Rommel's Remarkable Tactics at Caporetto

Erwin Rommel with Pour le Mérite

Within two days of the opening of the Battle of Caporetto on 24 October 1917, Lt. Erwin Rommel’s Württemberg Mountain Battalion captured three peaks south of Caporetto and 9,000 Italian soldiers. What was the key to this amazing accomplishment? To answer this, I've had to draw on the  writings of three different militay commentators. This article  is a bit patched together, but I think it captures both the fresh thinking and pure animal energy of the young Rommel.

Since the beginning of his military career, Erwin Rommel showed signs of bravery, intuition, and contempt for higher authority that he felt did not understand the tactical situation. In September of 1914, Rommel was wounded in the leg when, having run out of ammunition, he charged three Frenchmen with a bayonet. After returning to the front lines in the Argonne area in January of 1915, Rommel received his first decoration for bravery, the Iron Cross Class I. In October of 1915, he was transferred to the mountain unit for training. Rommel was posted to the Carpathian Front, in the area of Siebenburgen, in late 1916, where he took part in the assaults on Mount Cosna and Caporetto. For his subsequent outstanding action at Caporetto, Rommel received Germany’s highest award, the Pour le Mérite, Order of Merit, and was promoted to the rank of captain. Rommel was one of few junior officers awarded the Pour le Mérite.  Shortly after, he was posted to a junior staff appointment, where he remained to the end of the war. 

After the war, Rommel went to Stuttgart, where he commanded an infantry regiment and served as an instructor at the infantry school in Dresden. During this time, Rommel wrote and published his book, Infanterie greift (Infantry Attacks), which he based on his experiences during World War I, and, of course there is extensive discussion of Caporetto and the follow-up campaign in which his unit pursued the retreating Italian forces to Monte Grappa.

Several serving infantry officers have commented that the idea of having a large firere-support element and a small assault group is nothing new, and that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was doing it as early as World War I, which Rommel’s own book Infantry Attacks demonstrates. Consider, for example, the German attack on Mt Matajur in October 1917. In mountainous terrain, Rommel’s detachment succeeded in infiltrating successive enemy defensive lines, capturing 9150 prisoners and eighty-one guns for the loss of only six killed and thirty wounded—an astounding casualty ratio for a battle in World War I.   Rommel’s method was to employ "a supporting element, usually consisting of massed machine-guns, in position to suppress enemy forces while a small penetration element created and widened a gap and his exploitation element (which usually consisted of the bulk of his forces) passed through the gap and moved deep into enemy lines’

A careful reconnaissance of enemy lines was always conducted to find gaps or areas where Rommel’s forces could closely approach enemy lines. During the execution of the attack, he always tried to take advantage of terrain, weather, and weaknesses in enemy deployment to move his forces through enemy lines with a minimal amount of contact. In other words, he always tried to infiltrate. If he could infiltrate without any contact or by quietly surprising and dispatching a small enemy position or section of the line, then he did so. If the infiltration option failed, he was always ready to execute a penetration by: (1) having a supporting element, usually consisting of massed machine guns, in position to suppress enemy forces while (2) a small penetration element created and widened a gap and (3) his exploitation element (which usually consisted of the bulk of his forces) passed through the gap and moved deep into enemy lines.

German Soldiers with Italian Prisoners at Caporetto

The infiltration or penetration was not the objective, it was simply a means to an end. The objective was to get through enemy front lines in order to get to logistic and command post areas and key terrain in the enemy rear. Rommel’s reconnaissances were usually made while the men rested, and were almost always conducted by officers and NCOs. These leaders were more lightly equipped and did not suffer the fatigue that the men did, making them available for scouting missions.

The leaders conducting these patrols were usually given the freedom to make and secure gaps in the enemy lines if possible. If these reconnaissance patrols came across enemy elements that were not sufficiently alert, the recon patrol would capture them and thus create their own gap. Often these recon elements, in the purest form of “recon pull,” made the gaps, sent back a runner, and “pulled” the rest of the unit through. Such gaps are a tenuous, ephemeral commodity, and Rommel always took immediate advantage of these opportunities, communicating back to his men a sense of urgency and the feeling that “a second’s delay might snatch away victory.”

In support of his recon pull, Rommel made extensive use of visual observation, using his binoculars more than any other single piece of equipment. In later operations he made excellent use of a powerful (captured) telescope and an ad hoc observation squad to conduct visual reconnaissance prior to attacking.

During the passage of his forces through three enemy lines of mountain defensive positions, Rommel made repeated use of stealthy approaches to surprise the enemy and infiltrate into his positions. On several occasions he took advantage of adverse weather, the fog of war, and fluid front line situations to deceive the enemy into believing that his troops were Italians. In one situation he prepared careful fire support and disposed his troops for a penetration operation, but in hopes of taking it by surprise he ordered a select squad under a handpicked leader to “move up the path as if he and his men were Italians returning from the front, to penetrate into the hostile position and capture the garrison… They were to do this with a minimum of shooting and hand grenade throwing. In case a battle developed they were assured of fire protection and support by the entire detachment.” In this instance they succeeded in silently capturing a hostile dugout with 17 Italians and a machine gun. The gap was widened as dozens of additional Italians were captured by approaching their positions from the flank and rear, and the way was opened to move even deeper into the enemy positions — all without firing a shot.

The stealth of these attacks was maintained at all cost, and if some enemy soldiers chose to run rather than surrender, Rommel’s men “did not fire on this fleeing enemy for fear of alarming the garrisons of positions located still higher up.” Rommel found that “The farther we penetrated into the hostile zone of defense, the less prepared were the garrisons for our arrival, and the easier the fighting.”

