by Harald,C. M.
'Won't need a bayonet when it can spit out three or four rounds in the same time it would take you to skewer someone. Plus I'd not need to get that close to them.'
'I like the idea. Maybe we should have one in each squad or something like that. Would give really firepower to support the Tigers.'
'And protect us against them should their handler get taken out.' Wells added, addressing a common concern among the protection squads, 'I've got us some other goodies as well. Perhaps we should try them out and you should suggest them to the Colonel?'
'Oh, what else?' Marsh asked, his curiosity piqued by the weapon before him.
'Well it turns out the Frenchie had a fair bit of trench fighting experience. Was at Verdun for most of the year from what he said. So I swapped him for some other kit that he said was useful for trench raids.' Wells opened the canvas sack he had with him and withdrew an enormous sheafed blade, 'This is a machete.' He drew the enormous blade, more than a foot long, 'Comes from the colonies and I've seen things like this called cutlasses by some blokes back home. I never thought of using one myself, but it'll hack right through a limb if it's kept sharp. Perfect for taking on the enemy or dealing with any unruly Tigers, especially as Tigers won't drop when you skewer them with a bayonet.'
Wells then drew a thin, but long dagger, 'A stiletto. Blade is strong enough to punch through light armour, which is what medieval knights used to use it for. So it's useful in the trenches, but you'll need to be really close to use it. Frenchie suggested we use it for quiet work like taking out sentries during trench raids, as well as close hand-to-hand fighting when you can quickly slip it past someone's defence.'
Marsh took the stiletto and balanced it on the side of his hand, 'Very nice. It's got a seriously sharp point. Also you could use it as a last resort on any out of control zombies as it's long enough, and sharp enough, to pierce the skull and go into the brain.'
'The other thing Frenchie suggested was to use any trench shovels that we've got to hand. Of course, we already knew that from our own trench fighting, but again, sharpish blade if you swing it hard enough. At the end of the day it can shovel through mud, so it'll do against flesh.' Wells had unclipped his entrenching tool and was running his fingers along the sharp edge, 'Of course, there's one more thing in my bag of tricks.' Wells reattached his entrenching tool to his webbing and again theatrically held open the top of his canvas sack, 'This my friend,' He slowly revealed the firearm, 'is a Winchester 1901 repeating shotgun. Lever action, so really easy and quick for reloading and takes 10-gauge smokeless cartridges. Got plenty of them as well off Frenchie.' After demonstrating his points, Wells handed Marsh the shotgun.
'Perfect for fighting in trenches.' Marsh quickly surmised, 'That and your Chauchat will give us lots of stopping power to use as we need it.' Marsh worked the lever action, 'Thought we weren't allowed shotguns in the trenches because of the lead or something?'
'I heard it was something to do the Germans thinking the weapons were cruel. But then, they're probably saying that about the zombies as well. Leave it to the Colonel to sort out. He may even be able to get hold of some of those pump action shotguns, as they're even quicker to use than this lever action gun.' Wells replied handing over a case of shotgun cartridges, 'You take the shotgun, it'll give you better close up protection and you can worry about running the Tigers while we worry about protecting you.' He watched as Marsh loaded the weapon, instructing 'Five cartridges in the mag and two in the lever.'
'Both times we've been over the top, this beauty would have been useful.' Marsh thought back to the close scrapes he had gone through. Both times he had been let down by the precision and size of the modern battlefield rifle. The shotgun would give him a much better close range weapon, and being shorter than a bayoneted rifle, would be easier to wield in close quarter combat. Unfortunately it did not have a bayonet, but then a single shot should do the job just as well.
'Got a stiletto for each of us, but only one machete for now. Thought I'd give the machete to Davies. He's a tall lad, so will have a good reach and it'll give him something other than his bayonet to sharpen when he gets nervous.' Wells grinned, 'Tell him to keep close to you and he'll be able to use it to help you keep things under control.'
