Prelude to Blitzkrieg by Michael B. Barrett

Author:Michael B. Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press

TRAINING INTERLUDE

The two German corps headquarters arrived as the 1st Army began its transition to the defensive. In addition, the 1st Army’s strength had fallen, and even after the two divisions from the Army Front reserve came on board in late October, the army was not in any shape to mount major actions against the Romanians and Russians.55 Replacements in march battalions were on the way from the Austro-Hungarian hinterland, but no one expected them to be ready for combat when they arrived. If history was any sort of a guide, the major units of the army would have to back off from conducting operations and train the new recruits.

Having to suspend most of its operations in order to finish training new soldiers illustrated the shortcomings of the Austrian march battalion system. The first group of new soldiers arrived as part of March Battalion XXV at the end of October. On paper, each infantry regiment was to receive four companies of 200 men each, starting on 20 October in shipments spread out over a couple of weeks. Tempering this good news came information indicating that the drafts had received only rudimentary infantry training; the field regiments would have to provide instruction for medics, pioneers, machine gunners, signalmen, and the like, all equally vital to the functioning of an infantry battalion in combat. Although the bulk of the men came from the home recruiting regions, implying that they were qualified for front-line service, a number had been gleaned from depots and hospitals, the traditional refuge for soldiers no longer physically capable of performing duties in the trenches.56

Training in the hinterland had become so slipshod that the War Ministry had to take the drastic step of requiring that a general officer inspect each march battalion prior to its departure for the front and submit a report on the status of its preparation. A similar process was required at the receiving end.57 Arz took steps to guarantee that the march battalions received proper instruction, appointing General Ludwig Brunswik (1860–1924) to direct the training of the replacements. Each corps headquarters had to assess its units and devise the necessary exercises. Unique requirements had to addressed, resulting in specialties such as ski schools being formed to teach patrolling in the harsh alpine weather above the tree line. The AOK urged commanders to ensure that the newly arriving soldiers received appropriate coaching and were not used as labor detachments or prematurely siphoned off to the trenches, where they would be unprepared for front-line duties.58

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