h for all troops. In
Position Warfare the wood and the village are of the highest
importance, and whenever they are situated along the alignment, or near
the front, of a defensive position, they may always be assumed to be
occupied and strongly organised as part of a series of mutually
supporting tactical points. The names of woods, large and small, and
of the most insignificant villages, were of everyday occurrence in
reports on the fighting on the Western Front in the Great War as the
scene of furious encounters, of attacks and counter-attacks, and there
are 67 references to copses, woods, and forests in Marshal Haig's
Dispatches. It {158} appears, however, to be generally admitted that
close country in general, and woods and villages in particular, favour
Delaying Action rather than a protracted Defence, and in Position
Warfare the advantages are therefore in favour of the Attack on account
of the facilities offered for surprise through the concealment of
movement.

There are many instances of successful Delaying Action in woods and
villages. Some of the characteristics of such fighting were
exemplified in the Franco-Prussian War. At the _Battle of Gravelotte_
(August 18, 1870) the Bois de Vaux, on the left of the French position,
induced Marshal Bazaine to mass his reserves on that flank, as it
appeared to invite attack; whereas he was defeated by a turning
movement on the _other_ flank. During an attack through the Bois de
Vaux a Prussian infantry battalion became so scattered that all
cohesion was lost, a common danger in wood fighting. At the earlier
_Battle of Spicheren_ (August 6, 1870), however, two battalions
maintained their order and cohesion in Pfaffen Wood, and by moving
through it in narrow columns were able to debouch in good order. A
tendency to loss of discipline through loss of control was exemplified
at the same battle. Other Prussian troops had captured Gifert Wood and
the officers were unable to organise an attack on a further position
through the reluctance of the troops to leave the shelter of the wood.
At the _Battle of Worth_ (August 6, 1870) two French battalions held up
the attack of 18,000 Prussians for over an hour in the Niederwald,
although no fortifications were employed; the difficulty of debouching
from a captured wood was then experienced by the Prussians, as the
farther edge was kept under heavy fire by French troops in the
neighbouring Elsasshausen Copse. A decisive coun