MWimnw

ISSUE 25/NOV-DEC 1993 US S4.50/CAN $5.50

The First World War

in the East

o 11 14302 78579''
 The Storm Breaks, 1939-41

Arctic Storm Operation Mercury

The Russo-Finnish Winter War, 1939-40 The German Airborne Assault on Crete
In November, 1939 Stalin's Red Army invaded In May, 1941 Hitler's paratroopers launched
the tiny nation of Finland. The Russians had an airborne invasion of the island of Crete.
600,000 troops; the Finns had 30,000. The British, Greek, Australian and New Zealand
Soviets had 1700 tanks and 3000 aircraft, the resistance made them pay a heavy price -
Unit Scale: Unit Scale:
Division/ Finns had 60 and 150 of each respectively. one-in-four paratroopers were killed-in-action. Company/
Brigade Battalion
Time Scale: Arctic Storm recreates this four-month Winter War. Operation Mercury recreates this eight day
Time Scale:
1 Week Using an elegantly simple game system, Arctic struggle, using the Operational Game System 8 hours
per Turn Storm accurately portrays all of the important from GMT's Award winning Operation Shoestring per Turn
Map Scale: elements of the first major war ever fought in and AirBridge to Victory which allows for multiple
Map Scale:
24 km arctic conditions. combat options. 1.5 km
per Hex per Hex
Players: Game Design: David James Ritchie Game Design: Vance von Borries & Gene Billingsley Players:
1-2 Game Developers: Richard Berg & Gene Billingsley Art Director: Rodger B. MacGowan 1-4

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 MILITARY HISTORY, STRATEGY & ANALYSIS
NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

rCaTurvS

Ted S. Raicer When Eagles Fight 14

The Eastern Front in World War I

David W. Meyler Dressed to Kill 42

The Role of Uniforms in Military History

Richard M. Berthold Thousand Year March 48

A History of the Roman Army

James Blears 1 Remember... 67

A Warcrime at Sea, 1944

Carl 0. Schuster The Siege of Tyre 72

Alexander's capture of the island fortress

Mepcisr Tvnenvs

Short Rounds 4
Medical Department 38
Unit Symbols 41
Command Index 77

Cover Art by David Fuller

COMMAND MAGAZINE
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2 JAN-FEB 1993 ISSUE 20

 Editor: Ty Bomba A Note From the Editor
Art & Graphics Director: Larry Hoffman
Associate Editor: Chris Perello The feedback voting results for issue no. 23 came in like this:
Current Affairs Editor: Marty Kufus Serbia in World War I.7.33
Contributing Editors: Thomas M. Kane, Baltic Assault.6.99
Timothy J. Kutta, Mike Markowitz, David
Meyler, Andrew Preziosi, David Sepp Dietrich.6.94
Schueler, Carl O. Schuster, David W.
Tschanz, L. Dean Webb Sekigahara.6.88
Business & Advertising Manager: Chris Clash of Steel.;.6.71
Perello, 805/546-9596
Issue No. 23 Overall.6.69
Staff: Cheryl Buenrostro, Greg Perello
War Returns to Europe.6.68
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Command is
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Subscriptions are available for both Commentary.5.57
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version (magazine only) are $21.50 for In comparing issue no. 23 with no. 22 (Antietam), 28 percent
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COMMAND MAGAZINE
 Soviets were strong enough to
Mysteries Revealed... achieve any gains beyond cutting
the railway.

German Predictions of the From that point until the start of

the actual Soviet counteroffensive
around Stalingrad, neither Gehlen
1942 Soviet Winter or his section's specialists had any
further changes of mind. The intelli¬

Counteroffensive gence officers at the German Army

High Command and at Army
During World War II, the "12th Center, with the ultimate objective of Group B headquarters also shared
Department" of the German General reaching the Baltic states. The same their view. In fact, Gehlen refused to
Staff, Abteilung Fremde Heere Ost (the report mentioned a secondary drive change his opinion about the prima¬
Foreign Armies East Section), had might be launched against the Don cy of the Soviet attack against Army
the task of determining Soviet line after the mud season ended, and Group Center until 9 December,
movements and plans on the also predicted the enemy would be some two weeks after 6th Army (and
Eastern Front. To gain such knowl¬ content to hold his ground on the some of 4th Panzer Army) had in fact
edge, the section sifted and ana¬ Caucasus front farther south. been pocketed.
lyzed intelligence gathered from air But shortly after that second In sum, then, it's wrong to say
reconnaissance units, secret agents report was issued, the section began the Germans had no indications of
behind enemy lines, prisoners of to receive information indicating a the Soviet preparations for a coun¬
war, and reports from German units huge build up of Soviet troops was teroffensive around Stalingrad. But
at the front. taking place just north of the Don their mistaken conclusions about the
As early as 29 August 1942, the River. The analysts involved be¬ location and intent of that attack
section forecast the possibility of a lieved this build up would be direct¬ present a clear picture of the huge
Soviet counteroffensive against ed against the Romanian 3rd Army, gap that exists between merely gath¬
German Army Group B at Stalin¬ with the object of cutting the east- ering information and correctly ana¬
grad. Their report outlined three west railline to Stalingrad, thus forc¬ lyzing it to determine an enemy's
possible plans: 1) a direct offensive ing a German withdrawal from that true intent.
to recapture all of Stalingrad; 2) an city. No one believed it possible the — Ulrich Blennemann
attack through the flank of German
6th Army, with the final objective of
Rostov (thus effectively cutting off
Army Group A in the Caucasus); Movers & Shakers.
and 3) an offensive aimed at the des¬
truction of the Romanian, Hungar¬
ian, and Italian units along the Don Gen. Sherman’s Report
River and in the Kalmyk Steppe.
However, the section's head. Col. During the latter third of the 19th the Commanding General. They
Reinhard Gehlen, held an opinion century the authority of the "Com¬ wielded the real power and influ¬
counter to his unit's report. He manding General of the United ence in the army, especially as
believed the Soviets' main effort that States Army" was more nominal Secretaries of War came and went.
winter would be made against Army than real. Under the prevailing sys¬ They managed a bloated, politicized
Group Center, opposite Moscow, tem, the Secretary of War presided and top-heavy bureaucracy that
and not at Stalingrad. Accordingly, directly over the 10 Staff Bureaus: often usurped what should have
in mid-October the section issued a Ordinance, Medical, Adjutant been the Commanding General's
new document, this one predicting General, etc. The virtually auto¬ prerogatives.
the Red Army would soon attempt nomous Staff Chiefs were vested In theory, the Commanding Gen¬
to smash through Army Group with life tenure and didn't report to eral controlled the various geo-

NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 graphic military divisions, depart¬ a loss to know what is my true duty." bear making any further recommen¬
ments, and line units, but the mud¬ Despite all the protests. Grant re¬ dations or report."
dled communication lines invari¬ mained determined to uphold the Sherman's petulance still failed
ably ended up going to the Bureau principle of civilian control of the to resolve the matter, and in 1874
Chiefs and bypassing the Com¬ army, and in a final fit of pique when he again requested to transfer
manding General. The fact was the Sherman issued his 1873 Annual Army headquarters to St. Louis,
Commanding General of the US Report, certainly the shortest on permission was quickly granted. He
Army was a figurehead with no real record: "No part of the army is under did not return to Washington from
responsibilities in time of peace. my immediate control, and the exist¬ his self-imposed exile until 1876,
The system protected civilian ing Army regulations devolve on the after a disgraced Belknap had left
control of the Army and worked Secretary of War the actual command office in the wake of one the Grant
well enough when relations be¬ of the military establishment, and all Administration's many scandals.
tween the Secretary of War and the responsibility therefore, so that I for- — Hans Von Stockhausen
Commanding General were good.
However, the concept of dual auth¬
ority often became divisive. Gen.
Winfield Scott, during his tenure as Historical Perspective...
Commanding General, was so frus¬
trated he moved Army headquar¬
ters from Washington to New York Trench Warfare in World
to avoid dealing with the Secretary,
politicians and bureaucrats.
In 1869, Gen. William T. Sherman
Wars I and II
assumed the post of Commanding World War I's western front ran to be awake with their battle kit
General, under President Ulysses S. from the southern Belgian coast to handy.
Grant, with the understanding that the Swiss border, and was complete¬ Each group's (usually a platoon)
"all orders from the President or ly defined by the opposing sides' daily "rest period" required the men
Secretary of War to any portion of trench systems. Similar but less to sit up in a dugout, backs against
the army, line or staff, will be trans¬ extensive systems spanned the Ital¬ the wall, again in battle order (but
mitted through the General of the ian, Balkan and eastern fronts. the backpack could be taken off). No
Army." An infantry battalion of some sleeping was allowed, but dozing
But the incoming Secretary of 1,000 men (paper strength) would was common until the man chosen
War, John A. Rawlings, soon pre¬ usually be kept at the front about as sentry signaled the approach of
vailed on Grant to revoke that five days. During the night, the an officer.
agreement, pleading that too much front lit up sporadically with illumi¬ During their "sleep period," sol¬
power would otherwise rest with nating "star shells," as both sides diers could curl up in their great¬
the general. Sherman's power was went about the wearying "No Man's coats, and perhaps one or two blan¬
then limited to "orders and instruc¬ Land" tasks of patrolling, repairing kets, in a dugout and pray the relief
tions relating to [active] military barbed wire, attempting to capture of unconsciousness wasn't interrupt¬
operations." Sherman, of course, prisoners, etc. ed by a "general stand to." In any
remonstrated with his old friend Each man could expect a maxi¬ event, though, everyone was again
Grant, but to no avail, and went mum of four hours sleep per day. A required to stand to for an hour at
away deeply hurt. typical day was exhausting, but dusk and again at dawn — the most
Since Rawlings voluntarily chose even more boring. Only shelling, likely times for attacks and trench
to forward orders through Sher¬ mortaring and sniper fire enlivened raids. While at the front, the many
man's headquarters, the two man¬ the scene from time to time. enemy snipers soon taught officers to
aged a working relationship. That Days were usually divided into give up their distinctive service dress
changed when Rawlings died in six periods of four hours each. Two tunic (with "Sam Browne Belt") for
office later that year and was suc¬ "stand to" periods (not consecutive) the common private's uniform.
ceeded by William W. Belknap, who involved each soldier in standing on When relieved, a battalion would
was determined to exercise the full the firing-step of the trench with move back to a support or reserve
authority of his office at the expense webbing equipment, ammunition, trench, or even to a rear area com¬
of the general. Sherman threatened rifle, bayonet and scabbard, en¬ pletely out of the frontline system.
to move his headquarters to St. Louis trenching tool, gas mask, steel hel¬ Arriving after a long march in full
in protest, and then tried to avoid the met, and canteen. Two "working pack, the reeling column would col¬
resultant public controversy by leav¬ periods" (again, not consecutive) lapse in the billet provided. The
ing for an extended tour of inspec¬ were devoted to digging, repairing period in the rest area would last
tion through the west in 1871, fol¬ trenches, duck boards, dugouts, and one or two weeks and was taken up
lowed by several months in Europe. filling sandbags. In reality there was at least partly in training and work
On his return nothing had often little to do during both kinds parties, after which the whole rota¬
changed and he complained: "I am at of periods, but the soldiers still had tion routine was repeated.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 Each battalion had a brass or back into the trenches. But the entire When periods of extended static
pipe band that would play on the concept of trench warfare had warfare occurred (as in Italy during
march back to the front. Upon ap¬ evolved in such a way that the earli¬ both the 1943-44 and 1944-45 win¬
proaching the rearward communi¬ er lines of continuous trenches, rein¬ ters), a routine quickly evolved in
cations trenches, the bandsmen forced with dugouts, etc., had almost which a company (about 130 men
would exchange their musical in¬ disappeared. on paper, but usually less than half
struments for medical stretchers and The common expression of World that in fact) would dig in using a
assume their combat roles as first War II trench warfare became the series of enlarged slit trenches, with
aid men. "slit trench," which normally served planks laid over the rubble in the
About half the men, and 80 per¬ as a temporary home for two sol¬ bottom of the holes. Partial roofs,
cent of the casualties, in every army diers. It was a hole about six feet made of boards, canvas, galvanized
were in the infantry. deep, six feet long, and about two sheet metal, etc., covered with earth
For the infantry of World War II, feet wide, with perhaps a small firing and camouflaged, completed the
trench warfare was a different story step. A battalion, now with paper structures. (All the materials were
and one not nearly so well publi¬ strengths of about 800, would occupy usually gathered from destroyed
cized. That was perhaps because by an irregular series of slit trenches houses, barns and other buildings.)
the 1940s the infantry comprised that had been dug to conform to the Two men could sleep on the
only about 20 percent of each army, natural topography of an area, usual¬ boards in each slit trench, and were
or about 15 percent of the major ly just behind a hill or slope. each usually allowed three blankets
combatants' entire armed forces. But In daytime along the front it was in addition to their greatcoats. At
again, the infantry suffered about 80 almost impossible to leave such dawn, the men might awake to find
percent of the total casualties. trenches because of enemy snipers, themselves in up to two or three feet
The advent of the tank in the which both sides employed in great of ice cold water, and have to start
closing period of World War I had numbers. There was almost nothing the never-ending process of bailing
presaged the passing of classic to do, but rain and mud often pre¬ with their helmets.
trench warfare, at least as it had vented lying down or even sitting. Each company was also responsi¬
existed until then. The tank was Neither was there much to be seen; ble for a forward position, consist¬
immune to rifles, machineguns and everything in and around the trench¬ ing of a standard slit trench wherein
grenades, and could cross trenches es was kept well camouflaged. Only one of the two occupants was
and cut through barbed wire with two pairs of eyes, alert with fear or always on "stand to" — four hours
ease. Advances in artillery accuracy, half-closed in stupefaction, stared on, four hours off.
greatly improved and more numer¬ out from each slit trench. Occasion¬ Despite the misery of life in
ous mortars, and the growth of tacti¬ ally artillery shells or mortar rounds World War II slit trenches, they had
cal airpower made extensive trench would whine past overhead, per¬ one great advantage over the World
systems impractical and inefficient. haps crashing nearby, just to keep War I system — they made much
Experts in the new doctrine of everyone's adrenaline flowing. smaller targets. Hundreds of shells
mobility, including Heinz Guderian On the attack, a soldier might be or mortars could fall in a fairly small
and Liddell-Hart, asserted large- called on to dig, or at least start, as area with almost no effect on overall
scale infantry warfare would never many as 10 slit trenches in as many unit cohesion.
again be necessary, and those troops hours. — Ian R. Seymour
would be used merely for "mopping
up" after the tanks and bombers
had inflicted the real defeat on the
enemy. The defeat of the Allied Mysteries Revealed...
armies on the continent in the
spring of 1940, and the see-saw
character of the desert campaigns, The Stalingrad Pocket: Overall
seemed to confirm the tank was
indeed the key weapon in the new
ground warfare.
Numbers and Survivors
However, tanks were soon coun¬ When Red Army units closed the and Romanians were encircled. By
tered by anti-tank trenches, anti¬ ring around German 6th Army and January, 1943, however, it had be¬
tank mines, anti-tank artillery, anti¬ parts of 4th Panzer Army on 23 come clear that initial estimate was
tank infantry weapons, and anti¬ November 1942, just four days after far too low.
tank aircraft. Just as pendulums starting their drive (codenamed To this day it's impossible to
swing both ways, so too did World "Operation Uranus"), they knew determine the exact count. German
War II have both fluid and static they had trapped a lot of enemy sol¬ sources usually speak of between
periods. Thus after the fluid desert diers. But exactly how many enemy 200,000 and 380,000 soldiers inside
campaigns, static warfare in the troops were actually inside the the pocket; Soviet publications often
Italian winter, and later in the flood¬ pocket? The Soviet leadership first cite a figure of 330,000. The discrep¬
ed Netherlands, forced infantry thought only some 91,000 Germans ancies arise because not all of 6th

