CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
We have endeavoured to present, without entering into the technical details which are being taught by the officers composing the various Allied missions, a general sketch of the conditions and principal factors of modern warfare that will be sufficient to give an idea of a modern army and its operation in the field.
It is hoped that our explanations will aid in reading between the lines of the “communiqués,” in comprehending the plan and the importance of individual engagements and finally in enabling those who have relatives at the Front to follow them at their posts of duty and to fully realize the importance of the parts assigned to them.
Before concluding, we should like to be granted the privilege of expressing our personal opinion concerning the methods calculated to hasten the instruction of the new armies of the United States.
Everyone agrees on the necessity of proceeding rapidly and effectively.
The defection of Russia on the Eastern Front and the recent very serious reverses of the Italians, of which the Germans have not failed to take prompt advantage, have rendered more difficult the efforts of the Allied Armies on the Western Front.
The instruction of the American units can be terminated in France, first in camps and afterwards in quiet sectors, until the American High Command considers that the moment has come to throw its forces into the thick of the fight.
Notwithstanding the immense resources of the United States, the difficulties of transportation will doubtless be such as to force the military authorities to hold a certain number of divisions in the instruction camps in America.
The instruction of these troops ought, we think, to be as thorough as possible.
The Allied countries have delegated to the United States distinguished officers who have participated in the war and who know all its difficulties. We should wish them to proceed, if only on a short front, with an exact reproduction of the shell-torn fields over which the American troops are destined to manœuvre in Europe. The small units that could be successively and frequently trained on these prepared fields would thereby have less time to spend in the instruction camps in France and could more promptly be sent to the Front.
In the vast territories of the United States, ground adapted to this purpose would not be difficult to find, and the plan would afford opportunity to give the last divisions to embark complete instruction in all matters of detail, and a perfect knowledge of all the component elements of an army, from those of a company to those of a division.
Let us insist on the fact that, in this war, the art of rapid excavation and intrenchment is one of the chief things to be learnt by the troops, as special formations cannot be detailed for this work, and every soldier has to carry an intrenching tool and must know how to use it.
It will therefore be necessary for the units to practise intrenchment on a large scale, and finally to perfect their instruction by exercise over shell-torn ground similar to that of the Front.
We would suggest, in order to familiarize the troops with the actual mode of destroying defensive works, practice with such obsolete artillery as is not fitted for use at the Front. It is of paramount importance also to accustom the men as rapidly as possible to the sight and sound of gun-fire. We would suggest that the final exercises of assault be accompanied by curtain fires made, to avoid all risks of accident, at about three hundred metres in advance of the first lines.
We can add that the mode of instruction we advocate here would be as beneficial to the Chiefs as to the men. Thus only will they fully realize beforehand the difficulties they will meet when facing the one factor which it is impossible to include in any course of training--the Enemy; an enemy that, to the end, will be skilled and formidable.
INDEX
Aërial torpedoes, 84
_Agents de liaison_, 19
Air supremacy, 46
Ammunition (different issues), 109
Anti-aircraft artillery, 92
Armoured motor-cars, 94
Army, 17
Army corps, 17
Army group, 17
Artillery, 19, 68, 77, 80
Artillery (advance), 95
Artillery of an army corps, 81
Artillery in trenches, 68
Artillery of a division, 82
Asphyxiating gas, 17, 89, 150, 152
Asphyxiating projectiles, 37
Assaulting and occupation troops, 135
Attack in Artois, 13
Automatic pistols, 121
Aviation, 29, 45
Aviators (British), 46
Balloons, 28, 43
Barrage, 44, 87, 92, 109, 138, 143
Bastion, 59
Battalions of three companies, 147
Battle planes, 20, 34, 36
Bayonet, 118
Biplanes, 34
Blockhouses, 64
Boardwalk flooring, 61
Bombardments, 40
Bombing planes, 36
_Boyaux_, 64, 66, 67
Brigade, 19
Burros, 105
Camouflage, 63, 75, 106
Camouflet, 70
Carrel, Dr. Alexis, 22
Carrier pigeons, 145
Casemates, 68
Cavalry, 19, 148
Centres of resistance, 55, 64
Check positions, 65
Citations, 127
_Clayonnages_, 60
Command, 22
Commissariat department, 20
Communication tunnels, 57, 64, 66, 67
Compressed air mortars, 84
Counterfiring, 88
Craters, 53, 70
Defensive, 134
Defensive engagements, 142
Destructive fire, 88
Dirigible balloons, 49
Division, 17, 131
Division front, 131
Division (General), 22
Division, its dispositions, 132
Dugouts, 57, 64
Engineers, 19
Engineers (American), 74
Field artillery, 86, 92, 143
