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111-706: The Truppenamt ( lit.   ' Troop Office ' ) was the cover organisation for the German General Staff from 1919 through until 1935 when the General Staff of the German Army ( Heer ) was re-created. This subterfuge was deemed necessary in order for Germany to be seen to meet the requirements of the Versailles Treaty . It completely revised German tactical and strategic doctrine and thereby conserved, re-energised, and unified

222-492: A Prussian formation in the field had the right to disagree, in writing, with the plans or orders of the commander of the formation, and appeal to the commander of the next highest formation (which might ultimately be the king, or emperor, who would be guided by the head of the Great General Staff). This served as a check on incompetence and also served for the objecting officer to officially disassociate himself from

333-533: A battalion gun so Swedish 4-pounders were used for that purpose beginning in 1757. Two years later the French began using the 1-pdr Rostaing gun but it only had limited service. Manufacture of the ordnance was also revolutionised by the early-18th century invention of the boring mechanism by the Swiss gun- founder Moritz of Geneva which allowed for a far greater precision achieved in the casting, in essence creating

444-506: A body of professional military experts with common methods and outlook. General Staff–qualified officers alternated between line and staff duties but remained lifelong members of this special organization. Until the end of the German Empire , social and political convention often placed members of noble or royal households in command of its armies or corps but the actual responsibility for the planning and conduct of operations lay with

555-428: A broad light and collect this experience whilst it was still fresh. The output of the committees was to be short, concise studies on the newly gained experiences and in particular (a) what new situations arose that had not been considered before; (b) how effective were pre-war views in dealing with these situations; (c) what guidelines were developed for new weaponry during the war; and (d) which new problems put forward by

666-531: A choice of French or Russian. Roughly the same time allocations were used in the last two years. Lectures were supplemented by visits to fortifications, arms factories and exercises of the railway regiment. During the three month summer breaks the students attended manoeuvres and were taken on field tactical exercises in which they commanded imaginary units. At the end of the course they took their second examination. Only about thirty students passed this extremely difficult test. They were then assigned ( kommandiert ) to

777-443: A flawed plan. Only the most stubborn commanders would not give way before this threat. For these reasons, Prussian and German military victories were often credited professionally to the chief of staff, rather than to the nominal commander of an army. Often the commander of an army was himself a member of the General Staff, but it was now institutionally recognized that not only was command leadership important, but effective staff work

888-508: A general staff to plan and implement the reconstruction of the Prussian Army. They persuaded the king that to match the French commanders, who rose by merit, each Prussian commander of an Army, Corps and Division should have a staff-trained officer assigned as his adjutant. Scharnhorst intended them to "support incompetent Generals, providing the talents that might otherwise be wanting among leaders and commanders". The unlikely pairing of

999-401: A huge lathe on which the barrel casting turned instead of the boring tool. Manufacture of cannonballs was also improved so the projectiles were now well-fitted to the bore of the ordnance, and after conducting experiments with gunpowder, the powder charges were determined to be one-third the weight of the shot (cannonball). Frederick's artillery doctrine influenced the development of

1110-580: A light machine gun with the rifle section and fluid fire-and-manoeuvre stormtroop tactics are endorsed. It is also important to note that the manuals do not limit themselves to the armaments allowed by the Versailles Treaty envisaging tactics using forbidden infantry cannons for example. It is here that we see explicit strategic capabilities being built into the new unified doctrines, so such things as cross-training requirements being built into regulations; e.g. transport troops being required to train

1221-529: A position chosen by us, and only when casualties, demoralization, and exhaustion have drained his strength will we ourselves take up the tactical offensive.... Our strategy must be offensive, our tactics defensive. The government of Napoleon III was undoubtedly startled by the Prussian victory over Austria, and urgently sought to reform their army to face the conflict with Prussia which seemed inevitable and imminent. Their senior officers entirely failed to grasp

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1332-548: A range of 100 yards, same as that of the musket range, and therefore put the gunners into the environment of direct infantry combat due to Frederick's insistence that artillery should participate in the infantry attack . In 1732 Florent-Jean de Vallière standardized French artillery ordnance ( barrels ) into five calibers. The lightest piece was the Vallière 4-pounder and the heavier cannons were 8-, 12- , 16- and 24-pounders . The 4-pounder proved too heavy to be employed as

1443-408: A senior general staff officer — the kaiser instructed his thirty-two-year-old son: "whatever he advises you must do". The system also removed uncertainty about the competence of Army Commanders Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria and Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg , though both were well-trained soldiers. Other armies were commanded by highly experienced staff officers, for example Paul von Hindenburg

1554-470: A set number of wagon drivers as cannon gunners and as engineers specialising in bridges. Albert Kesselring , later a field marshal, served in both T1 and T4 at this critical time, as did many other influential generals, and described it as a professional schooling for him. With manuals and regulations now in place (even if under constant revision from this new base), the Truppenamt set about reshaping

