Tactics and duties for trench fighting

by Georges Etienne Bertrand; Oscar N. Solbert

Defense of an Area. The defense of each area is made similarly to that of the first line, as these areas embrace the successive lines of the position. The areas range in importance from front to rear, the support point embracing the first line, the center of resistance the first two lines, and the sector all three lines of the position. The alarm of an attack is relayed by the area commanders, the captain to the battalion commander, who in turn communicates it to the colonel of the sector. Not only the attacked portion of the sector is affected by this alarm, but the whole sector, so to speak, takes up arms. Let us see what happens as a result of this.

All defenders of the area who have a special duty, immediately occupy their posts and remain there awaiting developments of the attack. For example, telephone men will remain at their instruments, runners will repair to their relay posts, observers occupy their observatories, and chiefs and headquarters officers remain at their command posts. And above all, the machine gun crews will man the guns disposed for interior fighting.

At the same time, the different troops held in reserve in the successive lines are used to hold their own line, to reinforce the line in front, or to make counterattacks. When the alarm is given, all supporting reserve troops take their places in their own lines. In each support point, the platoons held in reserve are sent forward as reinforcements to, or to make counterattacks against, the firing line. Similarly, in each center of resistance the companies held in reserve are employed as reinforcements or to recapture the first line. If, upon arriving at the first line, these troops receive no orders for particular duty, they replace the reserve platoons of the support point. Likewise, the sector reserve of the third line is sent forward to or, in case the enemy has taken it, against the second line. The static or passive organization of the defense lies in the series of lines of trenches disposed in depth, but the active rôle of the defender is carried out in these successive waves of defense moving forward in definite limits to meet the attack, not only to repulse it but to inflict as much loss as possible to the enemy. This transforms the defensive combat into more nearly a fight in the open ground, with the spirit of the offensive.

The Counterattack. It follows that the last and, very often, the most decisive means of defense of the sector is the counterattack. In each center of resistance, a counterattack has for its purpose the retaking of the first line when this is captured by the enemy. It is made by the battalion reserves located in the reserve line.

The sooner the counterattack is made after its necessity, the more effective it will be. It should arrive at the first line almost, one might say, at the same time that the enemy does. At any rate, the counterattack should strike the enemy by surprise while he is still in a state of disorganization. Consequently, in the plan of defense of the battalion, the counterattack must be foreseen and all its details must be laid down. All these details must be known and practiced by the troops who are to execute the counterattack, so that when the alarm is given the counterattack will start automatically without orders and be carried to a finish like a good piece of team-work.

The counterattack is launched on the initiative of the leader of these troops, without waiting for the orders of the battalion commander. The latter may not know the exact situation nor be so located in the area as to appreciate the opportunity of the counterattack.

Troops Detailed for the Counterattack. The company, or companies, held as reserve of the center of resistance, are divided into half-companies or platoons under the command of a single leader. Each one of these detachments is assigned to a support point and is put at the disposal of the captain commanding the same, to counterattack on his first line if captured by the enemy. In order to secure the proper liaison between these two units, the counterattack troops send a messenger to the command post of the support point which they are assigned to. When the hostile attack is executed and counterattack troops are needed, the captain sends this messenger back to call them up.

Routes or Directions for Counterattacks. Each detachment of counterattack troops has a fixed route for its attack laid down in the plan of defense. Usually a boyau that it employs or along which it travels, fixes the direction. For this reason, in the interior of the position gaps are left in the barbed wire entanglements to permit the passage of these troops in the counterattack. Portable chevaux-de-frise are employed to fill up these gaps when necessary.

Form of the Counterattack. The counterattack may be executed as a frontal or a flank attack. Frontal counterattacks are, perhaps, not as effective as the latter, but they are more easily executed, especially in the case where exact knowledge of the situation in the line in front is not known. This is the form of advance employed in the support point where the reinforcing platoons, starting forward to strengthen the line and finding it captured, change their tactics by leaping over the top and charging the line with grenades and bayonets.