We have learnt that the only method of delivering an infantry attack against prepared positions is to give them a thorough hammering with shells. Every particle of wire should be destroyed, so as to eliminate the risk of men being shot down as they attempt to pass through it. At the Battle of Loos our guns bombarded their lines from Monday morning to Saturday morning, and kept hammering at them so as not to give them a chance to repair either their wire or their parapets. An effective curtain of fire was established at the same time to render it impossible for them to bring food and supplies up to the line that we were about to attack. For the last ten minutes before the men actually went over the parapet, there was a perfect tornado of shells falling upon and behind their lines. Any one who remained at his post alive during the previous days would find it almost impossible to continue there during this deluge. If the artillery preparation is adequate, the battle is half over. General Haig's successes on the Somme, and the consequent German retreat on a large scale, have been due, in the first place to the excellent work of the gunners. Of course the gunners themselves have been dependent on many other branches of the service pre-eminent among which is the aeroplane corps. Targets are seldom seen by the gunners who have to depend for their information on the men who can fly ahead and come back with actual photographs of the positions to be bombarded. Too great emphasis cannot be placed upon the work of these gallant flying men. During the battles of the Somme, they have not only been doing this reconnaissance work for the gunners, but they have been flying very low after they reached the enemy territory and using their machine guns on the advancing or retreating infantry. So low did they fly, indeed, that the enemy did not risk firing upon them with their guns for fear of hitting their own men. They were fairly safe as far as the opposing infantry was concerned for the man in the machine is well protected from below and at the sides from rifle bullets. While the artillery is active, the junior artillery, the bomb gunners must also get to work to throw over as much H. E. as possible to break down the resistance of the enemy. Then again there is the gas, which has now come to be used as a definite part of an offensive. Gas is conveyed to the trenches in large drums, under pressure, and at the proper moment is liberated in waves against the enemy. It should be in the hands of trained men who can be trusted not to liberate it a moment before the time comes.