Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/120

 fire while in motion ought to be employed in this case should be determined. A preliminary condition for its employment is, however, that the enemy's fire has been subdued or that he has been forced under cover. To advance against an unshaken enemy with fire while in motion must lead to the annihilation of the attacking force. While the defender scores only 12.8% hits against advancing skirmishers at 700 m., the attacker scores only 1.6% to 3.5% hits against head and breast targets. With such a discrepancy in fire effect, the attack, if employing fire while in motion, is bound to collapse, unless it has already gained a superiority of fire prior to the advance. It is unfortunate that fire while in motion is frequently employed when inappropriate during drills. The danger of men wounding each other and of the advance hesitating because the officers are not in front of the line is not to be underestimated. On the other hand, the advantages of eliminating the difficulties of inducing the men to rise, of the troops leaving their losses behind, of stragglers being more easily detected, and of keeping the entire hostile line under fire, cannot be denied. In war this method of advance will frequently result without orders while advancing to the charge after the defender has been driven under cover. (In Russia this mode of advance is prescribed).

During experiments in field firing, held in Austria by a force advancing from 1,400 to 600 paces, with an expenditure of an equal number of rounds of ammunition in each experiment, the following results were obtained:

Regulation attack:         Fire while in motion: Time        26 min. 28 seconds   18 min. 40 seconds Fire pauses 12  "   18   "        7  "   40   "

Attacker against the defender: Percentage of hits 7                 16.7 Defender against the attacker: Percentage of hits 9.2               33.

Percentage of hits obtained during the execution of the attack from 1,400 to  100 paces:

Attacker   22.7       20. Defender   32.2       51.2