1665-540: A threat, Schlieffen and his successor Helmuth von Moltke the Younger drew up and continually refined the Schlieffen Plan to meet this eventuality. The Plan committed Germany to an early offensive against France while Russia was still mobilising and also required the invasion of neutral Belgium , effectively discounting any realistic prospect of maintaining British neutrality. In Bismarck's German constitution

1776-518: Is a notable contrast that Germany put its experienced General Staff officers of captain and above to the task whilst others put juniors of limited experience. For example, the UK assigned the task of rewriting the infantry manual to Basil H Liddell Hart , a 24-year-old lieutenant of limited experience. Even here, the War Office reinserted chapters from the 1911 manual where it deemed appropriate. Most of

1887-567: The Truppenamt ("troop office"), and selected many General Staff officers to fill the available places. The War Academy ( Kriegsakademie ) was abolished, but training of General Staff officers continued, dispersed among the Wehrkreise (Military District) headquarters but overseen by tutors from the Truppenamt . General Staff officers continued to play major roles in the nation, most strikingly when former chief of staff Paul von Hindenburg

1998-733: The Allies . Initially, the Army's leaders feared that their leading role as the defenders of Germany would be usurped by the unruly SA , the Nazi party's political militia. When Hitler suppressed the SA in the Night of the Long Knives , the army stood aside and effectually acquiesced in the extrajudicial murders involved, including those of army officers. While the General Staff welcomed Hitler's expansion of

2109-790: The First Battle of the Marne . Soon Moltke was replaced by Erich von Falkenhayn who was already the Prussian war minister. After failing to dislodge the Entente in Flanders, he put the Western Front on the defensive. He was replaced at the war ministry in early 1915, and in 1916 Hindenburg and Ludendorff took over as advisers to the supreme commander. They led OHL in aggressively intervening in German political and economic life , changing

2220-613: The First Sino-Japanese War . The General Staff was divided between the central Großer Generalstab in Berlin and the general staffs of the corps and division HQs. The head of the Großer Generalstab was the "Chief of the General Staff" and was also the technical superior of all general staff officers. The Chief of the General Staff's chief deputy held the title of Generalquartiermeister . Beneath them were

2331-584: The Royal Artillery to handle the two 3- or light 6-pounder guns battalion guns. Frederick the Great of Prussia was the first to introduce artillery tactics for the regimental guns which were to accompany the infantry units as part of his reform of the Prussian artillery as a whole before and during the Seven Years' War . This included the determination that canister shot was only effective at

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2442-449: The arquebus , while another avenue of development led to the light ordnance, now on wheeled carriages, such as the 2-pounder Culvern moyane, the 1-pounder falcon, and the 3 ⁄ 4 -pounder falconet . These lighter Renaissance pieces eventually led to the development of the 3-pounder and 4-pounder regimental guns of the 17th century as well as the leather cannon , notably in the army of Gustavus Adolphus . The light field guns of

2553-549: The battlefield . They are generally used for direct fire , rather than the indirect fire of other types of artillery. Their role has generally been replaced by tanks using tank guns , infantry fighting vehicles using autocannons , other combat vehicles , mortars , recoilless rifles , rocket-propelled grenades , and shoulder-launched missiles . Infantry support guns were the first type of artillery employed by armed forces , initially in China, and later brought to Europe by

2664-656: The caissons . The system of ordnance , carriages, ball, and powder charges introduced by de Gribeauval remained virtually unaltered through the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars . General Augustin Lespinasse on battalion guns: "If you want to prevent your troops from manouevering, embarrass them with guns ... A line of infantry supported by good, properly established batteries retains its order of battle better" Infantry support guns drew much interest in course of World War I because of

2775-573: The victorious Allies attempted to suppress the institution. It nevertheless survived to play its accustomed part in the German rearmament and World War II . In a broader sense, the Prussian General Staff corps consisted of those officers qualified to perform staff duties, and formed a unique military fraternity. Their exhaustive training was designed not only to weed out the less motivated or less able candidates, but also to produce

2886-612: The "General Staff of the Field Army", part of the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL, Supreme Army Command). The General Staff was streamlined into only three departments; Operations, Intelligence and Political Affairs. The need for the system was promptly demonstrated when Supreme Commander Kaiser Wilhelm II proposed to concentrate against Russia, not France. Chief of the General Staff Helmuth von Moltke

2997-538: The 17th century, commonly known as a drake in England, came in almost 100 different calibres, with each having its own distinct name, some of which were: The saker and falcon had point-blank ranges of 330 and 290 metres (360 and 320 yd), and 1,980 and 1,760 metres (2,170 and 1,920 yd) extreme ranges respectively. Although oxen were used to haul the heavier field and siege ordnance, some on wagons rather than limbers , they were too slow to keep up with

3108-479: The 1920s the Reichswehr often distributed soldiers throughout the country in battalion- and regiment-sized groups, only forming larger units for occasional exercises. This was part of the Truppenamt 's plan to train squads, platoons and companies in the new regulations and doctrines and when ready then combining them in battalion and regimental exercises. The battalion and regimental exercises started in 1924, and

