Peaceful penetration was an infantry tactic used toward the end of the First World War by Australian troops, a cross between trench raiding and patrolling. The aim was similar to trench raiding (namely, to gather prisoners, conduct reconnaissance, and to dominate no man's land), with the additional purpose to occupy the enemy's outpost line (and so capture ground).
The term came most directly [clarification needed] from the pre-war British press's description of the advancing penetration of German trade into the British Empire as "peaceful penetration".[2]