Stormtrooper - German Special Forces of WW1 I THE GREAT WAR Special 

I spent eight years in the US Army as a light infantryman and I can say from experience that a First World War German stormtrooper would integrate almost seamlessly into a modern infantry platoon; baring the language barrier. The tactics at that close.

My great grandfather fought for the German Empire in 1915 until 1918. He was picked to train and become a stormtrooper and fought in the Spring Offensive. I have his journal, a gas mask and a picture of him. In the picture he has no rifle just 2 bags of stick grenades, a club tucked in his belt and a mauser pistol.

absolutely love this channel, World War 1 never gets as much attention as World War 2 does

Strike at zero hour With overwhelming firepower They're fueled by the fear in their enemies' eyes It's a shock troop infiltration A fast and violent escalation Out of the trenches the stormtroopers rise

I can't believe that in 2 months 100 years ago my great grandfather would have been fighting tooth and nail at the Somme...

I don't even know how I got here but this dude is great

Those guys sound terrifying

And they had way better aim than Lord Vader's stormtroopers...

Actually decentralized decision-making and autonomy also for the lower ranks had a century-old past in German armies, especially in Prussia. Frederick the Great has been famous for his trust in his officers and NCOs and granted them an amount of responsibility unknown in most of the other armies. In the Franco-Prussian war the audacity of lower-ranked Prussian officers played a huge role in the German victory. Even in the ferocious Third Reich NCOs and officers acted more freely compared the the Allies.

German Mark IV tank there. Rare image to see one in action.

It's nice to hear about tactics from WW1 more complicated than run towards the trench. I can't wait for the introduction of the tank. The documentaries i saw on that was as funny as total war can be.

The energy of the show kept me coming back while Battlefield 1 was out. I would actually splurge listening to this whole playing the game.

It was no coincidence that the Germans developed these tactics. Before WW1 the German army, particularly the General Staff was already contemplating the benefits of more decentralised command. The German General Staff was an almost unique military organisation which did not only plan out any future war or campaign but also invested a lot of time and effort in studying past wars, even ones they themselves won with ease as well as wars other nations fought and they often took the lessons to heart. It was no accident that the Germans found themselves equipped with lager calibre artillery during the beginning of WW1 because they realised that it would be necessary against field fortifications. The Germans also embraced the machine-gun to a larger degree than any other army before WW1. But back to the tactics. What happened in the German General Staff before the war was a discussion between the two main interpretations of the Napoleonic wars namely Jomini and Clausewitz. Jomini was a Swiss general in the French army and knew Napoleon personally because he was part of a number of Napoleonic campaigns. He described the command style of Napoleon which was highly centralised and revolved around the commander and declared that this was the way armies should ALWAYS operate. The alternative was Clausewitz who went far more in dept and described combat conditions and problems based of his experience in the Prussian army fighting Napoleon. This discussion basically ended with Jomini being dominant as he was in every major army. What happened during WW1 was that the armies discovered just how wrong they where in there believe of Jomini. For the Germans the answer was quite simple namely look at the other military theorist, forgotten by most and apply into practise the abstract lessons of Clausewitz into modern warfare. These stormstoopers are one of the results of that realisation. After WW1 only two countries really developed onwards from what happened namely the Germans and the Soviets. Both started thinking in combat depts and not in lines, both looked at the role of the air force, the tank and combined arms and developed there own methods of warfare. The new military question became how to avoid trench warfare. The Germans decided that a quick victory would be required and the results are pretty well know. The Soviets embraced the attrition to the fullest and organised there entire state for this purpose. The results where also seen in command. The Soviets stuck with top down command because intensive training would not be worth the time expended because the losses where expected to be to high. The Germans on the other hand took the mission type tactics to the next level and introduced them into the entire army. Yes they lost again but the German approach was the better one in a lot of ways. It was just that they ran up against a country determined to fight to the last man, ready to do this and with enormous support from the USA to actually do it. PS: Yes, I am a history student and no, you won't find all this on wikipedia. :P

In the book "Killer Angels", it stated towards the end that Confederate General Longstreet had pioneered advocating small, highly mobile units as opposed to mass attacks. I think it stated that his analysis was based on the advances in rifle accuracy, that had not been fully accounted for by most other commanders.

If you are interested in war at all, let alone WWI and German Stormtroopers, read Ernst Junger's 'Storm of Steel'. I read that book in less than a week. It is a brilliant account of what it was like to be a German storm trooper in WWI. Junger is also one of the finest literary authors of the 20th Century so it checks a lot of boxes

Gonna be extremely sad when 2018 rolls around, i've been with you guys since 2014 and have tried to watch each upload. Keep up the lovely work guys, thank you for what you do.

