Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/513

 5. The ammunition can be removed from the dead and wounded only in defense, or in attack when the forward movement has come to a standstill. In an advance, it cannot be done without retarding the movement and without affording individual men an excuse to remain behind.

6. The bringing up of ammunition by individual men, left to their own devises, is not to be recommended, as it facilitates "shirking"; moreover, if one of the men is disabled, the ammunition he carries will never reach the firing line. Ammunition should either be sent to the firing line with each support, or it should be carried by detachments sent forward in thin skirmish lines under the command of non-commissioned officers. These detachments should remain with the firing line.

7. Whether or not signals for informing the troops in rear of a shortage of ammunition in the firing line will fulfill the expectations entertained for them, can only be determined by the test of war.