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 A large and deep target might justify fire being opened at long range, but such targets rarely present themselves on the modern battlefield, and its vulnerability will partly depend on the closeness of the range and partly on its formation. To obtain a suitable target of this description surprise is essential, and to effect a surprise it will be necessary to conceal the gun and its detachment in a well-chosen position.

Thus we see the three cardinal points for tactical success are—suitable target at close range from a concealed position.

FIRE EFFECT

Napoleon's maxim, that "fire is everything—the rest is of small account," is only applicable to the machine gun when the fire is effective. Nothing is so useless and wasteful as ineffective machine-gun fire, and the careful study of fire effect and how to obtain the best results is imperative with this weapon. The principles so ably stated in Colonel Mayne's excellent book, The Infantry Weapon and its Use in War, apply almost equally to machine guns, and should be carefully studied by machine gunners, particularly those chapters dealing with the employment of fire in the field.

We have already seen that the range of the machine gun is practically the same as that of the infantry rifle, but that the beaten zone is only half the depth and about half the width of the collective fire of infantry, partly owing