Ground Patrolling

[Brett]

I have some questions on ground force
patrolling during the war:

How far in advance of the front lines did patrols go?

Out of a typical unit, what % would go on patrols, and what % would stay dug in?

What missions did patrols do?

How was patrolling affected by the terrain? By weather?

Did different nations have different patrolling tactics?
How about different branches in the same nation (for instance US marines & army)?

How was friendly fire incidents minimized when patrols returned to their front lines?

(I assume they had passwords, but imagine patrols got lost or were forced to return to another unit, got pinned down & didn’t return as scheduled, etc. I would guess
there was a tension between broad [in time and space] password usage, & fear the enemy would learn passwords.)

From reading, I have learned a little. For instance, the book “Touched with Fire” (see my review), says that Allied
forces in the SW Pacific stayed dug in at night.

The Japanese were far better trained in silent movements, plus it simplified identification (anybody outside the lines
at night was probably enemy).

And one of the things Germans hated about fighting Americans was that if a 4 man patrol was spotted in no
man’s land, they would send a patrol to ambush. The US would just call in artillery. The Germans could never
afford that, except against larger concentrations.

I assume if someone has experience in a post war ground force, tactics you used didn’t change that much, so if you could answer based on that it would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any answers!

[Hagen]

Wow! Lot of questions, maybe I can answer a few. Patrols were usually just sent out to get information about the enemy they faced or sometimes to "snatch" a prisoner. This type of patrol generally didn't go very far at all behind the enemy lines, if at all.

As for size of the patrol depends, but usually not that many men went. To many men moving forward is called an attack Just having some fun with that last sentence.

As for freindly fire incidents you're right about the use of passwords, as for stumbling back to the wrong location, or late, or all the other things that could go wrong, I'm sure there were friendly fire incidents.

As for different approaches to patroling between countries I believe, (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the Russians were much more agressive in sending out patrols, probably followed by the Germans then Americans. I once read somewhere that Americans only fought from "9 to 5" if they could. One other German soldier said something to the effect that the Russians would "keep you up all night."

[ptol]

I agree with Hagen reply. No doubt the russian patrols were the most vicious and dangerous patrols, although it depends in what war theater we are talking about...!
In the eastern front the germans were absolutely terrified about the russian night patrols incursions !

[Whiterook]

My head hurts!