WD No. 582 Notes For Infantry Officers On Trench Warfare 1917

WD No. 582 Notes For Infantry Officers On Trench Warfare 1917

Author: united states, war department

Year: 1917

The importance assumed by trench warfare and the progress made in the application of field fortification and in the science of the attack and defence of elaborate systems of trenches, have rendered necessary special instruction in the details of trench construction and trench fighting. It must, nevertheless, be clearly under- stood that trench fighting is only a phase of operations, and that instruction in this subject, essential as it is, is only one branch of the training of troops. To gain a decisive success the enemy must be driven out of his defences and his armies crushed in the open. The aim of trench fighting is, therefore, to create a favorable situation for field operations, which the troops must be capable of turning. to account.