CHAPTER VI
INFANTRY
1. Arms of the infantry: the rifle; the machine-gun; the machine-gun rifle; the bayonet; the grenade; the trench knife; the automatic pistol.
2. Instruction of troops. Duties of officers. “Shock-troops.”
3. The infantry of a division: the front; dispositions taken; storming troops; occupying troops; offensive or defensive engagements; preparation of attacks; prolonged engagements; posts of command; signalling; battalions and companies; subaltern staffs.
4. A word about cavalry.
1. Arms of the infantry. This war has completely transformed the armament and consequently altered the fighting methods of the infantry.
Rifle. In 1914 the French soldier was armed with the rifle of the 1886 pattern, not remodelled; i. e., a repeating gun with a hand-filled magazine. It was an excellent weapon in use for a long time, but too many of them had lost their accuracy through wear. Since 1914 these rifles have been replaced by others of the same model fitted with loading clips.
Machine-guns. At the beginning, the number of machine-guns was six per infantry regiment. During a long time they were distributed at the rate of two per battalion; then it was decided to form them into a battery under the command of the Colonel.
This limit of six machine-guns per regiment placed France in a very great inferiority to the Germans, who had reserves of machine-gun companies in every division.
The first battles showed the important part played by the machine-guns, and France prepared to turn out quantities of them. For a long time, however, she remained in a state of inferiority in this respect, by reason of the advances in equipment made by the Germans, and also because, out of the three different models adopted and constructed, two were not strong enough to stand trench warfare. These models gave disappointing results, but the evil has now been remedied.
Each machine-gun company is now provided with sixteen guns—a number which, we believe, has been adopted for the machine-gun company in America. As France now possesses excellent models, the United States troops, who already before the war had good guns, will doubtless receive an efficient equipment. In this war, it is necessary that the component parts of a machine-gun and its ammunition should be easy of transport.
Notwithstanding their reduced effectives, the Germans are still able to increase the number of their machine-guns, and they contemplate raising their number from twenty-four to thirty-four per company. In all likelihood the Allies will very soon have to strengthen their own machine-gun batteries. A battery can seldom fire all its guns at the same time because they get too hot after shooting about five hundred rounds, and because they are likely, especially when operating over muddy ground, to get jammed, and thus remain out of service until the gunners can put them in working order.