3219-511: The Allies. The victors' fear was encapsulated by the clause in the Treaty of Versailles : "The Great German General Staff and all similar organisations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form." The German Army was limited to 4,000 officers. The Weimar Republic ' s armed forces, the Reichswehr , was led by Hans von Seeckt . He camouflaged the General Staff by renaming it

3330-641: The Army Command ( Chef der Heeresleitung ), this expanded to rebuilding a new army from scratch. When the General Staff was dissolved in 1919, its Operations Section became the Truppenamt whilst other sections of the staff were transferred to government departments: the history section to the Interior Ministry Reich Archives, the survey and maps section to the Interior Ministry Survey Office, and

3441-411: The Army declined, even though they were assisted by a Quartermaster General Staff of adjutants and engineers established by Frederick the Great. Reformers in the army began to write and lecture on the need to preserve and somehow institutionalize the military talent that Frederick had assembled in his army. They argued that a carefully assembled cadre of talented officer staff could plan logistics and train

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3552-400: The Army in peace as well as in war. In the last years of the eighteenth century, it became the practice to assign military experts to assist the generals of Prussia's Army, largely at the instigation of comparatively junior but gifted officers such as Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August von Gneisenau . Nevertheless, such measures were insufficient to overcome the inefficiency of the Army, which

3663-542: The Austrians, the General Staff made several improvements to increase the strategic and tactical proficiency of the King's army. Cavalry would no longer be held in reserve, but would actively screen the army's movements at all levels, make first contact with the enemy, and constantly observe hostile activities. Newly developed rifled artillery would no longer be placed in the rear of the order of march for employment behind

3774-574: The Danes falling back behind water obstacles which the Prussian Navy could not overcome. A rigid system of seniority placed Friedrich Graf von Wrangel , widely regarded as being in his dotage, in command. He ignored all of Moltke's directives and his own staff's advice, and by allowing the Danish Army to withdraw at its leisure he prolonged the war for several months. The resulting post mortem

3885-525: The French army having lost 100,000 stragglers before a shot was fired through poor planning and administration. (Most of these were reservists who had not been able to join their units before the units were hastily dispatched to join the armies forming up near the frontier.) During the war, there were again the inevitable mistakes due to the "fog of war", but German formations moved with a speed and precision which French staff officers, accustomed only to moving battalion-sized punitive columns, could not match. In

3996-410: The French army of the time, there was an anti-intellectual prejudice in favour of brave and unimaginative regimental officers over intelligent and well-trained staff officers. The French Army paid dearly for this bias in 1870 and 1871. The result of the strategic preparation by Moltke (and diplomatic maneuvers by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ) was complete Prussian victory. After the victory, Germany

4107-483: The French artillery troops, and after 1764 Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval , the first Inspector of Artillery, after conducting trials in Strasbourg , reorganised French artillery units to provide them with greater mobility , changing length of the barrels to standard 18-calibre length, including the regimental 4-pounders. These were now pulled by four horses and used large six-wheeled vehicles that also included

4218-573: The French while committing the majority of German forces to face Russia. Changing geopolitical factors around the turn of the century, including the establishment of vast European colonial empires and especially the rapprochement between the United Kingdom and France eventually led the German General Staff to reassess the wisdom of such a strategy. Whereas Moltke and his immediate successor Alfred von Waldersee were confident in

4329-467: The General Staff and a Historical division, which analysed past and current conflicts and published accounts of them and lessons learned. The General Staff reformed by Moltke was the most effective in Europe, an autonomous institution dedicated solely to the efficient execution of war, unlike in other countries, whose staffs were often fettered by meddling courtiers, parliaments and government officials. On

4440-703: The General Staff"). When the General Staff was required to take the field during major campaigns, it remained a small but effective body. During the Franco-Prussian War for example, the staff that accompanied the headquarters of the King (as commander-in-chief) and was responsible for the direction of armies that totaled 850,000 men, consisted of the chief of staff, a quartermaster-general and an intendant-general whose duties were not directly concerned with military operations, three heads of departments, eleven other officers, ten draughtsmen, seven clerks and fifty-nine other ranks (orderlies, messengers, etc.). Nor

4551-468: The German 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 and Japanese Type 92 battalion gun were designed to meet all these requirements simultaneously and saw action during WWII . The Canon de 76 FRC was a Belgian infantry support gun, produced by the Fonderie Royale des Canons (FRC). The gun was typically of 76 mm calibre; however, an optional 47 mm barrel could be fitted instead. The gun

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4662-475: The Great General Staff, while retaining their regimental attachments. After two years they took their third and final examination, after which five to eight officers were permanently posted to fill vacancies in the General Staff — a remarkable winnowing from the many who had entered the competition. Occasionally, an exceptional officer was appointed without this training: for example Max Bauer , who

