World War I
infiltration tactics
•Action
•Brief but
intense artillery bombardment, that includes gas and smoke shell, to disrupt/suppress
defenses and obscure the assault.
•Stosstruppen (small
teams or squads of thrust troops equipped with light machine-guns,
flame-throwers, etc.) thrust forward close behind rolling artillery barrage, without
any “effort to maintain a uniform rate of advance or align formations”.
Instead, as many tiny, irregular swarms spaced in breadth and
echeloned in depth, they seep or flow into any gaps or
weaknesses they can find in order to drive deep into adversary
rear.
•Kampfgruppen (small
battle groups consisting of infantry, machine-gunners, mortar teams,
artillery observers and field engineers) follow-up to cave-in exposed flanks and mop-up
isolated centers of resistance from flank and rear.
•Reserves
and stronger follow-on echelons move through newly created breaches to maintain
momentum and exploit success, as well as attack flanks and rear to widen penetration
and consolidate gains against counter attack.
•
•Idea
•Hurl
strength (echeloned in great depth), via an irruption of many thrusts, thru weaknesses
along (many) paths of least resistance to gain the opportunity for breakthrough
and envelopment.
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