Small patrols were also sent out to obtain information about the enemy. These patrols would go out at night. They would have to crawl forward on their stomachs in an attempt to get close enough to find out what the enemy was up to.

To stop British night patrols the Germans used a light-shell rocket. Suspended from a small parachute, the flare blazed brightly for a minute giving the defending troops a chance to kill the soldiers who had advanced into No Man's Land. Soldiers who experienced this claimed that it was like being out in the midday sun.

The Germans also used a pistol flare. This only gave light for ten or fifteen seconds. Usually the defenders combined the flare with intense machine-gun fire.