Tactics and duties for trench fighting

by Georges Etienne Bertrand; Oscar N. Solbert

III. Liquid Fire

Protection against Liquid Fire. The enemy may make an assault with a special detachment of liquid fire operators in the first line. The object of these operators is to throw jets of liquid fire on the occupants of the first line to allow the assaulting columns to penetrate into the position without losses. The only means of combating such an attack is to evacuate the part of the trenches against which the liquid fire is directed, and move by the flanks. Machine guns and automatic rifles should be established to bring flanking fire to bear against the detachment of liquid fire operators. It is impossible to withstand a liquid fire attack if the operators succeed in coming within sixty yards before the garrison can man its parapets.