Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/121

 There is no model advance within the zone of effective infantry fire. All expedients, whether they be sneaking or crawling, long or short rushes, or fire while in motion, are of equal value, if the force, kept well in hand by the leader, is thereby brought closer to the enemy. Every opportunity to gain a foot of ground to the front, offered by flanking fire or fire directed at the enemy over the heads of the advancing force, must be utilized. The effect of our own artillery fire should also be attentively followed with a view to advancing when the hostile skirmishers have sought refuge under cover to escape our shrapnel.

Examples of the Employment of Fire While in Motion.

The successful attack made by the 1st Turco Regiment at Wörth.

This attack was made against disordered and exhausted troops which lacked officers and reserves. The attack was finally repulsed by Prussian artillery and the IInd Battalion of the 58th Infantry.

The attempted sortie of the Turks on December 10th, 1877.

The attack, made in superior force and supported by artillery, was successful in that the Russian intrenchments and rifle pits were taken. With the arrival of Russian reinforcements, which advanced against front and flank of the Turks, the situation was reversed.

The attack made by Vinoy's Corps on September 30th, 1870, against the VIth Army Corps in l'Hay and Chevilly: "The defender's coolness and confidence in victory grew with this ineffective fire of the attack, and finally the dead were piled up in heaps by the steady volleys delivered by him at short ranges (300-400 paces).

Examples of the Employment of Rushes.

1. Attack on Le Bourget, on October 30th, 1870.

Two battalions of the Kaiser Franz Guard Grenadier Regiment had to advance from Dugny against the enemy in the northwest edge of Le Bourget over 1,500 m. of very open terrain, covered only with high potato