German stormtroopers were far better trained than Star Wars stormtroopers.

This is all my opinion, but the Stormtroopers always horrified me. At the risk of dehumanizing them, they sound like the type of people who can find harmony amidst the horrors of the battlefield, and embrace the madness that surrounds them. I know it's basic human instinct to adapt to your environment, but the fact that they did it so well and were so brutality , well it just unnerves me. Great episode by the way.

My great grandfather was a stormtrooper at the battle if the somme, i believe he was wounded.(he also later helped design the ju87 stuka)

I love hearing Anglos pronounce German words :D

Of course Stormtroopers prefered the Mauser C96. If you have a very poor aim, at least you want to shoot first.

This was my first video watched on this channel. I really appreciate it. WW1 is worth remembering, but for some reason it's shoved on the back burner. Most people I know can't even tell you what started it, or who was allied with who.

So much to unpack here. TL:DR Stormtroops were founded in 1915, indirect command was with the German Army well before 1914 and the Stormtroops did not have their roots in the East. @Lafargue First, Lafargue was not an influence on German stormtroop tactics. What he prossed were more heavily armed infantry companies (additional 37 mm cannons and mountain guns) advancing independtly of the success of the other companies. So far, so stormtroop. He did however not stray from the linear formation (the company was to advance line abreast 'as on parade' to 'hold back enthusiasts' and sweep up those holding back), preliminary bombardment was to be by 75 mm flat-trajectory cannons which were unsuited for the work; wire obstacles were to be passed sequential and in formation; enemy trenches were to be taken frontally in a single rush; breaks would be made to form up again; etc. His manual was captured in Sommer 1916, translated into German and distributed to units; Vieth von Golsenau claims some units used it as a training but there is no independent or other German sources to mention this. The time (Sommer 1916) also puts it almost one and a half year behind since the formation of the first Sturmabteilung happened on March 2, 1915 (Max Bauer, Der grosse Krieg im Felder, Tübingen: Osiander, 1921; also Adolf Vogt, Oberst Max Bauer: Generealstabsoffizier im zwielicht 1869 - 1929 Osnabrück, Biblioverlag 1974) . Wynne is wrong in his assumptions and so are texts drawing from him. @Calsow assault detachment: As already mentioned, this was founded March 1915, almost a year before the Battle of Verdun started. Initial setablishment were a headquarter, two pioneer companies and an overstrength artillery battery of 20(!) 37 mm Krupp Sturmkanonen. They hid some snags on the way (the first time the detachment was deployed its components were cannibalized and used independently) and the unit had to be drawn back understrengthed in June. In August Willy Rohr arrived (with the backing of Max Bauer) having already employed 'Stormtroop tactics' in an assault at Hartmannsweilerkopf on new Year. After Rohr arrived the Detachment got a machine gun platoon (two MG 08) and trench mortar platoon (four light mortars) and six light flamethrowers compliments of Captain Reddemann. This is really the core of the assault units: All arms and supporting arms packed into a batallion-sized unit that can then but broken up into smaller detachments. The 37 mm gun was then ditched in favor of the 7.62 cm Russian field guns captured in early 1915 which were cut-down and made lighter by removing unnecessary equipment (long range sights). As far as i can tell this happened somewhere between the arrival of Rohr and the deploymnet to Verdun. The first use of this equipment and the new tactics happened on October 12, 1915 in the Vosges on the Schrätzmannle. And was a success. Six large flamethrowers fired on the french trenches, than a squad(!) (no longer companies or platoons or god-forbid batallions) of stormtroopers cleared that stretch of trench with hand grenades and then closed it off. They were reinforced by regular infantry carrying the necessary entrenchment tools and sandbags, which the stormtroopers had not carried. The Assault detachment then began training other units in December 1915 (43 officers and 351 NCOs of 12. Landwehr Division, which is a unit of the second or even third line) Birthplace of the Stormtroops was in the east: No. That is part propaganda employed by the British and French to