The first will be on the subject of taking a German pill-box, for I have heard of many instances of a pill-box holding up the advance of a whole brigade for a very considerable period. I have also heard how many gallant but badly devised attempts to carry it have failed, and the lives of officers and men have been sacrificed in vain, and how eventually a better commanded platoon has succeeded in taking it with very little loss. PROBLEM 1 _W_, _X_, and _Y_ are three pill-boxes about 150 yards apart. We are attacking in the direction of the arrows, that is, in a northerly direction. Our men following close behind the barrage took pill-boxes _W_ and _Y_; but, partly owing to the conformation of the ground and partly for other reasons, we failed to take _X_, and this pill-box is now holding up the whole of our advance between _W_, wood, and _Y_, knoll, with a machine gun, which is being fired from the inside of the pill-box, and which sweeps the whole ground between these points so effectively that directly we attempt to advance our men are mown down. It is apparent that _X_ has only one machine gun in action, though this is a very efficient one. From the contours on the sketch, it is evident that the ground is convex in formation, that is, that it is nearly flat between _X_ and _H_¹, but that it slopes rapidly between _H_¹ and _H_, between _B_¹ and _B_, and between _C_¹ and _C_. The slopes are covered with brushwood. The ground between contour 120 and the pill-box is meadow land. The platoon originally told off to attack _X_ was wiped out. _Problem._ You have been ordered to take _X_ with your platoon and to do so as quickly as possible. When you receive these orders you are yourself at _H_, and, as you will see from the sketch, are not under fire from _X_. What steps will you take to carry out your orders? Do not enter into an elaborate dissertation, but give short, concise orders, and if you desire to do so, append a short statement saying why you gave these orders. _Action considered Correct._ As there is only one machine gun in action, if _X_ be attacked simultaneously from _B_¹ and _C_¹, either one party or the other should succeed in getting to the rear of the pill-box and blowing in the door. _Orders._ No. 4 Section with the Lewis gun will choose a position somewhere to the north of _H_, and on my signal will open a rapid fire on the loopholes of the pill-box at _X_. No. 3 Section will choose a position near _B_¹, and when the Lewis gun opens fire, they will open a rapid rifle-grenade fire on _X_. One minute after the Lewis gun has opened, No. 1 Section will rush in from _C_¹ and No. 2 Section from _B_¹. * * * * *