As Rommel relates in his Infantry Attacks, his troops’ momentum also let them rely on enemy supplies. He and his men made good use of captured enemy pack animals and bicycles during attacks. (Had he needed vehicular mobility it would have been readily available to him by using the vehicles captured in his ambushes, but his strength was in his ability to approach from unexpected directions over rough terrain.) In a later operation they were even able to acquire clean, dry underwear and sleeping gear from a captured Italian laundry depot, and on several occasions they came to rely “on the abundant weapons and stores of ammunition” captured from the Italians. 

The most common enemy asset, and that which seemed to have given him and his men the most joy, was the enemy’s food. “The contents of the [captured] vehicles offered us starved warriors unexpected delicacies. Chocolate, eggs, preserves, grapes, wine and white bread were unpacked and distributed. The worthy… troopers… were served first… morale two miles behind the enemy front was wonderful!”

If you have any interest in military operations or the personal story of Erwin Rommel, by all means ready his Infantry Attacks. Remember the film Patton, when he says, "Dammit Rommel, I read your book."  Infantry Attacks is that book. 

Lt. Col. David Kilcullan, Australian Army Journal, Vol 1. No. 1; Walter Zapotoczny at wzaponline.com; and David Grossman in On Killing

How Much Did Rommel Apply His World War I Book in World War II?

Lt. Erwin Rommel in the Early Days of World War I

I.  WWI and Infantry Attacks

Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) served as an aggressive and highly decorated German infantry lieutenant during World War I, earning Germany's highest military honor, the Pour le Mérite. He saw combat on the Western Front in France, in Romania, and on the Italian Front. We have earlier presented a number of articles about his Great Service on Roads to the Great War and they can be accessed HERE. 

In 1937, then Lt. Col. Rommel, an instructor at the Potsdam Military Academy, saw published his quasi-war memoir, written in the form of tactical case studies titled Infantry Attacks (German: Infanterie greift an). Its professed purpose was to share his lessons from the Great War and to be adopted as training resource for junior officers. It turned out to be—whether intended or not—a masterpiece of self-promotion. Coming from neither a traditional military family nor the Prussian aristocracy, he was not an army insider tabbed for high office.  Rommel's clear, direct writing style were perfect for his targeted readership, and his emphasis on aggressive leadership, speed, deception, terrain utilization, and shock troops was a perfect formula for erasing the dismal memories of trench warfare. The book became a bestseller that attracted numerous well-placed admirers, particularly Adolf Hitler, with whom he had crossed paths earlier. It's no accident that Rommel's first command in the Second World War was of Hitler's personal headquarters security.

In Africa

II. WWII Commands

While never quite achieving the zenith of leadership for the German Army, Rommel held an impressive string of commands, before accepting the poison pills of Hitler's henchmen.

• Hitler's Headquarters (1939–1940): Commanded the Fuhrer Headquarters security troops during the invasion of Poland.

• 7th Panzer Division (1940–1941): The invasion of France.

• Afrika Corps (1941–1942).

• Operation in Northern Italy (1943–1944).

• Commanded Defenses Along the Atlantic War (1944)

III.  How He Applied His Own Lessons in WWII

Infantry Attacks was a book about tactics, written through the eyes of a junior infantry officer. It does not address strategy or "big picture" issues like logistics, large-scale force maneuvering, supply, or combined arms operations. Consequently, there seems to be a noticeable correlation between the advice of Infantry Attacks and Rommel's most notable and legendary achievements during the Second World War. On the tactical level there were some notable achievements. However, on the larger scale, the results were not as impressive.

Rommel: The Desert Fox

Leading from the Front: Just as he commanded small infantry units at the point of main effort (Schwerpunkt) in WWI, Rommel constantly operated out of forward command vehicles or reconnaissance planes in WWII—earning his 7th Panzer Division the moniker "Ghost Division" because even his own high command often did not know his exact location or intentions. Later, as commander of the Atlantic Wall, Rommel was initially a "whirling dervish", rapidly energizing construction, touring the coasts, and motivating troops and French laborers.

Speed and Surprise: His infantry shock tactics (Stoßtruppen) relied on deep, rapid penetrations to disorient defenders and induce surrender rather than engaging in slow slugfests. He translated this tempo to armor highly successfully during the 1940 French campaign and the North African desert campaigns. His crossing of the Meuse River,  for example, will always, be an object of study at military colleges.  His later execution of the occupation of Italy in 1943 was remarkable as he quickly captured critical alpine passes and secured his communication lines, while disarming over one million Italian soldiers.

Psychological Warfare and Deception: Rommel routinely used feints, reconnaissance in force, aggressive positioning, and displays of overwhelming localized pressure to deceive enemies about his actual strength and make them feel surrounded or outflanked. While not especially admirable, he did show considerable insights into partisan resistance tactics and utter ruthlessness in suppressing them in Italy and the Balkans. In his final assignment, he was not listened to when he advised that the Allied invasion had to be stopped on the beaches within the first 24 hours, because the enemy's naval and air power would paralyze any deep-inland counterattacks.

Late Photo of Rommel with His Family

Rommel: The Limitations

Neglecting Logistics: Applying a junior officer's hyper-aggressive, fast-moving infantry mindset to entire Panzer armies caused severe logistical blind spots. Rommel frequently outran his supply lines and fuel trucks in North Africa because he prioritized operational momentum over administrative sustainability.

