Page:Machine-gun tactics (IA machineguntactic00appl).pdf/56

should it be isolated or conspicuous, such as a patch of scrub in a plain, or a clump of bushes on a hillside, as it will form a mark to aim at for every gun and rifle within range. "Cover from view" may be also "cover from fire," as when folds in the ground or a ravine are used to conceal the guns. It may also be artificial cover, such as screens of boughs and brushwood as used by the Japanese at Liao-yang to conceal their march, or to hide guns in position. Hurdles covered with grass, reeds, bush, or branches of trees to closely imitate the surrounding growth, and placed as screens to hide the guns until the moment arrives for opening fire, will often prove a most valuable method of concealing guns in position, and under favourable circumstances the guns may even open fire from behind the screens without being discovered. This method requires constant practice in peace to attain success on service—indeed, the necessity for the most thorough peace training and constant practice in all the details of bringing guns into action, making cover, taking up alternative positions, retiring under mutual support, etc., cannot be too strongly urged on section commanders. Little ammunition is available for practice in our own service, it is true, but there is nothing to prevent constant practice in this vital duty of the machine gunner; and by getting a few men to represent the enemy, with an intelligent officer and a pair of good glasses, most valuable help can be given by criticising the