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| Dictater |
 Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject: World War 1 Tactics |
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Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 3
Location: columbiana,ohio
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| Honestly all of the actual world war 1 tactics i know is the rolling barrage. a barrage is orriented around a timetable, and the barrage slowly moves forward, with the infantry following closely behind it. does anyone know any other tactics forom world war 1??? |
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| juniorgeneral |
| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 25 Jun 2006
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Location: NJ/US
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In the early days of trench warfare the French, Germans, and British used similar tactics. Suppress the defenses with massive artillery barrages then advance to take the positions, with units and support weapons providing covering fire for the advance. The British emphasised the rifle, the French they bayonet (I know, it was madness), and the Germans support weapons especially the MG. The problem was that you couldn't gain the element of surprise. The build up of supplies and men would be spotted by aircraft. ANd the long barrage was a tip off. Then the ground would be so badly torn up that the attackers would have a much harder time advancing reinforcements than the defenders.
Horribly high casualty rates led to some changes in tactics. Greater use of less dense skirmish line advances, for instance. The use of "hurricane" barrages where all the guns fired at maximum rate for a few minutes instead of long and slow bombardment over several days. The Germans called this a "drumhead" barrage. The Germans concentrated a lot on planned counterattacks.
They had an idea of breaking through the line then exploiting the gap with cavalry. It never really worked, though it was tried many times, because the cavalry was too vulnerable to fire. They also tried this with tanks, but they were very slow and prone to breakdowns.
The French generally put everything in the attack with objectives deep in enemy territory. This was vulnerable to counterattack. The British used a leapfrog tactic. The lead attackers would seize the fist line and hold, then follow up units would pass through and attack the next line.
The Germans developed assault units of stormtroopers. They gave smaller units the authority to plan and conduct operations, moving away from the wave attack. These were often referred to as "infiltration" tactics. Sometimes these would be used to destroy strongpoints before the main attack went in. Other times they were ordered to bypass strongpoints and the regular infantry was expected to mop up.
The first line of trenches is usually lightly held with infantry. The main fire power is in the second line, with MG firing overhead to protect the first line. MGs are also positioned to fire on the flanks of advancing enemy infantry, enfilade fire is devastating.
Tha's all I can think of right now.
Trench raids, large and small, are another tactic.
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| Screaming Eagle |
| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject: Re: World War 1 Tactics |
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Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 367
Location: I really dont know.
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| Dictater wrote: |
| Honestly all of the actual world war 1 tactics i know is the rolling barrage. a barrage is orriented around a timetable, and the barrage slowly moves forward, with the infantry following closely behind it. does anyone know any other tactics forom world war 1??? |
also known as the "creeping barrage"  |
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| Eduard |
| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 20 Apr 2008
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Location: Periscope Depth
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Welcome to the forum!
I may add the poison gas tactic. Firstly used by the Germans, and later by the rest of the countries.
Another is by making light machine guns to carry them into the attack, as the heavier ones were very well heavy and hard to set up.
Zeppelins were also used for recon 
Preliminary bombardment could go on for days...
Not to mention the Flamethrowers...
Peaceful Penetration:The strategy was based on the idea that heavy artillery, tanks, machine-guns and aircraft should be used to devastate a limited area of enemy territory. The infantry would then be brought up to occupy and secure the area. The success of peaceful penetration depended on carefully planned co-operation between the various units involved.
The tank attacks...
The flares...
And the fortresses which were defence points armed with heavy artillery...
The German pillboxes(British built very few)...
The tunnel diggers, used to dig under the enemy fortifications and trenches and lay explosives. Counter-tunnels were used.
Small patrols of men were often sent into No Man's Land to discover information about the enemy. All men had to take turns in this very dangerous work. The patrols usually went out at night. They would cautiously inch their way forward on their stomachs and try to get within earshot of the enemy trenches.Men on patrols considered returning to their own trenches as the most dangerous part of the operation. Nervous sentries often fired at any movement in front of them and caused many casualties. On one occasion a sentry killed two of his own men with one shot.
The commanders also organised raiding parties. A typical raiding party would comprise of 30 men. It was standard procedure for everyone to blacken their faces with grease-paint or burnt cork. The men carried cut down rifles, coshes, sheath-knives and grenades.
Artillery tactics:
-Box Barrage: artillery fire aimed around a target area to prevent the enemy command from sending in reinforcements.
-Pin-Point Barrage: an attempt to wipe out a machine-gun post or a deadly sniper.
-Search Barrage: using reports from aerial observers and spies on the ground to destroy important targets such as army headquarters, ammunition stores or opposing artillery batteries.
-Counter-Battery Barrage: artillery fire targeted against enemy guns.
Soldiers in front-line trenches suffered from enemy snipers. These men were usually specially trained marksmen that had rifles with telescopic sights. German snipers did not normally work from their own trenches. The main strategy was to creep out at dawn into no-man's land and remain there all day. Wearing camouflaged clothing and using the cover of a fake tree, they waited for a British soldier to pop his head above the parapet. A common trick was to send up a kite with English writing on it. Anyone who raised his head to read it was shot.
This all I know in this moment, hope it works.
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| Eduard |
| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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I forgot to say that soldiers in the trenches developed different strategies to discover enemy tunnelling. One method was to drive a stick into the ground and hold the other end between the teeth and feel any underground vibrations. Another one involved sinking a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench. The soldiers then took it in turns to lower an ear into the water to listen for any noise being made by tunnellers.
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| Eduard |
| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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Did it help?
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| Andrew Golden |
| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 28 Jun 2006
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Location: Pennsylvania
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I guess I could add that the tanks of WW1 had their pros and cons. First of all, tanks have the ability to bring up larger support weapons to the front upon a moveable platform. The Mark IV tank was a good example. The Mark four had two types: male and female. The male tank had two 6 pounder guns on its sides; the female had six machine guns. (Eventually machine gun and cannon were put together in the Mark V.)
However, the tanks of WW1 were subject to poor visability, communication, and enemy fire. You may have heard of the use of anti tank rifles and flamethrowers. |
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| juniorgeneral |
| Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Screaming Eagle |
| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:56 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 10 Jun 2008
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Location: I really dont know.
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yeah.
Also they used to dig tunnels and blow them up. Then the infantry would run out of the tunels which were half to there in the enemy trench.
Worked well for the Canadians @ Vimy ridge!  |
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| ALOTEF |
| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Apr 2008
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Location: Australia
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I often remember Galipoli. God, what a hole that must have been! With the Turkish shoooting with MG's down the beach, and the Aussie, New Zealand and English forces repetedly trying to charge, so many got cut down that some soldiers were ankle-deep in corpses! Some soldiers used the bodies of their dead friends as sandbags for protection! It would have been hard to use tactics there because the Allies were pinned down from the start!
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