Marching fire Marching fire , also known as walking fire , is a military tactic ; a form of suppressive fire used during an infantry assault or combined arms assault . Advancing units fire their weapons without stopping to aim , in an attempt to pin down enemy defenders . Marching fire usually ends with an infantry charge to engage the enemy in close combat . The tactic requires ample ammunition and rapid - fire weapons . It differs from fire and movement in that the attacking force advances in unison rather than leapfrogging forward in alternating groups . An early form of marching fire was used with little success by Prussian troops at the end of the 18th century , then victoriously in the 1866 Battle of Königgrätz because of the fast - firing Dreyse needle gun . The modern form of marching fire evolved in the early 20th century from a French Army infantry assault concept which suggested the use of suppressive fire from a light machine gun carried by one man — the Chauchat automatic rifle . The tactic was employed to a limited degree in World War I then further codified with the introduction of the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle and described in U . S . small unit infantry tactics manuals in the early 1920s . As a combined arms stratagem , the tactic was prominently advocated and utilized by General George S . Patton in World War II during his command of the Third Army . Infantry alone may be insufficient to suppress a well - positioned , well - armed and resolute enemy , especially during the final charge phase . To augment marching fire , supporting forces including heavy weapons teams and armored units may be halted in static positions to maintain suppressive fire throughout the final charge of friendly troops . History . The French military tactician Jacques Antoine Hippolyte , Comte de Guibert , wrote dismissively about a Prussian tactic he called " marching fire " . In the late 18th century he witnessed a Prussian Army maneuver in which advancing troops formed themselves into a battle line of two ranks . In alternating fashion , one rank fired their weapons at a slow march while the other group reloaded then advanced on the double . The Prussians called this tactic " fire in advancing " ( " Feuer im Vormarsch " ) and trained in it at the level of platoon , company and battalion . Guibert considered it " ill advised " , with the line ' s progress across the field seen as too slow , exposing the troops for too long to defensive fire . The first successful employment of marching fire may be traced to the fast - firing Dreyse needle gun used by Prussian troops in the mid - 19th century . This new breech - loading gun was 2 – 3 times faster than contemporary muzzle - loading guns , and its lightweight cartridge allowed the infantryman to carry more ammunition . A major disadvantage was that escaping hot gases from the breech would strike the face of any trooper who took careful aim . Accordingly , the weapon was often fired while being held away from the face with the result that marksmanship was inferior . In 1866 , Prussians were successful in advancing quickly while firing their needle guns in the Battle of Königgrätz ; the decisive battle of the Austro - Prussian War . Soon , though , the increased use of rapid - fire guns by defending troops neutralized the advantage . 20th century . In 1903 , French military theorists noticed that the machine gun s of the day , heavy and relatively immobile , were of little use in infantry assaults . They determined that " the machine gun must learn to walk " . A marching fire tactic ( French : " du feu de marche " ) was expected to involve incidental suppressive fire , with the advancing troops considered a deadlier threat than the unaimed bullets , causing the enemy to fall back . The prototype guns were not approved for production , and none were in service when World War I began . At the start of hostilities , France quickly turned an existing prototype ( the " CS " for Chauchat and Sutter ) into the lightweight Chauchat M1915 automatic rifle with a high rate of fire . The French Army was equipped with it , and the first American units to arrive in France used it in 1917 and 1918 . Hastily mass manufactured under desperate wartime pressures , the weapon was prone to jamming and overheating . Seeing the potential of such a gun , the British Army settled upon the American - designed Lewis gun fitted for a round ; infantry platoons provided with the guns were instructed in fire and movement tactics . Soon , the gun was seen to be useful in marching fire assaults , notably by the Australian Corps in the July 1918 Battle of Hamel . To serve the same purpose , the German Army adopted the MG08 / 15 which was impractically heavy at counting the water for cooling and one magazine holding 100 rounds . In 1918 the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle ( BAR ) was introduced in the US Army , and with the weapon came new field tactics including marching fire . The BAR ' s shoulder sling was to be adjusted in length to allow the butt of the weapon to be held firmly at the side of the torso just above the hips , with one hand at the trigger and the other hand aiming . A recommended rate of fire was one round per footstep , with eyes kept on the target and the weapon aimed low at first . The tactic was to be employed under conditions of limited field of fire and poor visibility such as advancing through woods . That same year the U . S . Navy instructed its landing forces ( usually Marines ) that marching fire with a BAR was to be used in very limited circumstances , such as when the enemy line was clearly defined and the range was less than . Marching fire was not usually employed in the open and was more appropriate in dense woods . The Reserve Officers Training Corps ( ROTC ) handbook of 1921 included a description of marching fire as an assault tactic in which the BAR men walk and shoot from the hip with the weapon ' s weight supported on a shoulder sling , but the accompanying riflemen were expected to halt and carefully aim each of their shots , firing from the shoulder , from a standing or kneeling position . The psychological value of marching fire was quickly recognized . Marching fire was seen as a boost to the morale of the assault troops . It was hoped that enemy troops would lose courage if they heard bullets flying around them , if they believed that their position was known to the attackers . World War II . The tactic of marching fire was praised by General George S . Patton for three reasons : friendly forces using the tactic continued to advance rather than get bogged down , the positive action of shooting provided self - confidence to the soldier , and the enemy ' s defensive fire was reduced in accuracy , volume and effectiveness . Patton recommended that the rifleman carrying " that magnificent weapon " , the M1 Garand rifle , should fire his weapon every two or three paces , holding the weapon at his shoulder if desired , but a lower position between the belt and armpit was " just as effective " . Patton advised his 81 mm M1 mortar teams to stay in one place during the assault and apply steady fire , but his smaller 60 mm M2 mortar s should alternately fire and leapfrog forward . Light machine guns could be simultaneously carried and fired by one man while another man fed the ammo belt . Patton wrote that the main purpose of the tank was to attack infantry in defensive positions rather than other tanks . He instructed his tanks and other armored units to advance with marching fire in support of the infantry . General William E . DePuy , who rose from junior staff officer to battalion commander in the 90th Infantry Division between 1942 and 1945 , evaluated the efficacy of unsupported marching fire and found it lacking . Writing after the war , DePuy said that marching fire became a fad , in some American units almost the sole form of attack . DePuy noted that when it was employed against Germans who were " well hidden and in very good positions " — as they usually were — the attackers walked into the enemy ' s kill zone . DePuy said that if maneuvering infantry alone performed marching fire , the moment when enemy suppression was most needed it would cease during the final charge at which time " the enemy then comes up out of his foxholes and starts to fire at you . " DePuy asserted that suppression gained by fire from non - moving units was critical to the success of marching fire . Such units could be as large as rifle companies or as small as squads equipped with heavy and light machine guns .