'Make sure he keeps his rifle though, he still fancies himself as a decent shot, even if he's never proven it. Anyhow, he'll only need the machete for the close quarters stuff.' Marsh replied.
'Agreed. I'll keep the Chauchat myself.' Wells possessively stroked the weapon, 'Then I've the excuse to accompany you, especially as you're a man down without Simmonds.'
'Why don't you get someone to work up some kind of club, like we've seen other units using?' Marsh asked, referring to the improvised clubs frequently used in trench warfare, 'Then we'll each have something else for close quarters combat.' He looked deep in thought, 'We'd also be able to use them as part of a silent attack. I've been thinking that we're been going about things the wrong way with the artillery bombardments and all that noise.'
'What the hell are you doing now you worthless swine?' Simpson bellowed at Marsh.
Marsh had been working out a silent attack drill with his squad. It had been going well, but Simpson had been stood watching while Marsh had manoeuvred a small group of Tigers across a field the battalion used for training. It was not the best recreation of a battlefield, but it did have shallow trenches with some wire obstacles. The Tigers had crept forward, almost human, but silent in their movements as they crouched low to the ground. They offered the smallest of silhouettes for any defenders to spot. Their accompanying humans had moved from cover to cover, keeping very close to the Tigers, each human carrying a club on their belt in addition to their primary weapons in their hands. Marsh was carrying his shotgun, while the others did not even have bayonets fixed. Stopping short of the enemy trench, the men slung their rifles across their backs, drawing their clubs, or in the case of Davies, his new machete. Three of them threw fake grenades and as one, the Tigers and humans rose and charged into the simulated trench. It had been at this moment that Simpson walked up to the parapet of the practice trench.
'Just practicing, Sarge.' Marsh replied to Simpsons insult, treating it as a question rather than a provocation. Marsh turned back to the Tigers, shouting orders to them to ensure that they did not wander off.
'Trench raiding, is that what you're doing? You think we're going to waste these Tigers on trench raids? They're a breakthrough weapon.' Simpson spat with disgust, still unhappy at the use of zombies but even more annoyed that they may be so misused by the person in front of him, 'We will advance across the battlefield and seize the enemy trenches through overwhelming, and indestructible, numbers.'
'These things aren't bullet-proof Sarge, nor are we. You saw that in the last attack. A machine gun will still bring down a line of Tigers, and once the Germans get wise to their weaknesses, we'll never breakthrough.' Marsh explained, knowing that his logic was on firm enough ground to correct the sergeant.
'As you're the Colonel's pet, you think you know best don't you.' Simpson grimaced as he recognised the weapons that were being carried, 'Thugs with clubs, a bloody great big kitchen knife and a shotgun. Is a bayonet and Enfield too good for you? It's not too good for the rest of His Majesty's Army.'
'Bayonets ain't no use against machine guns. Nor is marching across a field straight towards them.' Davies interrupted to defend his friend, 'Creeping up on them and smashing in their skulls is much better.'
'It's cowardly and not the way we do things in the British Army.' Simpson was getting cross.
'Which British Army?' Davies was not holding back and swished his machete to punctuate he points, 'The one that got slaughtered at Mons? The one that got slaughtered on the Somme? Or the one we've got left?'
'Seems the way we've been doing things so far hasn't worked out too well, Sarge.' Marsh chipped in before Simpson took out his rage on the insolent private, or Davies started to swing his machete closer to the stubborn NCO.
'If he leads us, we won't be alive for long, let alone in this unit.' Davies muttered.
'Typical power crazy bloody hooligan.' Matthews complained, 'If I had a bob for every one of them I'd met in this army, I'd be filthy rich by now.'
Arras
'These poor buggers charged past us. In fact, they was barely ahead of us as we advanced over no-mans-land. A motley bunch those Tigers, and the whole lot soon got wiped out and we had a tough fight to shift the enemy. Heard that elsewhere there was a bunch of Tigers that smashed into the Hun trenches and our lads had nothing much to do. Wish I'd been in that part of the line as we took heavy casualties and I lost a few mates.'
