AUSTERLITZ
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13.WEHRMACHT FRONTSOLDATEN
Part-1
Fanatical,ruthless,innovative,disciplined,efficient,tenacious and bearers of both a proud military tradition and a barbarous regime's ideaology..they were modern history's greatest army.The measuring stick for all modern armies....an army that fought for only 6 yrs compared to all the other great armies of legend but in that short time earned both eternal fame as warriors par excellence and infamy as murderers of the highest calibre.They are the dreaded german wehrmacht.
For all the media attention taken up by the panzers,it was the modest foot infantry toiling through blood,sweat and mud-the landser or frontsoldaten that was the backbone of the german war machine.
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German infantry consistently outperformed its opponents in both offense and defense.The key to this was superior doctrine,unit co operation,low level initiative,a superb NCO cadre and high espirit de corps from a highly militarized society.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Hitler's legions assembled at a party rally.Many germans were fanatical ,ready to die for volk,aryan race,vaterland and fuhrer.
The coal scuttle shape german helmet became a infamous sight.The shape of this helmet was superior from british or french designs because it afforded greater protection against shrapnel.After the war americans would adopt the model in their new helmet.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Magnificent german infantry of the glory days of 1939-1942.Germany with its new tactics rapidly overran poland[2 weeks],france[6 weeks],norway and denmark,holland and belgium and the balkans.In russia they made massive initial gains.But this is where it finally met its match.Like napoleon before them,the germans were to learn a bitter and fatal lesson in humility in the frozen wastes of russia against an enemy every bit as ruthless and fanatical as them.
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One of the great differences in german infantry doctrine was its emphasis on firepower over mass.The german infantry section of 9 men revolved around the LMG and HMG,the machine guns.The job of the riflemen were to support and advance the machine guns which would then unleash a deadly hail of lead.Unlike the allies who relied upon riflemen as the main advancing force with mgs only in a supporting role,In a german platoon the MG was the main weapon.The above two weapons the mg-34 and mg-42 were the first general purpose machine guns in the world.Enormously successful they influenced all later designs and are still in use[mg-42].
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
The other infantry support weapon was the mortar,german mortars were superior to the allied ones in general.All german elite units had greater numbers of mortars and mgs per company.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
German section leaders with MP40 submachineguns at stalingrad.
One of the key factors of german success was superior low level leadership and initiative.The german army encouraged initiative.The core to this was the concept of 'aufragstaktik' or officer tactics.It essentially meant that officers were given an objective and higher level commanders didn't bother with micromanagement trusting their subordinates judgement and initiative to achieve that objective of their own initiative.The low level officers also had leverage to undertake actions that they deemed necessary without waiting for orders to meet a developing situation or crisis.This meant that german forces could react to situations in the chaos of war far faster than their centralized and rigid opponents.
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German army street fighting.
The other german advantage was the innovative use of 'battlegroups' or kampfgruppe.
The Kampfgruppe was an ad-hoc combined arms formation, usually employing combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery (including anti-tank) elements, generally organised for a particular task or operation. A Kampfgruppe could range in size from a corps to a company, but the most common was an Abteilung (battalion)-sized formation. Kampfgruppen were generally referred to by either their commanding officer's name or the parent division.This meant even when their parent divisions had sustained massive casualities and ceased to exist as seperate units,the germans could gather the survivors into temporary battlegroups and fight on or counterattack.This made them extremely tenacious and hard to defeat.
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German troops advance through a burning village amidst snow.The other great german advantage in organization was the tri linear model.Each german regiment had 3 battalions instead of british 4.This was proved to be superior and after the war most armies adopted this model.
next: Part 2- The weapons and equipment.
Part-1
Fanatical,ruthless,innovative,disciplined,efficient,tenacious and bearers of both a proud military tradition and a barbarous regime's ideaology..they were modern history's greatest army.The measuring stick for all modern armies....an army that fought for only 6 yrs compared to all the other great armies of legend but in that short time earned both eternal fame as warriors par excellence and infamy as murderers of the highest calibre.They are the dreaded german wehrmacht.
For all the media attention taken up by the panzers,it was the modest foot infantry toiling through blood,sweat and mud-the landser or frontsoldaten that was the backbone of the german war machine.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
German infantry consistently outperformed its opponents in both offense and defense.The key to this was superior doctrine,unit co operation,low level initiative,a superb NCO cadre and high espirit de corps from a highly militarized society.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Hitler's legions assembled at a party rally.Many germans were fanatical ,ready to die for volk,aryan race,vaterland and fuhrer.
The coal scuttle shape german helmet became a infamous sight.The shape of this helmet was superior from british or french designs because it afforded greater protection against shrapnel.After the war americans would adopt the model in their new helmet.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Magnificent german infantry of the glory days of 1939-1942.Germany with its new tactics rapidly overran poland[2 weeks],france[6 weeks],norway and denmark,holland and belgium and the balkans.In russia they made massive initial gains.But this is where it finally met its match.Like napoleon before them,the germans were to learn a bitter and fatal lesson in humility in the frozen wastes of russia against an enemy every bit as ruthless and fanatical as them.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
One of the great differences in german infantry doctrine was its emphasis on firepower over mass.The german infantry section of 9 men revolved around the LMG and HMG,the machine guns.The job of the riflemen were to support and advance the machine guns which would then unleash a deadly hail of lead.Unlike the allies who relied upon riflemen as the main advancing force with mgs only in a supporting role,In a german platoon the MG was the main weapon.The above two weapons the mg-34 and mg-42 were the first general purpose machine guns in the world.Enormously successful they influenced all later designs and are still in use[mg-42].
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
The other infantry support weapon was the mortar,german mortars were superior to the allied ones in general.All german elite units had greater numbers of mortars and mgs per company.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
German section leaders with MP40 submachineguns at stalingrad.
One of the key factors of german success was superior low level leadership and initiative.The german army encouraged initiative.The core to this was the concept of 'aufragstaktik' or officer tactics.It essentially meant that officers were given an objective and higher level commanders didn't bother with micromanagement trusting their subordinates judgement and initiative to achieve that objective of their own initiative.The low level officers also had leverage to undertake actions that they deemed necessary without waiting for orders to meet a developing situation or crisis.This meant that german forces could react to situations in the chaos of war far faster than their centralized and rigid opponents.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
German army street fighting.
The other german advantage was the innovative use of 'battlegroups' or kampfgruppe.
The Kampfgruppe was an ad-hoc combined arms formation, usually employing combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery (including anti-tank) elements, generally organised for a particular task or operation. A Kampfgruppe could range in size from a corps to a company, but the most common was an Abteilung (battalion)-sized formation. Kampfgruppen were generally referred to by either their commanding officer's name or the parent division.This meant even when their parent divisions had sustained massive casualities and ceased to exist as seperate units,the germans could gather the survivors into temporary battlegroups and fight on or counterattack.This made them extremely tenacious and hard to defeat.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
German troops advance through a burning village amidst snow.The other great german advantage in organization was the tri linear model.Each german regiment had 3 battalions instead of british 4.This was proved to be superior and after the war most armies adopted this model.
next: Part 2- The weapons and equipment.
