Entrenchments are located to cover a selected are with fire and, at the same time, provide concealment from aerial and ground observation and protection from enemy fire. The three most commonly used entrenchments are briefly explained in this section.

A. THE FOXHOLE. Foxholes are entrenchments normally dug for individual protection when contact with the enemy is imminent or in progress. They provide protection against small arms fire, artillery shell fragments, airplane fire or bombing, and the crushing action of tanks. The one and two-man foxholes are the basic types, the choice of type resting with the squad leader if not prescribed by higher authority. The two-man foxhole consists essentially of two adjacent one-man foxholes. It is used when men must work in pairs or when, for psychological reasons, battlefield comradeship is desirable.

B. THE INDIVIDUAL PRONE SHELTER. A prone shelter may be dug more quickly than a foxhole, and gives considerable protection from small arms fire, artillery and aviation. However, since it is shallow, it does not provide protection against the crushing action of tanks, and it is not suitable as a firing position.

C. CONNECTING TRENCHES. Connecting trenches are conspicuous to aerial observers and on aerial photographs, and thus reveal the defensive dispositions. Continuous connecting trenches are not dug a normal procedure. When two forces are in contact and dispositions have been revealed beyond any question, a few short trenches may be dug in inconspicuous place to permit necessary daylight movement across exposed areas. Necessary connecting trenches may also be dug in close country, such as jungle, where the position probably will not be disclosed. Further, they may be dug whenever the improved protection, control, communications and supply outweigh the sacrifice of concealment.

A. HIDE, BLEND, DECEIVE. There are three general ways in which you can camouflage yourself. You can hide, you can blend yourself with your surroundings, or you can deceive the enemy.

1. To hide yourself, use the advantages offered by nature in the terrain. If nature has given you enough camouflage for you and your supplies, let nature do the work unaided.
2. Blend with your surroundings so that you match the surrounding terrain features and are not conspicuous.
3. You can deceive the enemy by using such tricks as making a dummy position with poor camouflage. This may lead the enemy to the dummy position and your range of fire.

B. RULES FOR CAMOUFLAGE. In addition to these general means of camouflaging yourself, there are a number of rules which you need to learn well if you are going to protect yourself successfully.

1. Pick out a position which uses as much as possible of the tactical and concealment values of the terrain.
2. Practice camouflage discipline by keeping your position free of tell-tale signs of occupancy such as paths, dead leaves on camouflage materials, and so on.
3. Select your camouflage materials to match the color and texture of the local terrain. If you use natural materials, such as grass or trees, keep them fresh in appearance.
4. Avoid over-camouflaging your position your position. This is just as obvious as no camouflage. Use common sense in covering regular outlines and tell-tale shadows.
5. Don't look up from your position. Your face is smooth and light colored, and reflects a great deal of light. Never look up when a plane is overhead, or if you do, break off a branch or bush and look through the leaves carefully.
6. Never throw down a cigarette. Pinch out the fire, split the paper and roll it into a small ball. Scatter the shreds of tobacco around so no clues will be left.
7. Some objects shine like mirrors in the sunlight and can be seen for miles. Watch your mess gear and weapons. Keep them under cover or in the shade.
8. Tape your dog tags together so that they do not clink.
9. Follow the paths laid out for you. The paths may be wired, they may be taped, or they may just be blazed. But they were laid out for a purpose. Don't try to take short cuts away from them; you make new tracks.
10. Don't cut the brush or limbs you plan to use for camouflage from a bush next to your position. Go some distance for them and don't take them all from the same place.
11. Bury your empty ration cans and all other waste material. Fill the dirt back in very carefully and cover the spot with leaves or dry grass. Go so far as to sod the spot if you find it necessary.
12. Stay off the horizon. It is important that you know where the horizon is. If the enemy is downhill from you, you usually are on his horizon, and present him with a good target.
13. Stay in the shadows and also be sure you have a blending background. You can be seen in silhouette if you are in a shadow with a lighted background beyond you.
14. Smoke billowing up in a strait column is always bad. Build your fires under trees or put a screen over the fire.

At all times wire is used, there should be some alarm system attached to the wire. One of the simplest and most effective alarm systems consists of a few pebbles place in empty tin cans, which are fastened to the wire.

A. TACTICAL OBSTACLES. Some obstacles are called tactical obstacles. These are obstacles placed to hold the enemy in areas covered by defensive fires, particularly by the final protective fire of machine guns. Such obstacles can be double apron fences, concertinas, or a combination of both. Two parallel rows of double apron fences or a pyramid of three concertinas fastened together by strands of barbed wire are common.

B. PROTECTIVE OBSTACLES. Protective obstacles are used to surround a platoon defense area completely. They are set up to hinder a surprise attack by the enemy. They must be placed beyond hand grenade range. A single four-strand barbed wire fence can become a protective obstacle.

