Editing Fireteam (section)

===World War I===
During World War I, [[trench warfare]] resulted in a [[Western Front (World War I)#1915—Stalemate|stalemate]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. In order to combat this stalemate, the [[German Army (German Empire)|Germans]] developed a doctrinal innovation known as [[infiltration tactics]] (based on the Russian tactics used in the [[Brusilov Offensive]]), in which a brief intensive artillery preparation would be followed by small, autonomous teams of [[Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)|stormtrooper]]s, who would covertly penetrate defensive lines. The Germans used their stormtroopers organized into squads at the lowest levels to provide a cohesive strike force in breaking through Allied lines. The British and Canadian troops on the Western Front started dividing platoons into sections after the [[Battle of the Somme]] in 1916. (This idea was later further developed in [[World War II]]). French Chasseur units in WWI were organized into fireteams, equipped with a light machine gun (Chauchat) team and grenades, to destroy German fire positions by fire (not assault) at up to 200 meters using rifle grenades. The light machine gun team would put [[suppressive fire]] on the enemy position, while the grenadier team moved to a position where the enemy embrasure could be attacked with grenades. The Chasseur tactics were proven during the Petain Offensive of 1917. Survivors of these French Chasseur units taught these tactics to American infantry, who used them with effectiveness at St. Mihiel and the Argonne. It was typical of a fireteam in this era to consist of four infantrymen: two assaulters with carbines, one grenadier, and one sapper.