6 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 Army's personnel were trapped. from captivity in 1955, a final tally of tle and captivity. This huge differ¬
Moreover, some 1,100 members of only 5,000 survivors of the Stalingrad ence was due to the fact the officers
the Organisation Todt construction pocket returned home. were generally in better physical
firm (mostly Germans, but also in¬ Interestingly, German officers condition than the common soldiers
cluding some foreigners, among taken prisoner in the pocket had a at the time of the surrender, were
them Belgians), 30 Italians manning far better survival rate than the not forced to labor while in captivi¬
a truck park, 800-900 Croats of NCOs and enlisted men. Of all the ty, and a few hundred of the most
Infantry Regiment 369 (attached to officers captured (5,689), 49.2 per¬ high-ranking were given privileged
the German 100th Jager Division), cent (2,800) lived to return to Ger¬ treatment by their communist cap-
about 5,000 Romanians from vari¬ many. In contrast, only 1.3 percent tors.
ous units, and perhaps as many as of the lower ranks survived the bat¬ — Ulrich Blennemann
50,000 "Hiwis" (short for Hilfswil-
lige, or volunteer Soviets who pre¬
ferred labor service with the Ger¬
man army to internment in POW Technology Update...
camps), also manned "Fortress
Stalingrad."
Recently all available data have Send in the Drones
again been analyzed, and the fol¬
lowing figures are probably as close When the Iraqis reported they would not know the Coalition was
to the absolute truth as we will ever had shot down 55 Coalition aircraft placing emphasis on targets in their
come. When the pocket was initially during the first night of the Persian country, in and around Baghdad in
formed there were probably some Gulf War, their claim was dismissed particular.
250,000 Axis personnel inside. Prior by most as yet another false propa¬ But that hoped-for advantage
to the Germans' loss of the last air¬ ganda boast. The Iraqis may have was lost in mid-September 1991,
field in the pocket on 23 January been more honest than they were when Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
1943, the Luftwaffe managed to fly given credit for, however. They had Michael Dugan disclosed the details
out some 25,000 men, almost all of been made to think they had been of the Coalition air strategy. In an
them wounded German soldiers. By shooting at Coalition combat aircraft, interview with reporters from Avia¬
2 February, when the final surren¬ but had in fact been engaging a col¬ tion Week and Space Technology, The
der took place, some 60,000 German lection of powered target drones and Washington Post, and The Los Angeles
and 2,000 Romanian defenders had unpowered decoy gliders. Times, he stated: "If push comes to
been killed. That means approxi¬ The plan for the air campaign for shove, the cutting edge would be in
mately 110,000 Germans and 3,000 what eventually became known as downtown Baghdad."
Romanians became prisoners of war Operation Desert Storm existed in Dugan was relieved by Secretary
at the battle's end. various preliminary forms as early of Defense Cheney shortly thereafter
It is not known how many Hiwis as 1989 and 1990, and they were for revealing that information in the
died in the pocket, nor how many fleshed out shortly after the actual interview, but the damage had been
surrendered to the Red Army. How¬ Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August done. The Iraqis were alerted that
ever, because they were collabora¬ 1990. The fundamental principle of Coalition aircraft would be going
tors, we can be sure that any who the plans was that a gradually esca¬ after targets in and around Baghdad.
survived to surrender were execut¬ lating air war, as had occurred in Strategists reviewed the plans to
ed as traitors within a short time. Vietnam, would not work against estimate how much had been
Soviet sources speak of only Iraq. Instead, the new thinking thrown off by Dugan's remarks.
91,000 prisoners. That figure proba¬ called for definitive and heavy air They concluded the overall ap¬
bly can't be given too much cre¬ attacks from the start. proach was still viable, but needed
dence, though, because it's always The strikes planned for the areas some modifications. The first of
cited along with another statistic around Baghdad faced considerable these was to change the composition
claiming the capture of 1,666 Ger¬ challenges. The air defense there of the forces assigned to strike Bagh¬
man tanks in the pocket — a figure was, on paper at least, one of the dad itself. Instead of a force com¬
that is way too high. most formidable in the world. posed of cruise missiles, F-117
At any rate, the Axis prisoners Original strike plans called for Stealth Fighters, and various con¬
were marched to camps in Siberia attacks to be made by a variety of ventional non-stealth attack and
while being given only minimum aircraft, most of which were not fighter planes, the initial attack was
rations and virtually no medical care. "stealthy" and would be easily changed to include only F-117s and
It's estimated some 17,000 perished detected by an alerted Iraqi air cruise missiles.
on the way east. By the late spring of defense system. But one advantage In addition, planners were able to
1943, only some 27,000 to 33,000 those aircraft were to have had in utilize Dugan's slip to the advantage
were still alive in the camps, and by undertaking their missions lay in the of Coalition pilots. Though non¬
January 1944 another 15,000 had fact the Iraqis were not aware of the stealth aircraft were no longer to be
died. When the last were released nature of the opening strikes, and used for the assault on Baghdad

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 itself, the Iraqis were deceived into first night of the war was undoubt¬ make them difficult to identify as
thinking they were. Plans for using edly thrown off by decoys shot decoys to radar operators. Range
unmanned decoy gliders and pow¬ down, or which glided to the ground varies depending on selected air
ered drones were expanded to give and off Iraqi radar screens. The speed and launch altitude, but it can
the Iraqi air defense personnel their Iraqis may have been reporting hon¬ be as far as 72 miles. As many as
expected targets. estly but inaccurately when they eight decoys can be carried by each
This accomplished two things. claimed 55 Coalition planes had piloted aircraft.
First, it saturated the defenses with been shot down. The US Air Force also used de¬
more targets than they could handle The Coalition used two types of coys in its opening strikes. They
and took some of the heat off the decoys during the opening days of consisted of 38 BQM-74C Chukar
real strike craft. Second, and more the conflict — further use of decoys target drones, which were ground-
importantly, the decoys goaded the in the war were canceled after the launched from Saudi Arabia.
Iraqis, expecting real raids from the Iraqi air defenses were destroyed so Because the BQM-74Cs are pow¬
directions where the drones came, quickly. The majority of the decoys ered, they are more able to maneu¬
into activating their air defense used were US Navy and Marine ver like real aircraft. This feature is
radars. Once activated, those radars ADM-141 Tactical Air Launched augmented by the fact the drones
were quickly pinpointed by Wild Decoys (TALDs), which were de¬ are guided by remote control, and
Weasel aircraft and destroyed with rived from Israeli Samson decoys. are never autonomous. Like their
High-speed Anti-Radiation Mis¬ The TALDs are unpowered glid¬ US Navy and Marine counterparts,
siles (HARMs). ers, carried by piloted aircraft such the BQM-74Cs tricked the Iraqis
The Iraqis shot numerous Sur- as the A-6, A-7, F-18 and S-3. They into activating their air defense
face-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) at the can be programmed to maintain des¬ radars, which were then suppressed
decoys, and their count of Coalition ignated air speeds and perform by Wild Weasels.
aircraft claimed as destroyed on the maneuvers, both characteristics that —Jim Cunningham

The goal was to create a 100-divi¬

Movers & Shakers... sion Army, but before that was
reached, losses in Italy forced a

Gen. McNair and the US Army review of existing structures. Al¬

ready faced with a manpower short¬
age in 1943, the US Chief of the
Ground Force in World War II General Staff, Gen. George C.
Marshall, charged McNair with
The only reference usually found city to fight for what he thought was reducing the rosters of combat divi¬
concerning Lt. Gen. Leslie J. McNair right, he was suited to the strenuous sions by 15 percent, while leaving
in World War II combat histories is tasks that lay ahead. their offensive combat potential
the mention of his accidental death Unlike World War I, the most undiminished.
during the massive pre-Cobra aerial significant American concern in the After broadly accusing theater
bombardment in Normandy. In Second World War was how to commanders of "empire building"
actuality, though, his contributions maintain several active theaters at (which he defined as the tendency
to the structure of the US Army in the same time. "Deployability" to encumber units with "comforts
World War II were so great he can became the critical term in the and conveniences, machines and
rightly be called the father of that Army's program to build units that inventions, technicians and experts,
force. His concepts of standardized, could be shipped overseas with specialized services and complex
offensively oriented, combat divi¬ minimal staff work. A corollary was agencies of control"), McNair set to
sions formed the unshakeable foun¬ that all American combat divisions his task with relish. He focused pri¬
dation of an army that by 1945 be organized in such a way as to marily on defensive combat units,
attained a quality second to none. allow them to be deployed and re¬ such as the regimental mine-laying
His greatest misfortune was that he deployed to any theater(s), on short platoons, the divisional defense pla¬
did not live to see the culmination of notice, and with only minimum re¬ toons (for guarding the command
his efforts, the final defeat of Hitler's adaptation time. post), and on non-combat person¬
Germany. Toward those ends, McNair, as nel.
An artillery officer who had seen Chief of Army Ground Forces, When field commanders began
action during the Great War in 1918, worked to ensure that divisions complaining at the reductions, Mc¬
McNair was widely hailed during were given only what they would Nair replied that their remaining
the 1930s as the Army's premier need at all times in their conduct of people could and should work
expert in tactical organization. With offensive operations. Non-divisional harder than formerly, more preven¬
an uncanny ability to devote his tank, tank destroyer, anti-aircraft, tive maintenance should be employ¬
attention to the detailed makeup of and service battalions were to be ed, and oral orders should be substi¬
combat organizations, and the tena¬ attached as situations dictated. tuted for written.

8 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 Earlier, during a visit to North ican tank destroyer experience was McNair accused Devers and his sup¬
Africa in 1943, McNair had already not bad at all. porters of being "dispersionists," and
noted some commanders were too McNair also originated the fam¬ "advocates of the driblet," and
defensive-minded. They spent too ous (or infamous) concept of "pool¬ refused to budge. Such was McNair's
much time in their command posts, ing." It was really an attempt to mas¬ clout by that time, however, that the
which were located far to the rear, ter the efficient deployment of an War Department officially upheld his
and were too heavily guarded by ever increasing variety of specialized judgment.
personnel desperately needed up units and equipment. The idea was Still, as the war continued and
to provide flexibility by creating an American combat experience grew,
front.
"If commanders were overly con¬ Army made up of standard compo¬ McNair showed a tendency to defer
cerned about their own safety," he nents. McNair knew that wild day- to the judgment of the commanders
said sarcastically, "they could pull to-day fluctuations in combat condi¬ in the field. In particular, the attach¬
an infantry battalion off the line to tions — changing frontages, mobili¬ ment of tank battalions to infantry
ty, enemy strength, etc. — could divisions became standard practice,
protect them."
In the end, he succeeded. The result in situations that no standard particularly in Normandy where the
resulting reductions in divisional organization could encompass. hedgerow terrain demanded close
manpower had no real impact on Specialized battalions, therefore, tank-infantry cooperation. Fortun¬
fighting strength. Indeed, the reorga¬ were to be maintained outside the ately, McNair's October 1943 reorga¬
nization of armored divisions (units divisions and attached as needed. nization of the armored divisions
McNair had seen as prime targets Though the idea at first sparked had freed just about enough tank
for his "defatting" program), pro¬ little general debate, in practice, battalions for every infantry division
duced what were arguably the best many field commanders raised vehe¬ in the European Theater of Oper¬
mechanized formations of the war. ment objections to it when it came to ations to get one.
Because of that work, however, the attachment of specific tank, tank McNair also gave in to the line
destroyer, and anti-aircraft units. For officers who maintained better
some of the advocates of more pure¬
ly armored warfare (like George S. instance, in a letter to Gen. Marshall teamwork and the diminishing
Patton) developed an adversarial in 1943, Gen. Devers, then Chief of German tank threat warranted the
relationship with McNair. Actually, the Armored Force (and later head of dispersion of tank destroyers to sup¬
though McNair rightly believed the the 6th Army Group), questioned the port the infantry as assault guns,
tank purists exaggerated their extent to which the pooling concept despite the fact those vehicles
machines' contributions to the war had been carried. weren't designed for that role.
effort, he was a firm supporter of He favored the direct incorpora¬ In the end, Gen. McNair should
armor's role in pursuit and exploita¬ tion of those extra battalions into be remembered for his many suc¬
each division, and claimed pooling cesses; his failures were relatively
tion operations.
Unfortunately, because of Mc¬ made for "poor combined [arms] few in number. To the upper eche¬
Nair's insistence on retaining an training and poor battlefield team¬ lons of American line officers, who
unrealistic tank destroyer doctrine, work....Economy of force and unity knew him well and appreciated the
US Sherman tankers later experi¬ of command go together. You get lit¬ scope of his contributions, McNair's
enced an acute inferiority in their tle of either if you get a lot of at¬ death came as a severe blow. To the
firepower relative to those of their tached units at the last minute. Team casual reader of military history, his
German opponents. McNair didn't play comes only with practice." accomplishments are transparent
believe the best way to kill a tank Devers' criticism proved prescient, because he was a staff officer, and
was with another tank. For that rea¬ since the Army in Europe evolved in glory does not cling to able adminis¬
son, American tank gun evolution the direction of permanent attach¬ trators.
ments by 1944. At the time, though. — John Desch
lagged behind that of the Germans,
when in fact the highly advanced
M26 Pershing tank could have been
deployed in 1944.
Looking Forward...
In fairness, US self-propelled
tank destroyers proved effective
against attacking German tanks, but
their lack of armor and overhead
Trenches Ahead?
protection limited their offensive
potential. With 20-20 hindsight, it is The key factor that turned World well-prepared enemy before being
easy to criticize US World War II War I into a static carnage was the killed. But with the advent of air-
tank destroyer doctrine, but it great technological improvements in power and tanks, mobility returned;
should be remembered that doctrine the range and firepower of heavy attacking formations were able to
was largely based on European weaponry. Artillery and machine- close with the enemy before being
experience. It took the Soviets two guns gave the firepower factor a destroyed by his firepower.
years to come up with a viable tank quantum push ahead of mobility. With only minor fluctuations due
doctrine. Comparatively, the Amer¬ Simply put, one could not reach a to the specifics of terrain in a given

