Survey Of German Tactics 1918

By: Staff U.S. Army

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Synopsis: The First World War is often represented as a stolid slugging match of opposing trench lines being pounded by massed artillery, however, the German offensives of 1918 broke through the British lines with great and dramatic success. The German High command could not hope to match the Allies for manpower which had allowed them to ruthlessly push forward at the Somme and Passchendaele or compete with the new weapon of the war - the Tank. The German generals strained every resource and innovated their tactics to break through the trench lines; the solutions are still in use today as the keys to battle success; infiltration, operational secrecy, intense but short hurricane bombardments, dedicated elite stormtroops, concentration of effort, air supremacy. The American Staff were determined to learn from their opponent's success and documented all of the tactics that had worked so well; they produced a formidable treatise of tactics and strategic insight.