When digging entrenchments without regard to concealment, the excavated soil is first of all thrown to the front or enemy’s side of the trench, thus temporary cover is obtained. When the entrenchment has reached the proper depth the artificial raising of the ground is leveled. The artificially raised portion is known as the parapet. On the completion of the parapet, the soil is thrown to the rear side of the trench, thus forming the parados which gives a protection from the rear. It is not a good policy to excavate in front of the parapet, but to get additional height and thickness as quickly as possible this is often done. Unless carefully watched, men will dig this dirt from places as near the parapet as possible, resulting in the weakening or total undermining of the parapet or trench wall. The more gradual the forward slope of the parapet, the more does it approximate as it should to the glacis of a fort, consequently giving less cover to an attacking enemy. Make use of the ditch or holes from which the dirt was obtained, as a strong obstacle immediately in front of your trench, where the enemy at the last moment may be held up to go under a very severe rifle and bombing effort. In normal circumstances, by which I mean when not exposed to an unduly vigorous machine gun or artillery fire, the soil should not be taken from in front of the trench in the manner described above, closer than 10 to 15 feet from the actual parapet, unless the holes are adequately protected by trip wire, as well as barbed wire. Cases have occurred when valuable information has been obtained by the enemy lying in holes thus dug and not properly protected. The parapet should be kept as low as possible and made to blend with its surroundings as much as possible. This is done by taking great care to cover any signs which show that fresh work has been done, even to the extent of actually planting grasses, weeds and roots, such as grow in the immediate neighborhood, and giving every encouragement to those that already grow. This greatly hinders the enemy’s artillery, as it changes positions up and down the line; interfering with and hindering the observations and accurate ranging by their forward observing officers, checking charts turned over by relieved batteries. Bullet-proof nature of a parapet naturally depends on the soil of which it is composed. Although it is not necessary to memorize the minimum of safety, you should keep a general rule in your head. The parapet should not be less than five feet, regardless of the kind of soil. When the trench has been carefully sited for the actual field of fire from a ground level, this thickness is best obtained by raising the ground level artificially as little as possible and getting the necessary depth by digging, unless prevented by moisture.