At the beginning of October 1915 the young lieutenant Erwin Rommel was transferred to the newly formed Württemberg Mountain Hunter Battalion. The battalion of Mountain Hunters had a completely different composition compared to the battalions of the common infantry. It had six companies, instead of the usual four, and six machine-gun platoons, instead of one. His total strength exceeded 1,200 men. The unit's personnel came from various arms and corps. It was a select unit whose mission was to pave the way for the common infantry.
Rommel was only too happy to join an elite unit. The young lieutenant took command of a company of mountain hunters and began to train and train. Finally on 29 December 1915 the battalion completed its training program and was sent to the Western Front, in the Bosque Mountains sector, for "live training". There he took charge of guarding a sector 10 km long. The French positions were a few hundred meters from the battalion's positions. At one point Rommel was ordered to carry out a raid to capture prisoners.
Rommel did not take kindly to the order. He knew that such operations resulted in a large number of losses. For this he decided first to carry out a personal reconnaissance of the terrain and then to send his men forward. The next day Rommel, on the basis of the reconnaissance he had carried out, decided to attack the French position at what was known as the "bulge" of Pinetre. The sector, just 150 meters from the German positions, was protected by 3 rows of barbed wire, the density of which increased the closer they got to the French trenches.
At the two ends of the sector, with a total length of about 1 km, there were two bastions, reinforced with sentries and machine guns. Rommel continued his reconnaissance for several nights. Finally he came to the conclusion that the most suitable course of action was to penetrate the center of the enemy location, right between the two bastions and from there, after occupying part of the enemy trench, to attack the two support points of the defense from the rear and flanks. The scheme was by all accounts audacious. If the men were spotted they would all be mowed down by the crossfire of the French machine guns. Also, the barbed wire was so thick that cutting it would require many hours, almost under enemy fire. The field was uncovered and so the raid would have to be made during a moonless night.
Finally the right night came. A strong storm had broken out and torrential rain reduced visibility to five meters. It was the right time for raids. Rommel had lined up three detachments against the enemy positions. The main body, 20 men strong, would rush into the center of the enemy position. As soon as he split it, he moved to the left and right of the enemy trenches, with the aim of capturing both enemy strongholds from the rear. At the same time two other groups, one opposite each enemy bastion, would cut the barbed wire, opening a way for the commando group, whose men would retreat half by half, from the bastions they should have occupied by then.
At 21.00 Rommel at the head of the three detachments left the friendly trenches. Along with his men he crawled into the muddy ground. The three detachments split up as planned. The main body led by him, after carefully cutting the barbed wire moved creeping towards the enemy positions, one soldier behind the other, like giant caterpillars. In this way, however, the men would not lose their way in the thick darkness. Here and there flares lit up the sky and forced them to stop their movement. But the rain and the strong wind helped, drowning out even the slightest noise they caused.
Rommel with two men was moving forward. The three of them were cutting the barbed wire, slowly and carefully and then with a guide their hands were dragging on the soil. It took 3 hours to open a corridor between the two rows of barbed wire. Meanwhile the rain had stopped. They reached the third line of French barbed wire, which was the most reinforced, with barbed wire woven around wooden spikes. Each hedgehog was heavy and could not be moved. But they had to try. They approached between two echins, cut the wire connecting them and tried to drag one.
A terrible metallic clang was heard. Everyone froze. Anxiously they halted on the ground, momentarily waiting for the French purposes to give the alarm. After all, they were only 30 meters from their seats! The French sailors, however, seem to have been occupied by the storm and were not so devoted to their duties. However, the problem of the Germans remained. They couldn't move the hedgehogs. Desperately they began to move along the obstacle, until miraculously they found a shell crater lurking beneath one of the echins. Carefully one by one they began to pass under the echino, crawling into the crater. Rommel and his two followers, Second Lieutenant Shepherd and Sergeant Pfeiffer, crossed first and reached the edge of the French trench.
Suddenly they heard footsteps. It was a French patrol. They immediately became one with the ground, letting the enemy pass a few inches from them. No French understood the slightest. Soon the rest of the men arrived and together they jumped into the French trench. Someone careless dragged gravel from the parapet, which fell noisily on the planks which formed a sort of floor of the trench. But again the French did not wake up. Rommel wasted no time dividing the group. He himself with 10 men moved towards one bastion and Second Lieutenant Shepherd with ten others towards the other. Suddenly a grenade exploded.
Rommel and his men took cover, but immediately attacked the outpost and quickly overpowered the garrison, killing one and capturing nine Frenchmen. On the other side, Lieutenant Shepherd in turn neutralized the other French outpost, capturing two prisoners. Immediately the Germans, with the prisoners left the posts and passing through the corridors that the other two detachments had already opened. With only two wounded Rommel returned to his trenches with 11 prisoners. It was a perfect little operation, a harbinger of Rommel's later exploits…