Editing Shock troops (section)

==World War I==
{{Main|Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)|Arditi|Yildirim Army Group}}
During the [[World War I|First World War]], many combatants faced the deadlock of [[trench warfare]]. On the Western Front in 1915, the Germans formed a specialized unit called the Rohr Battalion to develop assault tactics.  During the [[Brusilov Offensive]] of 1916, the Russian general [[Aleksei Brusilov]] developed and implemented the idea of shock troops to attack weak points along the Austrian lines to effect a breakthrough, which the main Russian Army could then exploit. The Russian Army had also formed [[Spetsnaz#History|hunter commando]] units in 1886 and used them in World War I to protect against ambushes, to perform reconnaissance and for low-intensity fights in no-man's-land.<ref>{{cite web |title=World War I |url=https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history |website=HISTORY |date=11 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

The von Hutier tactics ([[infiltration tactics]]) called for special infantry assault units to be detached from the main lines and sent to infiltrate enemy lines, supported by shorter and sharper (than usual for WWI) artillery fire missions targeting both the enemy front and rear, bypassing and avoiding what enemy strong points they could, and engaging to their best advantage when and where they were forced to, leaving decisive engagement against bypassed units to following heavier infantry. The primary goal of these detached units was to infiltrate the enemy's lines and break their cohesion as much as possible. These formations became known as ''[[Stosstruppen|Stoßtruppen]]'', or shock troops, and the tactics they pioneered were the basis of post-WWI infantry tactics, such as the development of [[fire team]]s.

The same sort of tactical doctrine was widely espoused in British and French service in late 1917 and 1918, with variable results.{{cn|date=October 2024}} The British Army standard training manual for platoon tactics, SS 143, was used from February 1917 onwards and contained much of what was standard for German shock troops.<ref>Griffith, Paddy; ''Battle Tactics of the Western Front''; Yale University Press, New Haven, 1994</ref>