Infantry attack

“ Nieuwe Gazet, August 8th:—"After the German artillery had set some houses on fire, the infantry marched to the attack. This was not only directed against the soldiers, but also against the civilian population who took part in the combat. People shoot from the houses, small boys and women bombard the assailants with stones, and even some old men from behind the doors fire on the advancing soldiers." ”

“ In front were the grey-uniformed soldiers, swarms of them, not a hundred yards away, rushing on them with gleaming bayonets. Working like madmen, [Pg 25] the artillery-men reversed the guns, loaded, aimed, fired. Again and again the guns spoke. The squads worked like men doomed, anxious only to take toll for their own lives. The shells, set to zero, burst almost at the muzzles of the guns. Their bullets tore through the groups of infantrymen, mowed them down. They seemed to melt away. Behind him the subaltern heard a loud cheer. The beaten infantry were being rallied, led again to the attack. ”

“ A fire attack would be organised on the front of the enemy, supported by close-range artillery fire, and a turning movement with Lewis guns and rifles on one or both flanks. If the enemy held to a covered position they could be ejected by rifle bombers or light mortars from a flank, while artillery and machine guns prevented aimed fire at the attacking force. ”

“ A complete modern force should consist of a proper proportion of horse, foot, and artillery. The three form the whole, the perfect machine. The parts must fit into each other as the cogs of one wheel fit into those of another. In the war of the future infantry will be used for two purposes—to contain the opposing infantry, and to hold positions seized by the mobile portion of the force, be it cavalry or mounted infantry. There will be very little preparation by the artillery for infantry attack, for the simple reason that I am convinced that frontal attacks are things of the past. ”

“ The object of the great proportion of artillery the Germans employ is to beat down the resistance of their enemy by concentrated and prolonged fire—to shatter their nerve with high explosives before the infantry attack is launched. ”

“ At the crisis of the engagement, preparatory to the assault, the artillery and infantry must combine to bring the heaviest possible fire to bear against the point or points against which it is proposed to drive home the attack, in order that a superiority of fire over the defence may be rapidly established ”

“ By elevating the small guns the curtain fell farther and farther into the enemy's territory, thus making it possible for the Allies to go on farther and farther across No Man's Land.
The infantry rushed forward, fighting and dying nobly in a noble cause. Position after position was consolidated as the Germans fell back before the rain of shot and shell. It is always this way in an offensive, small or large. The first rush of the attacking side, be it German, French, British, or American, carries everything before it. It is the counter attack that tells. ”

“ If it should be found that, in spite of scientific aids, the artillery of the defence can be made to leave its cover and to disclose its position by the advance of the infantry, the importance of the aid which one arm can render to the other needs no demonstration. After all, however, the silencing of the guns of the defence is but a means to an end, and the principal aim of the guns of the attack is to enable the infantry to get sufficiently close to the position to deliver an assault; for the infantry assault is the crowning act of battle. ”

“ Although inferior in mobility to Pack or Horse Artillery, they have greater shell-power and afford the principal support to infantry in closing with or repelling the enemy. Their power to inflict casualties {171} by enfilade fire with shrapnel makes them specially suitable in the defence, and the accuracy of modern weapons enables them to co-operate in the Attack with covering fire, under the protection of which infantry may advance unimpeded to the assault. ”

“ Concealed in a strong position, they poured a murderous fire into our troops about to go into camp after a fatiguing march. Had the disposition of the cavalry screen and of the advance-guard — which latter included both infantry and artillery — been less perfect, or had the command been deficient in discipline or other soldierly qualities, such an attack might have proved disastrous. ”

“ The usual thing seen is that after the assault the ground is covered with a mixture of men of all companies staring about, and apparently thinking the show at an end, whereas on service this is the very time you may expect either a counter-attack by infantry or a burst of artillery fire directed on the lost position. ”

“ The counter-attack may be made either by the garrison of the firing trenches, as a frontal counter movement, or by the general reserve, accompanied by artillery and cavalry, as a decisive counter-attack. The moment when the attacker has used up his reserves and is about to assault is generally considered as the most propitious for making the counter-attack. ”

“ We have all been through a big fight—the others have been more in the centre of it than I have. Regiments near us have suffered heavily, but we have been particularly fortunate. But I must tell you about it to-morrow. I had an experience last night between 9 and 11 p.m. that you can have no conception of. Our side started an attack by the usual Artillery bombardment of the German lines, followed by an Infantry advance. [3] This advance was not made by our Battalion, who remained in the same line of trenches throughout the fight. ”

“ Then all along their fronts the deep-mouthed guns [107] opened their well-directed fire, and the infantry responded to the furious attack with their rapid volleys, as they closed around the head of the advancing columns, enveloping them in one sheet of flame, that streamed like billows along their sides. It was too much for human courage to endure ”

“ At the same time, in a scheme of attack of this kind it is, apart from accidents, the underlying assumption on which the whole is reared that every part of the area under fire shall in the first instance be equally and fully swept. If that be not done then the infantry have imposed upon them a task which no men ought to be asked to face, and which deliberately they would never be asked to face. ”

“ The question as to whether an attack is feasible without the support of artillery fire, is answered to the effect that it will, as a rule, be a difficult undertaking, unless the artillery has sufficiently silenced the batteries of the defender. ”

“ As an attack on the enemy position was decided on, the Battalion Commander suggested that a line of strong points should be constructed about a mile ahead of our line, that when these had been made good, a second line of strong points a further eight hundred yards in advance should be constructed, so that by this means the final assault might be made from a short distance to the enemy's main position, and also by this means artillery officers would be able to locate definitely the enemy's main trenches and the guns could be brought up within 2,000 yards before the Infantry should assault. ”

