Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
That's funny, we thought completely in parallel on this one.
Not that funny. We're both pretty sensible chaps.

My thought was in great part about how infantry can control open fields between closed terrains (as for example the mix of forest - field in NE Europe). Simply sticking to the edge of a forest is too predictable (even if it's 20-100 m inside), but necessary for observation & LOS firing.
European forest and field does create that dynamic. I think you have to be able to use a number of systems dependant on the terrain, and you don't really get a choice as to where you might have to work.

Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
.... basically you dug a 6 inch slit in the ground(the size of your body) so you were flush withthe ground, making you very hard to see and harder to hit from small arms fire, but it wasn't going to stop anything.
We called that a "Shell scrape". Really only used when you set up a patrol harbour. Talking to anyone who has been actually "shelled", and they all dig down to "STAGE 1," and forget about shell scrapes!