Stormtroop Tactics

German 7.6cm Minenwerfer

The German battalion had 1000 men; 2-3 battlions in a regiment (2500 men); 2 regiments in a brigade (5000 men); 2 brigades in a division (10,000 men); 2 divisions in an Army Corps (20,000 men). In every battalion were 4 companies of 250 riflemen each, 3 platoons of 80 each, commanded each by a Lt., 10 squads (Gruppen) of 8 men led by sgt or corporal.

1914 Dec. 31 - Guard Rifle Battalion in the Vosges attacked ends of French trench, on flanks, not by frontal assault, then worked toward center, led by Major von Hadeln in the "rolling up" the French in the trench

1915 Jan. 18 - Flamethrower Detachment formed, led by Hermann Reddemann, had collaborated with Richard Fiedler, inventor of the flamethrower that was first used at Malancourt north of Verdun in Feb. 1915. Unit enlarged into 3rd Guard Pioneer Battalion of 6 companies.

1915 Mar. 2 - 8th Corps formed an Assault Detachment of 2 companies and battery of the portable Krupp 3.7cm guns, trained April and May, but guns never used, muzzle flash of cannon too bright. Siege expert Lt. Col Max Bauer formed these new units to exploit use of portable artillery such as the Krupp cannon, and these "trailblazing" units would lead an attack, break through a gap in the trench line to be followed by infantry.

1915 Aug. - Capt. Willy Rohr took over the Detachment, added machine gun platoon, trench mortar platoon, flamethrower platoon with 6 flamethrowers, modified a Russian 76.2mm field gun into the 7.62cm infantry gun, riflemen equipped with grenades to help the "rolling up" of the trench.

1915 Oct. 12 - Rohr led his Detachment in assault on French trenches in the Vosges. Started with sap trench dug close to use flamethrowers at 40 meters, followed by squad attack with hand grenades, covered by trench mortars aimed at destroying French machine gun and artillery postiions near the attackers. When trench taken, ends closed off by building a breastwork, constructed by squads with tools and sandbags.

1915 Dec. - Rohr taught his tactics to other units. Attack would be by squads, not traditional columns or waves, acting independently of each other, each with clear objective. The NCO or squad leaders were now in front leading the attack, not staying behind. Heavy boots replaced by more mobile lace-up halfboots used by Austrian mountain troops, added patches on knees and elbows for crawling, over-shoulder bags for grenades, Mauser carbine instead of rifle.

1916 Jan. 10 - full Assault Detachment led two infantry regiments in attack on French in the Vosges.

1916 Feb. - Verdun was the first major battle for the Stormtroopers. The French defenses were deep trenches including concrete blockhouses, unlike shallow trenches used elsewhere. All of Germany's flamethrower companies were assigned to the Assault Detachments added to each of the 9 infantry divisions in the 5th Army to attack the blockhouses.

1916 Feb. 22 - After the artillery attack on 1st day of Verdun Feb. 21, the infantry attacks began on the 2nd day. German artillery used rolling barrage to suppress enemy troops rather than destroy targets, fire aimed between trench lines rather than the trenches themselves. Immediately after such a barrage, assault squads entered trenches, caught French still hiding in bunkers, followed by infantry riflemen, followed by carrying parties with tools and machine guns.

1916 Feb. 24 - French reserves came up by Feb. 24, better than the older territorial units that were the early defense. The French artillery was still intact and made the attacks more difficult. In the three attacks on Douaumont Village Feb. 26-28, 3rd followed 5-hr barrage from super heavies, but French artillery exploded in tree-tops and machine guns in every shell hole. 1st Battalion of 8th Life Grenadier Regiment "morally broken down" and had to be pulled out. French informal defense in depth using shell holes and ruins, proved to be more effective than prepared trench lines, harder to target.

1916 June 23 - Bavarian Life Guards Regiment from the Alpine Corps had been trained in Assault tactics, took part in attack on Fleury June 23, part of 6-division attack on Verdun, aided by Green Cross shells of diposgene gas that French gas masks unable to filter. The Guards pushed ahead of German artillery to the village, broke into small teams, fought in rubble and basements and took the town, held position for three weeks against French counterattacks when reserve battalion arrived with trench mortars and machine guns.

1916 July 7 - Bavarian Ersatz Division used Assualt tactics to bypass strongpoints and attack deep in the enemy position.

1916 July 11 - Crown Prince William ended the battle of Verdun, and troops shifted to Somme. Germany returned to defensive.

Before Verdun, German infantry division had 4 regiments, Each regiment had 12 infantry companies and 1 machine gun company. By end of war, each regiment had 6 infantry and 2 machine gun companies, plus mortar and grenade platoons, and each division had additional machine gun battalion of 18 guns, plus an Assault company. All armies had the heavy machine gun, but not light machine guns. French and British adopted light machine guns, the French used the Chauchat in late 1915, the British used the US-made Lewis gun, followed by the Germans in mid-1916 who at first used captured Madsens (only 21 lbs) from Russians, then captured British Lewis gns (25 or31 lbs), then made their own Model 08/15 light machine gun (31 or 43 lbs) that was a modified Maxim with water-cooled barrel (40 lbs plus 83 lb mount) These heavily armed companies added the grenade launcher introduced in 1917.

1917 Sept. 1 - In the Battle of Riga, Gen. Oskar von Hutier used Assault Battalions with great success to cross the Dvina River, preceeded by the precise artillery barrages of Bruchmuller.

Oct. 27, 1917 - Capt. Erwin Rommel led mountain troops in the Italian Battle of Caporeto.

Nov. 20, 1917 - Assault Battalions stopped the British tanks at Cambrai using anti-aircraft cannon mounted on trucks.

1918 - Ludendorff offensive 1918 led by large numbers of Assault Battalions.





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