This war is being fought out, not in great open battles, but in successive conflicts from the security of trenches in what "Papa Joffre" has called the "nibbling process." It is not simple work but such as calls for healthy bodies, trained minds, and steady nerves. Quick action is often necessary. Independence of thought, ingenuity and personal courage, combined with implicit obedience, make up the ideal soldier.

The training through which a civilian must go, then, will be such as to develop these qualities. Every syllabus of training must be drawn up with this in view, and all the time the attention of the officers must be kept on the fact that the training must be such as to make soldiers who will be efficient in the kind of war that is being waged. Much that has been written in the text books for armies has had to be discarded as out of date. It is no exaggeration to say that the British knew very little about modern warfare when we went to France, in spite of the fact that we had, during this century, waged a war in South Africa, not to mention the numerous border engagements in India. We did not know the tremendously important part that artillery was to play; we knew practically nothing of the use of bombs; we had never made gas and did not know its constitution; and in the work of trench construction we were in the kindergarten class. Our enemy taught us many of these things and we learned them slowly. Now we have reached his standard and gone past him as the Tanks testify. But in pure frightfulness we can never compete with him and never intend to.

Eight hours a day of hard but varied training was our rule with frequent evening lectures. Conditions were arranged as much like those on active service as possible, even to the use of "live" bombs. Men are very reluctant at first to handle these explosive little instruments of war, and they must be given confidence in themselves long before they reach the firing line. There they are used as freely as a mechanic uses a machine.

It is said that one general who was training his men in the Midlands of England had a difficulty in getting them to keep their heads down. They could not see the necessity for it and always wanted to see all that was going on. Now in actual warfare the individual soldier is able to see very little of what is transpiring round about him, and he has to be content to come through with a whole head. Accordingly the General served out to a few trustworthy men a number of live, ball cartridges. During the manoevres the men who would put their heads up heard some of these missiles singing round their ears, and soon learned that it was unwise to be too curious. I am not sure that I would recommend this method—for were an accident to happen it would bring disgrace and dismissal to the officer who had employed it—but it is certainly an effective means.

One of the first things to be insisted upon in training a man is that he learn the use of Cover. He must learn not only that cover is necessary, but also what constitutes effective cover of various materials. The most common form of cover is that afforded by piled up earth. A rifle bullet fired at short range will pierce about forty inches of earth so that nothing less than thirty-six inches can be considered as giving protection from ordinary bullets. Where sand can be obtained ten inches less will suffice. Ordinary turf is not nearly so good and nothing less than five feet in thickness is sufficient. Bricks are effective. If they are placed end on giving a thickness of nine inches this will be found sufficient so that a man can feel fairly secure from rifle bullets standing behind an ordinary brick wall. Where wood is used much depends on its degree of hardness; thirty inches for hardwood and forty-five for softwood can be taken as affording complete protection. Any of the harder substances such as iron and steel, etc., are preferable, but they can seldom be obtained. Of ordinary iron plate three-fourths inch is necessary and less for the different varieties of steel. Usually several of these media must be used. Boards can be arranged with stones and sand or litter, etc., between them. The point to be remembered is that the required thickness must be obtained, not at the base of the cover but at the top, to support which a much larger base will usually be required.

When a man has learnt what thickness of materials he needs to have to protect his life, it will be a good thing to take him out and let him see how far bullets are able to pierce these media by actually firing at them from point blank range. That will give him a respect for bullets and impress the lesson on him.

But he must also be told that cover that protects is only half what is required. It must be such as to allow him to become offensive while giving him defence. The problem is a simple one in actual trenches, where he has no alternative but to build them continuously and then fire over the top or through loopholes of steel. But when more open fighting develops he must learn that his business is not only to get reasonable protection for his own body but to be able to bring his rifle to bear on the enemy. This necessitates a certain amount of exposure. Certain devices have been developed during this war to allow a man to fire his rifle from beneath the parapet of the trench by means of specially adapted periscopes. These are of great use for snipers but cannot be used by all the men.

