Infantry company and battalion
Battalions and Companies of InfantryThe staff of each battalion had a commander, usually a major, a captain (so-called staff captain), the battalion adjutant (usually a second lieutenant), four company commanders…
Marksmanship Training – part two
Marksmanship Training - part twoEight exercises. (Hauptübungen), again in all three aiming positions (prone (some free-handed, some with rifle resting on a sandbag), kneeling, and standing positions) were fired at…
Marksmanship Training – part one
Marksmanship Training - part oneMarksmanship training took a major role in military training. First, soldiers had to be drilled in weapons handling followed by theoretical lessons about ballistics, bullet trajectory,…
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part four
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part four Regiments attacking first broke up into their battalions, one next to another, and then again into company columns. A company forming an…
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part three
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part threeTraditionally, the German military had always distinguished between geleitetem Feuerand Schützenfeuer. Geleitetes Feuer or directed fire was where officers controlled distance, target, and…
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part two
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part two Only a very few elite Prussian units, such as light infantry battalions (the Jäger), were equipped with the more precise rifled muzzleloaders.…
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part one
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part one Why was there such a gap between the prevailing doctrinal idea of war and the truth of actual war in 1914? The development of…