C. THE ABATIS. An abatis is made by felling dead tress or interlacing live tree branches to form a barrier to enemy infantry. In addition to trees, wires may be intertwined among branches and booby traps can be placed in an abatis, if ordered.

A. COVER. Cover is protection against the fire of the enemy. You are of no use as a scout the enemy sees you and hits you.

1. Cover can be a natural object like a tree, rock, ditch, or an embankment. It also can be a shell hole or a demolished building. It is easy for you to pick out cover as your surroundings afford.
2. It is not enough to know this, however. You may be a scout in a place where no such objects are located. You must learn to study the ground and find protection where, at first, there seems to be none. The slightest depression in the ground may give you shelter from the enemy's fire.
3. Some cover will be good for one purpose and worthless for another. For instance, a reverse slope will give you protection from rifle or machine gun fire, but will not give full protection from the high-angle fire of mortars and howitzers.
4. This brings up another important part of cover. You must study the ground ahead carefully when you are about to move forward under fire from your position. Select as your next position one that offers cover. Then move to it, and move fast.
5. When you're near the selected position, hit the deck and roll over rapidly a few times. This is done to fool any of the enemy who may have seen you rush out. When the enemy sees you go down, you are some distance from your selected position and he will not be able to spot your position accurately.
6. If time permits, artificial means can be used to obtain or improve cover. This means you can dig trenches, erect barricades, and so on. Artificial means are always used in a defensive position.

B. CONCEALMENT. Where the word "cover" is used to mean protection from enemy fire, the word "concealment" means protection from observation by the enemy. Concealment may be natural or artificial. Natural concealment is that given by trees, grass, leaves, and so on, without any man-made changes. Artificial concealment is that which you construct yourself. You must become an expert in the use of concealment to be a good scout. Here are some rules to help you conceal yourself:

1. REMAIN MOTIONLESS WHILE YOU ARE OBSERVING. Movement can attract the eye of the enemy and give away your position.
2. USE ALL AVAILABLE CONCEALMENT. Always act as though you were being watched and use the best available concealment.
3. OBSERVE FROM THE PRONE POSITION. This position, lying flat on your stomach, gives you a low silhouette and makes it harder for the enemy to see you.
4. EXPOSE NOTHING WHICH GLISTENS. Reflection of the sun flashing on bright objects like a wrist watch, knife, or bright button will attract the observation of the enemy at once.
5. BLEND WITH THE BACKGROUND. Be sure that the color of you and your clothes does not contrast too much with your surroundings. Something like a bleached khaki uniform on green grass can be seen quickly.
6. STAY IN THE SHADE. When you are in the shade, you throw no shadow and you'll be harder to see.
7. BREAK REGULAR OUTLINE OF OBJECTS. If you put garlands around your rifle, twigs in your helmet, and use other tricks or camouflage, you break the regular shape of objects and make them harder to recognize.
8. KEEP OFF THE SKYLINE. If you outline yourself against the sky at any time, you can be observed from even a great distance.
9. When you are observing as a scout, look around one of the SIDES of an object unless you can look THROUGH it.
10. You fire around the right hand side of an object, unless you are left handed.
11. You NEVER look or fire OVER THE TOP of concealment or cover unless the outline of the concealment is already broken, or you can otherwise blend in with a suitable background.
12. When an airplane approaches, you take a prone position, face down, and remain motionless. If the airplane comes upon you by surprise, stand still and cover your hands so that their whiteness will not show. Do not look up, otherwise the occupants of the plane will observe the whiteness of your face.
13. A small, thin bush in the shadow of a large bush makes a good observation point. Lone trees or rocks, fence corners, and other outstanding landmarks are easily picked out as targets by enemy observers. Remember this when you are concealing yourself.

C. CAMOUFLAGE. You already have seen by reading the above rules on cover and concealment that camouflage will be an important part of your scouting. There are four things involved in successful camouflage. They are: ability to recognize and take advantage of all forms of nature concealment available; knowledge of the proper use of the available vegetation, soil, and debris for camouflage purposes; knowledge of the proper use of artificial or issued camouflage materials; and camouflage discipline. Listed below are some practical camouflage rules.