4773-542: The High Command (today 'For the commander') according to our old custom. The commander always issues his orders through his Chief of Staff, and even the most senior subordinate leader must submit himself to his orders without objection, because his orders will always be given on behalf of the supreme commander. The Schlieffen Plan was scuttled when the shaken Moltke ordered the German right wing in France to retire during

4884-586: The Imperial German General Staff, with seconded general staff officers from Saxony , Württemberg and Bavaria , and was responsible for military planning for the German Empire. They began preparing for what seemed to be another inevitable war with France, which was intent on revenge and recovery of the provinces annexed by Germany. Bismarck's diplomatic skill had prevented any hostile European coalition forming against Germany, but

4995-574: The Kaiser commanded the army and also appointed the chancellor and his cabinet, who had no control of the military. The elected representatives in the Reichstag were needed to pass budgets, but aside from this had no power over the conduct of the government. This was one of the seeds of the mass destruction of the First World War, as military planning was not subject to political control. Thus,

5106-543: The Mongol invasion. In their initial form, they lacked carriages or wheels, and were simple cast barrels called pots de fer in French, or vasi in Italian. These weapons were relatively small, immobile, and fired large bolts or quarrels . Along with increases in the sizes of ordnance (the barrels) came the requirement of easier transportation. This led to two divergent approaches, the very light hand-gun, and eventually

5217-489: The Prussian Army was to gain against Austrian Empire and France , Moltke needed only to issue brief directives expressing his intentions to the main formations, leaving the staffs at the subordinate headquarters to implement the details according to the doctrines and methods he had laid down, while the Supreme Commands of his opponents became bogged down in mountains of paperwork and trivia as they tried to control

5328-699: The Prussian War Ministry, already made out to cover all foreseeable contingencies and requiring only a signature and a date stamp to be put into effect. The Military Reorganization Commission opened military schools in Königsberg and Breslau. On 15 October 1810 Scharnhorst opened the General War School ( Allgemeine Kriegsschule ) , on the same day that the new University of Berlin opened nearby. The General War School trained selected officers for three years. One of its first directors

5439-615: The Prussian army now favored the Jominian theory, which gave preeminence to the Army and to its autonomy, compared to the civilian control advocated by Clausewitz . To an extent, the General Staff became obsessed with perfecting the methods which had gained victory in the late nineteenth century. Although he maintained an icy formal demeanor, Moltke the Elder had been a flexible and innovative thinker in many fields. Schlieffen, by comparison,

5550-619: The Schlieffen Plan was adopted without political input, even though it required the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, which the Germans had guaranteed by treaty. Nor was the German Navy's high command informed. It failed to take adequate account of logistics and the inability of horse-drawn transport to supply troops far from rail-heads. The plan has been accused of being too rigid. The philosopher Manuel de Landa argues that

5661-496: The Seven Weeks' War of 1866. Many nations adopted Prussian staff methods and structures, with mixed success. Throughout his tenure, Moltke pushed for the Prussian army to engage in reassessment and self-improvement at every command level to maintain tactical superiority relative to other nations. Moltke formalised the concept of mission-type tactics , which emphasized the importance of initiative at all levels of command, even

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5772-653: The War Academy attended about 20 hours of lectures per week. Instruction was by professors from Berlin University and officers serving on the Great General Staff, who thereby enhanced their own educations. In 1872 the War Academy was taken from the Inspector of Military Education and placed under the Chief of the General Staff. The spirit of the academy was articulated by Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke, who emphasized

5883-500: The Weapons Office and branch inspectorates. The relationship between these three entities was very close since between them they determined materiel , doctrine, and training. In the early 1920s, the Truppenamt contained a transportation section, T7 (there never was a T5 or T6). Altogether these three bodies contained two hundred officers, almost all ex-General Staff, who formed an efficient and practical organisation for guiding

5994-555: The Younger and Generalquartiermeister, Hermann von Stein convinced him that this was unthinkable because the thousands of orders could not be quickly rewritten and because the French with their quicker mobilization and excellent railways would be attacking a German border in force long before the Russians. One of the eight German Armies was commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia , paired with Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorf ,

6105-509: The ability of a relatively modest German garrison to defend the country's western frontier against the forces of Metropolitan France indefinitely, the General Staff under Alfred von Schlieffen determined that British neutrality in a future conflict could no longer be counted on, thus exposing Germany to the potential combined might of the British, French and their vast colonial empires in the west in case of any extended conflict. To meet such

6216-400: The academy he was invited into the social circle of Prince Alexander of Prussia, where he came "in touch with men of science as well as those in the state and court service. After its defeat in the war against Prussia of 1866, Bavaria established its own War Academy and continued to train its own staff officers after the foundation of the German Empire in 1870. The General Staff of that time

6327-581: The army, they were opposed to many of his wilder schemes and continually urged caution. When several of Hitler's early moves such as the remilitarization of the Rhineland , the Anschluss with Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland succeeded despite advice from the General Staff that these might bring about a premature war with France and Britain, Hitler was further convinced that his intuition

