Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/452

 intrenchments, not too conspicuously located, partially, but not skillfully masked and occupied, will deceive the attacker's artillery for some time, at any rate, until the advanced troops of the attacker induce the defenders to man their parapet and expose themselves to shrapnel fire. The "defense should be conducted in such a manner that the garrison of the main position will not need to expose itself to the enemy's artillery fire as soon as his advanced troops appear." Major Hoppenstedt believes that this can be attained, in hill positions, by conducting the fire fight, at long and medium ranges, from positions in rear, the defender moving up into the main position, specially prepared for this purpose, when the attacker disappears in the defiladed spaces in front of it. The objection to this method is that it necessitates too large a force to hold the position.

"In a protracted, obstinate fight, the defender's trenches, exposed to the combined hostile infantry and artillery fire, will finally become filled with dead and wounded, and it will rarely be practicable to remove them. The arrival of reinforcements will increase the confusion and the losses, and the fighting energy of the troops will decrease with tremendous rapidity. This is one of the greatest disadvantages of the defense as compared with the attack and its constantly moving lines.

"In such cases, which will be typical at points where the attacker intends to penetrate the line, it may be a real act of salvation for the defender's firing line to rush to the front.

"In fighting at short ranges, especially just before the assailant makes his assault, such a rush to the front on the part of the defender's line, may be a good move for another reason. As is well known, the attacker's artillery must change targets when its infantry arrives within a certain distance of the defender's position. The Germans (par. 446 I. D. R.) fix this point at 300 m. from the enemy, and the French, whose guns have a flatter trajectory, fix it at 500 in. In attacking a hill position, when the fire is well observed, the distance of this point from the position will be considerably greater.

"But, no matter where the actual location of this point may be, skillful infantry will start its assault very close to the point fixed by the regulations, and never beyond it, so as to avoid interfering with the fire of its artillery. Under such circumstances, it may be a skillful move for a defender who is still full of fight, to decrease the distance which separates him from the hostile infantry, in order that, by so doing, he may escape from the hostile artillery fire and from the smoke which obscures his vision. If he finds cover farther to the front, so much the better, for he will then have that much of an advantage over the attacker."