WWI was: 2nd and 3rd rate powers

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
> John said:
> > Actually, the Brits and Germans had first-rate forces
> > going into WWI.
>
> Yeah, and they had a long institutional military history, and they
> lost lots and lots of guys because doctrine didn't match reality.

Actually, I have come around to think that this commonly held view needs
qualification - certainly for the German side.

I have a German tactical handbook (Balck, "Taktik", Berlin 1903) that
has a
lot of sensible advice. And its tactics do not advice frontal attacks in
parade formation, especially not against well-entrenched troops. And in
the
open situations of the early phases or the Eastern front, the Germans
did
quite well. For an example of such flexible tactics in action, Rommel's
"Infantry attacks" is a good read. It even shows how to deal with thin
trench lines.
Heavy fortifications would be avoided. Unfortunately, the Western front
soon
froze into a single massive fortification, so attacking them could not
be
avoided. It's this aspect of a single long fortification that wasn't
predicted before the war, and, indeed, had no precedent.

Balck also criticizes French doctrine as over-aggressive and relying too
much on bayonet charges, and Russians as inflexible, due to the poor
education level of its troops - all this well before WWI.

Greetings