Page:Machine-gun tactics (IA machineguntactic00appl).pdf/128

 in selecting positions, observing fire, and correcting errors, the maximum of accuracy should be attained. If the enemy is entrenched against frontal fire, good results may be expected from accurate distance fire, owing to the angle of descent of the bullet causing the low parapet or shallow trench to be no protection.

They were successfully used by the Japanese as covering fire for infantry in the attack, as the following examples will show: "At Mukden on March 1st all the machine guns of a whole Japanese division (12 to 18 guns) were brought into action upon a Russian point d'appui. The Russian fire was silenced, but burst out again whenever the machine-gun fire slackened. The Japanese infantry used these pauses in the enemy's fire to press forward to close range under cover of their machine-gun fire."[A] On March 2nd the three machine guns of the 10th Japanese Infantry Regiment acted in the same way against a Russian fieldwork. This method of employing machine guns requires the closest co-operation with the infantry from the commencement of the attack.

Again, during the Japanese attack on Namako Yama the infantry were greatly assisted by covering fire from their machine guns directed on the Russian trenches. These guns were used from behind screens, and their success was largely due to their being well concealed.

It will rarely be advisable for machine guns to follow infantry into the firing line, where they