Barrage · Glossary · The Great War Chronicle

The Battle of Arras, April-may 1917 Battery of 60 pounders firing in the open at Feuchy Chapel (3 and 3/4 miles from Arras) which was the li — Select the photograph to enlarge it.Photo: John Warwick Brooke, Public domain

Warfare

A concentrated, sustained artillery bombardment on a defined area or line, from the French word for a dam. Barrages were used to destroy defenses, to shield attackers and to cut off counterattacks.

Mentioned in

Chapter IV Deadlock §1 Why the Trenches? Firepower and the Shell Crisis
Chapter V The Year of Attrition §3 Verdun II: The Sacred Way and the Long Grind §8 The Somme I: The First Day
Chapter VI The Year of Revolutions §5 Messines and Passchendaele
Chapter IX In the Trenches §3 No Man's Land: Patrols, Raids and Wiring Parties §5 Going Over the Top
Chapter X The Machinery of War §1 Rifles and Machine Guns §2 Artillery: The True Killer §4 Tanks: From Landships to Whippets §6 The Learning Curve: From Lines to Combined Arms §7 Messengers, Wires and Railways: Communications and Supply
Chapter XI War on Waves and Wings §5 Barrages and Raids: Dover, Otranto and Zeebrugge