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Chinese attack: Not strictly speaking an attack as the word is usually understood. Artillery would put down a bombardment on an enemy trench exactly as though the prelude to an infantry assault, while the troops in front shouted, showing dummies and an array of bayonets over the parapets. The bombardment would then be "lifted" over the enemy's trench further to the rear, and after that suddenly come back heavily on the enemy's front line, in that way catching his infantry, who would, on the bombardment moving on, have issued from their shelters and be again manning their front trenches in expectation of infantry attack. Heavy casualties to the enemy were usually the result. [1]
References / notes
- ↑ Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925). Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Routledge, London p.54.
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