History Quiz

[Martin Antonenko]

Today we are looking for a German general, born at Erfurt, who as a young officer served part of his service in Hesse, but was Prussian!


This general, who is almost unknown today - except for experts interested in history - became known in his time because he introduced new infantry tactics on the battlefield for the first time and on a grand scale.


The searched general had not invented this tactic, but copied it from a Russian general who had used it a year earlier - albeit for completely different motives.


Our searched general perfected this tactic - it became a standard tactic of the German army - and still bears his name today. This tactic replaced another one that was widely used at the time.


The tactic is still taught under this name at military academies in many countries.


The questions:


1. What was the name of the wanted general?

2. What were the tactics he introduced on the battlefield?

3. When for the first time?

4. What was the tactic called?

5. What common tactic did this replace?

6. What was the name of the Russian general from whom our wanted man copied this tactic?

7. For what reasons did the Russian use them?


Cheers

 

[akaryu]

The question lacks a bit of military academic precision, therefore the answers may seem a bit vague, but here we go:

1. General Oskar von Hutier

2. infiltration in depth on a small front, preceded by a concentrated artillery bombardment, Bruchmüller's Feuerwalze

3. On the Eastern front: siege of Riga 1917
On the Western front: Operation Michael, March 1918

4. infiltration tactic, Hutier tactic

5. mass wave attacks after long preliminary bombardment

6. General Aleksei Brusilov

7. Piercing of successive in-depth defence lines

cheers,

Pierre

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Everyting right.


Bravo!

 

[Nap]

Well done Pierre ..I managed a couple ....that Martin is a hard tester ....lol

Cheers Martin

Nap

 

[akaryu]

Thanks to the rigorous teaching by our excellent professors at the Belgian Military Academy!

A junior Alpenkorps officer who took these principles to heart at the Battle of Caporetto 1917, was one Erwin Rommel. Some may heard of him.

For a study on the artillery aspect of things, I'd recommend:

David Zabecki,"Steel Wind, Colonel Georg Bruchmüller and the Birth of Modern Artillery", Praeger ISBN 0-275-94749-1

Hans Linnenkohl, "Vom Einzelschuss zur Feuerwalze", Bernard&Graefe Verlag ISBN 3-7637-5966-2

cheers,

Pierre

 

[Martin Antonenko]

General der Infanterie Oskar von Hutier (1857 - 1934).




Born in Erfurt, he spent part of his service (1890 - 1894) in Hesse (as a lieutenant, later as a captain) with the Life Guards Infantry Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 115.

He pioneered a new infantry assault tactic on a large scale off Riga in 1917, which was so successful that it became a standard tactic for the Imperial German army.

The Germans called it "Tactics of the Assault Battalions", while the French gave it its actual name: "Tactique d'Hutier".

The "Hutian Tactics" consists of the following elements:

A short artillery bombardment with heavy calibers in combination with various poison gas shells would neutralize the enemy front line, but not destroy it. In addition, the enemy was not warned by the usual hours or even days of preparatory barrage.

Assault battalions would then advance under creeping artillery fire, infiltrating previously identified weak points in enemy defenses. In doing so, they would avoid fighting as much as possible and purposefully advance to enemy headquarters or artillery positions and capture or destroy them.

After the storm battalions did their job, heavy German army units with machine guns, mortars and flamethrowers would advance and attack targets not neutralized by the storm battalions.

In the final phase of the attack, regular infantry would break through any remaining enemy resistance.

The actual inventor of this tactic was the Russian general Aleksej Alekseevich Brusilov...



... who had already used it successfully in 1916, but out of sheer necessity:

At that time, the Russians simply did not have the necessary ammunition reserves for the long-lasting barrage that had been customary up to that point.

Cheers

 

[akaryu]

To be fair, in my answer to Question 7, I confounded "reasons" with "purpose".

As Martin mentions above, the reason for this change in tactic was of course the Russian lack of means i.e. artillery ammunition, the purpose being a concentrated deep breakthrough on a small section of the front.

Together with the principle of 'Auftragstaktik', this has led us to the now customary 'combined arms operations'. Because yes, in contrast to some politicians, capable military officers tend to learn from the past!

Pierre

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Hutier was not only an innovative general but also.military scientist and historican.

1911 and 1912 he was member of the Studienkommission of the Prussian Grosser Generalstab


Cheers