During the period of exercises, the work should be toward cohesion by establishing an exact discipline, difficult to obtain in the trenches, by punctually requiring the marks of respect, and by paying close attention to the uniform and personal appearance. All these details have a prime moral importance; nothing is more demoralizing for the soldier than to see around him his comrades badly dressed and negligent in their duty; he evidently finds at times that this is more convenient but at heart he lacks confidence because he well knows that in this troop of Bohemians, without faith or order, everyone will go his own way in the moment of danger. The daily aspect of a company, carefully uniformed and well disciplined, gives him, on the contrary, a feeling of reassurance and confidence. “... Mais par un prompt renfort Nous nous vîmes trois mille en arrivant au port Tant à nous voir marcher en _si bel équipage_ Les plus épouvantés reprenaient de courage.” This is what our battalion commander often quoted to us. Combat exercises by entire units, close-order drill, and passing in review which should always close an exercise session, contribute to develop the sentiment, which becomes blunted in the trenches, that the soldier belongs to a unit, compact and articulate. The trench produces cohesion in the _small group_, the period of exercise the _cohesion in the organization_. THE OFFENSIVE SPIRIT. In order to rush headlong at the enemy out in the open, where at any moment shot and shell may do its worst, one must have an exuberance of energy. This increase of courage exists only among troops who have for a long time been able to accumulate reserves of moral force. A unit that has recently made a bloody effort is incapable of delivering a _furious and unlimited assault_, such as we wish for. It might with trouble take a line of trenches and there hastily take cover. The supply of energy is used up quickly and comes back very slowly; the memory of the terrible dangers must be dulled. In a combat, the expenditure of energy is at once physical and nervous, but rather nervous than physical. Now the mistake is often made of thinking that an organization is in fighting condition when it has again taken on a good appearance and seems in excellent form. A few nights of sleep and a few days of good food are sufficient to restore the physique, but the nerve cells are reformed with all the slowness that is characteristic of them. How many times, some days after bloody fights which have left me weak and emaciated, have I found myself in a state of flourishing health almost shameful for a soldier, and felt at the same time a faltering courage at heart!