Once the mass of the defending infantry become possessed of low moral, the battle is as good as lost.

Machine guns are taken through grit and determination.

So long as the opposing forces are at the outset approximately equal in numbers and moral and there are no flanks to turn, a long struggle for supremacy is inevitable.

As a matter of fact we have to take special precautions during a battle to post police, to prevent more unwounded men than are necessary from accompanying a wounded man back from the firing line.

Obviously, the greater the length of a war the higher is likely to be the number of casualties in it on either side.

Every position must be held to the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end.

Further, a defensive policy involves the loss of the initiative, with all the consequent disadvantages to the defender.