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 theater, political constraints, etc., this than forcing through attacks with the becoming available would also be so
superiority of mobility over firepow¬ old western front method of concen¬ heavy as to greatly diminish the util¬
er has been maintained to the present trating overwhelming mass in small ity of the vehicles protected. Such
time. But artillery is again undergo¬ sectors. Of course, the tremendous combat vehicles would be too heavy
ing a quantum move forward due to casualty figures from that earlier war or large, for instance, to cross most
the introduction of "smart" ammuni¬ would only be magnified in any new bridges, pass through tunnels, or
tion, liquid propellants, and (soon) static situation in a future war. even navigate urban areas. No
electromagnetic guns — even "steer¬ A fifth possible solution might lie armor, no matter how thick or
able" munitions for anti-aircraft in reverting to an enhanced version strong, can be expected to provide
defenses are just around the techno¬ of World War I infiltration tactics. complete protection from the electro¬
logical corner. Further, sensors de¬ Though this certainly could work, magnetic guns that will begin com¬
ployed in space can detect almost casualties in such units would be ing on line in another decade or so.
any impending attack. much higher, proportionately, than A final solution being worked on
A new trend is clearly emerging they were in World War I, due to involves increasing the potential of
— it is again becoming harder to smart munitions. Even after over¬ electronic warfare to the point were
reach the enemy's main line of de¬ coming that, such units could be the computerized elements of defen¬
fense, and the result may be a new used only to lead small-scale sive systems can be reliably over¬
stalemate. This time, however, with attacks, with no possibilities for suc¬ thrown. The trouble is, such tech¬
both sides' maneuver speeds en¬ cessful exploitation. niques can be used both ways, and
hanced by ground and air vehicles, Increasing the amount or efficien¬ in actuality may merely raise the
we may well expect to see future no cy of armor on combat vehicles has status of both sides' electronic war¬
man's lands varying from 20 to 30 been proposed as a sixth solution. fare units to top priority targets at
kilometers in width. In such "high Armor strong enough to defeat the the start of any offensive.
threat" environments, firepower full array of defensive weapons now — Paulo Vicente
may ascend over maneuver to the
point were an attack's first detection
by the enemy will equal its destruc¬
tion. Not all experts today accept Elite Beat...
such scenarios, but neither did any¬
one foresee Passchendaele in 1900.
One possible way to overcome The German Army Today
the new firepower may be to en¬
hance infantry mobility with exo¬ In point of fact, there has been no tion courses. Further, they had to
skeletons and jet packs, while in¬ real "unification" of the existing accept demotions of two or three
creasing their offensive deadliness West German army (the Bundeswehr) ranks. That wasn't meant as any kind
with cybernetically directed wea¬ with the East German army, the of punishment, but was simply a
pons. A related solution may be the National People's Army (NPA, or reflection of the fact the rank struc¬
creation of all-robotic assault units National Volks Armee). The organiza¬ tures of the two armies had been dif¬
to make up the first wave of any tions were based on two military ferent. For example, the average age,
attacks, opening the advance with cultures so totally different from experience and competence of a typi¬
massive suppressive fires. The trou¬ each other there really was no com¬ cal NPA lieutenant-colonel was
ble is, all these mobility solutions mon ground on which to unify. found to be generally comparable to
are still pretty much in the domain On Reunification Day, 3 October that of Bundeswehr captains.
of researchers and science fiction 1990, some 45,000 East German sol¬ It was also found that the NPA
writers, while the firepower enhan¬ diers changed their eastern uniforms frequently used officers to fill posts
cers are appearing now. for the Bundeswehr fieldgray. An¬ commonly run by NCOs in western
A third solution, broadly available other 1,600 civilian administrative armies. Gen. Werner von Scheven,
now, is to overturn defensive fire¬ personnel were absorbed into the the western officer put in charge of
power through the massive use of west's bureaucracy. integrating the easterners into the
"dirty" weapons, such as chemical One-third of the 32,000 NPA offi¬ new all-German army as its IV Corps,
warfare and tactical nuclear strikes. cers accepted the opportunity pre¬ mentioned one example to this writ¬
After all, gas attacks, due to lack of sented to them by Bonn to retire with er: company mess kitchens in the
any other readily available solution, generous pensions. All those with east were commonly run by captains,
became commonplace during World the rank of full colonel and above a job usually taken by master ser¬
War I. Depending on the belligerents were dismissed. Fully 6,132 former geants in the west.
involved, however, such weapons' NPA officers were given a chance to Over all, the NPA was found to
use may carry the risk of broadly serve in the new all-German Bundes¬ have three times more officers per
escalating the conflict to levels not wehr. They were taken in on proba¬ private soldier than the Bundeswehr.
desired by either side. tionary two-year terms, during At the same time, however, there
A "poor man's" solution may which they were required to under¬ was such an lack of qualified eastern
involve nothing more revolutionary go several retraining and reorienta- NCOs that normal Bundeswehr orga-

10 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 nizational patterns couldn't be filled just enough information about the led to a great deal of surprise among
when it came time for the amalga¬ overall scheme to be able to carry out the NPA officer corps when they
mation. his own limited part in it. Thus, even learned the relatively low state of
This was particularly disturbing if some officer tried to react with ini¬ alert at which NATO forces were
and surprising to the Bundeswehr tiative to an unexpected situation, he usually kept. Since the reunification,
command, since all modem German would have been hamstrung by hav¬ a great deal of evidence has come to
armies have relied heavily on com¬ ing no idea of the intentions of the light about the actual Soviet plans
petent, leadership-oriented, non¬ command echelons above and paral¬ for offensive action in Europe.
commissioned officers. It was pre¬ lel to him. Despite Red Army efforts to des¬
cisely that characteristic that allow¬ Gen. von Scheven summed up troy all such documents, the office
ed the German armies of the two what was to have been the Bundes- safes of many NPA units still con¬
world wars to survive and fight so wehr’s approach to dealing with the tained detailed planning maps at the
long under arduous conditions. The NPA had war ever come: "The task time of the change over. Many of
relatively few NCOs the NPA did of our intelligence was to analyze them detailed planned operations
have lacked almost all leadership their system of command and deci¬ extending as far as Belgium, the
qualities when measured by west¬ sion making.. .With that information Netherlands and northern France.
ern standards. at hand, we could create unexpected Further, the NPA's communications
The eastern NCO situation was situations on the battlefield. The services were trained and equipped
actually only one immediately ap¬ inability of their officers to react on to establish radio nets over great dis¬
parent symptom of the total depar¬ their own, combined with the over¬ tances, and the capacity of their
ture from traditional German mili¬ burdening of their higher command transport units has been judged suffi¬
tary methods the Soviets forced on levels — who alone had the authority cient to have carried supplies deep
their satellite. Such traditions were to issue substantive orders — would into western Europe. Even road signs
deemed "fascist" by the Red Army have caused their command system had been made and stored in quanti¬
high command. to at least partially collapse, effective¬ ties large enough to guide traffic
Another Soviet-style ingredient ly leaving their units in the field flows well beyond the Rhine River.
in the NPA came in the form of close without orders." — Dr. Thomas Scheben
observation by the Staatssicherheits- The NPA membership was told in [Ed's Note: Prof. Scheben is a German
dienst (State Security Service, in its official propaganda that the citizen who regularly appears in news¬
other words the "secret police," or "western imperialists" were ready to papers and on television there as an
Stasi). There was in fact a rigid for¬ attack them at any moment — this expert commentator on military affairs.]
mula for the number of Stasi inform¬
ers per rank, unit, branch, and the
estimated importance of the various
unit-mission in time of war. For Technology Backdate...
instance, the frontline border units
had one Stasi informer for every five
soldiers, while infantry farther to the Television-Guided Drones vs.
east rated only one for every twenty.
The NPA soldiers and officers
were the products of a military sys¬
the Japanese in WWII
tem wherein the expression of per¬ In September and October 1944, The results of the tests were con¬
sonal opinions and initiative were the US Navy carried out a series of sidered inconclusive. Two of the
not only undesired, but potentially tests against Japanese targets in the pilotless bombs were lost en route
dangerous to their authors. Fulfill¬ South Pacific using a new air wea¬ to targets because of radio interfer¬
ment of the unit's "plan" was the key pon: a drone bomb. The drones, spe¬ ence; mechanical defects caused
element in career success. Translated cially built planes capable of carry¬ five to crash; Japanese anti-aircraft
into direct military terms, fulfillment ing a 2,000 lb. bomb, were radio- fire shot down three; and five had
meant units demonstrating the abili¬ controlled from torpedo bombers of television failures and could not be
ty to get all their troops fully equip¬ a special test unit. Synchronized used to locate a target. Of those
ped, out of the barracks, and into the television screens in the drone and drones that did attack targets, 18 hit
designated assembly areas in the control plane enabled the controllers their objectives and 11 were record¬
shortest possible time. The NPA was to view what was ahead of the ed as misses or near misses.
always kept at a high state of alert, drones and to crash them against The Navy concluded that while
and such "alert movements" were specific targets. After test attacks on there was a future for such wea¬
practiced over and over, often to the a ship hulk beached at Guadalcanal, pons, they needed more develop¬
exclusion of almost everything else. the unit moved to bases on the is¬ ment work and better aircraft for
An interesting characteristic of lands of Stirling (south of Bougain¬ the drones. The test unit was de¬
this plan-fulfillment mentality was ville in the Treasury Islands) and commissioned after its last strike
the paranoid sense of secrecy that Green (east of Rabaul and north of mission on 26 October 1944.
went with it. Everyone was given Bougainville), and made 47 sorties. — A. Vannoy

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 When Eagles
Fight
The Eastern Front in World War I
by Ted S. Raicer

[Ed's Note: throughout this piece, Central Powers units the army he led. The result was a series of "perfect
are shown in plain text, and Russian units are shown plans," all of which inevitably miscarried.
in italics.] In contrast to her ally, Germany entered the war
with the best-equipped army on the continent. Each
Assessing the Combatants German active division contained 12 batteries of
Of the three empires that clashed on the east¬ light field pieces (twice as many as a Russian divi¬
ern front in the First World War, Austria-Hungary sion), backed by six batteries of light howitzers.
was the one most immediately responsible for the Reserve divisions had fewer cannon, but an equal
conflict and the least prepared to wage it. Less a number (24) of heavy machineguns. Each active
nation than a family possession of the Hapsburgs, corps had an attached battalion of heavy howitzers
by 1914 the Empire was held together more by apa¬ (150mm). This impressive firepower was supported
thy than by the loyalty of its many ethnic groups. by an efficient and detailed system of logistics,
Not surprisingly, the ethnic divisions within based on Germany's highly developed rail network.
the Empire were mirrored in its army. While some German advantages were not confined to the
Germanic-Austrian and Hungarian regiments were material sphere. Her soldiers had undergone
of good quality, the bulk of the army consisted of tougher and more realistic training than those in
ethnic minorities who were generally indifferent any other armies, while her junior officers had a
or, in the case of the Czechs, hostile to the better (if still deficient) grasp of the tactical prob¬
Hapsburg fortunes. Only a small group of profes¬ lems posed by modern weaponry. At higher levels,
sional junior officers held the army together, and the general staff system produced officers skilled
few of them survived the opening battles of the in operations, though sometimes lacking strategic
war. vision.
In August 1914, the Austro-Hungarians mobi¬ Initially Germany called up 1.8 million men,
lized a half-million men in 49 divisions. By Septem¬ which increased to 4 million after full mobilization.
ber that number rose to 1.1 million, backed by a But with the bulk of those forces committed to the
poorly-trained reserve of some 2 million. Vienna's famous Schlieffen Plan in the west, only one army,
defense budget that year was only £36-million, the 8th, remained to oppose the Russians. While
compared with £88-million for Russia and £110- the Kaiser comforted himself with false reports
million for Germany. indicating the Czar's armies planned a defensive
The Austro-Hungarian army was plagued by strategy, the 8th Army's commander, Gen. Maxi¬
shortages and outdated equipment. Though the milian von Prittwitz, nervously awaited the first
famous Skoda Works provided both Central blow of the fabled Russian "steamroller."
Powers with excellent heavy artillery, the army That "steamroller," the Russian army, was the
was short of field guns (with fewer than 2,000 com¬ great enigma of 1914. Badly handled 10 years earli¬
pared to Russia's 3,000), and Austria-Hungary's er in the Russo-Japanese War, it appeared to have
industrial base proved so limited that only 250 of made a remarkable recovery. To foreign observers,
the 1,000 guns lost in the war's first six months its vast pool of manpower inspired visions of an
were ever replaced. Corruption and inefficiency inexorable advance that would crush its opposi¬
were rampant in the supply services. tion. Russia mobilized 5.3 million men, forming
The Austro-Hungarian chief-of-staff. Count 114 infantry divisions (though it would be October
Conrad von Hotzendorff, remained resolutely before all 98 infantry divisions slated for use on her
oblivious to these shortcomings. Impatient and western front were deployed).
aggressive, he had a brilliant strategic imagination, Despite its awesome size, the Czarist army
but it was divorced from the actual capabilities of was ill-prepared for the challenges of modern total

