<P> It was not uncommon for a commanding officer had to wait hours for messages over the course of a battle, making any changes of plans almost impossible . The outcome of many battles was left in the hands of the company and platoon commanders in the middle of the action, who often had less experience, had very limited additional resources or information, and very limited authority to deviate from the original orders given before the start of the battle . Unable to react to any changing battle situation, many opportunities were lost, and many hopeless attacks persisted . </P> <P> Only starting in 1916, on the battlefield of Verdun, came the use of portable small radio stations that could transmit short Morse codes . Radio frequency overlap occurred with neighboring divisions until precise regulation and radio discipline developed . Also, enemy interception was common until effective codebook practices were enforced . These problems were not completely resolved until the war's end . </P> <P> Throughout World War I, the major combatants slowly developed different ways of breaking the stalemate of trench warfare; the Germans focused more on new tactics while the British and French focused on tanks . </P> <P> As far back as the 18th century, Prussian military doctrine stressed maneuver and force concentration to achieve a decisive battle (Vernichtungsschlacht). The German military searched for ways to apply this in the face of trench warfare . Experiments with new tactics by Willy Rohr, a Prussian captain serving in the Vosges mountains in 1915, got the attention of the Minister of War . These tactics carried Prussian military doctrine down to smallest units--specially trained troops maneuvered and massed to assault positions they chose on their own . During the next 2 years the German army tried to establish special stormtrooper detachments in all its units by sending selected men to Rohr and have those men then train their comrades in their original units . </P>

Which world war 1 military tactic resulted in a prolonged stalemate