Training Circular (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918. Excerpt: ... must be taken against booby traps. The ventilation holes facing the enemy must be strongly covered, and when captured buildings are first entered, it must be remembered that it is the enemy's custom to block up the front windows and leave gaps or open windows in the rear, through which the light of a match or torch will be detected. (ii) Provided that it has been strutted (which usually is i feasible, owing to the abundance of mine props and derelict woodwork), the basement of a house will sometimes withstand a direct hit on the house itself. In that case the growing pile of bricks adds to the strength of the cellars beneath. (iii) Cellar windows afford natural loopholes in abundance and require little or no external work before use as a machinegun emplacement. If they become masked by shell debris, it is usually possible to find without much difficulty an alternative position outside. While the gun is inside or outside the cellar, care must be taken to keep the gun and ammunition clear of brick dust, which, mixing with the oil, forms a paste that clogs the working parts of the gun. Note.--The enemy makes a practice of building concrete emplacements in a ground-floor room and firing his machine guns through the window or a hole. These emplacements are a room within a room, and apparently capable of withstanding the heaviest shelling. (iv) Where the upper stories are standing they are useful as observation posts; and on occasions machine guns can be fired from them. Instances have occurred in which machine guns so placed have covered the advance of Infantry with direct overhead fire, sweeping the top of the fosse or other point, which was the Infantry's objective. CHAPTER V. 36. CONSOLIDATION. 1. The principles of consolidation in depth of ground won are i...