6438-632: The attacking units. The German Army had tactical success during the Spring Offensive , but the Allies held strategic points. They were sure that a series of successful breakthroughs would snap their enemy's resolve, ignoring the fact that each victory sapped German strength, while their foes were continually strengthened by Americans flooding into France. The Germans were overwhelmed during the Hundred Days Offensive , and eventually agreed to an Armistice of 11 November 1918 with

6549-690: The battlefield, Moltke's pre-war calculations were proved correct, and the Austrian army was brought to battle at Königgrätz and destroyed. In contrast to the Prussian staff, Austrian staff officers gained their posts either by membership of the Austrian nobility and a desire to avoid tedious regimental duties, or after uninspiring training which made them into plodding, rule-bound clerks. In all aspects of preparation, planning and execution, their muddled efforts compared badly with that of their Prussian counterparts. In reviewing Prussian deficiencies against

6660-439: The battlefield, reducing the " fog of war " effect. Finally, the introduction of the breech-loading infantry rifle marked a revolution in weapons effect, so that Moltke made the following analysis in 1865: The attack of a position is becoming notably more difficult than its defense. The defensive during the first phase of battle offers a decisive superiority. The task of a skillful offensive will consist of forcing our foe to attack

6771-412: The carefully planned methods used in static warfare. German General Staff The Prussian General Staff also enjoyed greater freedom from political control than its contemporaries, and this autonomy was enshrined in law on the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. It came to be regarded as the home of German militarism in the aftermath of World War I , and

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6882-462: The commander until he makes a decision. Gneisenau also founded mission tactics ( Auftragstaktik ), in which the commander determines the objective of an operation and allocates the forces used, while the subordinate on the spot determines how the objective will be attained. In 1816, the reformer Karl von Grolman organised the Staff into Eastern (Russia), Southern (Austria), and Western (France and

6993-422: The contrary, the General Staff itself had a powerful effect on Prussian, and later German, politics. The Second Schleswig War (1864), the political origins of which lay in Denmark 's conflict with Prussia and Austria over the Schleswig–Holstein question , vindicated Moltke's concepts of operations and led to an overhaul of the command arrangements of the Prussian Army. Moltke envisaged a rapid attack to prevent

7104-511: The developments in trench warfare. In addition to the usual requirements that they needed to be portable enough to be carried by infantry, two separate capabilities were desired. First, it needed to engage in high angle indirect fire, especially given the prevalence of trenches. Second, it needed to be capable of low angle direct fire, while being carried by assault infantry, to engage strongpoints, bunkers, and other fortifications. Some infantry support guns that appeared between world wars, such as

7215-545: The enemy. Correspondingly, despite a Versailles limit of 33 officers in a divisional HQ, the Germans planned to have 30 - in stark contrast to a US divisional staff of 79. Again, this fitted with a force which would be attacking and making many more decisions outside of the headquarters, which could therefore be leaner. The Versailles Treaty placed no limitations on NCO numbers, and by 1922 the Reichswehr had over 50% of enlisted manpower at NCO ranks, leaving only 36,000 privates. The high quality of German soldiers, made possible by

7326-509: The entire army from a single overworked headquarters. Moltke's wide experience also prompted the General Staff to consider fields of study outside the purely military, and rapidly adapt them to military use. Immediately upon his appointment, he established the Abteilung (section or department) which studied and promoted the development of railway networks within Prussia and incorporated them into its deployment plans. He also formed telegraphic, and other scientific and technical departments within

7437-463: The erratic but popular Field Marshal Blücher as commander in chief with Lieutenant General Gneisenau as his chief of staff showed this system to its best advantage: Blücher lauded Gneisenau for his role in maneuvering the Prussian Army during a difficult retreat through the Harz mountains. Gneisenau is recognized as the first "great Chief of Staff". He institutionalized the right of the commander's adviser to take part in command and control by advising

7548-483: The essays did not know the names or regiments of the candidates. From hundreds of applicants, about one hundred were accepted every year to enter the first-year course at the academy. Those who performed satisfactorily were promoted to the second and then the third year. In the first year, fourteen hours of lectures each week were on military subjects, including military history, while seventeen hours were non-military, which included general history, mathematics, science and

7659-414: The field) under Moltke himself, and war games and map exercises known as Kriegsspiele . Although these officers subsequently alternated between regimental and staff duties, they could be relied upon to think and act exactly as Moltke had taught them when they became the Chiefs of Staff of major formations. Moltke himself referred to them as the "nervous system" of the Prussian Army. In the victories which

7770-408: The first divisional exercises in 1926. During this time the Truppenamt had the task of ensuring that old "trench warfare" and "positional warfare" tactics did not creep back into use. Cross-training régimes were reviewed, long-length operational order-writing was eliminated, and attack styles that took too long to prepare were eliminated. Innovation and flexibility for mobile warfare were stressed over