14 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 war. One-in-ten of its soldiers came from the poor¬ and Rennenkampf were old and bitter rivals, while
ly trained Home Guard (Opolchenia), and were the latter wasn't even on speaking terms with
armed with single-shot rifles 40 years out of date. Zhilinskii. Under such circumstances, there was lit¬
The entire army was short a million modern rifles tle real chance of the 1st and 2nd Armies acting in
and a billion cartridges. There were not enough concert.
uniforms or boots, and there were only two motor¬ On paper Zhilinskii would outnumber the
ized ambulances in all of Russia. Germans by three-to-one, but in mid-August
The Russians had 60 batteries of heavy artil¬ Russian mobilization was still far from complete.
lery; the Germans had 381. In August 1914, Rus¬ The Northwest Front was 30 percent understrength,
sian depots held 7 million shells, but in all of that and was almost completely lacking in heavy
year only 650,000 more were delivered. Soon many artillery, supply, and technical units. Zhilinskii fur¬
batteries were limited to firing no more than four ther reduced the odds by withholding divisions
rounds a day. In theory those shortages could have originally assigned to his field armies to act as
been alleviated by the hundreds of guns and mil¬ fortress garrisons.
lions of shells kept in the system of forts that Even with those subtractions, the Northwest
guarded western Russia. But lack of both transport Front still outnumbered the 8th Army's four corps
and a sound strategic doctrine prevented any by better than two-to-one, a fact very much on the
transfers to the field armies. mind of the German commander, Prittwitz. Then
The gravest Russian deficiencies were moral 66-years-old and enormously fat, he wanted to
rather than physical. The government of Nicholas abandon East Prussia and fall back behind the safe¬
II was a tangle of cowardice, selfish blindness, ty of the Vistula River. But he was aware such a
self-serving craftiness, and stupidity. Though the withdrawal would be fatal to his career unless he
nominal Russian commander (and uncle of the first put up a stiff fight. So, guided by the army's
Czar), Grand Duke Nicholas, was competent, too chief-of-operations. Max Hoffman, he planned to
often real command was entrusted to men talented lure Rennenkampf into an ambush west of Gum-
only in flattering their weak-willed monarch. binnen. If the Russians were defeated there,
Many officers, virtually all aristocrats, openly Prittwitz would then move the 8th southwest to
displayed contempt for the peasant conscripts they deal with Samsonov. If not, he would order the
led. One anecdote from the period of the Great Vistula retreat.
Retreat in 1915 tells of a Russian general who met a The trap the Germans set for the 1st Army had
wounded soldier whose uniform had been worn to to be sprung quickly, before the 2nd Army had time
shreds. Demanding, "Villain, where are your
boots?!" the officer punched the man in the face,
then drove off in his staff car, leaving him to strug¬
gle on in his bare feet. Such mistreatment eventual¬
ly curdled the natural patriotism of the ordinary
"Ivan." In time resentment would turn to resis¬
tance — and revolution.

Opening Moves — North

On 15 August 1914, three Russian infantry
corps belonging to Gen. Pavel Rennenkampf's 1st
Army crossed the border with Germany into East
Prussia. In prewar talks with France, Stavka (the
Russian supreme headquarters) had committed
itself to an immediate offensive against Germany.
With East Prussia overhanging the salient of
Russian Poland like a balcony, the Russians
planned a two-pronged drive by Gen. Iakov
Zhilinskii's Northwest Front (Army Group). While
Rennenkampf's 1st Army pushed west from
Kovno, Gen. Alexander Samsonov's 2nd Army
would advance north from Warsaw, trapping the
German 8th Army between them.
Since this plan was as obvious as it was ambi¬
tious, its chances of success depended on close
coordination between the two arms of the Russian
pincer. But here the normal problems involved in
directing forces separated both by distance and the
enemy's central position were compounded by the Heavy German guns answering the fire of the Russians near
two commander's personal animosities. Samsonov Gumbinnen.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 to move against 8th Army's deep flank. Unfortun¬ alry division from the fighting in Belgium to East
ately for Prittwitz, Hoffmann's careful calculations Prussia. Thus the Czar's armies made their contri¬
were upset by an act of insubordination. On 17 bution to the eventual Allied victory on the Marne
August, Gen. Hermann von Francois, commanding River.
I Corps, made an unauthorized attack on one of Meanwhile, Hoffmann had convinced Pritt-
Rennenkampf's divisions at Stalluponen, 25 miles witz's chief of staff the planned retreat was actual¬
east of Gumbinnen. Though Francois won a minor ly impossible. Samsonov was closer to the Vistula
victory, he cost 8th Army the element of surprise. than was the 8th Army, which would thus have to
Instead of blundering into the prepared German withdraw across the enemy's line of advance.
positions along the River Angerapp, the alerted Either 8th Army had to resume its attempt to
Rennenkampf halted cautiously just east of destroy Rennenkampf, or turn and attack
Gumbinnen. Samsonov.
Goaded by the aggressive Francois, Prittwitz Returning from his professionally fatal phone
attacked the 1st Army on 20 August. The resultant call, Prittwitz refused to renew the fight at Gum¬
Battle of Gumbinnen was a defeat for the Germans binnen, but did accept Hoffmann's new plan to
— though I Corps did well on the left, Gen. August strike the 2nd Army. The I Corps would be moved
von Mackensen's XVII Corps foundered against by rail to support the XX Corps in attacking
the strong Russian center. Samsonov's left, while the 8th Army's remaining
News arrived that Samsonov was advancing two corps (XVII and I Reserve) disengaged from
on a broad front some 60 miles to the southwest, Rennenkampf and marched southwest to stop the
screened only by the German XX Corps. Prittwitz advance of Samsonov's right. Incredibly, Prittwitz
had had enough. He called OHL (Oberst Heereslei- failed to inform von Moltke of this change in plans.
tung — Supreme Army Headquarters) and told
Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, the chief of the general Enter H-L
staff, East Prussia had to be abandoned. On 22 August, Prittwitz received the news he
Von Moltke, another old and fat general with had been replaced by Gen. Paul von Hindenburg, a
weak nerves, was deeply shaken. Prittwitz, he recalled veteran of the Franco-Prussian War of
decided, was a broken man and must go. But 1870. Hindenburg's appointment had come as a
would a mere change of command be enough? The necessary afterthought; the man von Moltke actu¬
war was going well on the western front, but what ally counted on to save the situation was the 8th
good would it do to capture Paris if the Russians Army's new chief-of-staff, Erich Ludendorff.
were in Berlin? Taking the counsel of his fears, von Ludendorff had become a hero earlier that
Moltke ordered the transfer of two corps and a cav¬ month at Liege, Belgium. Arrogant, talented and

16 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

neurotic, Ludendorff was the brains behind the
imposing figure of Hindenburg (the soon-to-be-
famous "H-L" combination). Hoffmann, who was
perhaps the ablest strategist of the war on either
side, remained H-L's chief-of-operations.
Told by von Moltke that 8th Army was in full
flight, H-L arrived at that headquarters on 23
August to find Hoffmann redeploying units to
Stallupone
attack Samsonov. This clearly had possibilities, and
Ludendorff was quick to approve (though still
without informing von Moltke of the army's actual
condition). Three days later, the Germans were in
position to attack the 2nd Army on both its flanks.
Though the 1st Army had remained inert since
its victory at Gumbinnen, only a single German
cavalry division now stood in the way of its further
advance. To reassure H-L, Hoffmann produced
wireless intercepts that revealed Rennenkampf
was moving northwest, to invest the fortress-city
of Konigsberg, instead of going southwest to link
with Samsonov.
The Battle of Tannenberg began on 26 August,
when the German XVII and IR Corps struck Sam¬
sonov's right flank, routing his VI Corps. The next
day Francois defeated the Russian I Corps on the
other flank. Samsonov's two center corps, the XIII
and XV, were suddenly in danger of being encir¬
cled. But Samsonov, waiting in vain for Rennen¬ First Bcjttte of the
kampf to come to his rescue, failed to order their
retreat until the 29th. By then it was too late, and Masurian Lake:
only fragments escaped. Two Russian corps were
annihilated, and two others were mangled — Sept. 9-14,1914 /
Samsonov committed suicide.
H-L, reinforced by the two corps von Moltke purposes the Austro-Hungarian army was divided
had withdrawn from the western front, then into three parts: A-Group, 28 divisions to be
turned their attention to Rennenkampf. On 7 deployed facing Russia; Minimal Group Balkans, 8
September, they sent Francois to strike the 1st divisions opposite Serbia; and B-Group, a strategic
Army's left near Lotzen, and by the 9th he seemed reserve of 12 divisions. According to plan, in the
on the verge of a breakthrough. Rennenkampf, event of war with Russia, B-Group would be sent
whose center had repulsed attacks by three Ger¬ to reinforce A-Group. But on 30 July, Conrad, hop¬
man corps, ordered a withdrawal to the safety of ing for a quick victory over the Serbs, tried to
his fortress base at Kovno. His army's retreat was improvise, and ordered B-Group to the Balkans
so hurried his staff derisively nicknamed him instead. This was to be done simultaneously with
"Rennen von Kampf," German for "Run from the A-Group's move into Galicia.
fight." Informed this change would require a rework¬
The 8th Army attempted to follow up this First ing of the railway timetables, Conrad agreed to
Battle of the Masurian Lakes by invading Russia. delay A-Group's mobilization for five days to
But the troops were exhausted, and Russian coun¬ allow for it. Once made, this change could not be
terattacks soon drove the Germans back across the reversed, and it gave the Russians that much more
East Prussian border. time to concentrate Gen. Nikolai Ivanov's South¬
In one month the Russian Northwest Front had west Front along the Austro-Hungarian border.
lost some 300,000 men. But the Germans had also The next day Conrad changed his mind about
lost heavily, and unlike the Russians their losses the strategic reserve, deciding to send it to Galicia
could not be quickly replaced. Worse, while H-L after all. But the limitations of the Austro-Hun¬
were winning glory in East Prussia, in Galicia their garian rail system again intervened. To prevent
Austro-Hungarian ally was suffering catastrophic chaos, B-Group would have to complete its move
defeat. to the Serbian front before it could be sent back
north. The problem was compounded by Gen.
Opening Moves South Oskar Potiorek, the Austrian commander in the
Conrad didn't even wait for the war to start Balkans, who allowed several of B-Group's divi-
before making his first mistake. For mobilization (Continued on page 20)

COMMAND MAGAZINE
WorldWar I
WESTERN FRONT
The Great Slaughter, 1914-1918
Millions of soldiers became casualties in the attrition battles in France

Germany Austria Turkey Usa Italy France Britain Russia

JoridWarl
EASTERN FRONT
The Unknown War, 1914-1917
Russia and Austria lost millions in little known battles on the Eastern Front

Balance of Forces
on the Eastern Front

,
11 615,4281

Total
Lake Naroch Casualties on
Mar-Apr 1916
142,000 Eastern Front,
1914-17 (by country)

Mogilev

Eastern
Front Losses,
1914-17 0
(by year)

(dead, wounded, missing/prisoners)

; Lemberg „
“f \ l ^
. / Tamopoi
Number of Divisions
on the Eastern Front,
1914-1918

AUSTRIA-
HUNGARY BUKOVINA

Major battle (1914-17) with

date and total casualties* for
all participants (column is
proportional to losses)
Austria 0 Major military fortress
or fortified town
Frontline with date
*Total casualty figures include all
KIA, WIA, MIA and POWs. 100 miles
ROMANIA
 (Continued from page 17) Both sides were moving blindly. Instead of
sions to get embroiled in fighting around Belgrade, using his cavalry for reconnaissance, Ivanov
preventing their return north. It wasn't until 28 deployed them to cover the gaps between his
August that the remainder, making up the 2nd armies. This unusual disposition had an unantici¬
Army, began to arrive in Galicia. pated effect: the Austro-Hungarian cavalry, expect¬
By then A-Group's three armies were engaging ing to do battle with a Russian cavalry screen,
Ivanov's four along a 200-mile front. Conrad, anx¬ instead ran directly into the enemy infantry and
ious to strike the first blow, had begun his offen¬ was destroyed.
sive on the 19 th, aiming his left and center armies On 23 August, Count Dankl's 1st Army struck
(1st and 4th) toward Lublin and Kholm, to sever the badly-led Russian 4th Army at Krasnik. In three
the rail links connecting Warsaw with Kiev. Pro¬ days of confused fighting, the 1st pushed the
tecting the right flank of that advance, the Austro- Russians back six miles, capturing 30 guns and
Hungarian 3rd Army had to stretch its line to the 6,000 prisoners. Ivanov sacked Gen. Zalts, the 4th
right to fill the gap left by the still absent 2nd Army's commander, and replaced him with Gen.
Army. Gen. Rudolph von Brudermann, 3rd Army's Aleksei Evert on the 26th.
fiery commander, was told to conduct an "active That same day Baron Moritz Auffenberg's 4th
defense," which he interpreted by ordering an Army attacked Gen. Pavel Plehve's 5th Army at
all-out attack toward Dubno. Komarow, some 40 miles south of Kholm. Sixty-

