Patrolling No Man's Land

[Terry Carter]

hello folks

Apart from keeping the troops in the German front line trenches "on their toes" so to speak, with the thought of British patrols or raiding parties coming their way. Do you think they were also used in getting young subalterns, newley arrived from the UK (and not long left school) 'blooded' into trench warfare?

Has anyone got any thoughts on the subject?

Cheers

Terry

[6th Shropshires]

Hi Terry

I would say yes patrols were also used to get young subalterns used to front line life and as you put blooded into trench warfare.

Annette

[Borden Battery]

The following are excerpts from OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN ARMY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR with pagination noted after each item. I have bolded the relevent sections regarding "patrolling" and have left the text to "speak for itself" as to the wide number of reasons for a patrol. In addition, the role of patrolling changed during the course of the war.

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The Canadian role was in general defensive - the "cardinal principle" being "a determination to hold the front trenches at all costs". General Alderson, however, impressed on all ranks the necessity for maintaining the initiative over the enemy, convincing him by means of "bold patrolling, persistent and accurate sniping and prompt enterprises against any sapheads ... that the Canadian Division is his superior".2 In the event of a German attack reserves would man the "G.H.Q. 2nd line" - a partly constructed position 2000 yards to the rear. For an uneventful week the Canadians accustomed themselves to the routine of trench warfare. Then, on 10 March, came a more exciting role as the British front on their right flared into action.

P47

Patrolling by the 2nd Brigade had not only served to familiarize battalion scouts with the approaches to the objective, but had been vigorous enough to force the enemy (the 11th Reserve Regiment, of the 117th Division) to abandon listening posts outside his wire.116

p108

Opposite the 1st and 3rd Divisions the enemy's 27th and 26th Infantry Divisions, of the 13th Württemberg Corps, had for the past six weeks been stealthily preparing just such a blow. Warnings were not lacking. During May Canadian patrols reported that German engineers were pushing saps forward on either side of Tor Top. These progressed slowly but steadily in spite of our artillery and machine-guns; and before the end of the month a new lateral trench connected the heads of the saps, now fifty yards in advance of the main front line. The same kind of thing was going on south of Mount Sorrel and at other points beyond.

P131

The Canadian Corps remained in the Ypres Salient until the beginning of September - its role "stationary yet aggressive". Though holding their positions but thinly the Canadians continued to harry the enemy with bombardment, mining and raids. A German attempt to recapture The Bluff on 25 July by blowing a mine beneath our trenches was frustrated when the 7th Battalion, warned by the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company of the forthcoming explosion, seized the crater ahead of the enemy. Advanced patrolling entered its third stage on the 29th, when twenty members of the 19th Battalion raided enemy trenches opposite St. Eloi in broad daylight to secure identifications and evidence of mine-shafts or gas cylinders. They killed or wounded an estimated 50 Germans, identified as Württembergers, and found the suspected gas-cylinder boxes; Canadian casualties were only minor. Encouraging as this success was, with complete surprise an essential factor such raids could be carried out at only irregular intervals.

P137

As we have seen, in spite of a deliberate programme of wire-cutting (by the 18-pounders of the Lahore and 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisional Artilleries), results had been disappointing. "Those who were there", writes General McNaughton (who commanded the 11th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery at the Somme), "will recollect their disheartening task of endeavouring to cut wire with field gun shrapnel".*81 There had been a tendency for patrols to overemphasize the effect of our fire ...

p164

In order to gain accurate information about possible changes in the German dispositions there were nightly raids into the enemy's lines during the bombardment. These varied in size from small patrols to the 600 all ranks sent out by the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade on 31 March to investigate the defences in front of the Pimple.61 The artillery depended increasingly upon the Royal Flying Corps to seek out hostile gun positions and perform registration and spotting duties for our batteries. In carrying out these tasks No. 16 Squadron, attached to the Canadian Corps, had to contend with bad flying weather and determined opposition from German fighter pilots.

P228

To deceive the enemy regarding the frugality of their dispositions they "adopted a very aggressive attitude".111 The artillery maintained a vigorous programme of harassing fire, supplemented by gas shells, while the infantry carried out numerous raids and patrols.*

p358

As night fell the Dragoons pushed forward to Montay, less than a mile from Le Cateau, and during the hours of darkness R.C.D. troopers patrolled the Montay-Neuvilly road along the west bank of the Selle.15 On the left the Strathconas sent patrols into Inchy on the Cambrai road. Other patrols found the Germans still strongly holding Neuvilly, east of the river. In the meantime the relief of the 6th Cavalry Brigade by a cyclist battalion had left the Canadian right flank open from Reumont to Le Cateau until two squadrons of the Fort Garry Horse were brought forward to fill the gap.

P438

There had been several attempts by units of the 1st Division to push across the Trinquis and the Sensée while the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions were still engaged about Cambrai. An existing bridgehead over the Trinquis near Sailly-en-Ostrevent was enlarged by a "Chinese Attack"*on 8 October, a false attack designed to determine the enemy's probable reaction to a genuine assault. Early on 10 October patrols of the 3rd Brigade, which held the left of the line, explored the possibility of piercing the positions still occupied by the enemy north of the Sensée.

P439

It had been the practice for the 1st Division to fire an artillery barrage along its front each morning as a test for the presence of the enemy. On 17 October there was no sign of the usual retaliation. Even as patrols were preparing to investigate, word came from the Fifth Army to the north that the Germans were retiring all along the front. The 1st and 2nd Brigades immediately crossed the Sensée Canal and pushed rapidly north-eastward.