7881-424: The five Oberquartiermeisters , who supervised the heads of the General Staff departments. The Railroad Department had the largest number of officers assigned, while the Second Department was the most important. In August 1914, following the pre-war mobilization plan, most of the General Staff, including the Oberquartiermeisters , were reassigned to the headquarters of the Armies and Corps. The remaining core became

7992-617: The formation's staff officers. For other European armies which lacked this professionally trained staff corps, the same conventions were often a recipe for disaster. Even the Army of the Second French Empire , whose senior officers had supposedly reached high rank as a result of bravery and success on the battlefield, was crushed by the Prussian and other German armies during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871. That outcome highlighted poor French administration and planning, and lack of professional education. The chief of staff of

8103-483: The importance "of an active process of mental give and take between teacher and pupils, so as to stimulate the pupils to become fellow-workers". Admission to the academy was highly selective. Officers with at least five years service who wanted to become General Staff officers prepared themselves for the entrance examination, which included tactics, surveying, geography, mathematics and French, with questions set to test understanding rather than rote memory. The graders of

8214-624: The infantry, and so horses were used to pull the lighter pieces, leading to the development of the artillery carriage and horse team that survived until the late 19th century. The first School of Artillery in Venice was opened early in the 16th century, and by the late 17th century the different old names of the lighter ordnance were abandoned, and replaced with the French canon , or cannon. The first regimental guns in English service were ordered by King James II in 1686; two 3-pounders for each of

8325-484: The infantry; instead, a significant detachment would travel with the advanced guard of the leading corps or other major element, and the remainder would march with the front of the main body, providing immediate artillery coverage of the advanced guard on contact and of the main body during subsequent deployment on the field. A renewed emphasis was placed on maintaining contact with subordinate and superior commands, so that commanders always were informed of units' locations on

8436-514: The level of those they were replacing. Superior German staff work at division, corps and army level throughout the war was a major contributor to their run of successes. At the beginning of 1918 — having defeated the Russians — Hindenburg and Ludendorff resolved to win in the west. Tactically, their staff work was brilliant. Using only weapons that had failed at Verdun, they devised a long, comprehensive list of measures to smash through enemy field fortifications, which were then taught to all ranks in

8547-472: The lowest. Every Prussian tactical manual published after the Franco-Prussian War included this passage: A favorable situation will never be exploited if commanders wait for orders. The highest commander and the youngest soldier must always be conscious of the fact that omission and inactivity are worse than resorting to the wrong expedient. With unification the Prussian General Staff became

8658-476: The methods of the Prussian General Staff. The Chief of Staff of the French Army , Maréchal de France Edmond Le Bœuf , fatuously stated in 1870 that the French Army was ready for war, "down to the last gaiter button." In the event, at the outset of the Franco-Prussian War , 462,000 German soldiers concentrated flawlessly on the French frontier while only 270,000 French soldiers could be moved to face them,

8769-552: The military thinking and capability of the Reichswehr , later to become the Wehrmacht . After World War I , the Versailles Treaty specified that the post-war German Army could have a maximum strength of 100,000, of this number only 4000 could be officers. Article 160 determined: The Great German General Staff and all similar organisations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form. In late 1919, soon after

8880-469: The much reduced numbers forced by the treaty, meant that the Reichswehr could employ NCOs in junior-officer roles (as platoon leaders, for example). This had two effects: The increased demands upon NCOs required the new army to treat them differently than the old Imperial had - in order to support them in their efforts. Hence all NCOs were now to have a barracks-room of their own and all soldiers were to be much better accommodated and trained than before. In

8991-530: The new army to fit its treaty constraints and its new doctrinal approach. The " triangular " infantry division replaced the " square division", with no brigade -level staff and with three regiments instead of four. Numbers in support forces such as artillery, reconnaissance, transport, and signals all increased, with control in many cases pushed down the organisation. All of this related to the new "war of movement" doctrine that had been adopted. The Wehrmacht infantry division in 1939 showed very few changes from

9102-413: The opinions have differed, in the evening of this happy day in a military marriage the two halves will no longer know who gave in. The outside world and military history will not have knowledge of a domestic quarrel. The competence of command and control is based on this fusion of the two personalities. It does not matter if the order bears the commander's signature, or if the Chief of Staff has signed it for

9213-579: The original goal of defending Germany's borders to conquest and expansion. A consequence of wartime attrition was the premature deployment of Kriegsakademie students to army and corps general staffs, some of them before reaching their second year curriculum. Later, standards for General Staff assignment were altered due to the closure of the Kriegsakademie , to allow examined officers to serve as staff apprentices, raising concerns that these new General Staff Corps officers were not evaluated or trained at

9324-619: The other German states) Divisions. Sixteen staff officers served in the Prussian Ministry of War and six staff officers worked in the main embassies. Each army corps had one chief of staff and two other staff officers. In 1821 the Quartermaster General Staff was renamed to the General Staff, and its officers were identified by distinctive uniform markings, including a crimson trouser stripe. Staff positions did not depend on lineage. "General von Krauseneck, who

