MILITARY ENTRENCHMENTSBy DR. A. MACKENZIE

THE chief objects in view in making an entrenchment are(1) concealment, (2) an extensive field of vision and fire,(3) a maximum amount of protection from rifle and shell

fire, (4) efficient drainage, (5) in the event of a possible retirementthe entrenchment should be of such a kind that it is of littlevalue to the enemy, (6) rapidity and simplicity of construction.In regard to all these points I am confident that great improve-ments could be made in our present methods in attaining them.I have read of and considered all the newest plans for effectingconcealment in France, and in many respects I am entirelyopposed to present practice.

By many people it may be considered presumptuous of meto criticize military experts who have had extensive experienceof the proved effect of modern fire on battlefields. I do notagree with this view. My ideas on golf course construction, forexample, have been mercilessly criticized and condemned, andit has taken me nearly ten years to persuade the public that thereis anything in my views on course construction. It may be askedwhat earthly connection is there between golf course constructionand trench making? The connection consists in the imitationof nature. The whole secret of successful course constructionand concealment in trench making consists in making artificialfeatures indistinguishable from natural ones, and for the lastten years I have been daily attempting to imitate nature.

During the present war everything has been sacrificed forconcealment, and it is chiefly from this point of view that Iventure to criticize military entrenchments. We have beenreduced to concealing our trenches in little valleys or, on thereverse, crests of hills, which is to a certain extent a confessionof failure. We have failed so far to conceal our trenches in theopen. Anyone can conceal a trench behind a hill. I am notsuggesting for a moment that the German trenches are betterconstructed than ours. I believe, so far as concealment is con-cerned, the exact opposite to be the case, which, with the stiltedmechanical training of the Germans, is what one would expect.

The majority of army officers, until the present war, havehad so little practical experience in imitating natural featuresthat the best of them have not yet appreciated the possibilityof concealing trenches in the open, and combining effectivelylong range of vision and fire with concealment. Nor, I think,have they realized that a certain amount of high relief not onlydiminishes drainage difficulties, but actually increases theconcealment.

The following suggestions might be adopted in constructingan invisible entrenchment:

1. Make the raised portion of the same color and appearanceas the foreground. For example, in pasture land the sods shouldalways be replaced, in cultivated lands the crops should be

INTERIOR OF TRENCHNote the complete absence of straight lines and angles, the overhanging lips of the recesses, the depressions opposite the traverses, the

use of the traverse as an elbow-rest while firing, the long serpentine line of trench shown by the men's caps held up on rifles

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Dr. Mackenzie is very well known in England as a golfing architect and hisdesign for a two-shot hole which won the English "Country Life" Golf Archi-tecture Competition is to be the home hole at the new Long Beach course nowunder construction. But his experience is by no means confined to the mak-ing of bunkers. He was through the South African war, and since the begin-ning of the present war has devoted himself to working on entrenchments.

THE SAME TRENCHPhotographs taken from 10 yards away. The man standing up is behind the trench. The men's heads while firing were completely

concealed at 40 yards away

replaced. On ploughed land the top spit (soil) is usually adifferent color to the subsoil; it should be placed on one sideuntil the trench is dug out and then carefully replaced. Ridgeand furrow should, of course, be carefully copied on the raisedportion of the trench.

2. It should be made in such a manner that the contoursof the trench harmonize with the undulations of the surroundingcountry. The best way of doing this is to exaggerate a naturalrise in the ground, as shown in Diagram 1. Soil removed from

DIAGRAM IDotted line—natural rise of ground

a b c is utilized to form raised portion, c d e. Replace sods alongd e. An entrenchment on the slope of a hill should be made asshown in Diagram 2 if the enemy is below or across a valley.To an enemy on the opposite slope c b appears to be curlinground to meet a, so that a b c d simply appears to be a con-tinuous natural roll. In a position of this kind care should betaken that there is no dead ground below d, i.e., the trench shouldbe made in such a way that the enemy advancing up the slopewould be continuously exposed to your fire. If the enemyis on a higher level the trench should be made as in Diagram 3.Here again a b c d appears to be a continuous natural roll inthe hill. Note that at point b the raised portion curves slightlydownwards, forming an overhanging lip.

3. The most important point of all is absolutely to avoidthe least suspicion of a straight line. It may be argued thatavoidance of straight lines is already carried out almost univers-ally. If this were so, how is it that every pamphlet and bookissued by the General Staff is full of straight lines and angles?You cannot get concealment in straight lines and angles; theystrike the eye at once from the ground or from the air. Notein the photograph to what an extent any suspicion of a straightline is avoided.

4. It is also necessary to hide the head and shoulders of theman in the trench. If the parapet of the trench, instead of beingmade perfectly level like the top of a wall, is made with frequentdepressions, the rifles can then be placed along these depressions,and there is never any necessity to expose the head above theskyline. In actual practice these depressions have the effectof concealing a man's head at as short a distance as fifty yardsfrom an observer even in the upright position. These depressionsshould be constructed in gently undulating curves, not like theold type of embrasure, all straight lines and angles.

The entrenchment I have attempted to describe gives con-siderable field of vision and fire, owing to the fact that it is raisedabove the surrounding ground. Enfilading is partially preventedby avoiding straight lines and making the trench in irregularcurves. Traverses may be made in addition. The simplest wayto make them is for each man to dig his own hole, leaving apartition on each side of him at the front of the trench. Thetraverse should be opposite the depression; it then acts as anelbow rest. An overhanging lip in the recess gives considerableadditional protection from shrapnel fire, and is formed with sods.

In the event of a possible retirement the trench should bevisible from the back. The parados (back parapet) should onlybe sufficiently wide to stop back fire from shell, and may be madeso that a rifle bullet could pierce it. The trenches then are not onlyof no value to the enemy, but may be an actual trap for him. Anentrenchment of the kind described can be made as rapidly, orpossibly even more so than any other. Paring the turf takes avery short time compared with the labor involved in digging.The turf should be pared and rolled forwards and backwards

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Dotted line — natural contour.Black line — entrenchment

DIAGRAM 2

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like a carpet, then the soil shouldbe shovelled out forward, andit will automatically fall intoa natural position. Then thesods should be replaced.

I am only too anxious togive a practical demonstrationto prove:

1. That it is possible to con-ceal a trench in the open in anysituation (even on a flat lawn) at a distance of less than onehundred yards.

2. That it is possible to conceal a trench from observers inaircraft.

3. That it is possible to conceal themen's heads while firing at a distance ofless than one hundred yards.

4. That it is quite possible to combineconcealment with a certain amount of highrelief (with all the advantage of increased

DIAGRAM 3Dotted line—natural contour. Black line—entrenchment

DIAGRAM 4A to B—Turf rolled back. C—Original

line of ground. D—Trench

field of vision and fire, decreaseddifficulties of drainage, etc.).

5. That the amount of laborin t h e construction of thetrenches I suggest is less thanthose we make at present.

6. That it is quite possibleto train men to construct con-cealed trenches even at nightand under fire. There is quite a

simple device for lessening the dangers and difficulties of workingduring the night, which I do not think it advisable to divulgein print. Otherwise I would gladly state it.

Improvements in entrenchments mayconceivably have some influence on eventhe course of the war, and it is not simplywith a view to pushing my own ideas, butin the hope that my suggestions may giverise to improvements in our present meth-ods, that I have written this article.

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