In 1916, General Erich von Falkenhayn of the Imperial German Army sought to break the stalemate of the Western Front at the Battle of Verdun. Falkenhayn sought to do this via the use of Sturmtruppen, or Stormtroopers. These troops would bypass weak areas of the French lines around Verdun, penetrating and attacking weaker rear areas.
Stormtroopers, Elite of the Kaiserheer
Stormtroopers were the elite soldiers of the Kaiserheer, the Imperial German Army. Young, fit, and highly motivated, Stormtroopers were mainly single men with a high degree of loyalty to Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German monarchy, as well as to one another.
Stormtroopers, at their most basic level, operated as small squads. In these close knit units officers and men forwent the formal ‘Sie’, or you, of the German language. Instead they addressed one another with the familiar ‘du’. These men fought and trained rigorously together throughout their time together.
Stormtrooper Assault Training, 1916-1918
Stormtrooper training was both difficult and violent. These were young, aggressive men who showed a constant desire to engage the enemy at close quarters, and their training reflected this. The men training with live ammunition and the German ‘potato-masher’ hand-grenade. The men became experts with grenades, using them singly or in bunches, in order to clear minor trouble spots and to drive the enemy out of their positions.
The Stormtroopers also employed a short barrel K98 carbine for better mobility in the close quarters of the trenches. They were also trained on the operational usage and repair of German as well as French and English machineguns. The Stormtroopers also carried light machineguns in order to fortify forward positions. Trench knives and iron wrapped clubs with spikes were also to be used in close quarters.
Stormtrooper Tactics on the Western Front, Verdun, 1916
The overall strategic goal with the use of Stormtroopers by Falkenhayn was to enable the advancement of the German Army through the breaking of the stalemate on the Western Front. In order to break this stalemate Stormtrooper tactics focused on bypassing strongly held positions by the French. Regular German infantry and pioneers would follow in the wake of the Stormtroopers, eliminating the bypassed strong-points and consolidating the ground taken.
The Stormtroopers followed a short but violent artillery barrage which stunned the defenders and allowed the Stormtroopers to overwhelm the disorientated French. The Stormtroopers would then follow communications and reserve trenches into rear areas. Once in these rear areas the Stormtroopers sought to destroy command posts, communications centers, reserves, and supplies.
Stormtroopers: Tactical Success, Strategic Failure
While Stormtroopers succeeded tactically the Imperial German Army could not capitalize on the Stormtroopers’ achievements. Regular infantry could not keep pace with the Stormtrooper advance, and Stormtroopers found themselves brought up short by the limitations of their own artillery. The artillery could not advance to continue to give supporting fire due to the horrific conditions of the battlefield. Stormtroopers, then, achieved the tactical goal for which they were trained, but they were unable to break the stalemate on the Western Front as Falkenhayn had hoped.
Sources
Bull, Stephen. Stormtrooper : Elite German Assault Soldiers. London: Military
Illustrated, 1999.
Drury, Ian. German Stormtrooper, 1914-1918. Great Britain: Osprey Publishing,1996.
Foley, Robert T. German Strategy and the Path to Verdun: Erich von Falkenhayn and The Development of Attrition, 1870-1916. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
 |
 |