Command and Control Breakdown: His personal, decentralized style worked for a company or battalion, but at the division and army level, it often resulted in a reckless disregard for broader coordination and higher command directives. The "Ghost Division" nickname was not always meant as complimentary. His most notable failure in this regard occurred in the November 1942 Second Battle of ElAlamein, when his forward headquarters lost all contact with  his frontline units.

His Pessimism: Rommel grew progressively pessimistic about Germany's prospects in the war. This trait is totally absent in Infantry Attacks, which ends with the post-Caporetto operations in Italy, when Germany still seemed in a position to win the war. [Rommel served the entirety of 1918, when things turned bad for Germany, in a staff position.]  

Rommel’s pessimism began to manifest during the later stages of the North Africa Campaign. Hitler famously confided to Albert Speer that “Rommel has lost his nerve; he's become a pessimist." After the Normandy breakout by the Allies, he became almost openly defeatist and possibly a supporter of the 20 July assassination attempt. This cost him his life.

The Editor's Call:  

How closely did Rommel apply his First World War lessons?  From my readings of various sources, its seems like he did apply many of those lessons to the battlefields of the Second World War, possibly to a fault, and he did seem to have some blind spots. However, I remember a speaker at some long ago military conference who claimed that of all the notable generals of WWII, Rommel did "the mostest with the leastest."

Sources: Military History; HistoryNet; Military Strategy Magazine; Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel (highly recommended and can be ordered HERE.)

D-Day – Great War Connections

There are many interesting connections between the D-Day invasion and the Great War. I thought we would share a few today on its 69th Anniversary.

Click on Image to Expand

United States National Guard Memorial,
Omaha Beach, Vierville-sur-Mer

America's National Guard Memorial for both World Wars is located at the west end of Omaha Beach. That section of the beach was where the 29th Division landed on 6 June. This is the area featured in both Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day (remember Robert Mitchum as General Norman Cotta?). It was also the place where the Bedford Boys met their fate. The 29th Division, a unit formed with National Guard troops from the Atlantic Coast region, also fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of WWI. The distinguished service of the division in what are the most famous American battles of both World Wars contributed to the selection of this site as the National Guard's National Memorial. The large panel to the left on the photo above describes the contributions of the National Guard to the U.S. victory in WWI.

Click on Image to Expand

Erwin Rommel with Pour le Mérite

Except for Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, almost every senior officer on both sides at Normandy had served at the fronts in the Great War. The most highly decorated of these, however, was Atlantic Wall commander Erwin Rommel. He is shown here wearing his Pour le Mérite, awarded for his service at Caporetto in 1917. Rommel's reputation as a general bounces up and down a bit, but if you are ever able to visit Caporetto and track his actions there, you will undoubtedly conclude he was one fantastic lieutenant.

Click on Image to Expand

Graves of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
Omaha Beach Cemetery, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

There is a single American who fell in the Great War buried at the Omaha Beach Cemetery with all the casualties of the 1944 campaign. It is President Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin, a former Nieuport 28 pilot with the 95th Aero Squadron. He was shot down and killed in July 1918, then buried near his crash site. His brother, Theodore, Jr., died in 1944 from heart disease shortly after leading the initial assault on Utah Beach as the assistant commander of the 4th Division. At the family's request, Quentin was re-interred to lie in peace next to his brother. The gold star on Ted's grave indicates the Medal of Honor which he received for his actions at Normandy. Ted had also served with distinction and had been seriously wounded in World War I.

75th Anniversary of D-Day: The World War One Connections (A Roads Classic)

There are many interesting connections between the D-Day invasion and the Great War. I thought we would share a few today on its 75th Anniversary.

Click on Image to Expand

United States National Guard Memorial,
Omaha Beach, Vierville-sur-Mer

America's National Guard Memorial for both World Wars is located at the west end of Omaha Beach. That section of the beach was where the 29th Division landed on 6 June. This is a sector featured in both Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day (remember Robert Mitchum as General Norman Cotta?). It was also the place where the Bedford Boys met their fate. The 29th Division, a unit formed with National Guard troops from the Atlantic Coast region, also fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of WWI. The distinguished service of the division in what are the most famous American battles of both World Wars contributed to the selection of this site as the National Guard's National Memorial. The large panel to the left on the photo above describes the contributions of the National Guard to the U.S. victory in WWI.

Click on Image to Expand

Erwin Rommel with Pour le Mérite

Except for Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, almost every senior officer on both sides at Normandy had served at the fronts in the Great War. The most highly decorated of these, however, was Atlantic Wall commander Erwin Rommel. He is shown here wearing his Pour le Mérite, awarded for his service at Caporetto in 1917. Rommel's reputation as a general bounces up and down a bit, but if you are ever able to visit Caporetto and track his actions there, you will undoubtedly conclude he was one fantastic lieutenant.

Click on Image to Expand

Graves of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
Omaha Beach Cemetery, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

There is a single American who fell in the Great War buried at the Omaha Beach Cemetery with all the casualties of the 1944 campaign. It is President Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin, a former Nieuport 28 pilot with the 95th Aero Squadron. He was shot down and killed in July 1918, then buried near his crash site. His brother, Theodore, Jr., died in 1944 from heart disease shortly after leading the initial assault on Utah Beach as the assistant commander of the 4th Division. At the family's request, Quentin was re-interred to lie in peace next to his brother. The gold star on Ted's grave indicates the Medal of Honor which he received for his actions at Normandy. Ted had also served with distinction and had been seriously wounded in World War I.

Also See Our Article: 
Overlord's Commanders and Their Great War Service
HERE

Trench Raiding à la Rommel, Part II

Typical No-Man's-Land in the Vosges Sector

Part I of this article appeared in yesterday's (18 February 2021) posting on Roads to the Great War.