Interview with James Elliot, 4th Australian Division in Anderson, J, 'Oral History of the Australian Imperial Forces of the Great War' (1984, Sydney)
'Yes Sir!' Marsh climbed out of the muddy hole in no-mans-land. At least it was a simulated battlefield he thought. If it was not a re-creation, a sniper would have finished him off by now.
'So Corporal, tell us about these tactics that you've come up with. How do they work?' The recently promoted Field Marshal asked Marsh, his grey whiskers dripping water in the misty air.
'Pretty much as you saw, Sir.' It was not every day you got to address a Field Marshal and Marsh did his best to stand to attention in his mud caked uniform. He knew that Simpson would be horrified by the state he was in, but the Field Marshal did not seem to be in the least bit bothered, 'No preparatory bombardment, Sir. Instead we move close to the enemy as stealthily as we can before launching our assault. If we come across the enemy, we deal with them quietly and quickly. We then seize the trench in a sudden strike, quickly moving down the communications trenches to the second and reserve lines before the enemy realises what's gone on. The follow-up troops cross no-mans-land as soon as we enter the front trench so that they are ready to take possession of the cleared positions as soon as we more on. Like us, they'll use the enemy communications trenches to move forward. This will mean less men in the open, so there will hopefully be less opportunity for the enemy to inflict heavy casualties.'
'What happens if the enemy successfully block one of the communications trenches?' Haig was interested in the idea and quickly thought through the issues.
'We simply send the Tigers around the back of them and assault from different directions. If necessary, we'll bypass and leave it to the infantry following on behind us as we'll need to keep moving forward to ensure maximum surprise and shock.'
'I like the spirit.' Haig looked like he was remembering a pleasant occasion, 'I used to hunt tigers in India. Challenging beasts, much more so than the foxes of the Bicester and Worcester Hunt. Mind they're not as fierce as your creatures here.' The Field Marshal moved to inspect one of the Tigers, this one clad in a British Army uniform and wearing a Brodie helmet. The creature snapped at him but otherwise stood still following the instruction Marsh had quietly given it, 'I say, they smell awful. Are they all in such poor condition?'
'Yes Sir. This is one of the better ones. You've got to remember that they're all dead and we rarely get them in good condition. They've either been damaged when infected by another zombie, or our lads have beaten them senseless when capturing them. Unless you have a handler nearby, they aren't easy to control, so getting fresh captures back to us is a problem. Also these Tigers have a bad habit of accumulating superficial damage in combat, even though it does not stop them.'
'The things scare me and they're on my side. I should imagine Fritz will have nightmares for the rest of his life. How many do we have?' The Field Marshal asked.
'Just short of one hundred, Sir. We've arranged them into ten combat groups along the lines that Marshal here has developed and have deployed non-standard weapons to the teams where possible.' Colonel Hudson answered, 'We're adding to the number of Tigers regularly, but as you know, the infection rarely breaks out in the wild and when it does, our lads have an understandable tendency to shoot any new zombies they discover. If we could make use of volunteers...'
'I accept your point, but I will not be approving your plans to deliberately infect volunteers.' Haig sternly interrupted, 'We have discussed this before and I do not consider it an appropriate moral course.'
'You've made that clear, Sir.' Hudson obviously did not agree with the ethical judgement, 'However, we have too few Tigers to make a decisive difference on the battlefield, and it will take time to enlarge the number of Tigers available to us through combat.'
'Now I've an idea where I can deploy your tigers while growing your numbers.' Field Marshal Haig said, 'We've been reviewing the lessons of the Somme, and Verdun, and will shortly be issuing a new training pamphlet where we focus on the doctrine of small squads and platoons. It will be a little like the prewar doctrine and it seems your Corporal here, has come up with a perfect fire and movement tactic for your Tigers. It will probably fit with what we are going to have the whole army doing.'