explain the setbacks in late 1917 and 1918 as the result of new tactics brought in by German troops coming from the east (the same reason those tactics are called, almost exclusivly by the Entente-Powers at that point, 'Hutier-Tactics') so they (the Entente) could not possibly be expected to be able to deal with them. The Brusilow offensive might very well have sped up the advancement of stormtroop doctrine within the German Army but by the point the offensive was launched, Germany looked back on over a year of Assault Detachment Calsow/Rohr and attacks made using those same tactics (Schranzmännle, Hartmannsweilerkopf, The New Years Eve 1914 attack in the Vosges, etc.). The Russian were the first though to use those tactics at Army level though... in the east. The first use of such tactics in the West was ...February 1916 at Verdun. The Russian use was more advanced insofar as they relied on far shorter bombardments however, making reinforcement and surprise much easier. 2:16 As we have seen however Willy Rohr and Bernhard Reddemann had been at it for more than a year by this point. Quick point on Reddemann: He was a pioneer captain and pioneered the use and development of flamethrowers, first use early 1915 north of Verdun. 4:17 Revolution within military culture: This is false. Two points there. Command was decentralizing as needed since 1866. By the start of the World War decentralization had reached a point were batallion commanders were expected to be able to act independently and on their own initiative. Since the batallion was seen as the smallest unit of control, however, control did not decentralize further beneath that point. With the advent of the stormtroops control went down from company to platoon to squad, with squadleaders now being expected to lead and react on their initiative. This i showever not so much a revolutionary as an evolutionary development already half a century in coming. Secondly, i have no idea what Indy means by 'strict rules within the chain of the command'. The idea that 'orders' came from high up is misleading though, same as the idea that junior officers were required to 'coordinate'. German style of command knew 4 levels of 'militärische Willensäußerungen' (military declarations of one's will); those were, from most severe to least: Kommando (command) Befehl (order) Auftrag (assignment) Weisung (directive) 4:47 Führung nach Direktive is Führung nach Weisung which is NOT leading through direct command. Führung nach Weisung is much more indirect. The commander high up defines an objective. Example: I want to take those hills by noon day x because we need them for y. He then tasks a lower commander, a division maybe, with fulfilling this objective, stating what support (artillery, aircraft, etc.) they can expect. He is not part of the planning. He only sets the framework but communicates not just the objective but his intent in taking it. This is vital. The commander of the division then divises a plan of attack. He divides the objective further and assigns his units, regiments in this case, to specific portions of the plan. Here, again, he is not part of the planning of the regiment, but communicates the intent of his superior commander and his own as well as the support assigned to each regiment. It goes on down all the way to the company. Each commander plans his own operations within the framework but indepently of interference from higher up but aware of not just what he is supposed to do but was is meant to be achieved by that. This allows for a much better appreciation of the tactical situation. So Führung nach Directive is not directly commanding ones own troops, it is being told not just what hill to take BUT WHY THAT HILL IS TO BE TAKEN. Mission tactics stem from the same idea: You are given an Auftag, a mission, not a step by step plan as the British command structure would have given you. But again, these are OLD. These were in use by the Prussian by 1866 and the only thing changing and evolving was that more and more junior leaders and smaller and smaller units were given individual assignments. Okay. I do not know if i have slain all misconceptions here, but for a further look, if anybody wants to look further and only read one book for each of those concepts i would point you to 'Stormtroop Tactics' by Bruce Gudmundsson for the evolution of the stormtroops and 'Command or Control? Command, Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies 1888 - 1918' by Martin Samuels for Mission tactics and Command by Directive.