Part II

Those were hours of strenuous work! Occasionally, a wire cracked and we stopped work and strained our ears to listen into the night. By midnight we had cut our way through the second wire belt and we were a hundred feet from the enemy trench. Unfortunately the rain and the storm abated somewhat, and it had become a bit lighter. Ahead of us lay high and continuous chevaux-de-frise [a defensive barrier, sometimes spiked].

Each separate framework was long and heavy and the innumerable wires were too heavy for our light wire cutters. We crawled a few yards to the right and tried to separate two of the chevaux-defrise. This effort merely made a lot of noise, which sounded to us like a thunderclap. If the hostile sentries, now a hundred or so feet away, failed to hear us, they were surely asleep.

The next few minutes were not pleasant, but all remained quiet on the southern front. I gave up trying to separate the chevaux-de-frise which were too firmly anchored and, after a brief search, we found a shell crater which gave us an opening. We wormed our way through and covered the few yards between us and the enemy position.

Rommel's Plan

Another shower started. The three of us were between the wire and the enemy trench where the water trickled down the trench bottom over some stone steps and on into the valley, Cautiously, the leading men of the assault detachment squeezed under the chevaux-de-frise. The remainder were farther back in the first and second wire belts. Suddenly we heard footsteps coming down the trench from our left. Several Frenchmen approached us coming downhill in the trench and their slow and even steps resounded in the night. They were unaware of our presence. I estimated their strength at three for four men. A trench patrol ? What were we to do ? Jump them or let them pass? The chances of jumping them without raising a ruckus were remote. It would be a man for man fight. Our own assault detachment could not take part for it was still out in the wire. We could have overpowered the trench patrol, but then the trench garrison would have gone into action and covered the barriers with fire. Our return would have cost us dearly and, under such conditions, we would have had little luck in bringing back a prisoner. I quickly weighed the pros and cons and decided to let the enemy pass unmolested.

My two companions, Schafferdt and Pfeiffer were informed and we took complete cover at the edge of the hostile trench for, above all, we had to hide our hands and faces. The chevaux-de-frise interfered with our crawling back. We would have been detected had the French patrol been on the job. In case they were, we got ready to jump them. With our dispositions made, we lay and waited.

Their footsteps were regular and they conversed softly. Anxious seconds crawled by. Without hesitation, the French trench patrol came abreast of us and went on. While the sound of footsteps died away, we heaved a sigh of relief and waited a few minutes to see if they would return. Then, one after the other, we dropped into the trench. The rain had stopped and only the wind whistled over the bare slope. As the wary men entered the trench, bits of earth and rock broke loose from the trench wall and tumbled noisily down onto the stone steps. Again anxious minutes passed. Finally the whole assault detachment was in the trench.

We divided and Lieutenant Schafferdt, with ten men, went down the slope while Staff Sergeant Schropp and his ten went in the opposite direction. I went with Schropp. We felt our way carefully up the steep trench. Only a few steps separated us from our objective, the sentry post on the rock ledge. We wondered if the enemy had noticed anything. We stopped and listened. Suddenly over on the left something smacked into the barrier, followed immediately by an explosion on the trench parapet on the right. Hand grenades exploded with a roar. The leading man of the assault detachment reeled back, and the whole detachment became jammed in the trench. The next hand grenade salvo struck among us. It was a question of attacking immediately or surrendering. "Let 'em have it!" We rushed the enemy and managed to pass under his hand-grenade fire. Stierle, my groom, who had come up forward for this party only, was hit on the larynx by a Frenchman, and Sergeant Nothacker dispatched the man with his pistol. A short time afterward, two other men of the sentry detachment were overpowered. One Frenchman managed to escape to the rear.

Typical Trench—Vosges Sector

With our flashlights, we made a hurried search for dugout entrances. We found one hole that was empty, but a second one was full of Frenchmen. With my pistol in my right hand and flashlight in my left, I crawled into the twenty-inch opening followed by Sergeant Quandte. Seven fully armed Frenchmen sat along the wall, but they threw down their arms after a brief argument. The safest course was to take care of these lads with a grenade or two, but this was contrary to our orders, which specified that prisoners were to be brought back.

Lieutenant Schafferdt reported two prisoners with no losses in his unit. While we were occupied with the job at hand, the wire-cutting detachments had been working like beavers and the paths through the wire were ready.

Since the coup had accomplished its purpose, I gave the order to withdraw. We had to break away before French reserves got into action. Without further annoyance from the enemy, we regained our position with a bag of eleven prisoners. Particularly pleasing was the fact that we suffered no real casualties. Lance Corporal Stierle had a slight scratch from a hand grenade fragment. Recognition by our superior officers for this fine operation was not long in coming.

Unfortunately, the next day brought retribution, for a French sniper picked off Staff Sergeant Kollman in a quiet sector of the company trench. This lamented loss dampened our joy over the successful Pinetree Knob affair.

Lt. Erwin Rommel

After this the days in the "Open Position" were numbered. The Supreme Army Command had other work for the Württemberg Mountain Battalion. Toward the end of October we moved east.

Trench Raiding à la Rommel, Part I

The Future "Desert Fox" with a WWI Friend

In the fall of 1916, that most industrious lieutenant, Erwin Rommel, found himself deployed with the Württemberg Mountain Battalion to the Vosges Mountains in Alsace, about 25 miles north of the Swiss border.  In his 1937 somewhat self-promoting case study book known in some sources as Infantry Attacks, he discusses a successful trench raid  he had commanded while posted there. In the essay, which uniquely covers the attack from concept to its aftermath, he reveals the thoroughness, self-confidence, and determination to "lead from the front," that would serve him throughout his service in both World Wars. In his book, he heads this section, "Raid on 'Pinetree Knob' Sector." I've been unable to locate its exact location, so the  position shown on the map below is only approximate and the trench photos here are all from the general sector, not specifically Pine Tree Knob.

