Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Read Online Free PDF Page B

there would also be two weeks’ home leave, although Harry, as a newly joined member of his battalion, wouldn’t be considered for that for quite some
time.
    At this point it is worth briefly discussing the basic tactics that were followed by both sides if an attack was to be made. Naturally there were slight variations, but in general this was the
pattern that an assault on the Western Front would follow, and which had evolved over nearly three years of warfare.
    The enemy trenches would be subjected initially to a heavy artillery bombardment for a long period – it could be several days and nights, and in the case of the Somme offensive lasted for
a week. The aim was to ‘soften up’ the defenders and to destroy barbed-wire entanglements and other obstacles. The men on the receiving end of this would spend their time in as deep
shelters as they could find and would be, for the main part, reasonably safe, if uncomfortable, as well as battered by the noise of the barrage. In general, however, the effect of the bombardment
on wire entanglements was minimal. The shells, high-explosive or shrapnel, would just redistribute the wire slightly without cutting it, adding shell holes to the other obstructions that the
attackers needed to overcome.
    On the morning of the attack, almost always just before dawn, the shelling would stop and the first line of attacking troops, fortified with a rum ration, would go ‘over the top’,
leaving the safety of their trenches to advance across no man’s land.
    Since the routine was accepted as standard procedure by both sides, there were no surprises. As soon as the bombardment stopped or shifted, the defenders would man the firing steps, ready with
machine guns and rifles to repel the enemy, while their own artillery fired in support.
    By 1917, the role of the artillery supporting an attack had changed. Since the Somme, instead of bombarding the enemy’s support trenches and rear areas once an assault had started, they
were now required to provide a ‘creeping barrage’, in which fire would be aimed to land in no man’s land just ahead of the advancing troops. As the attacking infantry moved
forward the point of impact would be raised to maintain the same distance ahead of them. The smoke and debris would hide the advance and make it more difficult for the defenders to counter it. In
theory . . .
    In practice, it was not as simple as the theory suggested. The shelling had to be accurate. The shells were not, at that time, consistently made and a proportion would drop short and land among
the attackers; the same could happen if a gun’s barrel was worn. The barrage had to be synchronized in time and space with the attack. Only the start time was manageable. From then on, the
plan was to advance the barrage at a fixed rate of 100 yards per minute. The infantry had to stick to that or their assault would go badly wrong: if they advanced too quickly they would walk into
the ‘friendly fire’; too slowly, and the barrage would get too far ahead, giving the defenders, warned of the attack by that barrage, time to man their defensive positions and use rifle
and machine gun to good effect – doubly terrifying and deadly if the attack were to be held up by the barbed wire.
    Of course, communication was almost impossible. There was no practical portable radio, and field-telephone lines, unreeled behind the advance, were easily damaged by shelling. This left
‘runners’, individual soldiers sent back with important information or requests for support, reinforcements or supplies, or forward with orders, changes to plan, and so on. Needless to
say, casualties among runners were severe. In addition, the smoke and dust in the half light of the dawn made signalling or observation a real challenge. In the light of all this, plans had to be
carefully made and stuck to, to the letter, if there was to be any chance of success.
    This was the world that Harry entered in May 1917.