The width of these single C. T.’s running close to the fire-trenches should be enough to allow a man carrying full equipment, stores, or rations to pass along easily and without bumping the sides with his equipment or burden; approximately two feet at the bottom with ample room at all corners. The width of a single C. T. for down traffic only should be wide enough to allow for passage of a laden stretcher, especially at the corners, as a stretcher is a very clumsy thing to get around these corners and often the delay caused has very serious consequences. As a C. T. leaving a fire-trench gets farther away, the width should be as soon as possible such as will allow two men to pass one another fully equipped without jostling or scraping the sides of the trench, or approximately 4 ft. at the bottom. This width with recesses described later allows rapid transit for troops passing each other in quiet parties and allowing a much greater safety in an emergency when there is no down traffic. The front is always referred to as “up.” Another advantage to be gained in the width of the C. T. is in the fact that it is much easier to keep dry and usable. It permits laying of regulation floor boards, allowing enough room on each side of them for the purpose of drainage, and is a means of preventing falling soil from covering the floor boards. Water will not drain off or through soil which is continually trampled on and has become sodden or irregular, and unless the floor boards are kept free from soil, they soon become useless, crooked and immovable. The width of these trenches allows the wind and sun to reach the bottom of the trench, thus helping a great deal in keeping it dry. There is no such thing as a communication trench 18 inches wide at the bottom and 24 inches wide at the top; diggings of these dimensions are nothing more than drains which in an emergency only are struggled through when passing in the open is still more impossible, and they should not be given any consideration whatever as a C. T. The features required in a communication trench, regardless of the claims of rapid transit and only considering protection, are: (First) Frequent traverses or turnings to avoid the effect of enfilade fire, to localize the effect of a bursting shell or bomb, to make difficult a hostile advance down the C. T. and to enable bomb parties to resist more easily their advance.