Editor of the Infantry Journal.
THE ATTACK IN TRENCH WARFARE.
Impressions and Reflections of a Company Commander.[[1]]
By Captain André Laffargue, 153d Infantry (French).
I.
Character of the Present Attack.
The attack at the present period has become one of siege warfare. We must accept it as it is, study it, tax our wits to find special means to prepare effectively for it and to orient the instruction of troops entirely with this in view.
The attack on all points of our front consists in breaking through several lines of defense upon a depth of about three kilometres and in preventing the enemy from holding on further back on new lines already prepared or merely improvized.
The attack is therefore an immense, unlimited, simultaneous assault on all points of the front of attack, furiously pushed straight to the front until all the enemy’s defenses are broken through.
The characteristic of this attack is that it is not progressive but is an assault of a single rush; it must be accomplished in one day as otherwise the enemy reforms, and the defense, with terrible engines of sudden destruction, will later recover its supremacy over the attack, which cannot quickly enough regain the mastery of this consuming fire. The whole series of frightful defenses cannot be nibbled at successively; they must be swallowed whole at one stroke with one decision.
Therefore, the fight is an unlimited assault. In order to attempt the assault, what is necessary?