Dramatis Personae
The Monarchs the actual running of both the army and the nation to
Ludendorff. He died in exile in Holland in 1941.
Franz Joseph. Emperor of
Austria, then Emperor of Nicholas II, Emperor of
Austria and King of Hun¬ Russia, 1894-1917. Czar of
gary (Kaiser und Konig), he all the Russias, and first-
reigned from 1848 to 1916. cousin to the Kaiser, the last
Eighty-four in 1914, Franz Romanov ruler was an
Joseph lived his life with a autocrat with a spine of
rigid discipline he was jelly. Indifferent to almost
never able to impose on his everything outside the cir¬
ramshackle empire. He in¬ cle of his immediate family,
herited all the ill-luck that he stubbornly refused to
marked the last centuries of the House of Hapsburg. At delegate to the elected
home his son committed suicide and his wife was mur¬ Duma (popular assembly) the powers he was too weak to
dered by an anarchist. Abroad he involved Austria in use himself. Assuming command at Stavka in 1915, he
wars that cost her Italy and the dominant position over helped insure the appointment of a number of virtual
Germany. The events of 1914, starting with the murder cretins to key military posts. While he attended dutifully
of his nephew in Sarajevo, underscored and brought to to daily staff meetings (where he always remained silent
climax the two threads that ran through his long rule: and was probably bored), the running of his empire was
family tragedy and military misadventure. left to his neurotic wife, the mad monk Rasputin, and an
ever-changing cast of incompetent and corrupt ministers.
Wilhelm II, Emperor of A religious fatalist, Nicholas believed to the end all his
Germany from 1888-1918. actions had been the result of God's will. He was mur¬
His withered left arm, the dered along with his family by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
result of an accident at
birth, gave Wilhelm a deep
sense of inferiority, which
The Soldiers
he sought to cover with ar¬ Baron Franz Conrad von
rogant bluster. Bullying Hotzendorff (1852-1925).
and erratic, his constant Chief-of-Staff of the Aus¬
sword-rattling kept Eur¬ tro-Hungarian army, Con¬
ope's diplomats on edge for rad worked with his na¬
two decades. Though his off-hand assurances of support tion's devious foreign min¬
to Austria-Hungary in 1914 probably helped bring on the ister, Count Berchtold, to
crisis more than anything else, once it began he proved a provoke a war with Serbia.
timid warlord. When H-L succeeded Falkenhayn, the Described by a contempo¬
Kaiser was pushed quietly into the background, leaving rary as "small, elegant.

20 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

five years old and in poor health, Plehve was nev¬ Brudermann attacked Ruzskii on 26 August,
ertheless all soldier; he fought the Austro-Hun¬ and was repulsed with heavy losses. By the 28th,
garians to a standstill until lack of ammunition Russian counterattacks had forced the Austro-
forced him to retire on 31 August. But to Conrad, Hungarians to pull back behind the Gnila Lipa
already buoyed by Dankl's indecisive victory over River. The following day Ruzskii and Brusilov
Zalts, Plehve's orderly retreat appeared to be a began a combined assault; the 8th Army moved
rout. around the enemy right flank and the 3rd maneu¬
Conrad's optimism was only slightly damp¬ vered to get around the left. The battle ended on 30
ened by news of disaster on his right, where August with the Austro-Hungarians in full retreat.
Brudermann's extremely "active defense" had In attacking Brudermann, Ruzskii had seem¬
come to grief. With 2nd Army still in transit, the ingly exposed his own right and rear to an attack
3rd Army was opposed by two Russian armies, from Auffenberg's 4th Army. Since Plehve had
Nikolai Ruzskii's 3rd and Aleksei Brusilov's 8th, been "routed," Conrad saw no reason not to seize
meaning Brudermann was taking the offensive the opportunity. He therefore directed Auffenberg
against forces outnumbering him two to one. to reorient his army's advance from the northwest
More, as there was a considerable gap between to the southeast to strike the 3rd Army from behind.
Auffenberg's right and Brudermann's left, both of In doing so, a 40-mile gap was opened between the
3rd Army's flanks were in the air. armies of Dankl and Auffenberg (1st and 4th), and

almost girlish in figure," Conrad deeply resented Always true to the Kaiser, Mackensen attended Wilhelm
Germany's dominance over Austria-Hungary. Once II's funeral as the last surviving field marshal of Imperial
referred to as "the most brilliant soldier of Central Eur¬ Germany.
ope," he actually lost every major campaign of his
Grand Duke Nicholas
career.
(1856-1929). Six feet, six
Erich von Falkenhayn inches tall, the Grand Duke
(1861-1922). Minister of had never held a major field
War, Falkenhayn replaced command before being ap¬
von Moltke as chief-of- pointed commander-in¬
staff in 1914. Tall, trim, chief of the Russian army at
intellectual and energetic, the outbreak of the war. His
Falkenhayn's mind was greatest mistake was allow¬
often divided against itself. ing his nephew the Czar to
Secretly convinced after saddle him with an incom¬
1914 that the war could not petent chief-of-staff, Gen. Ianushkevich. He later
be won, his offensive at explained: "I did not think I had the right to oppose the
Verdun was designed to create a bloodbath that would Sovereign. Let history condemn me for that." Shuffled off
shock the politicians on both sides into negotiating a to fight the Turks in September 1915, he won several ulti¬
"peace without victory." Yet at the same time he support¬ mately irrelevant battles before the revolution forced him
ed the idea of unrestricted submarine warfare, a strategy into exile.
almost guaranteed to bring the United States into the war
against Germany. He overestimated Russian strength in Aleksei Brusilov (1853—
1915, and underestimated it in 1916. Later, after being 1926). The son of a general,
replaced as chief-of-staff, he ably led an army in the con¬ the young Brusilov was a
quest of Romania, but confided to a friend: "Who once member of St. Petersburg's
has held the laurel wreath in his hand can never be satis¬ Corps of Pages, and grew to
fied with another job." be a man of action. Though
he served in the cavalry
August von Mackensen during the Russo-Turkish
(1849-1944). An old-fash¬ War of 1877, he avoided the
ioned Prussian, Mackensen narrow doctrinal outlook
led his 11th Army to victo¬ that characterized most cav¬
ries over the Russians, the alry officers. That openness to new ideas led to the amaz¬
Serbs and the Romanians ing initial success of his 1916 offensive. Unlike most high
(though much of the credit ranking Czarist officers, the patriotic Brusilov reconciled
must be shared with his himself to life under the Bolsheviks: "I could not and can¬
able chief-of-staff, and not think it either possible or fitting for me to wander
later founder of the Reichs- about beyond our frontiers as an emigre."
wehr, Hans von Seekt).

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 were lengthening. While H-L could only scrape
together several ad hoc Landwehr (Home Guard)
corps from the fortress garrisons of Posen, Breslau
and Thom, the Russians deployed two whole new
armies, the 10th, west of Grodno, and the 9th,
Kholm southwest of Lublin. There were now over 2 mil¬
lion soldiers under the command of Grand Duke
Nicholas.
In mid-September, Gen. Erich von Falkenhayn,
'Kielce von Moltke's successor at OHL, rejected Hinden-
burg's appeal for reinforcements. His attention was
focused on France, where the Allied and German
armies were engaged in the "race to the sea." The
two easterners would have to make do with the
troops they had on hand.
Ludendorff met with Conrad on 18 September
to draw up plans for a joint Central Powers coun¬
teroffensive in Poland. At Falkenhayn's direction,
H-L were about to shift four corps from East
Pmssia to Silesia, to form a new 9th Army under
CARP4^ the duo's personal command. They were to be
ready to strike northeast toward Warsaw in 10
days time. Conrad, confusing his own high morale
The Austrian with that of his soldiers, enthusiastically agreed to
support the attack with another offensive of his
September own.
The German 9th Army, totaling 18 divisions,
including two Landwehr corps, attacked on sched¬
ule, but made only slow progress against little
opposition but a great deal of rain and mud. By 8
it lay directly in the path of the unbroken and now October, the Germans were approaching the
resupplied Russian 5th Army. Vistula, still without having encountered any sig¬
Plehve attacked on 6 September, engaging nificant resistance. Farther south, the Austro-Hun¬
Auffenberg's left in an inconclusive fight at Rava garians had reached the San, raising the siege of
Russka before advancing west across Dankl's line Przemysl. H-L were confident they had taken the
of supply. Dankl, already under pressure from Russians by surprise. "Here everything is in excel¬
Evert's reorganized 4th Army, wanted to retreat, lent order," Hoffmann wrote in his diary.
but Conrad refused. Then, on 10 September, an But that illusion was shattered the next day,
intercepted wireless message revealed that Stavka when H-L were presented with a copy of the
was bringing up reserves to exploit the gains on Russian plan of operations that had been taken
4th Army's left. The entire Austrian right — the from the body of an enemy officer. On 22 Septem¬
4th, 3rd and 2nd Armies — might be cut off and ber, in preparation for his own offensive into
destroyed. Silesia, Grand Duke Nicholas had ordered a
The danger was clear, even to Conrad. On 11 regrouping of his armies along the Vistula. This
September, he ordered a retreat to the San River. It maneuver was executed with unusual skill, and
was almost too late; the Austro-Hungarian armies was largely completed by 9 October. That put four
had begun to disintegrate under the continuous concentrated Russian armies on a line from
Russian pressure. Unable to reform along the San, Warsaw to the San, from north to south: 2nd, 5th,
they continued to fall back, finally coming to a halt 4th and 9th.
behind the Dunajec River and the crest of the Unexpectedly confronted by 60 well organized
Carpathian Mountains. All of Galicia, except the and positioned enemy divisions, H-L decided to
besieged fortress of Przemysl, had been lost. press on nevertheless. Though they got within 12
Russian casualties totaled 250,000, but Aus¬ miles of Warsaw, they failed to gain a bridgehead
trian losses were a staggering 400,000, including across the Vistula. "The hardest time of the cam¬
100,000 taken prisoner. In one month Conrad had paign in my experience...endless panics and
lost nearly half his forces. alarms," wrote diarist Hoffman.
Weight of numbers began to tell as Plehve's
Autumn 1914 5th Army counterattacked the German left, gradu¬
Conrad's defeat overshadowed the German ally forcing it back. The 9th Army's front now
victory at Tannenberg. With Russian mobilization resembled a reversed and upside-down L, with its
in high gear, the odds against the Central Powers right and center along the Vistula, and its left bent

22 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 line was firmly held in front while superior enemy
forces...threatened to roll up our left," Hindenburg
later explained. It was not surprising that Hoffman
said he found Ludendorff "frightfully nervous."
After five days of this, H-L had enough. On 18
October, the 9th Army began to withdraw. On 21
October, against Ludendorff's advice, Conrad
attempted a counterstroke that cost Dankl 40,000
men. Flanked by the Russian advance across the
Vistula, the Austro-Hungarians retired from the
San, and Przemysl was again besieged. The 9th
Army continued its retreat, and by the 24th was
back where it had started four weeks earlier, less
100,000 casualties, including 36,000 dead.
To replace such heavy losses, H-L received
only two reserve corps. Seeking additional troops,
Ludendorff traveled west to meet with Falken-
hayn. The results were unsatisfactory; Falkenhayn
promised four corps, but only after the conclusion
of his own offensive at Ypres. H-L's mood on
learning they would be on their own for another Results of the second bombardment of Przemysl — broken towers on
month was only slightly improved by Hinden- Fort No. 10.
berg's promotion to command OberOst (Supreme
Headquarters East). ka's offensive timetable. Gen. Ruzskii, who had
The continuing stream of enemy wireless replaced Zhilinskii in command of the Northwest
intercepts proved still more comforting. They Front, now had five armies facing the Germans; the
revealed Russian plans and dispositions in consid¬ 10th west of the Nieman River, Rennenkampf's 1st
erable detail, and thanks to this "incomprehensible along the Narew River, and the 2nd, 5th, and 4th in
lack of caution," as Hindenburg observed, OberOst central Poland. Ivanov was left with three armies:
was provided with a "punctual knowledge of the the 9th and 3rd northeast of Krakow, and Brusilov's
dangers that threatened." 8th holding the eastern slopes of the Carpathians.
Those dangers were considerable. The Warsaw Thanks again to the intercepts, H-L knew
campaign had only momentarily dislocated Stav- Scheidemann's 2nd Army and Plehve's 5th Army

rOT,
Bolimov

\ ) X / M XX ]
» \I m
N ?\
kKatowice
Tarnow

German Austrian Russian German Austrian Russian

Armies
Advance and Retreat Armies
Lines on 10/8 in Southern Poland Lines on 10/26

