sap-heads and to assist the infantry in the assault; they will be found specially useful in covering the advance of assaulting infantry by sweeping parapets with fire and in securing captured works against counter-attacks. Sandbags should always be carried with machine guns supporting infantry in the assault, and the first consideration should be to secure the guns from fire on reaching a position. It must be remembered that machine guns in siege operations are always exposed to their worst enemy—artillery—and that their only hope of success is by concealment and cover. An example of their use in repulsing a counter-attack at Port Arthur is given by Nojine in his book The Truth about Port Arthur. Speaking of the attempt by the Russians to retake Chien-shan, he says: "The 13th Regiment took two-thirds of it, but could not advance further, as the Japanese threw in heavy reinforcements and brought up a number of machine guns. On the night of the 5th we had to withdraw and abandon further attempts to retake the position, as one attack alone had cost us 500 men."
The following account from the U.S.A. Official Report of the storming of Fort Erh-lung, one of the principal forts of Port Arthur, shows how machine guns can be used to assist in the final assault. "On December 28th the parapet of Fort Erh-lung was blown up at 10 a.m. by five mines being simultaneously sprung. . . . When the smoke cleared sufficiently, the exterior slope