9435-456: The output of the committees has been lost but where it still exists there is a clear link to the new regulations and manuals that started to be issued in 1921. By 1923, the major outputs of this work were completed and the results show up in new manuals issued from that time which demonstrate a high level of tactical thought. Experience from World War I was incorporated as seen in the new infantry regulation of October 1922 where 10-12 squads included

9546-487: The patterns outlined in 1921. The cavalry division was similarly reinforced with support arms and armoured cars, making it capable of independent operations deep behind enemy lines. The Truppenamt turned some of the Versailles limitations into advantages. The very limited number of officers forced it to rethink the roles at headquarters, and this dovetailed with the doctrine of decision at the front by those who can see

9657-419: The rebuilding of the Reichswehr . One week after the dissolution of the General Staff, von Seeckt started a programme to collect and analyse the experiences of the First World War and to create a new military doctrine for the Reichswehr . The new programme consisted of 57 committees which would study tactics, regulations, equipment, and doctrine. This effort was seen as important to put the experience of war in

9768-482: The seven regiments (of one battalion each) encamped in Hyde Park . Attachment of guns to the infantry had practical reasons also. While the allocation of horses was reckoned at one for each 350–500 pounds of ordnance and its carriage, this was only true for availability of good horses and good roads, both in short supply due to unscrupulous civilian contractors and lack of road building technology . In cases where

9879-430: The tank columns were still followed by horse-drawn artillery pieces. Throughout the war, German industry was unable to furnish small arms in sufficient quantities, forcing the Army to rely heavily on older weapons, prizes of war , and adaptations of former designs produced in conquered countries, thus producing an arsenal filled with an array of incompatible pieces , unlike the smaller variety of standard small arms used by

9990-475: The transportation section to the Transportation Ministry . The economic and political sections were placed directly under the control of the chief of the Army Command. Thus the core of the General Staff became the four new sections of the Truppenamt : As von Seeckt said at the time "the form changes, the spirit remains the same". Alongside the Truppenamt in the new army high command were

10101-547: The treaty was signed, Major General Hans von Seeckt , head of the military expert group adjunct to the German delegation, initiated a programme to rethink and rewrite German doctrine as well as reorganise the army to comply with the Versailles rules. On 1 October he became chief of the newly established Truppenamt agency within the Ministry of the Reichswehr . In 1920, when von Seeckt succeeded Walther Reinhardt as Head of

10212-516: The war have not yet found a solution. This programme covered diverse topics from military justice and questions of troop morale to river crossings, flamethrowers , and the military weather service. Military leadership was a key focus with seven committees covering different levels and aspects. In order to cover these areas experienced officers were appointed to serve on the committees. These officers were often ex-General Staff but specialist experts were included even if they were not. The T4 section's job

10323-426: The work was excessive for horses alone, infantry would join them in pulling the guns, calculated at 80 lbs per infantryman , a load which remains at the upper limit of the average light infantry unit requirement today. The 3-pounder Grasshopper cannon was in use with British forces in the 18th century. Each British infantry battalion had an officer and 34 non commissioned officers and other ranks trained by

10434-419: The young Kaiser William II replaced him in 1890 and turned away from their friendly accommodation with Russia in favor of an alliance with Austria-Hungary. Before long France and Russia allied. Therefore, an encircled Germany faced the probability that of war on both Eastern and Western fronts. Prior to his retirement in 1888, Moltke's plan for such a conflict had always been to remain on the defensive against

10545-506: Was Carl von Clausewitz , who served until 1830. His monumental work On War ( Vom Kriege ) was published posthumously. From his studies and experiences during the Napoleonic Wars, he wrote a syllabus which became the staff's central doctrine. This standardization of doctrine — which was an attempt to grasp the philosophy underlying warfare , rather than setting a narrow set of rules such as those laid down by Antoine-Henri Jomini —

10656-407: Was a confidante of King William I , was appointed Chief of the General Staff. Under his control, the existing staff system was expanded and consolidated. Each year, Moltke selected the best twelve graduates from the Kriegsakademie for his personal training as General Staff officers. They attended theoretical studies, annual manoeuvres, " war rides " (a system of tactical exercises without troops in

10767-533: Was a significant key to success in both pre-war planning and in wartime operations. Before the nineteenth century, success on the battlefield largely depended on the military competence of the sovereign. Duke Frederick William introduced the term Generalstabsdienst (General Staff Service) for the Prusso-Brandenburgian army in 1640. While Frederick the Great brought success to the Prussian arms, his successors lacked his talent, so generalship in

10878-579: Was a single-minded, brilliant military specialist. Nor had the General Staff, before the war, considered the use of potential allies such as Turkey, or dissident factions within the French, British and Russian empires, to distract or weaken the Allied war effort. "A swift victory over the main armies in the main theatre of war was the German General Staff's solution for all outside difficulties, and absolved them from thinking of war in its wider aspects." The General Staff mistakenly predicted that China would win

