limbers and dropped in the position behind a screen of brushwood, and withdrawn again in the morning when the field gun is brought up.
The detachment of each machine gun must find two double sentries and their reliefs, who will remain at their posts with the gun, which should have the belt ready in the feed block, but not actually loaded. These men may either take it in turn to stand to the gun or both be directed to watch. When there are no infantry sentries on piquet duty in front of the gun, it will be necessary to detail two who will be posted in the usual way some little distance in front of the gun to prevent it being rushed in the dark. The method of preparing the sights and laying the gun for night work is given in Chapter VII.
The value of machine guns with the outposts at night is shown by an incident at the Battle of Mukden, March 6th, 1905. Two Russian battalions made a night attack against the hill north of Tung-chia-wen, which was occupied by the 2nd Japanese Regiment. There was no moon and the night was very dark. Two Japanese machine guns did great execution at ranges between 50 and 100 yards, and the Russians were repulsed with a loss of 450 men, the
