Who Were The German Sturmtruppen?

They knew about the basics like hand grenades, rifles, and pistols; but they didn’t have the slightest idea of the gas attacks, machine guns, and tanks. The Germans used the machine gun and gas to their advantage, and it was a deadly combo in trench warfare. The Germans would shoot gas into the enemy’s trenches, sort of like a mortar shell. The unlucky soldiers who have broken their masks would crawl out of the trench to try to get some fresh air (or so they thought). The German machine guns would tear through the crawling soldiers that were desperate for air. On the Western Front, many soldiers died because of this, mostly French and British, due to lack of knowledge and disastrous plans. However, due to this cruel and disastrous plan, the Germans had to pay for all of the damages that they have caused in the Great War. They only fully paid out this debt in

By using a machine gun, many men could be killed in one time. So the machine gun was ‘stronger’ than the individual soldier. Since the Allies outgunned the Axis in artillery and machinery, the German soldiers took refuge in trenches that were no match for the kind of warfare waged. This made soldiers feel impotent. New recruits quickly learn about reality in warfare. In World War I, it was rare when an individual was a hero.

Thus, this article can serve as a foundational text for the American perception of the German military and its tactics. Although the article focuses on a particular commander, the level of respect showed towards Brauchitsch reveals the writer’s understanding of the power of Germany. The modern connotation of the word (quick and hard striking maneuver warfare) as a form of military strategy is used and explained here by the author as if it is the official German military doctrine. Historians argue endlessly over the idea of an “origin” and it remains the same here. When was “Blitzkrieg” introduced to the American public? Was it invented by Western journalists to for sensationalism purposes or rather, German propaganda that was “swallowed up” by the Allied press? The author of the article seemed very educated in the concept of Blitzkrieg (if it indeed is an official military concept) and used appropriate language to emphasize the speed aspect of the tactic. Some phrases depicting Blitzkrieg included “a war of quick penetration and obliteration,” “Swift columns of tanks… plunged through Poland…broken down the Polish defenses before they had time to

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also know as the 100 Days Offensive, was the part of the grand Allied offensive in 1918 at the end of WW1. This battle involved 1.2 million American soldiers. The American’s objective was to break through the Hindenburg Line, which covered the length of the entire western front. The offensive consisted of a three-sided attack on the German’s Western Front. The BEF and the French Army were to engage the German lines at Flanders, while the British forces would take on the German troops at Cambrai. The American Expeditionary Forces numdering 400,000 men under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, and the French Fourth Army under General Henri Gouraud’s role was the eastern most pincer of the multinational endeavor, the Argonne forest. The forest presented Gen. Pershing and his men some difficult challenges they were forced to overcome.

In the late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces’ successful D-Day Invasion of Normandy, it seemed as if the Second World War was over. On December sixteenth, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler’s favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. The courage and fortitude of the American Soldier was tested against

The Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I began in the fall of 1918. The offensive began in the dawn of 26 September 1918 and concluded on 11 November 1918 after forty-seven days. The massive and bloody offensive pitted the newly formed American Expeditionary Force (AEF) referred to its allies as the “Doughboys” led by General John "Black Jack" Pershing against a heavily fortified German force entrenched between the Meuse River and Argonne Forest located northwest of Verdun in the Alsace-Lorraine region. The battle became the bloodiest and deadliest in the Army’s history. This battle analysis will examine the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

At dawn of 19th August 1942, six thousand and one hundred Allied soldiers, of whom roughly

The military technological advancements of trench warfare, poison gas, and tanks were just a few of the many important military innovations in the First World War. In WWI, the advent (no—trench warfare had existed since the American Civil War) of trench warfare slowed battles to vicious, bloody scraps over a few meters of ground, often lasting months and even years. Be sure you have a clear introduction on the AP exam. This is critical. Warfare in the nineteenth-century demanded the concentration of large masses of troops over open ground to compensate for the extremely inaccurate musket.