“ A powerful Infantry force was holding the left of their position, and though it was itself being actively attacked on the eastern face, it could spare at least a battalion to assail their flank and threaten their rear. Covered by this flanking fire, by the long-range musketry, and by a tremendous bombardment, in which every gun, from the lumbering 5 in. siege guns to the little 9-pounder mountain battery, joined, the main attack was now launched. ”

“ Against a weak enemy, however, or an enemy holding an exposed position, or when the advance is covered by a very superior artillery fire, the frontage allotted to a battalion may be greater than under normal conditions. But it is always to be borne in mind that troops extended at very wide intervals are peculiarly susceptible to counter-attack, and that their attack is certain to lose in vigour and resolution.
3. In the case of a company, or small force, attacking independently the men need not be so close as in the case of larger forces. ”

“ Flank attack against artillery effective. Artillery attacked in flank by infantry can be severely damaged. Oblique or flank fire will begin to have decisive effect when delivered at effective range from a point to one side of the artillery's line of fire and distant from it by about half the range. ”

“ Undoubtedly, had our centre been broken by the last attack of the enemy [about half-past seven,] a considerable part of our artillery must have been left behind, a number of guns disabled, and many men and horses killed and wounded; these must have fallen into the enemy's hands; also the brigades at the points attacked, which were placed rather in front of the infantry, and remained until the last, firing grape-shot into the enemy's columns. ”

“ The probable fact is that the cavalry, being more mobile than the infantry, whose fighting power depended on the fire-action, which was necessarily slow, were used for the real attack, as the infantry were less able to take a vigorous offensive. Besides, the enemy’s centre was composed chiefly of the mounted arm. The artillery, slow moving like the infantry, were brought up in support of the more mobile body. ”

“ In the letter are these sentences:—
"German infantry and cavalry will not attack English infantry and cavalry at close quarters. Their fire is murderous. The only way to attack them is with artillery."
Upon this advice the enemy seem to act. They make the best use of their guns, and keep up an incessant fire, which is often well directed, though the effect is not nearly so deadly as they imagine. Their machine guns—of which they have great numbers—are also handled with skill, and make many gaps in our ranks. But the enemy rarely charge with the bayonet. ”

“ The fire of the fronts directly attacked, both machine-gun and infantry, will be directed principally at the assaulting columns and working parties, the collateral works and fronts will, in addition to pouring a cross-fire upon the assaulting columns, direct a large part of their machine-gun fire upon the supports and reserves, 8 while the more powerful guns will generally direct their fire upon the hostile artillery. ”

“ Small flanking parties, crossing at unguarded points by hastily improvised means, will dislodge hostile infantry and Maxims much more quickly and effectively than by frontal attacks, however powerfully supported by artillery. ”

“ What can be more novel and inspiring than the aviators who fight their fantastic duels 3000 metres above the earth? Again, the sangfroid, the supreme devotion of the artillery, who amidst apalling losses and the heaviest bombardment, stick to their posts, regulating their fire and working their guns, taking every risk without a moment's hesitation. The infantry, that backbone of the army with their "élan" carry forward the banner of France or die heroically in no-man's land. ”

“ Always the British field artillery kept its position in the open, its gunners working like demons to save their comrades and shake the enemy's nerves. Always the tempests of bullets passed, for the most part innocuous, over the prone infantry. Always the enemy's rifles crackled and his guns pounded and banged. ”

“ We do not see the guns that bombard us; the attacking lines of the enemy infantry are men like ourselves; but these tanks are machines, their caterpillars run on as endless as the war, they are annihilation, they roll without feeling into the craters, and climb up again without stopping, a fleet of roaring, smoke-belching armour-clads, invulnerable steel beasts squashing the dead and the wounded—we shrivel up in our thin skin before them, against their colossal weight our arms are sticks of straw, and our hand-grenades matches. ”

“ Determined and gallant attacks were made on the 23rd and on the 24th on the strong positions to the west of the road held by the enemy, who had brought up reinforcements and numerous [365] machine-guns, and could support his infantry by artillery fire from guns placed in positions along the main road. Our artillery, from lack of roads, could not be brought up to give adequate support to our infantry. ”

“ Prove to them how much less we shall lose by an occasional premature burst than we should lose by the increased effectiveness of the hostile infantry if our artillery ceased to fire. The men must be taught that it is the infantry that does most of the killing and that, especially at the very short ranges, we want all the help we can get to keep down this killing by the enemy’s infantry. ”

“ These knowing that the infantry brigade would bar their retreat and would speedily come up to their assistance, fought stoutly, but were unable to withstand the impetuous assault of the British infantry. The struggling horses and the guns completely blocked the ravine, and the infantry, falling fast under the fire from above, were unable to make their way through them. ”

“ Imagine the infantry, bombers and bayonet men in four successive lines, straining on the leash till the artillery had finished pounding and the smoke-bombs which had been prepared to cover the advance from the sight of the German trenches had been let loose. Thrilling is the moment when warriors climb their trenches to the assault. ”

“ The hail of the assailants' bullets ceases; already the artillery of the attack has desisted lest it should injure friend as well as foe. The word runs along the line and the clumps of men lying prostrate there out in the open. The officers spring to their feet, wave their swords, and cheer loudly. The men are up in an instant, and the swift rush focussing toward a point begins. ”