In open fighting men often make the mistake of seeking cover in what is obviously the most protected place from rifle bullets, but equally obvious to those of experience as the most likely place for the enemy to choose as marks for his artillery. Orchards, woods, houses, etc., come within this category, and it is only experience that will teach a man what places to choose and what places to avoid. Wherever the enemy can view the approaches to these shelters, either by direct vision from their positions or by means of aeroplanes or observation balloons, they become dangerous as cover.

Modern trenches are intended to give cover from fire and from view. They are seldom roofed over, so that, as a matter of fact, they can be seen from the air, but it is not by any means an easy task either for an aeroplane to drop bombs there (a ditch three feet wide) nor yet for the artillery to hit them. But we seldom are able to inherit trenches—they usually have to be dug under cover of darkness while the enemy is sniping. For this purpose each man in the British army carries a small entrenching tool on his back, as well as two sandbags. Every man is trained in the use of this valuable little tool, and soon learns never to be without it. When, during an advance, he needs to provide cover for himself, he throws himself down on the ground placing his rifle at his left side, and begins to dig away the earth at his right side, throwing the loose earth up in front of him. Just as soon as he can he takes the sandbags from his back and fills them, placing them in front of him. Under this imperfect cover he proceeds to deepen the hole till he can roll his body into it. This miniature trench should be two feet wide and three feet long. Then if time permits he should add small comforts such as a recess for his feet, drainage for water, etc. He will find that he needs to dig down to about two feet, all the time throwing the earth out in front and occasionally pushing it out a little so as to make it of sufficient width, for, of course, he will be seeking to get a parapet of about a yard in thickness at the top. If he has an opportunity of firing he should do so, not over the top of his cover but round the right side of it. To fire over it is to ask for trouble. The body and legs should be placed in such a position that they are covered as much as possible by the earth thrown up in front.

If an advance has to be made from this position, the small trench will have served its purpose in giving temporary shelter. But there are times when troops have to consolidate positions won in this way, and on the site of these primitive trenches, more elaborate ones have to be made. At the battle of Neuve Chapelle the troops took up a certain line, dug themselves in in a rough way, and then during the night they set to work to construct the very trenches that still shelter them to this day. But it was due to the entrenching tools and the few sand bags that they were able to hold the line during the hours of daylight, and when the next morning dawned they had a fairly adequate protection.

While the question of cover is very important, I do not wish to convey the impression that men should have this subject always in their minds. To use a rock or a tree or a mound of earth as a temporary shelter is one thing; but to continue to hide behind it at the time an advance is needed, is another. The man who hesitates to go forward when he has recovered his wind, but who takes care of his precious skin by remaining under cover, is worse than useless. The object of all troops must be to get into touch with the enemy and drive him out with the bayonet. Cover will help to keep a man alive for a little while to be able to do that work.

When through adverse circumstances—usually the presence of the enemy in superior force—an army has to go to ground, it sets to work in dead earnest to build its trenches. We have learned that the best fortifications that can be got are those that are constructed in the earth. The guns of Verdun have practically never been in operation—indeed at the present time there are no guns in the old forts—and the reason for this is that earth works of such strength were thrown up at a distance from the forts that the Germans were never able to get their heavy guns to bear on them. The forts of LiÉge, and Namur, and Antwerp all fell before the great howitzers, but the earth works of Verdun were too much for them. It is doubtful if large forts will ever again be used in inland places, for the earthworks have proved their great superiority.