1. You paint splotches across you nose, mouth and cheeks for scouting in areas where there is vegetation. You can paint your hands with lampblack, burned wood, cork, crankcase oil, grease paint, or petroleum jelly with soot in it. Dried mud shows up light and many black substances glisten and reflect light, so be careful what you choose to paint your face and hands with. Green grass, crushed in your hands, and applied to your skin, will make a stain that lasts 10 hours. No exposed skin should be overlooked in splotch painting. The back or your neck, chest, lower arms, and both the backs and palms of your hands should be painted.
2. If you are able to take a position among rocks or in open ground, tone your skin to a solid blending color instead of using splotch painting.
3. Cover any of your equipment that can reflect sunlight.
4. White garments blend with snowy areas, especially on a cloudy, windy day.
5. You can make your own camouflage clothing from gunny sacks or sand bags if you have no other way. An improvised suit can be made in the field, when a standard jungle suit is not available, by painting ordinary utilities with irregular splotches. A dye, paint, grease, or oil may be applied with an improvised dauber, or a pattern may be stamped on a block of wood.
6. A few leaves on your helmet help conceal the shine and break the outline.
7. Remember: Fatigue leads to carelessness.

D. MOVEMENT. Some of the principles of movement have already been mentioned. As a scout you move from one concealed location to another and there are rules to help you move around successfully. Some of these rules are as follows:

1. Remain motionless when you are not changing your position.
2. When you are observing, lift your head slowly by steadily, without making any quick movements.
3. When you are changing your position by running, spring up and run with your body bent low and drop to earth quickly. Take advantage of any walls, ditches, or similar cover.
4. How to CREEP: Your body is kept free from the ground with your weight resting on forearms and lower legs, you rifle is cradled in your arms to keep the muzzle out of the dirt. Move forward by alternately advancing the elbows and knees, and your knees always must be kept in a position well behind the buttocks.
5. How to CRAWL: Body and cheek are flat against ground, rifle is dragged along on the toe of the butt with finger over muzzle to keep dirt out. To move forward, push arms forward and cock left leg forward. Pull yourself forward with arms, push with the left leg. You can move faster by alternating legs, but this makes silhouette higher and the rifle gets in the way of the leg.
6. Notice creeping is faster than crawling but creeping causes a higher silhouette.

A. NIGHT VISION. You have to adapt your eyes to seeing at night. This is night vision. The human eye adapts itself for seeing in the dark by enlarging the pupil in order to let in more light. If you are tired or have a vitamin deficiency, your night vision will not be as good as it could be. You prepare your eyes for a night mission by staying in darkness for about an hour before you go out. If you cannot stay in the dark, keep out of the lights around you as long as possible and avoid looking strait at them. If it is possible, wear red goggles, or keep one eye closed.

B. APPEARANCE AND SIZE. Darkness not only makes it hard or impossible for you to see objects, but it also changes their appearance and apparent size. Details are blotted out. As a scout you have to train yourself to identify objects by black outlines at night.

1. A tree seen against the night looks much smaller than it does in the daytime because the twigs and at the tips of the branches can not be seen at night. For the same reason, an airplane caught in the beam of a searchlight looks larger than the same plane when it is seen as a black mass against a dimly lighted sky.
2. Night glasses, which may be issued to you, make it possible to see objects or parts of objects that would otherwise be too small to be seen at all, and help identify objects already spotted.
3. Any kind of light is quickly visible at night. Under ordinary conditions, a lighted match can be seen for several miles. Under ideal conditions of darkness and atmosphere, a candle is said to be visible for 10 miles.

C. SOUNDS. When you are a scout at night, the SOUNDS of things will be very important. You depend mostly upon your ears to get information about the enemy and you have to exercise every care to keep the enemy from hearing you.

1. When scouting at night, stop frequently to listen. If you are required to wear a helmet, remove it when you stop so that sounds are not distorted by the helmet over your ears.
2. By practicing a great deal, you can learn to listen for long periods in perfect silence. This is what you have to do when you are scouting.
3. Remember that sounds are transmitted a greater distance in wet weather and at night than in dry weather and in the daytime.
4. If you hold your ear close to the ground, you can hear much better such sounds as persons walking and the noise of vehicles.

D. SMELLS. Use your nose as well as your ears. Your sense of SMELL may warn you of enemy fires, cooking, picket lines, motor parks, gasoline and oil engines, bodies of water, and the presence of troops.

E. TOUCH. Your SENSE of touch is going to mean much to you when you are a scout at night. Learn to operate and adjust your equipment by the sense of touch alone. You also are going to have to use your hands instead of your eyes to feel and recognize objects in the dark.

F. CONCEALMENT. Concealment at night is provided by darkness, unless there is bright moonlight. If the moon is giving light, however, you have to use the same methods of concealment that you use in daylight.

G. MOVEMENT. The principles of movement at night are somewhat different from those for daytime scouting. At night, you must be able to move in absolute silence, for your safety depends on your silent movement. The five principles of night movement are:

1. Move by bounds you have determined in advance.
2. Run at night ONLY IN AN EMERGENCY.
3. Stop frequently and listen intently at each stop.
4. Take advantage of sounds which may distract the enemy to cover up your own movements.
5. If you fall down, don't cry out. Fall as silently as possible.