Part I

Early in October 1916, several units, among them the 2d Company, were ordered to prepare plans for raiding the enemy to take prisoners. My Argonne experience showed me that this type of work was dangerous, difficult to organize, and usually resulted in a high casualty list and, for this reason, I held my boys in check as far as raids were concerned. Once ordered, I pitched in and started planning. To begin with, in order to determine the feasibility of working into the enemy position, I went out on reconnaissance, accompanied by Staff Sergeants Büttler and Kollmar. We crept and crawled through the tall and fairly dense fir forest toward a French sentry post, established at the upper end of a forest path leading up toward the enemy. The path was overgrown with tall grass and weeds and we were most careful in crossing it some fifty yards from the enemy. Once across, we slipped into a ditch and wormed our way forward. 

Cutting through the mass of barbed wire with cutters was a back-breaking job requiring a maximum of caution. Night began to fall and we heard, but could not see, the French sentry move about his post. It was slow work getting through the wire, especially since we could only cut the lowest strand of wire. Eventually we reached the middle of the entanglement. At this point the French sentry exhibited a certain amount of restlessness and cleared his throat and coughed several times. Was he afraid or had he heard us? If he tossed a hand grenade into our ditch, it was curtains for the three of us. To make matters worse, we could not move, let alone defend ourselves. We held our breath and let the tense moments tick by. As soon as the sentry quieted down, I began to withdraw. By this time it was totally dark. In crawling back, we snapped a few twigs and this inadvertent act received immediate recognition. The enemy alerted his entire position and for minutes sprayed the entire landscape between positions with all varieties of small arms fire. We hugged the ground and let them pass over us. When silence fell, we resumed our journey and returned without suffering any casualties. Our reconnaissance proved conclusively the difficulty of raiding in those wooded sectors.

Next day, I proceeded to examine the possibilities of getting into a hostile position called Pinetree Knob, and found the situation more favorable. Under cover of darkness, the position entanglements could be reached silently by moving up a grass-covered glade. However, the barriers consisted of three separate belts of wire requiring hours to cut. Only five hundred feet separated our trenches from those of the enemy. It took several days and nights of careful reconnaissance before we were able to determine the exact location of two sentry posts on Pinetree Knob. One was located in the center of a glade in a concealed sentry box; the other was two hundred feet to the left on a rock ledge from which it was easy to cover the surrounding terrain with fire as well as with visual observation. Only on rare occasions did we receive machine gun fire from this part of the sector.

General Terrain in the Vosges

Any operation in this direction moving over grassy terrain totally devoid of cover required a moonless night. During the next few days and nights we studied the details of the approaches into the Pinetree Knob position and observed the personal habits of the garrisons of both outposts. In doing so, we carefully avoided drawing our opponent's attention to the impending expedition. I based my plans on the results obtained through our reconnaissance. This time I did not intend to sneak into the positions proper; I proposed to negotiate the wire field midway between the two posts, get in this trench and then strike them in flank or preferably in the rear. The raid required a force of twenty men, for we had to split up on arrival in the hostile trench. Also I had to plan to get my raiding parties out and I had to allow for a possible attack by the local trench garrison. A wire-cutting party was to be placed opposite each enemy outpost. They were to crawl up to the edge of the wire and remain there doing nothing until the raiders started cleaning out the trench with pistols and hand grenades or until signaled from within the captured outpost positions. Not until one or other happened were they to start cutting the wire and make a path for the raiders' escape. 

I discussed the raid with the subordinate leaders, using sketches and pointing out the terrain from the trench. The various detachments started their preparations by holding rehearsals close behind our positions. October 4 was a cold and nasty day. A strong northwest wind drove clouds through our 3500-foot position. Toward evening the wind changed into a storm, and a rain of cloudburst proportions beat down. This was weather I had been praying for. By that time the French sentries had their heads deep in their coat collars and had taken refuge in the most sheltered corner of their sentry holes, thus reducing their efficiency as guards. In addition, the wind would drown out most of the noise occasioned by our approach and wire cutting. I reported to Major Sproesser my intention to carry out the raid during the coming night and received approval.

French Position Similar to Rommel's Description

Three hours before midnight, in a pitch black, stormy and rainy night, I left our positions with my three detachments and crawled slowly toward the hostile position. Soon the wire-cutting detachments under Staff Sergeant Kollmar and Lance Corporal Stetter left us and moved off to the right and to the left. Lieutenant Schafferdt, Staff Sergeant Pfeiffer, and I went with the assault detachment and crawled behind our wire-cutters. The other twenty soldiers followed in single file at three-pace intervals. We crawled noiselessly toward the enemy. The wind howled and whipped rain into our faces, and soon soaked us to the skin. We listened anxiously into the night. Single shots rang out here and there and an occasional rocket flare flickered in the darkness, but the enemy remained quiet. The night was so dark that the silhouettes of the surrounding rocks were indistinguishable at more than sixteen feet.

We reached the first obstacle and the hard work began. One of our trio wrapped a rag around every strand before using the cutters. Another took the tension off the wires, and the third slowly cut the wire through. The ends of the cut wire were bent back carefully to prevent betrayal by the noise which would result were they allowed to fly back unimpeded. Every move had been tested beforehand.

