The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-06-18
THE LATEST VIEWS ON THE INFAN-
TRY ATTACK IN BATTLE.

silencing of modern batteries pro-
tected by gun shields is out OF the
question. The advance of separate
batteries to accompany the infantry
attack proved ineffective in the Rus
so-Japanese war because these bat
teries came within the zone of fire of
the covered batteries of the defence.
The infantry must also definitely give
up all idea of attacking gun shield
batteries in position. This had bet
ter be left to the artillery. The in
fantry will find the enemy's machine
guns a far more promising target.
The proper use of the spade or in
trenching tool is another point OF
dispute, but although its value has
been greatly exaggerated, opinions
are now more settled and its proper
use as we'll as the dangers of its mis-
use are fully understood and care
fully taught to the troops.
The more recent wars have shown
that victory can be crowned only by
the final assault with the bayonet.
L lie Necessity lOI luc Ddt Olltl thGt &c
is now everywhere recognized.
The actual mode Of beginning and
carrying out the final assault still
differs in different armies While
Germany, Austria and Japan believe
that the final assault may be brought
on by the initiative of the leaders in
the foremost firing line, France and
England still separate the troops into
those for firing and those for shock,
the latter bringing on the final as
sault in the form of an attack in mass
on a narrow front In the latter,
therefore, the result is expected from
a breaking through of the enemy's
line: in the former from outfanking
it. The French and English still be-
lieve in the efficacy of reserves in the
firing line and the possibility OF
bringing them into action at the
proper time and place to break
through the enemy's line at the de-
sired point. Germans do not lay
much stress on the possibility of eff
fective action on the part of reserves,
but attack with all their energy at
once and await decisive action from
the columns coming up on the
tanks.
All nations agree that the infan-
try attack should be supported as
long as possible by artillery fire. In
other details of the attack there are
some differences in the different
armies. For example, in Austria
portion of the firing line is kept in
place lying down, and in Russia fir
ing while advancing Cat considerable
| ranges) during the assault is still re-
| tanned.
The necessity for attaching ma
chine guns to the infantry as we'll as
the cavalry has long been recognized,
| but has been particularly evident in
the two latest wars.
In the United States a machine
gun platoon is attached to every in
| fantry company and cavalry troop.
| In Europe the guns are either in bat
teries attached to cavalry or in COM
| panies attached to infantry, but the
latter are often distributed to the
troops in platoons, their main pur-
pose being to increase the fire effect
at critical moments.
These are the main points of in
| terest in the latest views on the in
fantry attack, and no serious changes
in these views will probably take
place until another war brings out
some new conditions, or new inven-
tons like the magazine automatic
rifle or the aeroplane introduce new
/ factors in War-NeW York Sun