The British went into the Somme with a mixed attack plan, which led to an unsuccessful first assault resulting in a battle of attrition. The opening day of The Battle of the Somme resulted in near 60,000 casualties for the British, the largest in British military history for a single day. Originally the Somme was supposed to be a French dominated offensive, however the Germans attacked to the South in Verdun occupying the majority of French troops. The British were then thrust into control of the offensive, leaving Sir Douglas Haig and General Rawlinson to arrange an offensive strike against the Germans. Haig advocated for the use of infantry including foot soldiers as well as cavalry to lead the offensive. Rawlinson countered with a bite and hold strategy, which involved fortifying a strong defense and warding off German counter attacks. Rather than committing to one strategy, the two were combined in order to create a week-long bombardment followed by an offensive attack on foot.

A wide variety of new advanced and manufactured weapons altered the way soldiers regarded battle and the land where they would engage. Life on the front forced German soldiers to come face to face with petrifying weapons that can critically injured, or even kill, one within a matter of seconds. Words such as mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades, bombardment, barrage and curtain-fire

The carnage of world war one was the result of the clash between new technologies, but old strategies. Blitzkrieg warfare would be the first form of modern military tactics for it fully utilizes the technological advancements of that time. The term “Blitzkrieg” was not invented by the Germans, but by an English magazine that described the invasion of Poland (Showalter). While many accredit the invention of Blitzkrieg warfare to Heinz Guderian, Germany's Chief of Mobile Troops during WWII, it was actually invented far before that. In fact, it was developed right after WWI after seeing the devastating effects of trench warfare(Showalter). Ironically, the basis of Blitzkrieg warfare was also laid by German Field Marshall Alfred von Schlieffen of the famous Schlieffen plan of WWI(Showalter). The basic essence of Blitzkrieg warfare was built upon the belief that Germany was always going to be out resourced and out numbered in every war and thus in order to win it, the Germans must strike hard and fast and penetrate deep behind enemy lines(Showalter). Thus, Blitzkrieg warfare was the most effective military tactic of its time because it utilized all of the technology of its time, it not only utilized physical warfare, but also psychological warfare, and because Germany’s opponents were not prepared for this kind of warfare.

     In the first phase of World War II in Europe, Germany sought to avoid a long war. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. These forces would drive a breach in enemy defenses, permitting armored tank divisions to penetrate rapidly and roam freely behind enemy lines, causing shock and

The first troops deployed into battle were paratroopers. Over thirteen thousand U.S. paratroopers were dropped by an armada of C-47s behind German lines before dawn. Their mission was to seize bridges, disrupt communications, and prevent German soldiers from reinforcing the Normandy beaches as the Allied assault hit the coastline (Alberecht). Heavy cloud coverage made for difficult navigation and forced many of the paratroopers to jump “blind”. This resulted in them being scattered over a 100-square mile radius. Thirty-five percent of these soldiers landed at their designated drop point, while many others died when they landed in fields flooded by the Germans. Despite all of this, the remaining troops were able to secure their intended positions (Dry).

Leading into the Fall of 1914, tactics on both sides of the line involved the rapid mobilization, maneuver and envelopment of the opposing side.10 Pre-1914 doctrine took little into account the effects of emerging new technology and their impact on both defensive and offensive operations. This disconnect between doctrine and technology contributed to the failure of early offensive operations in the Fall of 1914 and resulted in staggering casualties.11 Both sides developed doctrine that took into effect the unique terrain and technology that had been developed prior and during World War I. However by the end of the war, a combination of flexibility, decentralized control, and counterattack at every echelon made the German defensive system the most effective.12 This “elastic defense” had three unique characteristics; dedicated counter-attack force at all levels, decentralized command and control, fluid defensive belts and integrated artillery support at the Division level. Under this new doctrine, Corps headquarters had the role sustaining subordinate units, but not directing their actions during battle.13 This defense-in-depth and the lessons learned during the Verdun battles of 1918 were so successful that British forces adopted many of the German tactics with a special emphasis on their counterattack capability.10 Utilizing the new doctrine, by August 1918, Germany had made substantial gains, however had

From observations from the battlefield and experimentation the Allies developed a number of tactics that allowed them to gain substantially more ground than in the past while reducing the number of casualties. To reduce wastage, the number of soldiers killed during a normal day, the French adopted the use of “difeme en profondeur (defence in depth)…” (Smith 195). The British, also, developed the tactic Bite and Hold that centered on advancing troops only as far as they could hold, which reduced the chance of a successful German counterattack. Both the British and French developed the creeping barrage to force the Germans defenders to stay under cover until the attackers advanced up to the German lines. With these new tactics and more available to them the allies could