SECTION 2: WEAPONS OF WAR

ARTILLERY

Artillery barrages were routine during the First World War, perhaps nowhere more so than in the static trench conditions found on the Western Front.

Given such conditions barrages were inevitably directed primarily against enemy trench positions. Depending upon the number of shells fired per minute a barrage was classified as light, moderate, or heavy.

Given fewer than 10 shells over a period of 10 minutes the barrage would be regarded as 'light'. A 'moderate' barrage would comprise some 30 or so shells per minute; 50-60 upwards per minute would be viewed as 'heavy'. One exception to this gauge was the extreme case of a single shell landing in one's lap — this was classified as 'bad luck'.

Various methods of deploying barrages were utilised, including

• Box Barrages - comprising shell fire over a specified area with the aim of preventing enemy reinforcements;
• Pint-Point Barrages - typically directed at a given position, invariably machine gun or sniper posts;
• Search Barrages - often launched with the aim of locating ammunition dumps or army headquarters, usually as a consequence of intelligence information from airmen; and
• Counter-Battery Barrages - which were directed at enemy guns.

The Creeping Barrage

Although considered as a battlefield tactic as early as 1915 (and initially deployed by Bulgarian artillerists during the Adrianople siege of March 1913) the so-called 'creeping barrage' was not actually deployed until August 1916 by the British (Sir Henry Horne) during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front.

Until the invention of the Creeping Barrage, artillery fire preceded infantry attacks for periods ranging from hours to days. Once the infantry attack began in earnest supporting artillery would be promptly switched against pre-determined secondary targets.

A creeping barrage was designed to place a curtain of artillery fire just ahead of advancing infantry, a barrage which would constantly shift - or creep - forward directly ahead of attacking troops. The innovation was successful, although chiefly against sharply defined and localised targets. Subsequently the combined use of artillery, infantry, tanks and aircraft would greatly assist the effectiveness of larger-scale breakthrough attacks.

Such a method of artillery fire required very careful planning by both artillery and infantry commanders, particularly with regard to timing if an army's own troops were not to be caught (or held back) by their own artillery barrage. As a rough rule of thumb a creeping barrage would progress at the rate of approximately 50 metres per minute once an attack began.

Variations on the creeping barrage included the so-called 'fire waltz' whereby a hail of artillery fire would ravage a position and move onwards, only to then reverse course in order to catch defensive forces rushing to the devastated line.