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Post Info TOPIC: Attacking without tanks . . .


Legend

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Attacking without tanks . . .
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As we all know, the German offensives of March to June 1918 swept throgh the British and French lines, capturing huge quantities of men and matériel. This was achieved without tanks (in any quantity), but using the "new" stormtroop tactics.

It seems, though, that the stormtroop tactics went back to 1915, and weren't new at all. So the question is: why didn't the Allies think of them and save themslves the Somme, Chemin des Dames, Passchendaele, etc?



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Legend

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Afaik the initial success of Operation Michael wasn't solely due to infantry stormtroop tactics but also to Bruchmuller's artillery fire plans.

The weight of artillery fire in the opening phase of Operation Michael was immense - a greater weight of artillery fire fell on Allied

lines in the first 6 hours of Operation Michael than the whole of the British artillery effort on the Somme in 1916.

I think the Allies may have seen the stormtroop tactics in 1915 and weren't impressed - the stormtroops really came into their own 

when the ground was prepared by a well thought out artillery effort and supported by close support artillery to suppress strongpoints. 

Regards,

Charlie 



-- Edited by CharlieC on Friday 6th of November 2015 01:37:43 AM

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