German troops of attack

Strategy and tactical .

German troops of attack .

In 1917, the high command in each camp had to recognize that the offensive strategy used at the time, which consisted of a long shooting of preliminary stopping followed by attacks measured in order to seize all the enemy positions according to a determined plan, did not function. The long shootings of stopping alerted the enemy, seldom destroyed his defenses or its capacities to be counteracted, and never caused heavy losses.

Certain tacticians considered new methods of combat based on the surprise and the fast movement of the troops. At the head, two German officers on the face is, the general Oskar von Hutier and the colonel George Bruchmüller. They concluded that a bombardment of artillery sudden and unexpected against enemy key positions, by using at the same time the pollutant Gas S and the Explosif S, would be more effective than a long stopping, particularly if the pieces of artillery were placed in position little before the attack so that they are not located.

They also estimated that it was necessary to avoid the enemy positions saved by the shootings of shell in order to prevent that the offensive is slowed down; on the contrary, of the specialized units of attack, the “troops of attack”, were to infiltrate as soon as possible with the back, to sow confusion and to destroy the communications progressively, rather than to tackle unfavourable positions frontally. Avion S would support the units of attack by aiming at the enemy targets and the pockets of resistance. (At the time of the Second world war, Adolf Hitler will also make use of its tactics, to invade the Poland, the Belgium and the France in 1939 )

These innovations were not entirely original. The Britanniques had gained a victory over the peak of Messines by using a short stopping. In the same way, the French had used similar tactics at the time of the offensive Nivelle with the Chemin of the Ladies in April 1917. However, Hutier and Bruchmüller understood that a bombardment surprised was not enough: the troops of attack and mobile artillery were also essential.

The new German tactics were tested for the first time on the face is, in September 1917, and with Caporetto, against the Italians, in October . Each time, they gained a bright success. During spring 1918, the same tactics were with two fingers to make it possible to the Germans to gain a great victory over the Western face.

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