Hutier Tactics
Hutier saw that the conventional method of launching an attack, with a lengthy artillery barrage all along the line followed by an assault from massed infantry, was leading to disastrous losses. He suggested an alternative approach, which consisted of these basic steps:
1: A short artillery bombardment, featuring heavy shells mixed with numerous poison gas projectiles, which would concentrate on neutralizing the enemy front lines, rather than on destroying them by itself.
2: Under a creeping barrage, German shock troops (Sturmbatallione) would move forward and infiltrate the Allied defenses at previously identified weak points. They would avoid combat whenever possible and attempt to destroy or capture enemy headquarters and artillery strongpoints.
3: After the shock troops had done their job, German Army units heavily equipped with machine guns and mortars would make heavy attacks along narrow fronts against any Allied strongpoints the shock troops had missed. When the artillery was in place, officers could direct the fire wherever it was needed to accelerate the breakthrough.
4: In the last stage of the assault, regular infantry would mop up any remaining Allied resistance.
Other generals had planned attacks along similar lines in the past, the best known of which was Russian general Aleksei Brusilov in his eponymous offensive of 1916.
Read more about this topic: Oskar Von Hutier