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 mountain guns were brought up behind a wall and fired through two holes bored for the muzzles. Two machine guns were at once destroyed, but so well had the others been concealed that they were able to be withdrawn in safety.

Sufficient has been quoted to show that both the Japanese and Russians made the greatest use of machine guns in the defence, and that when employed on sound tactical principles they not only afforded material assistance, but were often the predominant factor. On the other hand, when these principles were neglected or ignored, the machine guns merely wasted ammunition and were impotent to affect the situation. The lesson to be learned is this: ''that machine guns are only useful when their tactical handling is thoroughly understood, and then their effect is more decisive than that of any