The German Soldier II.

This is coolbert:

Found these interesting items while researching my German Solder I blog entry.

About Caporetto:

"Rommel"




"Erwin Rommel added lustre to his military career leading a company of Wuerttemberg mountain troops during this battle and capturing 3,000 Italians, winning a Pour le Merite in process. His genius was shown by capturing Monte Matajur, southwest of Caporetto. He led 300 men high up into an Italian stronghold to capture a gun battery, then swinging around and capturing 2000 troops. Rommel was ordered to defend his captured territory but did not hesitate and captured 1200 more Italians by convincing them that his force was the mere vanguard of thousands more. For an entire defence line knocked out he had 132 Italians dead and 4000 captured. Rommel, on the other hand had lost no men. Despite not having slept for 45 hours Rommel did not stop there, pushing on to take a garrison held town of Longarone . . . capturing 8000 more men. It was said 'Rommel always remained the lieutenant, making snap decisions and acting on the spur of the moment.' The Italians were sent to POW camps, accompanied by only two men"

"The bloody aftermath of Caporetto was vividly described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel Farewell to Arms."



[Ernest Hemingway served as an ambulance driver with the Italian forces during WW1! In the movie, the "hero" is deserting with a whole horde or deserters in a rainstorm and is chased by military police trying to stop the flood of troops to the rear!]

"Henry [the hero of "Farewell to Arms"] narrowly escapes death at the hands of fanatical Italian soldiers, who are executing officers separated from their troops during the Italians' disastrous retreat following the Battle of Caporetto."

"The debacle was not the result of a lack of repression or coercion. In fact, 870,000 Italian soldiers came to be denounced by authorities with 210,000 sentences in military courts; 15,000 were sentenced to life in jail and 4,000 to death. There were rumors of illegal decimations taking place after the fashion of Ancient Rome to [in an] attempt to terrorise the remaining soldiers into fighting to the death. The failure of the Italian army was most likely because of the preponderance of peasants in an army which fought through terror. Many of these soldiers could not understand the national language or their battle orders."

[decimation was the execution of one soldier in ten as a result of an ENTIRE UNIT behaving with cowardice on the battlefield. An ancient legacy, as mentioned, from ROMAN TIMES!!!]

[as to the language problem, I think that the modern form of Italian has only become standardized in the last 100 years or so. A large number of dialects were spoken all over the "boot" prior to that time. That Italian peasant army had no stomach for the fight and not the heart to continue when treated as they were. When attacked at Caporetto by units of determined German sturmabteilung [storm troopers], everything just gave way!!]

About Tannenberg:

"the Russians continually sent out their next day's marching orders over unencrypted radio communications [en clair]. It appears they believed that the Germans would not have access to Russian translators (see note below), but the Germans easily intercepted and translated the transmissions."

[these Russian en clair [in the clear] radio transmissions WERE intercepted and understood with immediateness by the German command. All the intelligence the German needed to defeat to Russian WAS GIVEN TO THEM ON A DAILY BASIS BY THE RUSSIAN THEMSELVES!!]

"Ludendorff and Hindenburg [the two most senior German commanders] were skeptical that the intercepts were real -- after all, what commander would be stupid enough to transmit orders in the clear, let alone two commanders? Nevertheless they were eventually convinced they were indeed real, and the plans were put into action."

[The two German commanders did NOT believe at first this was all for real!! Finally accepting what was given them as being true, they acted on what was being given them. And with success too.]

"The three corps, one complete army, that von Moltke had sent to bolster the east never arrived in time to have any effect. However, over a week was lost due to this confusion. Many have suggested that the removal of an army in the west in the midst of battle was the only reason the Schlieffen Plan failed. If this is true, it means that Tannenberg was possibly the battle won that lost the war for Germany."

[German reinforcements did not arrive until after the climactic battle was over. NOT needed after all. These were units taken from the advance on the western front. It is speculated that the Schlieffen Plan might have succeeded if these units were left where they had been instead of being sent east!!?? But then, this was understood and realized ONLY after the fact!]

"In her famous book, "The Guns of August", Barbara Tuchman suggests the reasons the Russians sent their marching orders in the clear was not because they felt that the Germans could not decipher them, but because they felt the Russians could not. According to this source, the commanders were afraid that orders would go unheeded in this case."

From an article by a Major H.J.C. Ingles, written in 1929:

"The French mission with the Russian Army reports that the Russians had a cipher for field use but that it was such a simple cipher that even when it was used the Germans probably had no difficulty in breaking it down."

"General Knox, British Army, who was the British liaison officer with the northwest army group reports that the general use of then authorized Russian cipher was impossible, as many of the corps staffs were unable to use the cipher or decipher messages sent in it"

[!!!]

German cavalry units on the western front in 1914 also employed radio communications on a regular basis. But was secured from eavesdroppers by a double-transposition cipher system. An excellent tactical system that provides adequate security. A crypto clerk can carry the entire general system and the key in his head! The Russians could have had SOME secure system, but did not have ANY.

Let me suggest that the Russian might have been of the opinion that their radio traffic could NOT have even been intercepted in the FIRST PLACE!! The range of most radio transmitters of the time was around 100 miles tops. The nearest possible German radio intercept site would have been around 110 miles AWAY from the Russian main force.

"It is also notable that on August 21, just as the battle was warming up, a total eclipse of the sun occurred, the totality only a few hundred kilometers from the battle site."

[see my prior blog entry regarding unusual celestial phenomenon and warfare. Phenomenon of this nature has always been interpreted as being a precursor of something dramatic and portentous happening. Mahabharata [1400 B.C.], Jerusalem [66 A.D.], Falls of the Ohio [1778], Isandhlwana [1879]. And, such as at Tannenberg [1914], This age-old belief seems to be warranted, isn't it!]

coolbert.