Page:Machine-gun tactics (IA machineguntactic00appl).pdf/163

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a size that will fit on the foresight just below the tip, and paste this on the foresight. On looking over the sights in the dark, when the luminous ball on the foresight is seen resting on the apex of the luminous triangle on the tangent sight, the gun will be truly laid for the range for which the sight is set.

Machine guns with the local reserves must be light and mobile; they will be used in a similar way to those with infantry, and to assist in counter-attacks, particularly against the advanced infantry positions and sap-heads of the besiegers. They may also have opportunities of enfilading a trench or firing into a work that has been captured by the enemy. When used for this purpose they must be brought up by hand under cover and open fire at close range from a position that commands the interior of the trench or work, and if possible enfilades it. Great risks are justified in bringing up machine guns for this purpose, as the results of a successful fire action will usually be decisive and far-reaching.

The following is an example of their use in this manner during the siege of Port Arthur:

"On the attack on 203-Metre Hill, machine guns on Akasakayama flanked the position and enfiladed the attackers. Four hundred Japanese were sheltered together in a parallel, where they were completely screened from fire from any part of 203-Metre Hill. Suddenly two machine guns, which had been concealed on Akasakayama,