years ago we had gone to the 
other extreme. Our teaching staff for the Army when I joined 
had all learnt their work practically before Sebastopol, where the 
rock cropped up close to the surface, the slopes generally convex, 
and as a consequence they had taught us to rely more on the type 
of trench in Fig. IV., precisely as their successors after South 
Africa taught Fig. I., and what we now have to do is to avoid 
both extremes, except where suitable conditions prevail, and 
generally to choose the best working compromise between them 
on each occasion.probably something like Fig. III. above.fitted out, 
of course, with head cover and so forth as I shall explain here- 
after. For the moment all I want to make clear is the essential 
compromise between fire power and cover which has to be made 
in every case, and to suggest to the many men under training 
or waiting for appointment how much they can facilitate 
their own progress in the future by bearing this simple 
"duahty" in mind and going out into the country and training 
their eyes to appreciate the points involved in obtaining a 
workable compromise between the two. 
Fi3. IV. 
To dwellers in London, I recommend a walk over Wimbledon 
Common, dipping down towards Kingston and across Richmond 
Park. For those who can spare time to go farther, I suggest a 
walk over the North Downs, or any chalk country in the 
neighbourhood. Our troops are fighting principally in chalk 
districts now, and as I continue these letters I shaU call attention 
to the different characteristics in the countries we shall have to 
traverse. I will only now add that, whereas in the chalk downs, 
one is constantly driven to the use of the type in Fig. IV. ; in the 
Eifel — a volcanic district I expect many of our troops will 
traverse — the concave type of ground prevails, and Fig. I. wiU find 
its appUcation. 
A DIARY OF THE WAR. 
SYNOPSIS. 
July 23bo. — Auatro-Hungarian uUimatum to S*rvia. 
July 25th. — living Peter of .Sorvia's appeal to Russia. 
Jc'.T 27th.— ^''ir Edward Grey proposed a London Conference 
between French, German, Italian, and Great Britain's Ambassadors. 
July 23i-h. — Austria-Hungary declared war on Servia. 
July 29i-h. — A partial Russian mobilisation was signed on receipt 
of the news of the bombardment of' Belgrade. English Stock E.xchange 
closed. English Bank Rate, 8 per cent. 
AucuST 1st. — Goneral Rus.'iian mobilisation ordered. Corm?.n 
mobilisation ordered by Emperor. Germany declared v/ar on Riissia 
and followed up this declaration by invading the Grand Duchy of 
l.uxemburg. 
August 2.vd. — Germany's ultimatum to Belgium. 
AufjuST 3rd.— Sir Edward Grey stated British policy and revealed 
Germany's amazing offer, in tlie event of our neglecting our obligations 
to France. Mobilisilion of the Army. Ultimatu.ni to Germany. 
German and French Ambassadors loft Paris and Berlin. 
AuciusT 4Tn. — Germany rejected England's ultimatum. English 
Government took over control of railways. War declared between 
England and Germany. 
August Si-h. — Lord Kitchener appointed Secretary of State for 
War. H.M.S. Amphion struck a mine and foundered. 
August 6rH. — House of Commons, in five minutes, passed a vote of 
credit for £100,000,000, and sanctioned an increase of the Army by 
590,000 men. State control of food prices. 
Auousr SiB. — Lord Kitchener issued a circular asking for 100,000 
men. 
August 9th. — The enemy's submarine, XJ15, was sunk by ILM.S. 
Dirminglifim. 
Aucr.ST lOni. — France declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germans 
advanced on Namnr. The n?w Press Bureau established by tha 
Government for the issue of official war nev.s. 
August 11th. — England declared war against Austria. 
August ISth. — The Tsar addressed a Proclamation to the Polish 
populations of Russia, Germany, and Austria, promising to restore to 
Poland complete autonomy and guarantees for religious liberty and 
the use of the Polish langii^se. 
n* 