P440

The last V.C. of the war awarded to a Canadian was won by Sergeant Hugh Cairns, D.C.M., of the 46th Battalion, for his conspicuous bravery during the day's action. When an enemy machine-gun suddenly opened fire on his platoon, Cairns seized a Lewis gun and ignoring the German bullets rushed the post single-handed, killing the crew of five, and capturing the gun. Later he repeated this daring act, accounting for 30 more of the enemy and two machine-guns. On a third occasion, though wounded, he led a small party to outflank and capture German machine guns and field guns which were holding up the advance. His achievements ended during the mopping up of Marly, when he was severely wounded while disarming a party of Germans that his patrol had forced to surrender. Throughout the entire operation he showed the highest degree of valour and bold leadership. He died next day from his wounds.65

p447

Most of the roads were in miserable condition; and those that were paved were wide enough for lorry traffic in only one direction. As the Canadians sought to maintain contact with the enemy it was only with the greatest difficulty that the heavy artillery could maintain its support of the advancing infantry brigades. Reconnaissance patrols from Valenciennes located routes by-passing the maze of cratered road junctions, and on occasion the artillery's own engineers filled in key craters to allow the passage of the heavy guns. By such means the C.C.H.A. kept three brigades forward in continual touch with the attacking infantry.

P449

[PhilB]

I suppose that if you are sitting in a trench line, say, 100 yards away from an opposing trench line, you can`t just ignore the ground between. Patrolling Nomansland seems obligatory, if only to see that nothing untoward is taking place. And if it offers a good testing ground for subalterns, then two birds with one stone! I do get the impression that raiding was not a popular occupation except for those whose high rank precluded their participation. I would like to think that a commander would order only those outings that were cost effective and not those which might simply bolster his fire eating image. Phil B

[Desmond7]

As usual .. a good read delivered by Borden!

Cheers

Des

I think patrolling was also a method of ensuring that new subalterns truly learned to interact with their NCOs.

[Terry Carter]

My thanks to everyone for the quick replies especially "Borden Battery" for the excellent reply.

regards

Terry

[Tim Birch]

Terry, wasn't this part of the whole British cult of the offensive? The British commanders did not regard No-man's land as strictly that, it was the "British No-man's Land". The Battalions were expected to dominate it by denying it to the Germans and taking the fight to the enemy with constant raids.

Yes, there were reasons for particular raids such as to capture prisoners to gather intelligence, or to staighten out a troublesome kink in the line, but underlying this was the emphasis on domination by offensive almost regardless of cost.

It was the same mindset which opposed the concept of making the trenches too comfortable and safer by the consruction of deeper dugouts for all, including ORs. They were only there on a temporary basis. The trenches there to provide a jumping off line for the next offensive, they were not considered to be permanent defensive positions.

[Kate Wills]

I agree with Tim. The Army could not sit there interminably and wait for something to happen. Patrols were a means of gathering information and familiarising the troops with ground they would need to cross. Additionally, I imagine there was a boost to morale, if only temporary, of doing something to break the stalemate.

[PhilB]

I think you`re right, Tim. Domination of nomansland was seen as a military virtue by some, almost irrespective of other considerations. I suppose there must have been a spectrum of activities out there, ranging from the strictly necessary to the patently wasteful, depending on the attitude of the local commander? A commander may have been at fault for either over-, or under-patrolling? Phil B

[ianw]

I understand that notes were sent round to battalion commanders from on high asking "are you being offensive enough ?". To ensure that patrols went out and went close to the German lines , some senior officers had innocuous but readily identifiable items placed by previous patrols close to the German lines with instructions that they should subsequently be brought back to ensure the patrol had been "offensive enough".

I don't think the sheer terror of leaving the trench and blundering around above ground near the hun with flares going up and machine guns traversing should be underestimated ! Some battalions left their patrolling to their specialist psychopaths

who positively enjoyed the work and left sensible folk in their flea-bags in the dugouts.

I accept that a good battalion could make its position safer by well organised patrolling but a major reason for patrols was to enable battalion to report to brigade and brigade to division right up the command line. It sometimes seems that even a senseless patrol that took casualties would put the right "stamp in the book" for the battalion concerned and the spotlight would move elsewhere. Of course a patrol that took some prisoners could mean gongs all round.

[Terry Carter]

Thanks for the replies.

A few years ago, I used to visit a veteren of the 3rd B'ham Bn. (16th Royal warwicks). He told me he always volunteered for patrols into No Man's Land. By doing so he did not undertake any other duties whilst in the front line trenches.

Regards

Terry

[Bernard_Lewis]

And Robert Graves told us (if my memory is correct) that the 2RWF didn't regard it as No Mans Land - when new in a trench system they adopted an agressive posture so as to let the Hun know that the land was 'ours' not his.

Bernard

[BMoorhouse]

Domination of no-man's-land also allowed for unrestricted work on wire protections, cutting enemy wire, preventing raiding parties penetrating without being seen and effective use of snipers. There are probably many other sound reasons that I have not mentioned.

Don't forget that patrols were both standing and mobile.

Brendon.

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

From my readings the Germans on the Somme sent out patrols for a variety of reasons including trhe gathering of intelligence on enemy activities, troop movements, defenses, entrenching and wiring parties. They would attempt to ambush enemy patrols, establish troop identities with pieces of equipment from corpses found in no man's land or prisoners.

The higher commands used them to maintain the spirit of the offensive that was being lost in trench warfare and provided awards, cash incentives, promotions and leave for men who participated in successful patrols and raids.

There were a number of men who did not like the idea of patrols and raids but overall there was never a shortage of patrols and volunteers for raids at any time. Some men were veterans of literally hundreds of patrols.

Certificates such as the ones already posted on other threads were given out along with mention in orders, etc.

Ralph