H. HOW TO MOVE AT NIGHT. Experience has taught the Marine several things about movement at night. These aids to movement are given here. When you need them, remember them.

1. To walk at night, balance the weight of your body on your rear foot, until a secure spot is found for your forward foot. You lift your forward foot high to clear any stiff grass, brush, wire, or other obstruction that might cause you to stumble. With your weight still balanced on the rear foot, you lower your forward foot gently, with toe first. You lower your foot, toe first, because your toe is more sensitive and can feel an obstruction more quickly than the rest of your foot. When you have located with your toe a spot free from anything that might make a noise, you lower your heel gently. Then your weight is balanced on that foot and the other foot is advanced.
2. To creep at night, get down "on all fours" with the weight of your body resting on your hands and knees. Place your rifle on the ground on your right, with the operating handle up. With your left hand, feel for a place free of rocks and twigs in front of your left knee. Leave your left hand in place and move your left knee forward to the place you have cleared. Do the same with your right hand and knee. As you move, clear spots for your rifle and lift it forward.
3. You crawl at night much the same as you do in the daytime, being careful not silhouette yourself. Crawling at night must be done silently, however, and is slow and tedious.

I. OTHER PRECAUTIONS. In addition to these aids to movement in night scouting, there are other methods which you can use to avoid detection.

1. If it is necessary for you to whisper, expel most of the air from you lungs before you do. This does away with the hissing sounds usually made by a whisper.
2. If the enemy has been using gas, keep away from depressions in damp and rainy weather. Gas can remain in these places quite a while.
3. Whenever you stop, LOOK and LISTEN.
4. Do not look at an object too long. This strains your eyes.
5. If caught in a flare, drop quickly in the split second that the enemy is blinded after the flare light. If you hear the flare discharged, drop to the ground before it bursts. Never look at a flare; you will impair your night vision for nearly an hour.
6. When you come upon patrols or persons, consider all of them unfriendly until you identify them. When you meet someone, crouch low in order to get him silhouetted against the sky and offer him only an indistinct target if he proves to be an enemy. If you are fired upon, do not return fire except to avoid capture.
7. If you are carrying a luminous compass or watch, be sure that the dial has some covering on it.

J. PASSING OBSTACLES. The proper passing of obstacles such as wires and trenches is another thing you need to know about night scouting. Whenever possible, avoid enemy obstacles, which are frequently covered by their weapons.

1. All of you movements near wire must be slow and cautious because of the danger of booby traps and mines. To pass over wire, walk over low wire at night by grasping the first strand with one hand and reaching forward with the other hand to feel for a clear spot on the ground. Feel for a spot where you can place your foot without touching another strand, or a mine, boobytrap, or any object that might make a noise. When you find such as spot, lift your foot up and over, close to the hand grasping the wire. Place your foot beside your other hand to avoid catching it on another strand. If you are armed, sling your rifle across your back and follow the same procedure.
2. To pass under wire, move on your back by feeling ahead and above for the strands of wire, and inching yourself along, holding the wire clear of your body. Be careful not to tug on the wire or jerk it. You might make a noise or set off a booby trap. If you have a rifle with you, you can put it on your stomach, with the bayonet beside your head, or you can place it between your body and right arm, and have the bayonet resting on your shoulder.
3. When cutting wire, if you are alone, cut the wire near a picket to avoid having a loose end fly back. When you are operating with another Marine, one of you can hold the wire in both hands while the other cuts the wire between the hands. Then you bend or roll back the wire to make an opening sufficient for passage. When cutting wire, wrap a cloth around it to muffle sound. If the gap is cut in enemy wire, it is well to leave the top wires intact. This lessons changes of discovery.

A. INTERPRETATION OF SIGNS.

1. The size of a bivouac area usually indicates the number of enemy there. You can check laundry, ration tins, dumps, and so on for clues as to the size of the enemy force.
2. Tracks on a road can show you what kinds of troops or vehicles are in the body and their direction of march.
3. The state of the bivouac and the amount of abandoned material about can reveal the enemy's condition to you. For instance, if you find food left uneaten, you can assume that he is well supplied. If all scraps of food have been eaten, you can assume that he is short on supplies.
4. You can check a track for the time it was made. A freshly made track has sharp edges and ordinarily has signs of moisture which disappear in about 15 minutes.
5. You can tell whether a footmark was made by a running or walking man. A running man digs his toes into the ground. His walking footprint is fairly even.
6. You can easily tell the direction of travel of a car by the way its tracks pass across ruts or track water from puddles.
7. You can estimate the speed of a vehicle by the amount of mud splattered or dirt scattered by it. Slow moving wheels leave shallow, smooth tracks. Faster moving wheels cut deeper.