Stormtroop Tactics : Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918

Rating:
Summary: Should be on every soldier's reading list
Review: An outstanding dissection of the tactics and organization that the German Army used in order to overcome the stalemate caused by trench warfare. The author clearly shows how the Sturmtruppen, utilizing surface and gap style tactics were able to achieve tactical success. The best book I have read so far this year.

Rating:
Summary: Should be on every soldier's reading list
Review: An outstanding dissection of the tactics and organization that the German Army used in order to overcome the stalemate caused by trench warfare. The author clearly shows how the Sturmtruppen, utilizing surface and gap style tactics were able to achieve tactical success. The best book I have read so far this year.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written on WWI infantry
Review: I have read this book three or four times since I first purchased it in 1989, and it never fails to impress me with the attention to detail and meticulously researched origins of modern infantry combat. The book covers events leading up to WWI that cause turmoil in the German High Command regarding the use of infantry, and how scrutiny of specific tactical employments in various battles in the early to mid stages of the war led to the first experimental stormtroop unit. The book goes on to document the unit's successes and the eventual adoption of special stormtroop units to spearhead attacks at the division level, and finally how complete divisions were organized in the stormtroop fashion. All the major personalities, weaponry, and tactics involved are described in detail, and while dramatic descriptions of the gory and macabre business of trench warfare are omitted, one can easily infer from the descriptions of sharpened entrenching tools and flame throwers how violent and terrible it was to be on the receiving end of one of those attacks. Author Gudmundsson's work interjects some objective scholarship on this subject in an age where it is not politically correct to acknowledge the German military's pioneering efforts in both world wars in establishing modern combined arms tactics.

Rating:
Summary: Best of its kind
Review: Origin of the modern Infantry

This is the finest history of German tactical innovation during the First World War I've come across. Bruce Gudmundsson has served as a Marine Corps officer, as did I, and his study provides the answers to those many questions that were floating around in our heads during those cold nights in the woods around Quantico. The German Stosstruppen were the originators of the infantry tactics still used to this day. Even modern special operations forces can trace their linage to these small units that formed after the failure of the great Schlieffen Plan. It was the decentralized character of the German Army, as the author points out, that was the true secret of German combat efficiency and innovation. Company grade officers were given responsibly for their units' training following only broad guidelines dictated from above. Gudmundsson traces the evolution of the German infantry company and battalion, the development of new weapon systems and the coordination of infantry and artillery to maximize offensive operations. He provides and explains the original German terms for the various tactical concepts and organizations. Quotes from the Stosstrupp commander Ernst Jünger and others add an additional perspective. The only flaw I see in this otherwise superior book is the poor quality of the map illustrations, which provide little in the way of supporting information. The line and block charts on the other hand are useful. It's interesting to note that the reputation of the Stosstruppen or Sturmabteilungen was so great in Germany after the war, that the Nazis appropriated the latter term to describe their bands of uniformed thugs; an irony when considering that the original Stosstruppen included young German Jews and Poles who were more than ready to die for their Kaiser. I think a good companion to this book is the Osprey Warrior Series, German Stormtrooper 1914-1918 by Ian Drury and Gerry Embleton. This second volume provides photographs and color drawings of the weapons, troops and equipment discussed along with a bit of supplementary information.

Rating:
Summary: German Innovation
Review: This is and excellent text on German Infantry tactics of WWI (1914-1918). The Germans were always innovators when it applied to warfare, in WWI with the trench war at a stale mate the Germans formed these elite infantry "Stormtroop" units to infiltrate and breakthrough the lines to make way for their follow on troops. In this highly detailed account of the tactics employed by these Stormtrooper you will read how they were employed in mountain and fortress warfare, how they were organized and their special assault units. It is amazing to see a lot of these types of tactics are still employed today.