(_d_) To direct the fire of guns situated in other positions. =Woods=, especially when in leaf, are often most valuable for concealing the position of guns. Care must be taken that the guns are not placed too near the edge of the wood or individual men expose themselves. All communications between guns should be made in the wood, well in rear of the guns. Alternative positions should be selected, so that the guns may be moved rapidly from one to another if desired, with as little loss of time as possible. Lines of retirement through the woods must be arranged and also lines of communication between guns and limbers thought out. Machine Guns in Action. =The Attack.=—The guns should be dug in whenever it is possible to do so without giving away their position. It is often impossible to see anything of the enemy. Therefore likely positions for him to occupy must be looked for. Surprise, obtained by a concealed advance, is essential to the successful handling of machine guns. The progress of the infantry must be carefully watched, with a view to pushing on a certain number of guns and to closely support them whenever possible. The usual methods of supporting the infantry attack will be:— (_a_) Fire from the flanks. (_b_) Overhead fire. (_c_) Long-range searching fire. (_d_) Fire from a forward position. Every opportunity for the use of overhead fire should be seized. All suitable ground, buildings, etc., that may enable this kind of fire to be used should be looked for. The enemy’s machine guns are the weapons that are most likely to hold up the attack. Therefore every effort should be made to locate them, and to concentrate the fire of our own machine guns upon them. It may sometimes be possible to use machine guns to search systematically all places in the area of attack likely to be held by the enemy. This searching fire has undoubtedly considerable moral effect on the troops subjected to it, and may greatly assist the subsequent infantry advance. It requires, however, a large expenditure of ammunition. If the preliminary reconnaissance is properly carried out, it is quite possible for the guns employed for this purpose to remain undetected, even though pushed well forward. The general rules as to position of machine guns in attack are as follows:— (_a_) The fire of a large proportion of the available guns should be carefully organized to cover the infantry advance. (_b_) This covering fire is no longer possible, move up a proportion of the available guns either into, or on to, the flanks of the infantry firing-line. (_c_) A proportion of the guns should usually be held back as a reserve in the hands of the commander. (_d_) Thus each gun has a definite duty to perform, and co-operation between guns is assured.