October 1914

COMMAND MAGAZINE 23
had instructions to resume the drive into Silesia on
11 November. They were also aware a gap had
opened between Scheidemann and Rennenkampf.
Ludendorff decided to use Germany's superior rail The German Imperial
communications to launch a preemptive blow. The
9th Army, now commanded by August von Mack- Army, 1914-1918
ensen, was shipped north to Thorn in only five In 1914 the German Imperial Army consisted of 50 active
days. On the 11th, Mackensen struck south, over¬ divisions organized into 25 corps, with an additional Guards
whelming the Siberian corps protecting 2nd Army's Division and 32 reserve divisions. All the units were alike
right flank. except the reserve divisions had nine artillery batteries
Scheidemann pulled his remaining four corps instead of 12. Thus the initial mobilization resulted in a total
back to defensive positions around Lodz and of 83 divisions.
called for help. H-L ordered Mackensen to keep The mobilization left a large pool of individual reservists,
attacking the 2nd Army from the west, while Gen. untrained men and Landwehr. They were formed into another
Scheffer-Boyadel's XXV Reserve Corps, supported 22 reserve divisions between October 1914 and February
by the 3rd Guard Division and a cavalry corps, 1915. By the end of the latter month, there were 105 reserve
pushed southeast of Lodz to cut off its line of and active divisions, with another 38 Landwehr, Ersatz
retreat. (replacement) and other divisional-equivalent units.
But the 2nd Army wasn't retreating. OberOst In March and April 1915,19 more divisions were raised
had intercepted Scheidemann's order to abandon on a three-infantry-regiment basis. These new divisions were
Lodz, but not the Grand Duke's countermand. formed by withdrawing a regiment from already existing
Plehve, with his usual energy, was force-marching divisions, reducing those older units to three regiments.
to the rescue. At the end of several days of heavy Four independent brigades, each of three infantry regi¬
fighting, it was Scheffer, not Scheidemann, who ments, were also formed in June 1915. At first these units had
was surrounded. Jubilant, the Russians assembled only three artillery batteries, but they were given an addition¬
18 trains to carry Scheffer's men into captivity. al six in 1916 and reclassified as divisions. By August 1916,
The Germans seemed about to suffer a Tan- there were 170 divisions.
nenberg in reverse, but Scheffer was not Samson¬ Between June and December 1916, another 34 divisions
ov. Forming his 60,000 troops into a huge phalanx, were formed. A few were created by combining previously
he caught Ruzskii off guard by striking northeast, independent battalions, but most were formed by regrouping
away from Mackensen's forces. The 1st Army the fourth regiment still found in many of the earlier divi¬
should have blocked that escape route, but due to sions. By the end of 1916, the total number of German divi¬
Rennenkampf's usual sloth, only the poorly armed sions had risen to 203.
6th Siberian Division stood in the way. Scheffer vir¬ In 1917 all divisions were brought to a three-regiment
tually swallowed whole the Siberians, capturing basis. At the same time, 13 entirely new divisions were raised
16,000 men and 64 guns before breaking out to inside Germany. For the start of the 1918 spring campaigns,
rejoin the 9th Army. After this remarkable victory there were 241 divisions in the field.
— for which they were not in the least responsible Those numbers, however, represent only the infantry;
— Hindenburg was promoted to field marshal and there were also 11 cavalry divisions. More cavalry squadrons
Ludendorff was made a lieutenant general. were raised during the war, but they were integrated into the
The Battle of Lodz continued until 6 Decem¬ infantry divisions, and no further cavalry divisions were
ber, when the 9th Army, now including Falken- formed.
hayn's promised corps, finally captured the city. by John P. Mertens, Jr.
Ruzskii had to withdraw his front halfway to the
Vistula, but German attempts to break the new Sources
Russian line failed, and mutual exhaustion soon Esposito, Vincent J. The West Point Atlas of American Wars.
brought the campaign to an end. New York: Praeger Pubs., 1959.
Nash, David. German Army Handbook, April 1918. London:
1915 Arms & Armour, 1977.
After Lodz, H-L returned to the struggle with
Falkenhayn. The two argued that given sufficient [Ed's Note: For details on the structure of German and Aus¬
forces in the east they could knock Russia out of the tro-Hungarian divisions, see Command no. 16, p. 28, and
war. But Falkenhayn was a "Westerner," convinced Command no. 23, p. 51, respectively. The 1914 Russian division¬
the war would be decided in France. In January al organization was much the same as the German, except each
1915, the Kaiser, temporarily immobilized by the Russian regiment had four, instead of three, battalions. However,
conflicting views of his chief of staff and his two since Russian battalions had an authorized strength of 800, com¬
most prominent field commanders, was finally pres¬ pared to 1,000 for the Germans, in actuality both divisions ended
sured by the latters' supporters into sending them up with approximately equal rifle strengths varying between
the four corps that made up the strategic reserve. 12,000 and 13,000.]
OberOst now commanded three armies.
Mackensen's 9th Army held the southern end of

COMMAND MAGAZINE 25
 extreme cold rendered the chlorine largely inert,
and adverse winds blew the gas back on the attack¬
ers.
One week later, H-L's 8th and 10th Armies
began another pincer attack, this time against
Russian Gen. Rudolf Sievers' 10th Army. Gen.
Below, striking the Russian left flank at Lyck, was
Eichorn;
halted by the stubborn defense of the III Siberian
XXXIXR
Corps. Eichhorn had better luck. Attacking Sievers'
right, he took 10,000 prisoners, and severed 10th
XXXVIIR Army's communications with Kovno. Sievers react¬
Insterbi ed by retreating southeast toward Grodno. The
Germans managed to annihilate one Russian corps
in the Augustow Forest, but the rest of 10th Army
escaped. OberOst claimed 110,000 prisoners, dou¬
ble the actual total.
lLwr Hindenburg was awarded the coveted Pour le
merite, but the duo's latest victory was inconclu¬
sive. Only two weeks after Sievers' mauling. Below
found his units under heavy attack from Plehve's
new 12th Army. "We are stuck fast along the whole
front," Hoffmann admitted in early April.
Falkenhayn could take only small pleasure
from his rivals' difficulties, for it was apparent
Austria-Hungary was on the verge of collapse.
Conrad had lost 750,000 men in the last six weeks,
many due to frostbite. One German observer at the
time reported the Austro-Hungarians were "ex¬
hausted, rotten."
On 28 March, the 120,000 men of the Przemysl
Front line on 10 Feb. garrison surrendered to Ivanov, thus freeing three
Front line on 12 Feb. Russian corps for operations elsewhere. With
Serbia still unbeaten, and Italy about to enter the
war on the Allied side, the armies of the Dual-
the German line, facing Warsaw. Gen. Otto von Monarchy were stretched to their breaking point.
Below's 8th Army was deployed near Lotzen, and OHL responded by switching another four
Gen. Herrmann von Eichhorn's 10th was forming corps from France, a decision made easier by the
near Gumbinnen. H-L planned to use those last failure of Allied offensives in Artois and Cham¬
two armies to attack southeast from East Prussia, in pagne. A new 11th Army was created, under
conjunction with an Austro-Hungarian drive from Mackensen, and sent to spearhead an offensive on
the Carpathians. This plan, heavily influenced by the Austrian front.
Conrad, was intended to cut off and destroy all the Falkenhayn came east as well — Mackensen's
Russian armies in the Polish salient. attack would be supervised by OHL, not OberOst.
Conrad's part of the offensive began on 23 Falkenhayn's ambitions in the east remained limit¬
January, in appalling weather. On the Austro-Hun¬ ed; his goal was to save Austria-Hungary, not con¬
garian right, Gen. Plfanzer-Baltin's 7th Army drove quer Russia. When the blow fell, Mackensen
the Russians back 65 miles to the Dniester River, achieved a degree of success OHL neither expected
and recaptured Czernowitz, the capital of Buko- nor was fully able to exploit.
vina Province. (Czernowitz would change hands Stavka was unprepared to meet the attack. The
another 13 times during the war.) Elsewhere, bulk of the Russian army (57 divisions) was con¬
though, the new drives rapidly broke down. centrated in Mikhail Alekseev's Northwest Front
Conrad's left and center armies (the Austro-Hun¬ (Ruzskii had resigned in April), leaving Ivanov
garian 3rd, and the new and small German South only 43 exhausted divisions. The winter battles had
Army) floundered in waist deep snow, and were taken a heavy toll, particularly among the army's
repulsed. small cadre of trained junior officers. Ammunition
On 31 January, Mackensen's 9th Army made a shortages were becoming chronic, and almost
feint at Bolimov, east of Lodz, to divert Ruzskii's one-third of the infantry had no rifles. The Russian
attention from the German build-up in East Prus¬ logistical system was in chaos, overwhelmed by
sia. The assault was preceded by a barrage of the need to supply 32,000 tons of grain daily to
18,000 chlorine gas shells, but this first use of poi¬ feed the army's million horses. Though the South¬
son gas in military history was a failure — the west Front had an adequate amount of artillery

26 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
shells in its reserve depots, there wasn't enough Falkenhayn, increasingly worried about the British
transport available to move them to the front. build-up in France, wanted to break off the attack.
On 2 May, the Germans struck Gen. Radko- Kaiser Wilhelm, unwilling to either end the
Dimitriev's 3rd Army on Ivanov's right, in the offensive or back H-L, ordered a compromise that
vicinity of Gorlice-Tarnow. Mackensen had 334 pleased no one. The 11th Army was directed to
heavy guns and 96 trench mortars; the 3rd Army change its axis of advance from east to north, mov¬
had four defective heavy guns, which exploded ing between the Vistula and the Bug toward
when they were fired. In 12 hours the German Brest-Litovsk. H-L were given a new army (the
gunners fired 750,000 rounds. The shallow Russian 12th, under Gen. Max von Gallwitz), but aimed at
trenches provided little protection, and along Warsaw rather than Vilna.
much of its front the 3rd Army was simply blown As OberOst feared, this shallow envelopment
away. Within three days, the breakthrough was defeated but failed to trap the Grand Duke's
complete. armies. Mackensen repeated his earlier tactic of
Stavka reacted to the emergency by ordering massing heavy artillery at the point of attack (the
Ivanov "not to undertake any retreat whatsoever." "Mackensen Wedge") and blasted his way north,
Obediently, Dimitriev threw his meager reserves capturing Lublin and Kholm by the end of July.
into the breach, but to little effect. By 8 May, Gallwitz, his own guns directed by a formerly
Mackensen had destroyed four corps and taken retired artillery genius named Georg von Bruch-
140,000 prisoners. Two days later, when the 3rd miiller, took Warsaw on 5 August, after three
Army was allowed to retire to the San, it had only (Continued on page 30)
40,000 effectives.
The San battle began on 16 May. Ivanov had
been reinforced by 10 divisions, but was extremely
short of munitions. Instead of bullets, Stavka sent
warnings: "It is essential that measures be taken to
limit the vast expenditure of rifle cartridges that
has occurred in recent days. It is clear that
this...stems in large part from the troops' negli¬
gence."
Despite the shortage of supplies, the defenders
didn't lack for courage, and the 11th Army suf¬
fered considerable losses of its own. But Dimi¬
triev's line was broken again on 19 May, this time
beyond repair. Mackensen's advance continued,
and Przemysl was retaken on 3 June.
That same day the Kaiser chaired a meeting at
Pless between OHL and OberOst. For the past
month H-L had been unhappily relegated to the
sidelines, reduced to mounting a diversionary
offensive into Courland while Falkenhayn pre¬
sided over the destruction of Dimitriev's 3rd Army.
But the very size of the Russian debacle reinforced
their belief the war in the east could be won in 1915
— if only they were given enough resources to
mount a major offensive from East Prussia toward
Vilna and Minsk.
Whatever the true merits of their argument,
OHL wasn't about to support any plan that placed
OberOst back on top. The Kaiser sided with his
chief of staff. Falkenhayn, satisfied "the threat to
Hungary has been completely removed," wanted
to end the campaign altogether. But he was forced
by his success to continue Mackensen's push,
adding another four and a half divisions from the
west. Thus reinforced, 11th Army took Lemberg

■T
on 22 June, as Ivanov retreated behind the Bug
River.
Another victory, another conference. The German The Eastern . m„ .
Kaiser, H-L and Falkenhayn reassembled at Posen Austrian FrOIlt [
on 1 July. OberOst again called for a grand envel¬ Russian May-October 1915 30 Sept!
opment of the Russian armies in the Polish salient.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 27
 “Some Damn Foolish Thing in the Balkans”
Bismarck's prediction about the cause of the next In late November, a reinforced Potiorek launched his
great European war came true in June 1914. For years major effort. The Serbs were suffering a severe ammuni¬
both Conrad and the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister tion shortage, and at first the new attack was successful.
Count Berchtold had sought a pretext for crushing Belgrade was captured on 2 December, and Putnik with¬
Serbia, whose pan-Slav ideology threatened the multi¬ drew his forces into the hills south of the capital. The
ethnic Hapsburg state. The assassination of Archduke Austro-Hungarians followed, but a swift Serb counterat¬
Ferdinand provided the excuse they had been seeking. tack sent them reeling back, and Belgrade was retaken on
But the Austro-Hungarians, hot for revenge, were soon 16 December. This fiasco (which finally cost Potiorek his
handed a series of humiliating defeats by the small but command) was followed by a nine-month stalemate (see
tough Serb army. the Medical Department article).
Austria-Hungary's slow mobilization prevented Following the conquest of Russian Poland in the
Conrad from following the Kaiser's advice to take summer of 1915, Falkenhayn decided it was time to deal
Belgrade before the Great Powers could react, and the with the Serbs once and for all to open rail communica¬
expansion of the war to include Russia left the Austro- tions with the Turks. Serbia's survival depended on the
Hungarian southern forces initially outnumbered by the neutrality of Bulgaria, since an attack from that quarter
500,000-man Serbian army. would leave the Serbs surrounded on three sides. But the
The Serbian commander, a veteran of the recent Bulgarian monarch. Czar Ferdinand, had suffered defeat
Balkan wars, was Radomir Putnik. Confined by illness to at Serbian hands in the Second Balkan War and was
a heated room, his knowledge of his homeland's terrain, eager to even the score. On 6 September 1915, Bulgaria
his grasp of the capabilities of his troops, and his iron secretly joined the Central Powers, and on 21 September
nerve proved more than a match for the inept Austro- they began to mobilize.
Hungarian generals. Meanwhile, Falkenhayn had transferred Macken-
The first Austro-Hungarian offensive was launched sen's 11th Army to the Serbian Front, where it joined the
in August, under the command of Gen. Potiorek. He had Austrian 3rd Army and the Bulgarian 1st Army in attack¬
been in charge of security for the Archduke's visit to ing the main Serb positions around Belgrade. With
Sarajevo, and he brought that same level of skill to fight¬ Putnik's forces fully engaged, the Bulgarian 2nd Army
ing the Serbs. The result was a 12-day campaign that saw was set in motion against the long and undefended Serb
the invaders pushed back over the Sava and Drina Rivers right flank.
after losing 50,000 men. A second attempt to breach the Serbia was doomed unless the Allies could come to
Serbs' river line positions in September gained only two her aid. The French, with reluctant British support, con¬
small bridgeheads. vinced pro-Allied Prime Minister Venizelos of Greece to
allow the landing of an expeditionary force (initially
made up of three divisions evacuated from Gallipoli) on
3 October. Only hours before this force, led by French
Gen. Maurice Sarrail, disembarked at Salonika, Greece's
pro-German king forced Venizelos to resign, leaving the
Allies in the anomalous position of occupying part of a
still neutral country.
When it became clear the Greek army planned no
action to eject the Allies from Salonika, Sarrail hurried
north into Macedonia, only to be blocked by the arrival of
the Bulgarians. The Serbs, who had been forced to aban¬
don Belgrade on 9 October, where now trapped. Rather
than surrender, they set out across the mountains of
Albania to the Adriatic coast, where 140,000 pitiful sur¬
vivors, half-starved and dressed in rags, were evacuated
by the French and Italian fleets. That left Serbia's smaller
ally, Montenegro, to surrender to the Austro-Hungarians
on 17 January 1916.
The Allied beachhead at Salonika then became some¬
thing of an embarrassment, with the Germans referring
to it in their propaganda as the world's "largest self-sus¬
taining POW camp." But by July 1916, Sarrail's army had
been reinforced to a strength of 250,000, consisting of five
British and four French divisions, a corps-sized Italian
The Serbian commander, Gen. Radomir Putnik. division, a Russian brigade, and 6 rebuilt Serb divisions.

