Trench raiding
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Trench raiding was an often brutal feature of trench warfare that came into being in World War I. It was the practice of making small scale surprise attacks on enemy positions.
Typically, trench raids were carried out at night by small teams of men who would navigate across no-man's land and infiltrate enemy trench systems before returning to their own lines. Despite the fact that World War I was the first conflict to be fought by mechanized means, trench raiding was very similar to medieval warfare insofar as it was fought face-to-face and with crude weapons. Trench raiders were lightly equipped for quiet, speedy, unimpeded movement and armed themselves not only with modern weapons such as pistols, submachine guns and grenades, but also notably with bayonets, knives (including purpose-made trench knives), brass knuckles, and deadly homemade maces and clubs for swift and silent killing. Trench raiding had multiple purposes. Typically, the intention would be one or more of the following:
- kill, wound or capture enemy troops.
- destroy, disable or capture high value materiel eg machine guns such as the MG08.
- gather intelligence by seizing important documents (eg maps) or enemy officers for interrogation.
- reconnaissance for a future massed attack during daylight.
- keep the enemy feeling under threat during night-time hours, thereby reducing their efficiency and morale.
- maintain aggressiveness in troops by sending them on such missions.