We stopped work occasionally and listened intently into the night before starting our tiresome job again. In this manner, inch by inch, we cut our way through the high, wide and very finely lace French wire. We had to content ourselves with cutting a path through the lower strands only.

Continued tomorrow in Part II

100 Years Ago: Bucharest Falls

By Matt Church

Ferdinand, King of Romania, During the War

On 5 December 1916, the Romanian capital of Bucharest fell to enemy forces and effectively brought an end to Romania's disastrous participation in the First World War. Romania remained neutral in the early stages of the war, only to find itself assailed by German, Bulgarian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman forces by the end of 1916. The main Romanian national interest was in Hapsburg-controlled Transylvania, home to three million Romanians. Allied success would begin the process that led to the decimation of the Romanian Army. The success of the Brusilov offensive made Romania more inclined to accept Allied territorial offerings in return for participation. On 17 August 1916, France and Russia agreed to reward Romania with Transylvania, the Bukovina, the southern tract of Galicia, and the Barat after the peace treaty in return for their participation on the Allied side (Keegan, 2000). The strategic situation for Romania was precarious and they were surrounded by enemy forces on three sides; nonetheless, they entered the war on 27 August 1916. 

Bolstered by their performance in the Second Balkan War and confident of the Russian Army checking the German and Austro-Hungarian forces, the Romanians overestimated the potential of their 23-division army. The Romanian Army paid scant attention to the threat of Bulgarian or Ottoman attacks. Russian commander-in-chief Alexeyev believed Romanian participation to be more of a hindrance than asset; he would be proven correct. While Allied forces attempted a diversionary attack at Salonika, the Romanian Army invaded the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the passes of the Transylvanian Alps and occupied Eastern Transylvania (Keegan, 2000). Allied commanders had expected the Romanians to attack Bulgaria. This would be the high point of Romanian participation in the war. 

Romanian Forces Abandon the City

While Romanian forces did nothing after their initial success, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces prepared a counterattack. Austro-Hungarian local defense forces were quickly organized into the First Army to oppose the Romanians and on 2 September, Bulgarian forces invaded the Romanian province of the Dobruja. On 25 September, German forces under Falkenhayan began to drive the Romanians back through the Transylvanian passes. Part of this German force was composed of the Alpenkorps and included the young Erwin Rommel. After driving the Romanian army through the Transylvanian passes, German forces continued to force the Romanians toward the central plains of Romania and toward Bucharest. By late 1916, German and Austro-Hungarian forces were assailing the Romanian Army and driving them further into their own borders while Bulgarian and Ottoman forces were in the Dobruja province, the Ottomans having taken the sea route to assist in the assault. On 5 December 1916, Mackensen's German forces crossed the Danube and took Bucharest, and the Romanians retreated to Moldavia and entrenched themselves between the Sereth River and Russian border. 

German Troops Occupy Bucharest

The Romanian decision to enter the war was disastrous. By the end of 1916, they had lost 310,000 men, nearly half as prisoners, and almost the whole of their country (Keegan, 1916). Their defeat also left Germany in control of the Ploesti oilfields, the only source of European oil west of the Black Sea. Germany gained one million tons of oil and two million tons of grain through their defeat of Romania, and these gains would help continue the German war effort into 1918. Not only did their victory yield material gains, but the German victory also necessitated the diversion of Russian forces to rescue the Romanian Army. The results of the Allied recruitment of Romania did not prove a benefit to the Allied cause, but actually diminished allied strength and forced a diversion of resources. Romania's decision became their folly. 

Deeds Still Remembered for Good or Ill: Ten WWI Recipients of the Pour le Mérite

The Pour le Mérite, known informally during World War I as the Blue Max, was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order until the end of World War I. The original regulations called for the capture or successful defense of a fortification, or victory in a battle. By World War I, the oak leaves often indicated a second or higher award of the Pour le Mérite. Although it could be awarded to any military officer, many of its most famous recipients were the pilots of the German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte), whose exploits were celebrated in wartime propaganda. It was awarded 1,687 times in the First World War. This included 122 awards with the additional oak leaves.

• Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German U-boat commander for sinking 194 ships, totaling 453,716 tons of Allied shipping, the most by any submarine commander in history. 

• Oswald Boelcke is important as a pioneering figure in the history of aerial warfare, particularly for his contributions to the development of fighter tactics during World War.  "Dicta Boelcke" is the foundational set of rules for aerial combat. (Photo: Bottom Right)

• Hermann Göring, was decorated as an ace pilot in June 1918, later Reichsmarschall, head of the Luftwaffe, and second in command of Germany's Third Reich. War criminal. (Photo: Bottom Left)

• Ernst Jünger, novelist and the last living holder of the Pour le Mérite at the time of his death in 1998.  Wounded 14 times during the war.

• Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, who led German forces in the guerrilla campaign in German East Africa. One of Germany's greatest postwar heroes.  (Photo: Top Left)

• Erich Ludendorff, German general of World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite in August 1914, one of the earliest World War I awards, for the siege of Liège.  (Photo: Top Right)

• Manfred von Richthofen,  the top-scoring ace of World War I.   As the "Red Baron" has posthumously received mythic status throughout the world.

• Erwin Rommel, the future "Desert Fox" distinguished himself on multiple fronts of the war, especially at Caporetto in 1917.

• Hans von Seeckt, brilliant staff officer in World War I; awarded the Pour le Mérite in May 1915 and the oak leaves in November 1915 for contributions on the Eastern Front. After the war, he was instrumental in surreptitiously rebuilding the postwar German army.

