Peaceful penetration, not peaceful but penetrating

It is my personal belief that the men of 3rd Division AIF changed the face of warfare with their adaptation of the standard procedure of 'raiding' the enemy into something far more aggressive and dangerous. Raiding involved going towards the enemy lines and initiating a small clash and then returning to your own lines.

"Peaceful Penetration" as the Diggers called it was far more aggressive. Small patrols would penetrate the enemy lines, at night, and all the enemy soldiers in a particular section of the line would be killed or captured. Where possible the weapon of choice was the bayonet or the trench club. This spread fear and sometimes terror among the German troops and set the aggressive, small patrol methods that still exist in the Australian army today.

It was aggressive patrolling that saved the Australian HQ from attack by sparking the Battle of Long Tan in South Viet Nam, so it might be argued that the methods shaped in WW1 were still working effectively in the jungles of SVN.

Here are some reports written by other people . . .

In May 1918 the Australians and New Zealanders began a private war against the Germans. This little war within a war was one of the most remarkable aspects of the whole conflict and did much to give the Diggers their unique character. The ANZAC's were feeling pretty good; they had beaten the Germans whenever they had met and now, while the whole front waited for another German offensive, they wanted to get into some more action. War at this time became something of an exciting if deadly game, as ANZAC patrols continually pestered the Germans.

They sent out patrols to ambush German patrols, they raided enemy outposts, cut his telephone wires, killed his sentries, and as one Digger put it "generally made bastards of ourselves". The bastardrey never let up and it was well known that morale in German units opposing the ANZAC's was at a very low ebb. The Diggers called their tactics "Peaceful Penetration" and for four months they penetrated sharply and ruthlessly and not altogether peacefully.

John Laffin, "Digger" 1959

The months of April - July 1918 were a hiatus for Australian troops from any major battles. Fresh troops from the United States arrived in France and joined British and French forces in launching a counter-offensive in response to the Germans' March offensive. However, this did not stop Australian troops from remaining active! They engaged in tactics known as "peaceful penetrations" along lines where they had held the Germans' attack.

Peaceful penetration involved aggressive patrolling and capturing pockets of German prisoners and small positions on the front lines at Amiens, Hébuterne and Hazebrouck, slowly and steadily advancing the Allied front line. Such penetrations were originally spontaneous and independent. Although these were small scale operations, by 8 July, almost 3 miles had been added to the front, and 1,000 German prisoners had been captured, as well as weapons and supplies. Working in small groups and on their own initiative, Australian soldiers demonstrated their strength and skill in this type of attack. It would seem that Australian soldiers believed all they needed was a cocky attitude, and Germans would readily surrender to them!

In mid-July 1918, Gunner J.R. Armitage wrote:

Stories were coming in of German dawn patrols going out to relieve their night outposts and finding them deserted. There seems to have been quite a bit of this most mysterious and demoralising things happening and it appeared that blackened Australian infantry parties would sneak out, surprise these outposts and, at the point of cold steel, bring them back without firing a shot!

In an example of "peaceful penetration" on 9 July 1918, John Herbert Farrell MM, 6th Battalion, single-handedly captured a German gun crew of eight men and their machine gun near Merris.

Just before going into the line at Merris, Captain Carne said to Blue (Farrell) - "I am going to send you to a N.C.O. School when we come out of the line." Bluey dropped his bundle and said - "Cripes, don't do that Captain." Captain Carne humorously replied- "Well Farrell, if you bring me in a little Fritz for identification purposes, I won't send you."

That night Captain Carne was sitting in his dugout, when to his surprise there arrived five Fritz's and Bluey with a Fritz Machine Gun on his shoulder. He grinned, saluted and just said "No School."

From Ce Ne Fait Rien [No Worries], Magazine of the 6th Battalion.

Tragically, Farrell was later killed in action on 28 September 1918