The stalemate in World War I created the need for a solution to escape this resource intense form of warfare. Following five unsuccessful German offenses in early 1918, the Germans found themselves in a solely defensive scenario conducting...
Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of the Prussian General Staff during the Franco-Prussian War, defined Auftragstaktik as the actions a subordinate took in the absence of orders that supported the senior commander's intent. The use of mission...
In recent years a plethora of comments have appeared praising the impressive combat effectiveness of the pre-1945 German Army. Many of these comments have attributed a large measure of the Germans' tactical success to the concept now referred to as...
This monograph is meant to inspire military professionals to approach Prussian military history as a source of concepts with enduring relevance for modern armed forces. Reference point for the examination is the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) and...
The purpose of this essay is to analyze cases of disobedience during twentieth-century military history as a means of addressing a number of issues. Why do soldiers disobey? What are their motives for disobedience? What is the legitimacy and...
The focus of this study is on how the armies of different nations countered the threat of massive concentrated artillery and/or other types of preparatory fires. Not all were successful, and the reasons for the success or failure of each army...
This monograph discusses German general officer casualties in World War II with respect to possible U.S. Army general officer losses in AirLand Battle. Such losses adversely affect both command and control and morale in large unit operations. This...
This study reviews the problems of the German General Staff during the First World War in an attempt to highlight successes and understand failures. The investigation focuses on the traditional staff functions of intelligence, operations, logistics...
As the United States Army prepares for the 21st Century, few things are as certain as the tremendous influence that emerging technologies will have on military capability. The purpose of this monograph is to establish how you reconcile...
The application of the maneuver warfare theory as tactical doctrine within the U.S. Marine Corps has been a contentious issue for several years. The Marines adopted this theory for its tactical doctrine in 1988. The purpose of this monograph is to...
This study examines the evolution of the German Army's defensive doctrine on the Russian Front from 1941 to 1945. It begins by reviewing prewar doctrine as expressed in German field manuals and professional journals. German defensive techniques are...