10989-439: Was a small, elite body, numbering as few as fifty officers and rarely exceeding one hundred officers. Only one or two officers were permanently assigned to the General Staff, described in official returns as des Generalstabs ("of the General Staff") at any time; most were attached to the General Staff while remaining affiliated to their parent regiments, usually for several years at a time, and were listed as im Generalstab ("on

11100-733: Was commanded by aged veterans of the campaigns of Frederick the Great, almost half a century earlier. In 1806, the Prussian Army was routed by French Armies led by Napoleon 's marshals at the Battle of Jena . In the aftermath of this debacle, the Prussian Army and state largely collapsed. "Seldom in history has an army been reduced to impotence more swiftly or decisively." After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, King Frederick William III appointed Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prime Minister Baron vom und zum Stein and several promising young officers to his Military Reorganization Commission. This commission acted as

11211-469: Was designed for transport via a trailer towed by a vehicle. In 1940, the Wehrmacht redesignated these as 7.6 cm IG 260(b). The Canon d'Infantrie de 37 modele 1916 TRP (37mm mle.1916) was a French infantry support gun, first used during World War I. The gun was used by a number of forces during and after the war. The US acquired a number of these guns, which they designated 37mm M1916; however, by 1941

11322-594: Was elected Reichspräsident in 1925. When Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler in 1933, he instructed the Truppenamt/General Staff to ignore the Versailles restrictions; he would create a greatly expanded Wehrmacht , including the Army , the Navy , and a new Air Force . A new War Academy ( Kriegsakademie ) was established in 1935. The General Staff advised Hitler that the Army could not be fully modernized until 1944 or 1945. When Hitler went to war in 1939,

11433-558: Was given command of the Eighth Army, the only one facing the Russians invading East Prussia , with Erich Ludendorff as chief of staff. The interactions between a commander and his chief of staff were elucidated by a successful practitioner of both roles, Hans von Seeckt The decision is taken in private, and when the two men come out, there is only one decision. They have amalgamated it; they share one mind with each other. Should

11544-578: Was one of the distinguishing features of the Prussian General Staff. Every General Staff officer had to be able, at any time, to take over the work of another and apply to it the same body of basic ideas and the same principles of operational and tactical thought. On October 1, 1859, the General War School was renamed the War Academy ( Kriegsakademie ), which was supervised by the Inspector-General of Military Education. Students at

11655-473: Was superior to the General Staff's intellectual analysis. Infantry support gun Infantry support guns or battalion guns are artillery weapons designed and used to increase the firepower of the infantry units they are intrinsic to, offering immediate tactical response to the needs of the unit's commanding officer . They typically have short, low- velocity barrels, and light construction carriages , allowing them to be more easily manoeuvered on

11766-466: Was the Chief of the General Staff from 1829 to 1848, was the son of a Brandenburg organ player and had been promoted from the ranks. General von Rheyer, Chief of the Prussian General Staff from 1848 to 1857 was a shepherd in his youth." The General Staff continually planned for likely and unlikely scenarios. In 1843, when Europe had been largely at peace for nearly thirty years and most major nations had no plans for war, observers noted sheaves of orders at

11877-424: Was there ever a large pool of officers to draw upon to perform General Staff duties. In 1871, there were only 375 officers fully qualified to serve on the General Staff, even after an emergency expansion during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1914, there were 625 General Staff-qualified officers for armies which had almost doubled in size since 1871. In 1857, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder , a widely travelled officer who

11988-430: Was to collect and review the committee outputs and to recommend changes to the committee structure, to military regulations and to doctrinal manuals. Seeing the intense effort being made by the army, the air service within the Truppenamt embarked on a similar programme and by mid-1920 the manpower that made up all these committees was over 500 officers. Whilst all the big nations revised their tactics post-World War I, it

12099-651: Was to ensure a better (though not infallible) system for appointing commanders. The Austro-Prussian War (1866) became almost inevitable after the end of hostilities with Denmark. Many Prussians regarded the war as a sad necessity. Moltke, describing his reasons for confidence to War Minister Albrecht von Roon , stated "We have the inestimable advantage of being able to carry our Field Army of 285,000 men over five railway lines and of virtually concentrating them in twenty-five days ... Austria has only one railway line and it will take her forty-five days to assemble 200,000 men." Although there were inevitable mistakes and confusion on

12210-467: Was trained as an artilleryman, became a prominent member of the Great General Staff, with the reputation of being the smartest man in the army. Some graduates were not enthusiastic about the first year of their training. For example, Paul von Hindenburg thought that the history of ancient battles should be minimized to give more time to modern, and that trigonometry was only useful to those who would be surveyors. The final two years satisfied him. While at

12321-495: Was unified as the Prussia-dominated German Empire ; King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed "German Emperor" on 18 January 1871. The German victory surprised many military professionals around the world. France had been considered a great military power while Prussia was widely considered a lesser power, despite its military successes in 1813–15 against Napoleon and more recently over Austria during

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