28 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 In September, Sarrail at last began an offensive of Austro-Hungarians and Germans (under the overall
designed to relieve the pressure on the Romanians, who command of the newly demoted Falkenhayn) first halted
had joined the Allies that August. Though Sarrail's Serb the Romanian invasion, then drove them back through
divisions broke the Bulgarian lines at Monastir on 19 the passes of the Transylvanian Alps onto the plains
November, two ad hoc German units quickly plugged the beyond. A second army (largely made up of Bulgars and
gap, and the attack stalled. Turks) under Mackensen attacked north from Bulgaria
toward Constanza and Bucharest, threatening to slam the
door on the retreating Romanians. Bucharest fell on 6
December, and the surviving Romanians retreated to join
the Russian Dobruja Corps behind the River Sereth.
In June 1917, the Allies at last took the Greek bull by
the horns, forced the king to leave the country and rein¬
stated Venizelos as prime minister. On 29 June, Greece
formally joined the Allies. The Allied position was then
further improved in December, when Sarrail was re¬
placed, first by Gen. Guillaumat, and then in July 1918 by
Franchet d'Esperey.
D'Esperey's Army of the Orient attacked in September
1918. With news of the German reversals in France, the
morale of Berlin's allies had collapsed, and d'Esperey
quickly shattered the Bulgarian lines. News of this Allied
victory contributed to Ludendorff's nervous breakdown
on 28 September, thus indirectly hastening the end of the
war. On 30 September, Bulgaria signed an armistice, and
by 10 November the Allies were over the Danube in
Romania.
For both the Allies and the Central Powers, the
Balkan Front represented a drain on manpower and
resources that could have been better used elsewhere. In
French Gen. Sarrail, Allied commander on the Salonika front. many ways the Allied Salonika expedition resembles the
campaign that would be fought in Italy during the
It was too little and too late to help Romania. In Second World War. In both cases an attempt to defeat
September they had attacked into Austro-Hungarian Germany with a Mediterranean strategy resulted only in
Transylvania with two of their four armies. A mixed force a prolonged and bloody stalemate.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 29
 A German infantry column advancing through Russian Poland.

(Continued from page 27) His place was taken by Czar Nicholas II (with
weeks of hard fighting. That same day Ivanov Alekseev as chief of staff). "In military matters he
abandoned the fortress of Ivangorod, beginning a [the Czar] could be regarded as a mere child," Gen.
general Russian withdrawal from Poland. Brusilov wrote. "The people who failed to prevent
This "Great Retreat" continued well into Nicholas II...from assuming the supreme com¬
September. Hoffmann was astounded by the mand were no better than criminals."
enemy's "scorched earth" methods: "The Russian At the end of September, the eastern front ran
high command apparently had 1812 on their minds in an almost straight line for over 400 miles, from
during this retreat; they not only destroyed all Czernowitz north to Dvinsk (which remained in
communications, but they also burned towns and Russian hands), before bending to follow the
villages and drove the people away...with the Dvina River northwest to Riga. Except in Galicia,
retreating army. They seemed to believe that in this the Russians were defending everywhere on their
way they would cause us more than temporary dif¬ own soil.
ficulties, otherwise their conduct would have been This was enough for Falkenhayn, who was
useless cruelty toward their own people." confident he had permanently crippled the Czars'
Stavka's deliberate creation of millions of armies. OHL withdrew Mackensen's army for a
refugees actually aided the invaders. Not only was new campaign against Serbia, and began shipping
OberOst freed of the burdens of feeding and divisions back to France for eventual commitment
watching over a hostile population, the flood of at Verdun. H-L were thus left with a reduced force
displaced persons throughout western Russia low¬ to hold a much longer front, running from the
ered morale and spread defeatism. Baltic to the Pripyat Marshes.
But the decision to abandon Poland saved the Falkenhayn's supporters proclaimed the sum¬
Russian army. Though 100,000 men were lost in a mer offensive a feat of arms unmatched through¬
doomed effort to hold the great fortress of Novo- out military history, but Ludendorff remained bit¬
Georgievsk, Alekseev skillfully extricated the ter: "Twice the chance to hit the Russians decisive¬
remainder of his command. In early September, ly had been denied to us!"
with the Russians slipping rapidly out of reach, Hoffmann perhaps best summed up the black
H-L were at last allowed to attempt their Vilna mood at OberOst as they settled unhappily into
gambit. Eichhorn's 10th Army captured the city in their new defensive role: "Things now are more
mid-month, and managed to get several cavalry negative. I don't want to do any more than prevent
divisions across the Russian line of retreat, but the enemy from doing something to me."
their numbers were too few and Northwest Front
broke free. To the south, Ivanov also made good Brusilov's Offensive
his escape, easily thwarting two Austro-Hungarian By the autumn of 1915, the prospect the Czar's
offensives in September and October. armies might succeed in accomplishing anything
On 8 September, after the fall of Brest-Litovsk, significant against the Central Powers seemed
Grand Duke Nicholas was relieved of his com¬ remote. From May to September, losses had aver¬
mand, and sent to fight the Turks in the Caucasus. aged 255,000 a month. The great chain of fortifica-

ISSUE 25
 tions designed to protect western Russia had been The battle began on 18 March, with a two day
overrun. The Russian Empire, Falkenhayn told the artillery barrage. Badly directed, it had little effect
Kaiser in December, was "shattered." on the well-entrenched Germans. An early thaw
But that proved a premature judgment. Now turned the battlefield into a swamp, forcing the
the Russians demonstrated the resiliency they Russian soldiers to advance through icy water up
would show again in World War II. There were to their knees. The 2nd Army's commander, Gen.
many reasons for their remarkable recovery in the Smirnov, was incompetent, as were several of the
winter of 1915-16. One was the all too brief tenure corps commanders. The resulting mess cost the
of Aleksai Polivanov as minister of war. Before his Russians another 100,000 casualties before the
dismissal for having offended Rasputin, the ener¬ offensive petered out at the end of the month.
getic Polivanov instituted a new system of recruit¬ German losses were 20,000. What little ground 10th
ment that raised two million more men. Unlike Army lost, it soon recaptured.
earlier replacements, these Polivanovtsii were Evert had attacked with an advantage in num¬
well-trained, disciplined and highly motivated. bers and artillery greater than Mackensen's at
Along with this infusion of skilled manpower, Gorlice-Tarnow. Failure convinced him the Ger¬
the Russian army at last began to receive weapons mans were invulnerable on the defense, and made
and munitions in something approaching adequate him extremely reluctant to conduct any future
numbers. Russia's factories, which had produced offensives. This timidity, which was shared by
the ludicrous total of 41 rifles from January to July Kuropotkin, virtually immobilized the Russian
1914, now turned out over 100,000, along with 125 armies north of the Pripyat for the remainder of the
million cartridges, each month. Shell deliveries war.
rose from 12.5 million in 1915 to 33 million the next
year. Production of artillery increased seven-fold.
As with lend-lease 25 years later, shipments
from Allied and neutral countries played an
important part in supplying the Czar's armies.
Rifles, cartridges, and cannon arrived through the
ports of Vladivostok and Archangel, though dis¬
tance and transportation bottlenecks resulted in
long delays in getting them to the front. (The
Russians paid a heavy price for the Allied failure at
Gallipoli to open the sea route to Odessa.)
Following the "Great Retreat," Stavka reorga¬
nized its forces into three army groups: the North¬
west Front from Riga to Dunaburg, the new Western
Front south to the Pripyat Marshes, and the South¬
west Front holding the line against the Austro-Hun¬
garians to the Romanian border. Command of the
Northwest Front was given to Gen. Kuropotkin,
who had lost the earlier war with Japan, but not his
influence at court. The Western Front went to Evert,
former commander of Ivanov's 4th Army, who
soon showed he had been promoted beyond his
abilities. Stavka's one inspired choice was its
replacement of Ivanov with his brilliant subordi¬
nate, Gen. Aleksei Brusilov.
Alekseev had hoped to use the spring of 1916
to complete rebuilding his armies. But the French,
caught in the meatgrinder of Verdun, appealed to
the Czar to attack. Nicholas agreed, and in March
the Russians launched an offensive against the
German 10th Army near Lake Naroc.
Stavka intended a coordinated assault by
Kuropotkin's left and Evert's right aimed at Vilna,
but Kuropotkin's attack never got off the ground,
leaving Evert's 2nd Army to carry the burden alone.
Still, the attackers initially outnumbered the
Armies t
defenders 350,000 to 75,000, and Stavka concentrat¬
German @ The Eastern
Austrian L Front 4 June
ed over 1,000 guns to support the offensive. Masses
15 Aug.
of cavalry were also gathered to exploit the expect¬ Russian June-August 1916
ed breakthrough.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 Gen. Brusilov drew a different lesson from the Conrad seemed on the verge of a breakthrough, and
Lake Naroc debacle. He believed it showed numer¬ the Italians were pleading with Stavka for help.
ical superiority could never compensate for the After Evert stated that his armies were unpre¬
absence of surprise. Instead of massing against a pared to attack, Alekseev turned to Brusilov, who
narrow part of the enemy line, he called for simul¬ said he would be ready to strike in seven days.
taneous offensives along the entire front. By dis¬ Alekseev warned him not to expect reinforce¬
persing his reserves, he hoped to leave the enemy ments, but promised that within two weeks Evert
uncertain of his intentions and thus prevent them would begin a "general offensive" north of the
from concentrating their own reserves against any Pripyat against the Germans.
single point of attack. Brusilov intended his main effort to be made
In April, Brusilov presented his ideas at a by Gen. Kaledin's 8th Army opposite Lutsk, but
council of war attended by the Czar, Alekseev, and also prepared attacks at 20 other places along a
the other front commanders. He argued the Aus¬ 200-mile front. Scout planes had photographed
tro-Hungarian armies facing his Southwest Front every mile of the front, and for six weeks Brusilov
were ripe for defeat. A skeptical Alekseev gave had drilled his soldiers for the coming battle using
permission for Brusilov to prepare his attack, but full-size mock-ups of the Austro-Hungarian
postponed a final decision. trenches. Russian artillery, restricted prior to the
As they had in March, events in other theaters battle to firing only ranging shots, were zeroed-in
forced Alekseev's hand. In May, Conrad (without on key enemy positions. The Russians dug trench¬
informing Falkenhayn) had withdrawn nine of his es under their own wire to within 75 yards of the
best divisions from Galicia for a new offensive Austro-Hungarian line.
against Italy. Austro-Hungarian soldiers of Slavic The Southwest Front had only a slight edge in
extraction, unhappy fighting the Russians, were manpower (40 divisions to 38, though the Russian
more than willing to shoot Italians. Within a week. divisions were larger). From south to north Bru-

World War I in the Caucasus

The "Young Turks," the band of political thugs who With his offensive plans in ruins, Enver ordered a
ruled the decaying Ottoman Empire, signed a secret retreat, then abandoned the army to return to
treaty with Germany on 2 August 1914, the day after Constantinople. The 3rd Army was nearly destroyed,
Berlin's declaration of war against Russia. But it wasn't reduced from 90,000 men to fewer than 15,000.
until late October that the Turks actually began hostili¬ Thousands of Turks froze to death in the icy mountains,
ties, when a combined German-Turkish fleet bombarded while others died from hunger. It was an inglorious end
Odessa and Sevastopol. to "Little Napoleon's" plans for conquest.
The Turkish minister of war, Enver Pasha, was a fop Fortunately for the Turks, the Russians couldn't
without military skills, though he
liked to be called "the Little Napol¬
eon." With Bulgaria and Romania
neutral, the only place the Turks
could confront the Russians was
along their mutual border in the
Caucasus. Though winter is hardly
the best time to campaign in the most
rugged mountain range in Europe,
Enver personally led the Turkish 3rd
Army against the Russians there,
consisting of I Caucasus and II Turk¬
estan Corps.
His plan was to pin the enemy in
front with an attack by his XI Corps,
while his IX and X Corps struck the
Russian flanks. Besides ignoring such
factors as weather, terrain, and his
own lack of supply, Enver assumed
the Russians would sit still and allow
themselves to be encircled. Instead
they counterattacked, completely
annihilating IX Corps and capturing Hollow Victory: Russian soldiers proudly display Turkish battle flags taken in the
its commander. Caucasus.

