The trench raid came to typify the aggression and close-combat of trench warfare on the Western Front. Inevitably, raiding by aggressively minded units had a psychological effect on the enemy. Dominance over the enemy could be established by aggressive raiding. Equally, raiding had an effect on the morale of friendly troops but not always a positive one. Successful raids buoyed spirits but unsuccessful raids could be detrimental because of the casualties sustained for no gain and raiding provoked retaliation from enemy artillery or mortars or a tit-for-tat return raid.Raids came to be the epitome of all-arms operations, combining individual weapons skills with tactical sense and requiring cooperation with artillery and mortar batteries for success. Yet, a raiding party was an ad hoc all-arms combat team put together and trained for a specific operation. In the early days of raiding, the raiders were always volunteers but the steady toll of experienced soldiers led to raiders being told off for the first task like any other.This is the first book to look at how raids were carried out, the successes, the failures, the consequences of raiding, and their effect on morale and their contribution to military operations on the Western Front.
It is one of the very few available records of an ordinary German soldier during the First World War. _One of the most noteable books on the Great War.
It tells the story of that raid and of each of the 73 soldiers who were subsequently dubbed ?The Black ANZACs? by the newspapers of the day. The raid was an action of firsts:
In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the ...
On The Dangerous Edge examines the nature, purposes, mechanics, course of execution and the value of British and Canadian trench raiding on the Western Front, 1914-1918.
With rare photographs and documents from the Australian War Memorial archive and extensive travel information, this is the most comprehensive guide to the battlefields of the Western Front on the market.
Hippler, T. Bombing the People: Giulio Douhet and the Foundations of Air-Power Strategy, 1884–1939. ... Lynn, E. Knights of the Air. ... Maurice, F. Lessons of Allied Co-operation: Naval, Military and Air, 1914–1918.
... raiding. However, General Haig's intent on trench raiding was more offensive-minded than his predecessor's, as he ... Western Front section over to the BEF near the town of Arras in Northern France.{122} General Haig was motivated to go ...
astating trench warfare and astonishing human loss: of the nearly one million Allied soldiers who died during the war, 750,000 perished here. In The Western Front, renowned historian Richard Holmes...
This book examines the day-to-day lives of the British Tommy, the German Stormtrooper, the French Poilu and the American Doughboy as they fought and died in the trenches, with details of their recruitment and training and vivid descriptions ...
This highly illustrated book covers the German retreat from the Somme, through the defensive battles of 1917, the Kaiserschlacht (Kaiser's Battle) of early 1918, to the final Allied offensive from August to the end of the War.