Trenches are laid out and dug as shown in the accompanying diagram [Figure 4]. They do not consist of one long straight line, but what may be described as a succession of little rooms, about twenty feet long, seven feet deep and three feet broad. They are seldom roofed over. Each little room is connected to the ones on either side by a trench that runs behind the four-feet-square traverse that is of solid earth and which serves the purpose of localising the effect of shells, bombs, etc. If the trenches were in one straight line, a shell that fell there would be liable to injure a great many men; whereas under the present system the traverse acts as a buffer and limits the radius of its explosive force. The trench itself is dug about three feet deep, care being taken to lift off the top layer of grass and keep it aside to place over the front of the earth on completion of the trenches, to render them less visible. As the earth is lifted out it is thrown to the front and rear, and some of it put into sandbags which are then laid like stones as shown. The front part of the trench is then called the parapet and the rear part the parados. Both must be made strong, the parapet for reasons already given, and the parados in order to protect the men from the force of shells that fall just behind the trenches. About a foot from the ground there is placed a board that is called the "firing step," on which the men stand when they are about to fire. I have said that there is seldom any roof over the trenches. It is difficult to cover in the trenches because of the limited supply of materials. Then again it is questionable if roofing pays; for, admitting that they may be able to keep out small bombs and rifle bullets, they can never hope to be able to keep out shells. The Germans used to roof in a great deal—but then they were there to wage a defensive war and did not propose to move for a good while.

In some ground the earth will "hold itself up" at the sides of the trenches, in other ground it will have to be revetted. This is done with chicken wire, or with willows or old staves where they can be had. It is important to have the sides firm, or else in wet weather especially, they will prove a nuisance to the occupants of the trenches.

Some kind of floor should be provided for the trenches. The simplest and best are made in the following way: Take two seven-inch boards about ten feet in length, nail them together to make a fourteen-inch plank, and then cover the whole with fairly fine chicken wire. Place these boards on the ground with the side on which the wires are joined downwards. They keep the feet from slipping, are easily cleaned by being upended when they are dry, and allow the space under them to be reached easily to pick up scraps of food, etc. There is nothing more heart breaking than having to pursue your weary course for miles, sometimes, up trenches with slippery sides and sloping, wet, treacherous bottoms.

In each trench there must be dugouts for the men to sleep in. The first ones that are made will be very primitive, and will be very much like a fireplace in a room—simply excavations in the back wall of the trench almost on a level with the bottom of it. At first they used to be dug in the front of the trench, but this practice was discontinued as it was found to weaken the power of resistance of the very important parapet. In the course of time more labour can be expended upon the dugouts, and it will be found advisable to construct them of uniform size, six feet long by four feet wide by four feet high. By having them uniform we give the engineers a chance to make frames that can be used to support the roof and the sides and bring them well from the rear to construct the dugouts. These dimensions do not make a very commodious home for four men, but never more than three of a section (of four) are off duty at the same time, and besides there is considerable danger in having large dugouts, as they present a correspondingly larger target for the guns. A direct hit on a large dugout will often bring the whole thing crashing about the ears of the inhabitants. My own adjutant and one of my brother officers were killed by falling beams in large dugouts. The entrance to the dugouts must be kept as small as possible so as to protect the occupants from shells that fall just outside.

The Germans used to follow the custom of digging many of their "funk holes," as they were called, many feet underground. Sometimes they went down twenty and even thirty feet. The idea of this was that they could retreat into these secure places during a bombardment and then emerge with their machine guns as soon as the attacking infantry had started to approach over "No Man's Land." We never followed that custom, for while it will work at times, yet the attacking infantry may be upon you before you are aware of it and have you at their mercy with bayonets and bombs from the parapet. This the Germans have learnt to their cost many times on the Somme.

Many efforts have been made to construct dugouts, reasonably near the surface, that would be shell proof. This is a most difficult matter. It is easy enough to make them shrapnel-proof. A layer of galvanised iron on the roof covered with a foot of loose earth will accomplish this for the velocity of shrapnel is not great. But with high explosive shells it is different. It was seen at LiÉge and Namur what terrific effects high explosive shells fired from howitzers could have even on re-enforced concrete. I am told that at Port Arthur, a Russian General was killed in a shelter that was covered with over twelve feet of concrete. The closest we can approach to a shell-proof dugout on the field is as follows: Dig an approach trench about ten feet deep, leading into a hole of this depth, by any dimensions you may choose—say six feet square. Put in supports for the roof that shall be four feet from the floor. Roof in with steel rails, such as are used on railroads, then cover them with two or three layers of bricks that have been broken into small pieces. Leave a five-foot air space and then place an exactly similar roof above and cover the whole with earth. Small shells will be stopped at the first set of rails, while large ones may possibly pierce them. But the effect of the explosion will mostly be taken up in the airchamber and the dugout itself protected. The reader will readily perceive the difficulty of constructing such dugout on the field and they can certainly not be provided for the accommodation of the common soldier however precious his life may be.