Field batteries, 81
Firing tables, 87
“Flaming onions,” 94
Framework of the army, 147
Fronts (distance between), 52
_Gaz-vésicant_, 152
Grenades, 53, 117, 119
Gun (37 mm.), 94
Guns (75 mm., 87 mm.), 87
Guns (120, 155, 220, 270, 280, 305, 370, 400, 520, 19, 100, 240, 224, 305, 340 mm.), 80
Guynemer (Captain), 34
Harvest, 39
Hearing masks, 43
Howitzers, 83
Hydroplanes, 48
Incendiary projectiles, 37
Infantry, 18, 112
Inspections, 24
Instruction, 122, 157
Italian airplanes, 37
Liquid fire, 11, 17, 153
Listening posts, 63, 70
Loopholes, 62
Machine-gun rifle, 117
Machine-gun shelters, 62, 86
Machine-guns, 35, 113, 115, 117
Map (directing), 42
Masks, 89, 151
Medical department, 20
“Minenwerfers,” 11, 68
Mines and counter-mines, 69
Monoplanes, 34
Morale of the French, 58
Motor cars, 73, 104
Motors, 39
Munition parks, 20, 100, 101
Munition supply, 105
Neutralization fire, 89, 91
Observation planes, 40
Observation posts, 62, 66
Offensive engagements and their preparation, 136
Officers (duties of), 123
Office staff, 25
Pack transport, 116
_Pare-éclats_, 60, 66
Periscopes, 66
Pershing, General, 58, 120
Photographs, aërial, 41
Planes for directing fire of artillery and movements of infantry, 20, 43
Planes for reconnoitring, 20, 40, 43
Plants of the Germans, 38, 39
Post of command, 23, 144
Powder, 102
Prolonged engagements, 143
Protecting line of the artillery, 65, 68
Railway troops, 70
Rear organization, 18
Re-entrants, 59
Regiment, 19
Relief maps, 42
Replacing guns, 107
Rest hospitals, 21
Retubing of guns, 108
Rifle, 112, 122
_Rigoles_, 61
Rockets, 43, 44, 146
Salients, 59
Shells, 150 mm., 54, 102
Shelters, 54, 65
Shock-troops, 129
Signalling, 146
Squadrillas, 35, 36
Staffs, 24
_Stations têtes d’étapes_, 101
Strategy, 11, 14, 15
Supply shelters, 104
Support trenches, 64, 84
Tactics, 10, 14, 15
Tanks, 84, 117
Tear-producing gas, 17, 152
Transportation by road, 73
Transportation of munitions by railroad, 100
Trench artillery, 83
Trench knives, 121
Trench of attack, 67
Trench organization, 51, 52, 58
Trucks, 105
Verdun, 12, 144
Winged torpedoes, 37
Wire entanglements, 63, 68, 86
Wireless, 43
Withdrawal of artillery, 97
Wounded, transportation of, 21
Yser front, 11
Zeppelins, 48, 93
_Zone d’étapes_, 101
Tactics and Duties for Trench Fighting
By
Georges Bertrand Capitaine, Chasseurs, de l’Armée de France
and
Oscar N. Solbert Major, Corps of Engineers, U.S.A.
_16°. 35 Diagrams. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.65_
000.7 (OD) 1st Ind.
War Department, A. G. O., December 21, 1917--To Major O. N. Solbert, Corp of Engineers, Office of the Chief of Engineers.
1. The manuscript forwarded with this letter has been examined in the War College Division and the opinion given that it has exceptional merit, presenting the principles governing trench warfare in such a clear and logical manner that the publication, with some changes and additions,* will be of considerable value to our Officers.
2. You are directed to confer with the Chief of the War College Division regarding the effecting of the changes desired.
By order of the Secretary of War (Signed) F. W. Lewis Adjutant General.
*These changes have been made.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York London
FIRST CALL +------+ |GUIDE | BY |POSTS | ARTHUR GUY EMPEY |TO | |BERLIN| _Author of “OVER THE TOP”_ +------+
_12°. Illustrated. $1.50 (By mail, $1.65)_
In the amazingly vivid and simple way that has made =_Over the Top_= the most widely read and talked of book in America, and the most successful war book in all history, Empey tells the new soldiers
_What they want to know_ _What they ought to know_ _What they’ll have to know_
and what their parents, sweethearts, wives, and all Americans, will want to know, and can do to help.
A practical book by an American who has been through it all.
The chapters headed “Smokes” and “Thank God the Stretcher Bearers” will stand among the war classics.
Here is advice, here are suggestions, overlooked in other books, that will safeguard our boys in France.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS New York London
_IT IS THE REAL STUFF_
_OVER THE TOP_
BY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER WHO _WENT_
_ARTHUR GUY EMPEY_ MACHINE GUNNER, SERVING IN FRANCE
_AUTHOR OF_ “_FIRST CALL_”
For a year and a half, until he fell wounded in No Man’s Land, this American soldier saw more actual fighting and real warfare than any war correspondent who has written about the war. His experiences are grim, but they are thrilling and lightened by a touch of humor as original as the Soldiers Three. And they are _true_.
_12°, 16 Illustrations and Diagrams. $1.50 net._ _By mail. $1.65_
TOGETHER WITH TOMMY’S DICTIONARY OF THE TRENCHES
“_Over The Top with the Best of Luck and Give Them Hell!_”
_The British Soldier’s War Cry, as he goes over the top of the trench to the charge_
Transcriber’s Notes
Simple typographical errors were corrected. Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.
The apparent hierarchy in the Table of Contents (capitalization and what is included in that Table) is not the same as the apparent hierarchy of the rest of the book (centered headings, boldface sections, and small-cap sub-sections). This discrepancy has been retained in this eBook.
Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.