The Barrel Roll Offensive is a military attack in Harry Turtledove's fictional Great War trilogy. The attack was directed against Confederate Army entrenchments and fortifications outside of White House, Tennessee by the US First Army under Lieutenant General George Custer on Remembrance Day, April 22, 1917, during World War I. Harry Turtledove at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949), is a historian and prolific novelist who has written historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction works. ... Great War is an alternate history trilogy by Harry Turtledove, which follows How Few Remain. ... This article is in need of attention. ... White House is a city located in Tennessee. ... George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 - June 25, 1876) was an American cavalry commander in the Civil War and the Indian Wars who is best remembered for his defeat and death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against a coalition of Native American tribes, led by... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 1917 was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ...

The offensive (also known in history as "The Remembrance Day Offensive," "The Nashville Offensive," or "The Custer Offensive")is notable in history for being the first occasion in warfare where barrels (tanks) were used en masse to break through enemy lines and achieve a tactical and strategic breakthrough. Over three hundred barrels were collected by Custer and lined up along a two mile stretch of front. After a short but intense artillery barrage, the barrels charged forward and ripped a wide hole in the Confederate line, forcing the Confederates to fall back and retreat toward the Nashville line, where the offensive ended and resettled into trench warfare. The offensive carried First Army to within artillery range of Nashville, and within the battle's end shelling of the capital of Tennessee commenced.

General Custer was under orders from the General Staff to use the barrels in a formation prescribed by the War Department, which had the machines stretched out piecemeal over the entire army front and supporting local infantry attacks. Custer, a former cavalryman who'd graduated last in his West Point class, thought differently. He arranged the barrels as he thought fit, lying about it to Chief of Staff Leonard Wood and even President Theodore Roosevelt, claiming that he was making the formation order of operations up to confuse alleged Confederate spies. When the Barrel Roll Offensive (named so after a popular tourist spot in Niagara Falls) proved wildly successful, the War Department quietly changed their barrel doctrine. Alternate meanings: West Point (disambiguation). ... Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a physician who served as the US Army Chief of Staff and Governor General of the Philippines. ... Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the twenty-fifth (1901) Vice President and the twenty-sixth (1901-09) President of the United States, succeeding to the office upon the assassination of William McKinley. ... The Horseshoe Falls, one of the three Niagara Falls. ...