As the days go by, every effort must be made to improve the trenches. This can be done in many ways, some of which will be obvious. The front line is, of course, the most important one, and the greatest amount of work has to be done there. But support and reserve lines as well must be constructed and many communicating trenches. Support lines were usually dug at a distance of thirty to eighty yards from the firing line. In them we kept a few men to be used in case of emergency. This line was an exact duplicate of the front line and was intended to be used in case we were pushed back. The reserve line was about five to eight hundred yards back from the front line and was not brought to any very great degree of completion. Interspersed between these three lines were many redoubts, or especially strong points containing machine guns, etc., whose defenders were expected to hold on to the very last and take advantage of their more secure position to make the attacker pay dearly for his advance. All these lines had to be linked up by communicating trenches, which started about a mile in the rear of the front line and went up in zigzag lines to the latter position, crossing the other trenches on their way. These communicating trenches are used for the purpose of bringing up troops and supplies, etc., and for taking to the rear the men that have been wounded. It is usually arranged to have some of these trenches "Up" and some of them "Down" roads. Each line of trenches (except of course the "communicating") contain dugouts for the use of the troops that hold them. The distance between the communicating trenches varies from twenty-five yards to three or four hundred according to the state of perfection of the trench system.

For special weapons such as machine guns and bomb guns, special shelters have to be made. Extra strong parapets are provided as well as head cover of railroad ties, and every effort is made to keep the exact position of the machine guns secret from the enemy. We soon learnt that he was very anxious to find our machine guns and would shell us liberally in the hope of being able to locate them.

Care must be given to the question of drainage. Small ditches should be dug at intervals of a few yards to lead the water to pits in the rear. In Flanders, where we were very near river level, we installed hand and power pumps to keep the water from taking possession of the trenches. Even then, on rainy days we sometimes were in water up to our waists.

Great care must also be taken in the construction of latrines. The method that was followed was to dig a short "blind alley" trench at right angles to one of the communicating trenches, and at a distance of twelve or fifteen yards from the front line. Starting from the end of this blind alley, the trench was gradually filled in with earth as it was used. In other cases biscuit tins were used as receptacles and the ordinary sanitary squads emptied them at specified times into a fairly deep pit. These latrines should be well protected with sandbags to keep the enemy from finding them and training a machine gun on them, in the knowledge that they were very likely to get some of the men who used them during the day.

This, I believe, gives the principal points in the construction of the trenches. Men should be taught to dig them in broad daylight at first and then when they have learnt the knack, they should be set to dig them at night. From time to time during their training they should be made to return—preferably to the same sections of the trenches—to improve them and maintain them. An excellent scheme is to arrange competitions among the men to spur them on to invent ingenious devices for protecting themselves and their fellows during their occupation of them. At certain times they should also be made to spend a night and then several nights there, going through the regular routine of sentry duty, stand to arms, etc., just as they will have to do in real warfare. Another scheme is to choose opposing sides with trenches within easy reach, say, twenty-five yards apart. Arrange a three-day tour of the trenches, and let each side attempt to surprise the other. Umpires can be stationed in No Man's Land to decide as to the relative merits of the two sides. At certain times, additional interest can be given to the conflict by some harmless missiles such as sand bags (without the sand!) rolled up and made into a ball the size of a base ball with string. These will also give excellent practice in bomb throwing.

The rules of the trenches can be summed up in a few words: "Keep your spirits up and your head down."