Notes on Training for Rifle Fire in Trench Warfare

by Army War College

4. In modern trench warfare, as it exists in Europe to-day, each belligerent occupies a system of trenches, of which the foremost, or fire trenches, are frequently separated by only a few yards, and rarely by more than four or five hundred yards. In rear of the fire trenches there is a labyrinth of cover, approach, support, reserve, and other trenches. Each system is strengthened by obstacles, the most formidable and also the most common of these are the barbed-wire entanglements. These trenches and obstacles are being continually damaged by the opposing artillery fire, and every opportunity is seized for raiding enemy trenches through the openings so made. One of the important functions of the sniper is that of protecting his own trenches from enemy raids and his comrades from fire of snipers and the prevention of repair of enemy trenches and obstacles in order to keep the road open to raids from his own side. To these ends he endeavors to meet with a bullet every exposure of even a few square inches of the head or limb of an enemy and at the same time to conserve his own life. To attain the first object, that of hitting the enemy, requires the best possible facilities for observation and fire, coupled with special qualities and technical skill on the part of the sniper. The attainment of the second object, that of conserving one’s own life, will depend largely upon the judgment and skill displayed in selecting and concealing the position of the firer. Each of these requirements calls for special training and for special qualities inherent in the sniper. To the training and skill of the expert game shot must be added the craftiness of the poacher.

5. From the preceding paragraphs it is evident that the service of sniping can not be conducted in a haphazard way, but, on the contrary, requires for its efficient conduct a carefully selected, organized, equipped, and trained personnel.

(a) Organization.—Based upon the best available information from Europe, there should be organized in each battalion of Infantry a “sniping” group composed of 1 noncommissioned officer and 24 privates.

(b) Qualifications governing selections.—Each member of the sniping group should be a well-trained, intelligent, disciplined soldier; a dead shot at short and mid ranges; brave, yet cautious; cool, observant, patient, resourceful, and prompt. In addition to the above, the noncommissioned officer in command of the group should be a competent instructor in all that is included in the training of the sniper and should possess good judgment in the selection and preparation of snipers’ posts.

(c) Training.—In addition to the preliminary training contemplated in (b), the following features should be specially developed:

Rifle practice.—The sniper must become expert in a broader sense than is implied by the word as employed in ordinary marksmanship classification. Ordinarily his target will be a small and fleeting one, and his training should be such as to enable him to quickly and accurately deliver a single shot at objects varying from a 4–inch loophole at 100 yards to those the size of a man’s body at 800 yards. The small object at short range will be the most frequent target and indicates the most important rifle training. The character of the target emphasizes the importance of extreme accuracy of fire, and accuracy of fire implies, in addition to correctness of aim, correct knowledge of range, a correct knowledge of external influences, such as light, heat, moisture, wind, and the personal equation of the firer and the rifle. The sniper must continually practice both with the military sights and with the adjuncts supplied him and under conditions closely resembling those that will obtain in actual trench work. The importance of concealment will usually result in fire being delivered from rest, and the handling of the rifle must not be accompanied by exposure of his position. The soldier who has been thoroughly trained in the courses prescribed in the Small Arms Firing Manual will have no difficulty in improvising firing exercises with small bobbing or disappearing targets that will develop skill along the lines indicated above. In every exercise the judgment of the firer should be expressed as to the influence of a cold piece, a hot piece; clouds, heat, moisture, wind; a worn rifle; fouling; recent cleaning and oiling, or whatever existing condition may exert an influence on the path of the bullet. The estimation of ranges and their determination by use of range finders should form an important part of the training of a sniper.

Reconnaissance and scouting.—Under this head is included all manner of observation with a view to obtaining information. The sniper’s field of action will be limited, but within its sphere it will be governed by the same principles that are prescribed for reconnaissance parties and scouts, and will include the intelligible rendering of reports.

To this end the sniper must be trained in the reading of maps, the making of sketches, the use of the prismatic compass, the simpler and more common conventional signs, and the rendering of both verbal and written reports. That the subject may not seem too large and formidable to him, his instruction should be progressive and as simple as possible, with due care to impress him with the necessity for everything he is required to do. The American soldier will rarely fail to respond if he can see the reasonableness of the demand made upon him. Let him see that his own life and that of his comrades may depend upon the accuracy of his knowledge of the following:

1. The location of our own front line and that of the enemy, so far as they are within his visual range.

2. The location of any known or suspected enemy sniper’s posts, machine-gun emplacements, observation posts, listening posts, command stations, or probable routes of advance.