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 Digging in for defence:

Success in combat involves more than daring feats of arms on a shifting battlefield. It's part of every soldier's trade to know how to dig himself in, so that he can survive to win the next battle.

This section will show how to construct defensive positions for two or four men.

An effective defensive position makes the best possible use of your available firepower. Whether at platoon or section level, you need to site and arrange your trenches so that the approaches to your positions are all covered by atleast two arcs of fire. Then before they can reach you, enemy forces will always have to enter a potential killing ground.

An effective defence depends on these basic principles:

1. Defend ground of tactical importance:
   You must deny the enemy any ground of tactical importance. You can do this by holding and defending the ground, or you can cover the approaches to it.

2. Defend your position in depht:
   You need depht to your defence to absorb an attack and slow its momentum. A "thin red line" can easily be  breached.

3. Individual positions provide mutual support:
   Mutual support within a section means that each trench must be able to support adjacent trenches by producing fire to the front, flanks or rear of them. Within a platoon each section should be able to support the other two in such a way that machine gun and rifle arcs of fire overlap.

4. Control your position:
   Trenches must be carefully concealed from observation from both theair and ground. This is partly achieved by effective camouflage, but mainly by careful siting. The ground can be used so that the enemy suddenly comes upon a defencive positionwithout warning. One way of achieving this is to site defensive positions on a "reverse slope", that is to say behind the crest of a hill so that the enemy only comes across your position and can only bring direct fire to bear upon it after crossing the skyline and when he is within range of your direct fire weapons.

5. Defend all approaches:
   All defnsive positions must be sited so that they can meet an attack from any direction. Although sections and platoons will be given a primary direction in which to concentrate their fire, your lines can be penetrated --  especially at night -- and they must be prepared to face an attack from any direction.

6. Keep your supply lines open:
   As in any other phase of war, a successful defence depends upon reliable logistic support. However well a position, it is unlikely to be held if the ammunition runs out. Always follow these six principles when constructing  your defencive position. Your individual fire trench will have been sited with these principles in mind and will be part of a bigger plan.

Siting your trench:

The following factors, some of which may conflict, should be considered in designing trenches. Any design will involve a degree of compromise.

1. Use of weapons:
   You must site your trench to allow you a good field of fire and of view. You must construct it so that your weapon can de fired without hindrance.
2. Protection:
   The main treat to dug-in infantrymen is from artillery fire, and especially from air-burst projectiles. For maximum protection trenches should not be mose than half a metre wide. Overhead protection in the shelter trench should be atleast 45 cm thick.
3. Speed of construction:
   Hand held power tools can be used instead of spades and pickaxes, or you can prepare the ground with explosives. The best solution is a light mobile digger. This can scoope out fire trenches, command posts or larger weapon pits very quickly.
4. Concealment:
   The trench should, obviously, be as well covered as possible.

The basic fire trench:

The two man fire trench, the four man fire trench and the GPMG fire trench are the three basic types you will encounter. The two man fire trench; is a metre deep, half a metre wide and two metres long. The depth can be varied according to the hight of the tallest man in the fire trench; as a general rule it should be as deep as the armpits of the tallest man.
Fire trenches should be provided with overhead protection. This should not be more than a third to half a metre above the hight of the ground. If overhead protection is added to a fire trench, a gap must be left uncovered for access, to fire anti-tank weapons with a backblast, and to throw grenades.

Taking shelter:

Once the fire trench is complete, the next stage is to dig the shelter trench. This is a continuation of the fire trench and should be one and a half metres long, and covered with 45 cm of spoil. This spoil can be supported either by struts or logs or, more easily, by the so called "KIP-sheet" -- the Kit Individual Protection. This is a tough tarpaulin sheet with ancor points and attached cords that secure and tighten it. Incredibly, it supports 45 cm of overhead cover and even the weight of a tank moving over the trench. The shelter trench is for you to sleep in.

A four-man trench is quite simply twice the length of a two-man fire trench and will incorporate a shelter trench at each end. It will take you approximately one to two hours to dig a two-man fire trenchin relatively soft soil. This time can be doubled in harder soil. It will take a further hour to add overhead protection, and a further three to five hours in soft soil (up to nine hours in the hardest soil) to complete the shelter trench.

Obviously, all these times can be drastically redused if you use mechanical methods. Ideally, allow yourself approximately 24 hour to prepare a defensive position.

Extra defence:

When the trench is complete, you need to add further defences. Wire obstacles can be constructed in front of your position, though these are no good unless they are covered by fire. Mines can also be laid. Well-sited and carefully concealed minefields covered by fire can provide a highly effective obstacle to both men and vehicles.

Last, you should have a comprehensive fire plan, tying in supporting artillery and tanks, mortars machine-guns and anti-tank weapons, to provide the cement to keep the defensive position intact.

The two- and four-man defensive position is at the heart of all effective defence. The only only way that an infantryman will survive a coordinated enemy attack is by constructing a sound and stong fire and shelter trench -- if possible with overhead cover. If he can survive enemy artillery bombardment, he can emerge to blunt and defeat the enemy infantry attack that will surely follow.

Field of fire:

Section positions should be sited so that the enemy troops attacking one position can be engaged with rifle and machine-gun fire from atleast one other. Range cards should be prepared and all likely target areas recorded. In the diagram the rifles are firing to the limit of their effective range so their arcs of fire meet. The GPMGs' longer range allows their arcs to overlap.

How to dig in:

These are the stages in the construction of defensive positions. The time to prepare them varies enormously. Those given here assume fairly easy soil; harder ground atleast doubles the time.        

1. Dig survival hole; time 1/2 -1 hour
   It should come up to the armpits of the highest man in the trench.
   
   
2. Add overhead protection; time 1 hour
   Leave space clear for firing anti-tank weapons and throwing grenades.
   
   
3. Dig shelter trench; time 3 -5 hours
   This is an extention of the fire trench for sleeping in and for storing everyones kit.
   
   
4. Add overhead protection to the shelter trench.

Leave a lip between 30 - 60 cm above the ground around the trench with gaps for firing your rifle. Note that you should make the floor in the shelter sloping to drain water out of the sleeping/storage area.