What? Imperial Stormtroopers that hit something? What is this heresy?

I'm curious to know how much of an impact the release of "battlefield one" had on the traffic for this channel. In my own circle of friends the game has opened the eyes of a lot of people - not because of the game itself but the game/campaign sparking an interest in the war and causing people to find out information from channels such as this one. People had issues with the game saying it glorifies war - which it might - however in a way it has caused an entire generation of younger people to have an interest and to learn resulting in far more people respecting the sacrifices the men and women made during this time. Anyways, great channel!

Actually the 98k was not used in WW1 the Mauser 98AZ was but not the 98k. The 98k was not put into German service until 1935.

Very interesting to see, that the basics of this method is taught even today in the German Bundeswehr. War never changes...

This is the stuff that should have always been on the History Channel. People are so woefully ignorant on the Great War in the West. Good job with this Indy and co!

So awesome. I couldn't even imagine how badass these tough, young, agressive younger men were when taking a trench

German command: here’s all this equipment: field gun, rifle, comms, knife, and…. StormTrooper: just give me a bunch of grenades and a club…maybe a Submachine gun

My favorite THe GREAT WAR Special ! My Greatgrandfather surved in the Sturmbataillion Nr.5 Rohr

Strike at zero hour!

Looks like Battlefield 1 gameplay is not that history inaccurate after all when you play Operations game mode.

So, when did Palpatine integrate German tactics into his Galactic military?

The stormtroopers and associated tactics were on peak display at the Battle of Caporetto. Unbelievable how doctrine had changed so quickly, and how effective these units could be. Almost a similar effect to how a flanking cavalry charge in earlier periods could competely break and route an army.

Another awesome episode Kameraden, keep it up!

Always nice to see another TGW video pop up in the feed ^^

You guys should make a T-shirt in the store that says "This is modern war" with channel's logo in the background or above the quote.

The 98k wasn't developed until 1935, the stormtroopers used the mauser 98az

I love how you can describe a sound and actually make people hear the sound in there head with no recordings or audio files

But what about the 501st?

The Allies had the tank and the Germans had highly specialized infantry units. Ironically, Germany would later use both to smash the Polish, French, British and early Soviet forces during WW2, despite having very little experience with tanks. The Allies on the other hand didn't use their tank and infantry forces effectively for a large portion of the war. The Germans on the other hand applied the tactics of the Stormtroopers to their tank arm, which allowed it to move independently from infantry forces and smash through opposing lines with concentrated attacks. It took the Allies quite a lot of time to come to grips with this tactic.

I love this channel, I've never know a whole lot about WW1. I was to busy learning about WW2 I suppose haha. So glad I found this channel.

Personally, I want a ww1 movie based entirely from the German perspective, - apart from “All Quiet on the Western Front” of course.

Why does this guy look like Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad

he looks like a good nice version of Alex Jones

I thought the stormtroopers were busy failing to hit people in a galaxy far far away...

kickass grenade throwing effects at 3:31.With Special Forces from all over the world in action today it is a nice fit to see this episode on German Stormtroopers .Another fine episode.

It's the sabaton guy

the stoßtrupp some of the first special ops in history thanks for the video learned a lot more about their history!

I had not read of German Stormtrooper tactics in World War 1 until Operation Michael of Kaisersclacht commencing March 1918. This Great War Report on stormtrooper tactics originating in 1916 was a revelation for me. Great job Indy and The Great War for outstanding research on German military tactics!

...7 nation army couldn't hold me back...

your German pronunciations we're top notch execpt for Jäger

spoilers: the ideas behind the Stormtroops, inflation tactics, is what later would later develop into blitzkrieg (with more focus on combined arms and the use of artillery, airforces and especially tanks on a single point to make the enemy break). from what I read s that the British continued the idea of a strict chain of command and would try to control as much of the battlefield. The ideas of inflation tactics where more about making as much chaos on the battlefield for the enemy and - as said in the video - give more initative to smaller units. this will be interesting in the following specials to get more coverage on, what tactics the British and the French used. Stormtroopers sounds a lot like the commandos that Churchill later requested being formed - during World war 2 however :-)

I love this series.... All my buddies are ignorant of world history for the most part. It makes me sad. If people know more about their history i think the chances of humanity repeating this disaster would be less. I use this program to teach my kids about WW1 history.

My favorite units of this war the arditi, sturmtruppen fricking badass

Hey Flo, do you think you guys can team up with the Bovington tank museum (or any other one) for a few special episodes? Tanks are about to be introduced this year, and they could help you with research and allowing you to show how they worked. And they would get some advertisement.

Great stuff as always guys, just one thing, that's not a Mauser 98k (that was a WW2 rifle) but Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher M95 carbine and those are Austro-Hungarian, not German Stormtroops.

your channel is great. thanks Bro.

man everyday i get on youtube and see a new video from the great war. it instantly gets played and liked.

Great video and information! Thanks!

One of the best episodes, Rommel was brilliant and Indies German is much better than his Chinese.

Might be a bit late to the party, but I believe that the rifle which you point out to be a Mauser Karabiner 98k is actually a m1895 Steyr-Mannlicher "Stutzen" which is chambered in the 8x50mmR Mannlicher cartridge. I'm attributing this to the straight-bolt, the sling placements, as well as the Berndorfer helmet worn by the soldier on the right.

July 1st, 1916. Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, 4-5 people were killed and 1 injured and I know it's not WWI related, but it's in the same year and I just felt like sharing.

It's a shame I could not have met any of these heroes and heard there stories from their perspective.But your videos are very interesting and I appreciate them keep doing what your doing.