Lonesome Memorials #6: La Vaux-Marie

If you knew what went on at this site in September 1914, the humble marker shown above might seem utterly out of proportion to the history made here. On the night of 9/10 September, one of the critical episodes of the Battle of the Marne took place. This action may have saved the day—and the war—for France.  

Holding the little plateau known as Vaux-Marie were forces of General Maurice Sarrail's Third Army.  Facing them were units of Crown Prince Wilhelm's Fifth Army.  Possibly unknown to the Poilus at Vaux-Marie, Wilhelm's staff had come up with a plan that—if successful—could have undermined the entire strategy of General Joffre, who was hoping to reverse France's fortunes in a single decisive action. Fifth Army had detached one of its corps 12 miles to the east with the mission of forcing a crossing of the Meuse River and getting behind the main French formations which were pushing North. This effort, however, was held up by the small French screening force along the Meuse and the mighty efforts of the small but perfectly located Fort Troyon. Nevertheless, had the Fifth Army forces at Vaux-Marie broken through, they were well positioned to attack the French units along the Meuse from the rear, thus insuring the success of the river crossing.  

Vaux-Marie Battlefield
On this plateau thousands of French soldiers fought heroically and a large number of them died for France!. . .
this monument pays tribute to their valor.

France's moment had come. Under a stormy rain and in almost total darkness, following a brutal artillery barrage, the German infantry began their assault at 2 a.m. Author Maurice Genevoix later wrote about the scene: " Black silhouettes appeared on the crest of the hill nearby, barely visible against a sky without light. They were barely 30 meters away when I recognized the tops of the helmets. Then, shouting at the top of my voice, I ordered continuous fire. . ."

Kiosk at Site

What ensued was one of the finest moments of the war for the French 75. Almost as soon as they advanced, French artillerymen spotted their movement and opened fire. A whirlwind of shells crashed into the German ranks, bowling over men by the score and leaving the track of the German columns littered with the broken and dying. Confusion reigned in the darkness as the men groped hopelessly forward. When the 38th Reserve Infantry Regiment blundered into a body of troops to their front, they opened fire, inadvertently sending a steady fire into the rear of their stalled and terrified comrades. The battle was fierce and the losses heavy on both sides.

Leaderless men wandered in terror as entire companies evaporated. A French counterattack swept through the German ranks, ushering in a scene of savage bloodletting as men shouted, struggled, and killed in the darkness. By daybreak, it was apparent that the attack had been a disaster. Thousands lay dead or dying. Not a single French gun had been silenced. Lt. Erwin Rommel who fought in this battle would write "the French artillery kissed us goodnight by firing enormous quantities of ammunition."

How To Get There

1. From Verdun, take the Voie Sacrée/D1916  south to D902 in Chaumont-sur-Aire. (31km)

2. At D35 turn right at sign for La Vaux-Marie

3. Follow "Champ de Bataille de la Vaux-Marie" signage to destination (2km)

Sources:  Lorraine Tourism; French Wikipedia

Click HERE To See Our Other Lonesome Memorials

The Great War in the Argonne Forest: French & American Battles, 1914–1918

by Richard Merry

Pen & Sword Military, 2020

Peter L. Belmonte, Reviewer

French Fatigue Party in the Argonne
Note the Terrain

Most students of the Great War are familiar with how the Argonne Forest fit into that conflict. Most will have read about the U.S. troops fighting in and near the forest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, but many might not know about French and Germans fighting there before the Americans took over in September 1918. For example, an Italian regiment of the French Foreign Legion fought heroically and lost heavily there in 1914 and early 1915. It is stories such as these that Richard Merry recounts in this new book. Merry, who lives in London but spends his summers conducting tours in the Argonne, became interested in the forest when he obtained letters, photographs, and other documents from his great-uncle Robert Merry, who had served as a member of the French Foreign Legion there. In writing about the goal for his book, Richard Merry states:

For keen students of military history in the Argonne in the First World War, this book offers no new or original material… Here I hope you will find for the first time in English a continuous narrative from before, during and after the first world war, with many eyewitness accounts from all the protagonists over the four-year campaign [p. 1]. 

One of the Helpful Maps from the Book

Murray and Anderson recognized the opportunity the war presented, even though the army barred them from medical practice despite the shortage of everything caused by the war. The pair, along with a team of nurses and support staff, went off to Paris to set up a hospital on their own in what came to be known as Claridge’s, a luxury hotel but a most inappropriate building for a hospital.

Merry weaves letters from his great-uncle into his narrative of the early fighting in the forest, and we also learn about the Italian regiment in the French Foreign Legion as well as the German troops involved. Throughout the rest of the section covering the war years the author includes such well-known men as Erwin Rommel, Charles Whittlesey, and Alvin York. Lesser-known people, such as Nicole Mangin-Girard, a pioneer woman doctor in the French Army, and Sister Gabrielle Rosnet, who remained behind to take care of French and German soldiers in a local hospital, make their heroic appearance in subsequent pages. 

American Stretcher Party in the Argonne Forest, 1918

The author devotes a substantial portion of his narrative to postwar activities in the Argonne, including the massive chores of finding and reburying the dead and the general cleaning up of four years of the detritus of war. One of Merry’s reasons for writing the book was to explain the evolution of the disposition of the war dead in France. The handling of the dead is not a topic that is normally discussed or studied, beyond initial battlefield burial, but Merry does a fine job of discussing the decisions of the combatant countries regarding their war dead. Exhuming and removing bodies from France could be done only with French government permission, and that permission was not initially forthcoming.

