_Equipment._—Keep the lightened knapsack, which will be of service against a possible bombardment of the conquered position (lesson of Langemark, December 4). Fold the blanket on the inside of the knapsack to form a padding against fragments. VI. DEVELOPMENT AND PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE ATTACK.[13] ACTION OF THE FIRST LINE OF ATTACK. The artillery preparation, roaring on the horizon like a furious storm, ceases sharply, and a tragic silence falls over the field of battle. The infantry leaves its parallels in a single movement, at a walk, magnificently aligned, crowned with the scintillation of thousands of bayonets. Then the hostile trenches burst out suddenly with fire, the fusillade rattles immediately, madly, dominated by the pitiless rattling of the machine guns. The wave of assailants thins out, entire units disappear, mowed down. Some lie down and advance no further, while others, better commanded, march ahead in spite of all. Some, more favored, find themselves in places where the artillery preparation has cleared the enemy out. They reach the first trench, and hand-to-hand fighting commences. The second wave arrives in its turn, avoids the zone of destruction, plunges into the parts where the resistance has weakened, and thus the first trench, split up into enveloped sections, is definitely submerged by the second wave. They form beyond the captured trench and start forward again; but it is a disorganized combat by groups in the midst of shots and bullets which cross each other in every direction. The second trench is assaulted, certain parts are conquered through which the flood of assailants spreads out while desperate groups resist stubbornly in some redoubts.