John Kettler Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Daviswilson, Welcome aboard! Judging from your first post, you now know why we lovingly refer to the CM games as E-crack. Enjoy your addiction, and let us know if we can help reinforce it! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted September 27, 2008 Author Share Posted September 27, 2008 I've ordered Tissiers book and will report on what he considers to be the new German defence doctrine of 1945 in a couple of weeks, although I expect we came pretty close to analysing it in this thread. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Well, the essence of this new defensive doctrine seems to have been: 1. Pulling back the troops, above all the infantry, from the expected massive enemy artillery preparation, and so preserve their fighting capability. 2. Decive the enemy as to the position and deployment of the German positions. 3. Nullify the basic elements of the enemy's attack and fire plans, and to force the enemy into new and costly preparations for the attack. 4. Win time. I will post more details, in case anyone is interested in them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuirassier Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I don't know if the things you've listed are exactly new. That is just German defense doctrine of defense in depth, which has been practiced since WWI. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Alte Fritz Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 No all of those things were used from winter '43 onwards so are not new. The Germans adopted linear trench systems at this point exactly to meet items 2-4. One objective of the German command was to identify the main Russian point of attack and then they could thin out the lines in quiet areas and switch the troops to the area under attack. But by 1945, the lines had shortened so much compared to being in the Ukraine and Belorus that they could not do this anymore. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuirassier Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Withdrawing to avoid enemy artillery fire, deceiving the enemy as to the deployment of forces and economy of force (thinning out non-threatened sectors and just screening) were part of German doctrine in WWI. Sure some of these ideas were improved upon or adjusted for WWII requirements, but the basic ideas came before. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Alte Fritz Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 That is perfectly correct, the Battle of the Somme seems to have been the turning point as the Germans suffered heavy casualties pro rata during the latter stages. Early WW2 the Germans used a strong-point defence which switched in late '43 into a trench line defence to make these things easier to accomplish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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