. How armies fight. hree or four feet apart, busy passingbuckets of water from hand to hand from the orchardto the position occupied by the battery. Here a coupleof men seize and empty them on the ground under andaround the guns. It looks as if the gunners were trying, by watering theBelgian farmers grass, to make up for the damage theyhave done to his field. As a matter of fact, the weatheris very dry, and the discharge of the guns would raise acloud of dust which would betray their position to theenemy. The artillerymen are guarding against this bypassing up water from the well in Ellencourt
. How armies fight. hree or four feet apart, busy passingbuckets of water from hand to hand from the orchardto the position occupied by the battery. Here a coupleof men seize and empty them on the ground under andaround the guns. It looks as if the gunners were trying, by watering theBelgian farmers grass, to make up for the damage theyhave done to his field. As a matter of fact, the weatheris very dry, and the discharge of the guns would raise acloud of dust which would betray their position to theenemy. The artillerymen are guarding against this bypassing up water from the well in Ellencourt orchard. The position occupied by the Scots Guards does not differvery materially from that held by the Coldstreams, exceptthat E and F Companies have prepared several of the housesin the village for defence. The men forming the garrisonof each house have dug a shelter trench in the garden nearit to protect themselves from shrapnel bullets and the HOW THE GUARDS FORTIFY TROU-DU-BOIS. 185 They will remain here until. splinters of bursting shells. the enemys infantry gets so close that his artillery will have to stop firing. Then they will rush into the houses, repair any damage done by shells, if there is time, and cover the retreat of the men in the trenches should they be driven back. There is, however, one thing we admire particularly about the Scots defence, and that is the way in which B Company have for-tified a thick wall nearly tenfeet high which shuts in theorchard at the west end of thevillage. (See Fig. 17.) A houseoutside this wall which interfereswith the defenders fire has beenblown up by the sappers in theway shown in Fig. 18. Leaving Trou-du-Bois, we walkalong a hollow road which leadsto South Bruyere, and runs along the top of the hill on which both villages lie. At first Fig. 17.—A Fortified Wall. How B Company of the Soots Guards prepare a garden wall for defence.
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