An Officer's Manual of the Western Front: 1914-1918Many people have the idea that the 'Great War' on the Western Front was simple, if ghastly, to fight – with few tactics, and unbroken, monotonous, trench lines as the main feature of the battlefield. In such a scenario the archetypal image of battle is of soldiers with rifles and bayonets charging each other in blind obedience to stupid repetitious orders. Though undeniably bloody the war was in fact a ferment of new ideas and new weapons. Gas, flame throwers, super-heavy artillery, concrete bunkers, tanks, aircraft and other innovations were all introduced, whilst older notions such as barbed wire, machine guns and armour took on a new lease of life. No single manual was ever enough to encompass 'modern war', and even before 1914 numerous publications were required. With the focus on the Western Front and the soldiers fighting there, this unique compendium collects together a huge variety of contemporary manuals, leaflets and booklets, and shows how although operations often failed, British commanders made attempts to devise new tactics and weaponry. |
Contents
Introduction by Dr Stephen Bull 4 1 Infantry Training 1914 Chapter X | 16 |
124th Infantry Brigade 67 6 Notes on Minor Enterprises March 1916 84 7 Notes on the Tactical Employment of Machine | 116 |
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Common terms and phrases
action advance ammunition ammunition column arms Army arranged artillery fire assault Association Football battalion battalion commander battery bayonet billets Blue Cross bombardment bombers Brigade H.Q. captured carried co-operation communication trenches concealment counter-attack covering fire defence dug-outs emplacements enemy enemy’s lines enemy’s trenches field of fire fire trenches firing line flanks formations forward front line fuze gas casualties gas shell Gas Warfare German Green Cross grenade ground gun company commander gunners hand headquarters howitzer identity disc infantry instructions issued Lewis guns loophole machine gun company manuals masks necessary night non-commissioned officer objective obtained Open Warfare overhead cover parapet parties patrol phosgene Platoon Commander player position possible posts projector attack ranks rear reconnaissance RELAY RACE reserve rifle bombs rifle grenades scouts sentries signal Stokes mortar superiority of fire tactical points tactical situation Trench Warfare troops units usually weapon wire yards