Company Officer's Handbook Of The German Army - All Gauge Page

12 COMPANY OFFICER'S HANDBOOK
made by the Hermann Gijring Jager Regiment. Sometimes three
men went forward to reconnoiter while the main body of the patrol
waited under cover. The technique was first to make a penetration
into a position and then to employ grenades and light machine
guns. In the resulting confusion the Germans would attempt to
withdraw with prisoners.
Daylight offensive patrols were exceptional, but. the striking feature
of one such raid was its evidently careful planning. The raid
was made by a platoon of the Hermann G6ring Jiger Regiment,
divided into a fire party, with light machine guns and grenades;
an assault party, with grenades and fixed bayonets; and a demolition
party. The timing was perfect, no signals were used, and the raid
appeared to have been rehearsed. The three parties attacked successively
from three directions and the demolition group succeeded in
damaging a field gun.
6. MEETING ENGAGEMENT
A German commander will normally avoid a meeting engagement
unless he feels that his troops and leadership are superior to
the enemy's (this does not necessarily mean numerical superiority),
or unless the loss of time in mounting a deliberate attack would
result in a sacrifice of terrain which he cannot afford to lose. The
Germans teach that it is essential to make sound tactical decisions
in the initial stages of a meeting engagement and that mistakes
cannot be rectified, but they believe that the worst mistake is
hesitation.
When the Germans do commit themselves to a meeting engagement,
they will deploy the main body immediately. They proceed
on the principle that time lost in such circumstances cannot be
regained, and, therefore, they deem it wrong to lose time in the
hope of clarifying the situation. Their normal tactics then would
be to coordinate a frontal assault of the advance guard with one
or more enveloping attacks by the main body. Great emphasis is
laid on obtaining superiority in the fire fight by a liberal allotment
of supporting weapons.