Tactics and duties for trench fightingBertrand, Georges Etienne
History
Tactics and duties for trench fighting
Bertrand, Georges Etienne
Intrenchments
=Riflemen.= The riflemen are placed in the intervals between the
specialists in the firing line. They are also used as snipers and as
sentinels. These sentinels are not to be confused with watchers, who may
or may not carry rifles.
In the Offensive
=Hand Grenades.= In the offensive, hand grenades are used to reach the
enemy under cover in trenches, etc., by high-angle throwing. It is an
excellent weapon to clear out the trenches that the assaulting columns
are advancing against. The H. G. and the R. G. break the resistance, so
to speak, of the line that the attack is to capture and the assaulting
troops are to occupy and hold. The places of the hand grenadiers in the
assaulting column are seen in the diagram.
The hand grenade is the principal weapon in trench combat—that is, to
obtain progress laterally and in depth in the trenches after a breach
has been made at one point, as every foot of trench has to be fought
for. Each section of trench, between traverses, is cleared of the enemy
by throwing H. G’s into it. It is then occupied and the next section
cleared and occupied in a similar manner.
In a raid on the enemy’s trenches hand grenades are used to clear up the
particular stretch of trenches before the raiding party jumps into them.
This will be taken up in detail later.
=Rifle Grenades.= The rifle grenade in the offensive is employed
similarly to the hand grenade, to reach an enemy under cover, but at a
greater distance.
It is used to help reduce all nests of resistance that the assaulting
infantry runs up against, and when the artillery barrage is not
obtainable for that purpose.
They may be used as a barrage to cut off the retreat of a small group of
the enemy that is being attacked in front.
Rifle grenades are very useful against counterattacks, especially before
machine guns can be brought up and the defensive artillery barrage
obtained.
=The A. M. R.= The A. M. R., with its great mobility and ease of
control, makes it possible to carry this weapon in the assault and to be
used immediately the wave is halted for any reason. In this connection,
it can be instantly employed against a nest of resistance.
It is used in the assault to protect the flanks of the assaulting waves,
especially when stopped.
As the A. M. R’s are brought up in the first wave, they are immediately
available against counterattacks upon the captured position. In a
similar manner they are employed to hold ground gained until an
artillery barrage can be obtained to support it and before the machine
guns come up.
=The Riflemen.= The riflemen, with bayonets fixed, do the necessary
fighting in the interior of the enemy’s position. As was stated before,
the H. G. and the R. G. break the enemy’s resistance and the rifleman
does the hand-to-hand fighting required to occupy the objective lines of
trenches.
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