Sorry for this weird joke but: "Whats the Difference between a World war One stormtrooper and a Star Wars Stormtrooper? Those in world war one managed to hit something"

If lord Vador had these stormtroopers he probably would have won the galactic war

I red Rommel´s book,it´s kinda crazy what he was doing,they took one trench and rushed to another one,then to another one until they had no ammo left .He must have had lot of luck to survive those actions.Once he killed two men with one shot.I recommend this book

Happy Memorial Day, and never forget our war dead.

My great grandfather fought and lost one of his legs in world war 1 as a German soldier and we want to look at some of his items from the war. Any thoughts on that? Have you guys looked into the history of your ancestors trying to find out what they did back in 1914? I would like to have an exchange of stories.

These videos are amazing and so interesting! Great work. Though I get depressed watching them after a while, with all the casualties and death.

Hey Andy I can't stop watching your videos how can I NOT stop watching

Good explanation, just the only thing to note - the Stormtroopers used K98AZ carbines, not K98k carbines. These didn't emerge until the 1930's, and later became the standard issue rifle of the German military in WW2. They also utilized a large number of Artillery Lugers to my understanding. They were certainly the perfect trench sweeper at the time, until the MP-18 came out at the end of the war. They also had access to MG08/15 LMGs, but these proved to be ridiculously heavy and large to be of much use compared to the limited number of Madsens they had, or captured light machine guns like the Lewis or Chauchat.

Lol. In battlefield 1, when my little brother heard the term stormtrooper in the operations for kaiserslaught, he thought the Germans were enlisting Star Wars storm troopers

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL IT FINALLY MAKES WWI AWESOME( you know what I mean ) WWII HAS TOO MUCH ATTENTION!!

This was VERY good. I never would have learned what you shared here in a history class. Watching this got me thinking of the book, "The Art of War." Mainly because of the similar doctrine.

im waiting for a joke about Andre LaFAG

you might be badass but not sturmtruppen badass

I have many war documenties my favorites being on WW1 but none of them walk you though it like this one loving this show

This channel is awesome. Well done guys!

Man I love this show

It is not the Mauser Carabine 98k which the storm troops used but the Karabiner 98a model of the Gewehr 98

The Great War Love the show my WW1 Reenactment group actually protrays 1st Kompanie 5th Sturmbattalion Rohr in 1917-18 their tactics are very interesting

A minor and pedantic correction: the Mauser 98k wouldnt come around until sfter the war. The carbine your refering to is Mauser 98AZ. Also, there were very few MP-18s that made it into the war

I know this is old and won't be read but jäger is pronounced with an ay sound and when anglified really should be spelled Jaeger

NCO: Go raid that trench Storm trooper grenadier: Don't worry, we got this. In the bag >_>

This is an absolutley brilliant series: thanks a lot.

It's the best WWI history channel on the entire RU-vid!

I think "modern combat" was born after the guys figured out that fighting in line battles was grand but kind of stupid from the soldiers point of view. I do like the simplicity of these tactics "better accuracy" , "more breaching" - basically that was it. Also have emotional memories about line breaches and how amazingly confusing it is. Never been in combat but I was in basic. You have like ~1 minute to get to your firing position from your tent and it takes around another minute for you to get comfortable, eyes adjusted, brain working, gun ready, breathing down when you get to your position. Plenty of times no breach was called as one guy got picked out and suddenly you heard shots from behind you and didn't know who was engaging what, this caused some squad leaders to call fire on friendlies as a breach meant some amount of crossfire trying to close that hole.

So one might wonder why the Germans then didn't win the war with the spring offensive. As effective the Storm Troops might have been, they succeeded mostly only in a tactical aspect, territory gains of some kilometers. But the reality was, that when the attackers reached the distance where their own artillery cannot longer support them, the defender is in the better position. In the end the Germans weren't able to breach the frontline.

So in essence, this was the earliest incarnation of blitz warfare tactics and, by extension, modern infantry tactics as a whole.

There was an old 1917/1918 training film on Stormtrooper tactics that was up on youtube. Can't find it now though, but was amazing.

Just wondering if this will be the Sabaton History on "Stormtroopers" Edit: Will they just pull a link on this or will they do a seperate explanation

what do you think of the game Verdun?

nice! very comprehensive!

My favorite video so far! Keep up the great work!

newcomers must be from Sabaton's new song :D

it hurts when you say jäger

Oh man, I'm a historian who specializes in Late Antiquity, but I absolutely love this channel.

Your channel is what RU-vid looks like when it lives up to its full potential. Bravo sir.