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> But anyone fool enough to be standing out during a barrage would be killed I already read this before I asked. Where was the artillery aimed? Was it aimed o
by ogogmad 4y ago
> But anyone fool enough to be standing out during a barrage would be killed
I already read this before I asked.
Where was the artillery aimed? Was it aimed over the entire area between the advancing line of troops and the opposing trench? If so, then of course any opposing soldier would die if they got out of hiding; but then the shells could've been aimed only at the opposing trench, without needing to cover the area directly in front of the advancing soldiers. If on the other hand, the shells were aimed only directly in front of the advancing soldiers, and not at the opposing trench as well, then the opposing soldiers would've been in no risk of getting hit by artillery fire. Overall, it seems that the bombardment could've been aimed only at the opposing trench, which might've given the advancing soldiers enough cover to reach the opposing trench alive. But apparently, that's not how a creeping barrage worked.
I'm clearly missing something obvious.
- BlueTemplar 4y agoWell, my wild guess as someone that doesn't know much about WW1 is that you might be overestimating how precise artillery was and how large the distance between opposing trenches ? So "the shells could've been aimed only at the opposing trench, without needing to cover the area directly in front of the advancing soldiers." is not possible because it's the same area ? Also, I seem to remember something about it not just being two trenches, but several layers of trenches, and also various levels of enemy artillery, so each barrage would have wanted to cover the various layers of enemy defenses, but with different timings, hence "rolling barrage" ??
- afterburner 4y agoA few things you might not be considering: The creeping barrage would hide the advancing soldiers behind dust clouds. The closer to the troops the better (harder to get sight lines on them unless you were literally on top of them). Enemy positions were not always fully known and mapped out, so firing "just" at the opposing trench would be hard to plan. There could be advance defensive positions placed further forward as well. There were multiple layers of trenches which an advance could be expected to push through. The shape and pace of the creeping barrage was thought to help coordinate the pace of the advance. There were drawbacks, as of course many shells would hit empty land and so be wasteful of artillery, and creeping barrages did fall out of favour. Although not simply for this reason: later developments made it easier for infantry to call artillery down on specific positions as needed, and also new infiltrations tactics made coordinating with creeping barrages impossible.