Even the establishment of large cemeteries was an involved process. Such considerations as the location of concentration cemeteries and the design and physical layout of the grounds and monuments had to be addressed. Many French citizens felt that ossuaries for fallen soldiers would be more appropriate, and they would take up less precious land, too. Eventually the French government allowed removal of bodies from temporary cemeteries and shipment to permanent places of rest within or outside of France. Merry describes what then happened:

Exactly what the French government had wanted to avoid when they forbade the repatriation of the dead in 1919 began to happen in 1921. The country became a ghoulish web of the dead being transported across the country. Bodies were heading to the USA, bodies of Frenchman were being taken home and now bodies of French dead from overseas started arriving home. After a delay due to Italian legislation forbidding the repatriation of war dead, they too begin to go home from their consolidated cemeteries [p. 173].

What makes this book particularly worth reading are the ongoing descriptions of the home front: London’s social life and suffering, rationing, feelings of desperation, fatigue, German bombing, the women casualties in France, bacterial infections, and the onslaught of the flu that possibly killed six times as many as the Great War did. These are aspects of the Great War rarely discussed in other texts.

The author discusses the humongous chore of clearing the Argonne Forest of four years of war waste. The process was unpleasant and fraught with hazards. Even the very wood in the forest was polluted, ruined by poison gas, bullets, and shrapnel. In the years after the war, officials cut down hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of wood and sold it to locals for use as firewood; its use for cooking was deemed too dangerous. Merry also devotes a chapter to the forest during World War II, and his final chapter is a travel guide for readers who wish to visit the region.

Merry includes several maps to help orient the reader. Forty photographs, including a few wonderful portraits, enhance the text. The book’s lack of end notes will prove frustrating to some readers, but Merry’s two-page bibliography should be helpful to those who want to read more. I recommend this book to those who wish to get a fresh approach about what took place in the Argonne Forest during the war and immediately afterwards and for those who are curious about the evolution of the care of war dead in France.

Peter L. Belmonte

A Visual Insight into the Caporetto Breakthrough

Click on Images to Enlarge

You are positioned on the ruins of Tolmin Castle in presented day Slovenia looking to the northwest.  The river in the foreground is the Soca, formerly known as the Isonzo. Exactly 8 miles in the distance is the river town of Kobarid, formerly Caporetto.  In October 1917 Italian, German and Austrian troops were deployed across the river basin and up into the mountains rising on either side. Here, one of the most decisive breakthroughs in all of military history would take place in the opening of the Battle of Caporetto.  A second breakthrough, similar in execution and impact, took place concurrently in far northern sector of the battleground, but in this article we will restrict ourselves to what happened here in the southern section around  the town of Tolmin.

This map shows the deployment of the Italian 12th Division astride the river on the morning of 24 October 1917.  The map's orientation is 90 degrees counter-clockwise from the photo.  Tolmin Castle is not shown, but would be just off the map to the immediate right of the village of Dolje.  The 12th Division was deployed in three thin lines,  just strong enough to slow down an enemy assault.  The river basin was thought by the Commando Supremo to be an excellent "kill zone" for the artillery deployed on the surrounding hills and mountains.  This kill zone would not come about on the morning of the attack, however, because of the suppressive power of the awesome artillery and gas assault of the attackers and the rain and dense fog that obscured the vision of all the observers in the valley that morning.  Neglecting the effect of bad weather was a major oversight of the Italian high command that, but it was not the greatest flaw in their defensive preparations.

The decisive problem for the Italian soldiers that day was that their commanders had deployed them in a doubly flawed fashion.  In places, the three lines of the forces were too distant to support each other, and in others, the lines converged and made it possible for a powerful thrust to breakthrough all three positions  with a single attack.

In this version of the photo, the three Italian lines are superimposed on the terrain: yellow for 1st, red for 2nd, and white for 3rd. Reserve formations are far to the west, behind the mountains shown on the extreme left. Austrian forces are on mountains to the right, German divisions are concentrated around Tolmin, in the foreground and to the left of the picture.   Note that the Italian 1st line goes right up into the high mountains.  At the outbreak, the Austrians attacked these troops (there were tens of thousands of the best Italian soldiers, including elite arditi and alpini, on the mountainside)  from the peaks above to pin them down.  Meanwhile, German troops attacked down both sides of the river and were half-way to Caporetto before the Italians knew what hit them.   There would be no relief for the now surrounded  men on the mountains. No one could see what was going on, and even without the fog, there was no possibility of sending reinforcements from the distant 2nd line, down one mountain and up another to relieve the trapped men.  Within the first hour of the ground assault in just this part of the battlefield, Italy has suffered its greatest defeat of the war, and the catastrophe has just begun to unfold.

Let's look now at what's happening on the left side of the photo.  German soldiers, including the inimitable Lt. Erwin Rommel, crashed through the Italian 1st line and moved against the 2nd line, capturing its strong points and observation posts in detail.  The Italian reserves, miles off the left side of the photo, were too far to the rear to arrive in a timely way, and there was another nearer dynamic unfolding that soon occupied their attention. About two miles to the left of our photograph, on the slopes of a steep mountain named Mte. Jeza,  the three Italian lines came dangerously close to one another.  At this point another breakthrough took place that allowed the opposition to circle around the 3rd Italian position, (white line) along the high peaks above the river. Every Italian position on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd line could be rolled up from the rear. With a matching situation eventuating from the northern breakthrough, Commando Supremo realized its entire front was collapsing and gave the orders to withdraw and retreat deep into Italy.  German and Austrian units were in full pursuit.