In the War Diaries of Grandfather Dennis Grieve 14th Battery 5th Field Artillery Brigade, (Vaulx, Lagnicourt) several mentions are made of a “Chinese Bombartment” being laid on.

Does anyone know what this was?

Thank you,

Peter Skinner

Editor’s comment: Hello Peter. ‘Chinese attacks’ were diversions intended to draw enemy attention away from the real area to be attacked. A Chinese bombardment would hit an area with the hope that the enemy would think it preparatory to a big attack, and cause him to move forces there, hopefully weakening the area where the real one would go in. At Passchendaele, Chinese attacks also included the use of dummy soldiers (difficult to detect from the real thing at night), which would be used to give the impression of troops massing for an assault. Sometimes they even used elaborate systems of ropes and pulleys to make the dummies move around and pop up suddenly in no-man’s-land. This was also intended to unsettle and unnerve the enemy, keeping him on edge, expecting an imminent attack. Very British…