platoons should crawl forward into line. For the men to rise would mean annihilation.
The low target offered by machine guns makes them a difficult target for field artillery to hit, in spite of the accuracy with which the latter can adjust its fire.
4. MACHINE GUNS IN GERMANY.
The German machine gun (drawn by 4 horses driven from the saddle) is mounted upon a sled which forms the firing frame. On the march, this sled is placed on a wheeled carriage, from which it must first be detached (10-15 seconds) before the gun is used; in exceptional cases, the gun can be fired from the wheeled carriage.
The gun commander is mounted. Two of the gunners are seated on the axle chest of the carriage, their carbines buckled to the gun carriage; two are seated on the limber chest, their carbines slung over their backs. When surprised by a direct attack, all the men that can be spared form as skirmishers in the intervals between the guns of the machine gun battery. The machine gun can be served by a single man. The water in the jacket need not necessarily be renewed when the gun is fired for a short time only.
The machine guns can be used on any terrain passable for infantry. When detached from the wheeled carriage they can even surmount considerable obstacles. In action, they present no larger target than skirmishers fighting under similar conditions, and are capable of offering more resistance than infantry.
The sled can be carried or drawn by the men for short distances. The ammunition, placed in belts holding 250 rounds each, and packed in six boxes, is similarly drawn on an ammunition sled. If the conditions permit, the guns may be drawn by horses.
The "fighting battery" consists of six guns, formed into three platoons, and an ammunition platoon (three ammunition wagons and one store wagon); the combat train consists of officers' and other led horses. The field train consists of one