'The Canadians are really getting to grips with it,' Haig continued, 'and are almost ready for the front line. The Australians however, are struggling a little, but we should not really be surprised considering that their discipline leaves something to be desired. We could use your combat groups to help force a breakthrough in the sector we're going to deploy the Australians in. So you need to get your men ready and worked up for an attack early in April. Any other questions Colonel?" Haig asked.
'As you can see from Marsh's demonstration, we're using some unorthodox weapons to help us. We have only managed to obtain a limited supply of these. Could you arrange that more are issued to us as soon as possible please?" Hudson asked.
'Ah yes, the shotguns and those French machine guns. I had heard that some of your gentlemen were playing at cowboys with shotguns and the like, but I can see the point of such a weapon in trench warfare. There will likely be some political concerns about using such a weapon, but I think I'll be able to quell those. I'll get some sent on to you as soon as possible, but the Chauchat, that will be more of an issue. The French don't like parting with those as they don't have enough to go around their own troops yet. Now, I can see from the other unorthodox equipment that the rest of the soldiers are using...' Haig paused, 'Well, they seem to be perfectly able to improvise the rest of the things they need'.
'Thank you Corporal,' Haig turned to Marsh, drawing a line under Hudson's request, 'for showing me around today.' Turning to the Colonel again Haig added, 'Now there's the issue of a Military Medal and a promotion for one of your troops who has shown themselves to be brave in the face of the enemy. Shall we proceed?'
'Good God, Wells,' Marsh complained, 'Haig's gone and promoted him.'
'Well you know what they say, shit floats to the top.' Wells said.
'But surely a medal would have been generous enough?' Marsh asked, 'Promotion as well? He barely knows what he's doing with the Tigers. It's all spit and polish for him. He got almost all his Tiger's wiped out and cost us the objective.'
'That's clearly not the way the Brass sees it. Lots of blood and death means success to them. At least now he's commissioned he might be kept out of your way for a bit Alfie.' Wells said, 'Maybe the CO will put him on paperwork duties, or give him a post where he's somewhere out of the way.'
'But there aren't enough experienced officers to go around.' Marsh said, 'They'll have to at least give him command of a platoon, or a couple of combat groups.'<
br />
'Well, as long as Scott is in charge of us, we'll be safe away from the fool. I suppose the CO will have no choice but to put someone with the Military Medal in a combat position. Maybe he'll get a Blighty or the Huns will get him. It's not like we're a regular unit and able to move on the nuisances to another unit. We're an experimental unit, so we can't easily pick up new officers that know what's going on so we almost always have to promote from within. We're stuck with him.' Wells summed up.
'Lieutenant Bloody Simpson.' Marsh spat on the floor in disgust.
The Battalion was redeployed to northern France and temporarily attached to the 4th Australian Division. Preparations for the joint action progressed rapidly as the date of the offensive drew close. The Battalion exercised with the 12th Brigade, and for the first time some of the revolutionary new armoured vehicles christened as 'tanks'. The rhomboid shaped tracked vehicles were slow, noisy, and pretty much indestructible. Marsh had marvelled at them until one of his Tigers had nearly been crushed by the tracks. The crew of the vehicle had not even seemed to be aware of the near miss.
The objective of the planned attack was the village of Riencourt between two German salients. To the left, was the German occupied town of Bullecourt, to the right, featured a trench network known as the Balcony Trench system. The German positions were part of the Hindenburg line to which the Germans had retreated late in 1916 in an effort to shorten their lines and improve their defensive positions. Two Australian Brigades of the 4th Division were to advance into the salient, smashing through all three defensive lines before advancing nearly two miles to take Hendecourt. The tanks and the Tigers would act as the breakthrough weapons, the tanks on the right of the line, the Tigers on the left, the whole spread across a two mile front. The Australians would follow through on the attacks, securing the enemy trenches and then advancing to the final objectives once they had broken out of the rear of the German trench system.
