[1] During the Paraguayan War (1864–1870), in which Paraguay fought against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, the Paraguayans deployed shock troops (composed of a mixture of dismounted cavalry and fit men who could row and swim) armed with sabres, cutlasses, knives, bayonets, pistols, and hand grenades.
On the Western Front in 1915, the Germans formed a specialized unit called the Rohr Battalion to develop assault tactics.
The Russian Army had also formed 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.
[3] 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 same sort of tactical doctrine was widely espoused in British and French service in late 1917 and 1918, with variable results.