32 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

silov's four armies {9th, 7th, 11th and 8th) faced five Ludendorff summarized: "The Austrians had
enemy armies (7th, the Austro-German South shown such small powers of resistance that at one
Army, 2nd, 1st and 4th). The Austro-Hungarians blow the whole eastern front was in dire jeopardy."
retained a three-to-one advantage in heavy artil¬ Kaladin's 8th Army had gone 50 miles toward
lery, but their morale was low and their comman¬ Kowel. At the other end of the front, Lechitski's 9th
ders were completely unprepared for what was Army had advanced 30 miles, once more capturing
about to happen. Czernowitz. But by 10 June the attackers' initial
The Brusilov Offensive began on 4 June, with a impetus was spent. Though the enemy's losses
furious bombardment of the Austro-Hungarian were far greater, Russian losses were not light (the
trenches. In the predawn of 5 June, the guns fell 8 th Army alone had .suffered nearly 40,000 casual¬
silent and the Russian soldiers swept forward. ties), and the troops were exhausted. Reluctantly,
Thousands of Austro-Hungarian conscripts threw Brusilov called a halt to regroup.
down their rifles and fled. Tens of thousands more The ultimate success of Brusilov's drive de¬
gave themselves up to the advancing attackers. In pended on Evert's pinning the Germans so they
six days the Southwest Front collected over 200,000 would be unable to shore up the Austro-Hung¬
prisoners. arians. Evert had grudgingly agreed to attack on 9
From the Caucasus, Grand Duke Nicholas June, but soon found numerous reasons for delay.
telegraphed Brusilov: "I congratulate, kiss, em¬ Both the Czar and Alekseev lacked the will to
brace and bless you." But the Czar sent only a few either replace Evert or force him into action. The
uninspired words of thanks. assault, when it finally took place on 3 July, was
The Austro-Hungarian 4th and 7th Armies anti-climactic. Ignoring Brusilov's new tactics,
were routed. With both flanks broken, the center, Evert ordered a mass attack on a narrow front at
held together by the presence of a few German Baranovichi. He lost 80,000 men before ending the
divisions, was threatened with encirclement. battle and lapsing back into inactivity.

spare the men or resources to follow up their victory request of the British, whose troops were fighting the
properly. By the spring of 1915, the 3rd Army had been Turks at Kut al Imara, the Russian Gen. Baratov marched
reformed, and the Turks opened a new offensive. Once a corps across Persia to threaten Baghdad. Baratov soon
again their drive soon ground to a halt and the Russians had to retreat, but the move did force the Turks to divert
counterattacked. By September, when Grand Duke a corps from their 6th Army at Kut.
Nicholas arrived to take command, his able subordinate Despite these victories, the Russians were never able
Gen. Yudenich had pushed the Turks back some 30 miles to win a decisive victory over the Turks, and a series of
beyond their border. indecisive clashes continued into 1917. The collapse of
Yudenich renewed his push in January 1916, and by both the Russian and Turkish Empires at the end of the
July had taken the Turkish fortresses at Erzerum, war allowed the various nationalities throughout the
Trebizond and Erzingian, clearing the enemy out of region to slide back into their traditional state of chaotic
almost all of Armenia (and putting a stop to the infa¬ communal warfare, which was only brought to a halt by
mous Turkish campaign of genocide). Also in 1916, at the the Red Army after the Russian Civil War.

Russian officers examine the guns and emplacements around the captured Turkish port of Trebizond. Taken on 18 April 1916, it
was to have served as a base for a future drive on Constantinople.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 33
 Kuropotkin, whose Northwest Front outnum¬ divisions kept the Russians from breaching that
bered the Germans along the Dvina River by two line and taking Kowel.
to one, never attacked at all. Instead, he bombard¬ Since word of the Austro-Hungarian collapse
ed Stavka with messages demanding additional had reached OHL, Falkenhayn had been scram¬
reinforcements, while in the entire area north of the bling desperately to stem the Russian tide. He had
Pripyat, Ludendorff's only reserve amounted to few troops available. On the western front the bat¬
one cavalry brigade. tle of attrition at Verdun had turned against the
Brusilov was left on his own, with no help Germans, and the British were preparing a major
from any of his neighbors. After fending off coun¬ offensive on the Somme. But recognizing the
terattacks against the 8th Army on 16 June, he greater danger lay in the east, OHL ordered seven
struck again in early July. Lechitski brushed aside divisions from France to Galicia. OberOst, its area
the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army of command now extended south to include most
and occupied most of Bukovina. The 11th Army of the Austro-Hungarian front, sent all its limited
took Brody, forcing the South Army to pull back to reserves to block the expected Russian attack along
a new position 30 miles east of Lemberg. Kaladin the Stokhod.
(supported by 3rd Army) reached the Stokhod After Evert's failure at Baranovichi, Alekseev
River, and only the timely arrival of two German had begun transferring units from his northern

Max Hoffmann
Phantom Genius of Germany’s Eastern Front, 1914-1918
Carl Adolf Maximilian ("Max") Hoffmann (1869- Brest-Litovsk in 1918, only nominally secondary to the
1927) was the paramount German staff member on the foreign office delegate.
team directing operations in the Great War's eastern the¬ But Hoffmann's name is usually omitted from the list
ater. He was the shadow architect of the victory over the Germany's great 20th-century war leaders because his
Russians in 1914 at Tannenberg in East Prussia, de facto agile mind and acerbic wit would not abide fools gladly.
commander at the Masurian Lakes and Riga offensives, He could not curb his tongue, no matter how powerful
and the preeminent German military negotiator at the blockhead in his sights. The favor of influential
patrons was sorely tested by his insolence. He also served
in a secondary theater, always under either a celebrated
war hero — such as Hindenburg and Ludendorff — or
royalty. Thus he was destined to suffer relative anonymi¬
ty while his more distinguished chiefs reaped the credit
for his strategic shrewdness.
Photographs of Hoffmann at his apex, around 1917,
personify a stereotypic Prussian officer: arrogant mien,
sheared rectangular head fusing with a stout frame. But
Hessian by birth, he was not heir to any family warrior
tradition, his father having been a provincial court judge.
Hoffmann was enrolled at the Kriegschule in his
youth, and after serving a term as adjutant in an infantry
regiment, he was selected to attend the Kriegsakademie at
Torgau. There he quickly became conspicuous for his
brilliant mind and intuitive grasp of practical solutions to
assigned map problems. He intimidated and infuriated
his professors with his caustic wit, but they could never
impugn his instinctive grasp of the correct solutions.
Disdaining physical exercise, swordsmanship, horse¬
manship and military drill, Hoffmann preferred the plea¬
sures of wine, merriment and rich food. Though athletic
vigor and military bearing didn't attain the status con¬
ferred on it by the British army of the period, the German
armed forces set a high store on such qualities. The fact
that despite his indifference to soldierly deportment
Hoffmann was considered one of the bright lights of his
class says much for his natural aptitude.
Easily surpassing his struggling classmates, Hoff¬
Max Hoffmann mann was selected for a plum six-month stint in Russia

34 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

armies to reinforce Brusilov. The limited Russian in August and September, but with steadily dimin¬
rail net made it difficult to shift forces south of the ishing returns. By October, when the campaign
Pripyat, and it was late July before Brusilov was finally ended, the Southwest Front had lost over a
able to resume the thrust toward Kowel. This time million men. The Polivanovtsii were gone, and their
there was no surprise, and the 8 th Army's attack replacements were again men short of training,
was repulsed. rifles, ammunition and hope.
On Kaladin's right, Alekseev committed the The Brusilov Offensive had brought both the
cream of the Russian army, the 65,000-man Guards Hapsburg and Romanov monarchies to the edge of
Army, command by Gen. Bezobrazov, a court the abyss. Austria-Hungary had lost 600,000 men,
favorite. Attacking through waist-deep swamps about 400,000 of them prisoners. The Czechs went
along the Stokhod, the Guards were mercilessly into open revolt, and even the Hungarians were
strafed by German aircraft. Bezobrazov, described looking past the end of the Dual-Monarchy to inde¬
by Brusilov as "incredibly narrow minded and pendence as a Magyar state. In November, a deject¬
obstinate," lost 50,000 men in two weeks. ed Emperor Franz Joseph died, ending a reign that
Elsewhere the 9th Army reached the Carpath¬ had begun in the revolutionary year 1848. His suc¬
ians, but lacked the strength to break through to cessor, Emperor Charles, was soon engaged in
the Hungarian plain. Brusilov continued to attack secret and ultimately fruitless negotiations for a

in 1898-99, where he gained great insight into the Hoffmann became the hidden hand behind Leo¬
Russian military character. Upon his return he was pold's success in the east. He halted the Brusilov
assigned to the Russian Section of the General Staff. His Offensive, directed the follow-on counterattack against
star continued to rise when he was selected to serve as a the Russians in Galicia, defeated them near Zloczov, and
military observer with the Japanese forces in the Russo- orchestrated the attack on Riga and the associated Baltic
Japanese War of 1904-05. amphibious operations in the Fall of 1917. After thus
His duties as military attache in that war allowed neutralizing the threat to the eastern frontiers, repeatedly
him to observe the combat operations of the Czarist army pulling Austro-Hungarian chestnuts from the fire, and
from the business end of the gun barrel. Accordingly, he squeezing the Russians back into their own strategic core
was next assigned to the position of operations chief of area, Hoffmann was promoted to major general.
the 8th Army, under Gen. Max von Prittwitz, and In December 1917, Hoffmann concluded an armistice
charged with defending Germany's eastern frontier. In with the Bolsheviks, representing the H-L team at the
his new job, Hoffmann was responsible for intelligence, peace talks in Brest-Litovsk. He favored a relatively hard
plans and operations. While his experience and talent peace entailing considerable Russian territorial conces¬
made him an indispensable member of the 8th Army's sions, yet had a knack for sensing what was possible and
directorate, his short fuse did not make for harmonious commensurate with German security needs rather than
relations with his chiefs. His role in the Tannenberg vic¬ dreams of empire. But when Trotsky tried his "no
tory and his planning and staff work for the February war-no peace" ploy (that is, stonewalling), Hoffmann, in
1915 Masurian Lakes campaign brought Hoffmann the February 1918, sent 53 divisions against a disorderly,
Iron Cross First Class, won, as he said, "by sitting at the demobilizing Russian army, in rapid succession taking
telephone." Dunaberg, Pskov and Kiev. Trotsky was sent scurrying
In assessing the Hindenburg-Ludendorff-Hoffmann back to Brest-Litovsk to sue for peace on German terms.
team, it is apparent Hindenburg provided the social front After the German collapse in the west, Hoffmann still
and balance, Ludendorff the driving energy and organiz¬ managed to see to it that all German troops were with¬
ing ability, and Hoffmann the fertility of ideas and forth¬ drawn from Russia in good order, in spite of the rising
right sense of reality. Hoffmann soon emerged as the anarchism in many units.
shadow strategist of the east, recognized by both superi¬ As anti-Bolshevik as any in the German officer
ors and subordinates as the brains of the theater. corps, after the war Hoffmann believed the predominant
Throughout the last half of 1916, he worked to guard the threat to his country came from Communist revolution¬
German position in Poland against Russian attacks. ary fervor. He came to favor rapprochement and eco¬
When the H-L team was promoted to overall command nomic cooperation with France in order to be able to pre¬
in August 1916, Hoffmann was promoted to colonel and sent a united front to counterattack and overthrow the
appointed chief of staff to the new overall commander in Moscow regime. For a time he collaborated with Arnold
the east. Field Marshal Prince Leopold of Bavaria. Rechberg, a prominent industrialist, in a plan to restore
Speculation as to why Hoffmann's obvious talents the Hohenzollern monarchy and embark on a military
weren't utilized by H-L on the western front leads to the expedition aimed at unseating Lenin and company. All
conclusion he was recognized as being indispensable that, of course, came to nothing, and Hoffmann died in
against the Russians. It is also probable his fiery tempera¬ July 1927, the forgotten maestro of sparkling feats of
ment put off Ludendorff and Hindenburg, who wanted maneuver in a war otherwise characterized by pulveriz¬
more compliant team members to help coordinate the ing slugfests.
major effort. by Jim Bloom

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 of 1916, the eastern front was practically the only
area not entering a crisis for the Germans. The
British attack on the Somme and the French coun¬
terattack at Verdun were having terrible effects on
the German army. As Ludendorff admitted, it was
only then he "fully realized all that the western
armies had done hitherto." Hoffmann, lacking
adequate resources to conduct major operations,
had little to do but watch the Russian Empire
implode.
That tragedy gained momentum throughout
the fall and winter. Everyone but the Czar knew
the end was coming. When the British ambassador
tried to warn Nicholas something had to be done,
the monarch replied: "Do you mean that I am to
regain the confidence of my people, or that they
are to regain my confidence?"
The murder of Rasputin in December 1916 was
followed by food riots in Petrograd in March 1917.
Nicholas ordered the mob put down, but the
troops in the capital went over to the rioters or
stayed in their barracks. Within days the Czar was
forced to abdicate and a 300-year-old dynasty came
to its end.
The new "Provisional Government," dominat¬
ed by Alexander Kerensky, proved unable to bring
order out of chaos. Kerensky pledged to continue
the war, which was a dire misreading of the
national mood that Lenin was later to exploit.
Watching all this, Hoffmann wanted to attack:
"The idea naturally occurred that it would be a
embrace. good thing to accelerate the collapse of the Russian
Unlike the Hapsburgs, the Romanovs had no army by a few strong thrusts...However, I had not
one to prop up their dynasty's sagging fortunes. the necessary means to do so." Ludendorff's atten¬
Russia's one new ally proved a liability, not an tion remained focused on the west, while the
asset. At the end of August, Romania, misreading German Foreign Office worked to conclude a sepa¬
the scope of Brusilov's success, declared war on the rate peace with Kerensky, an idea Hoffmann
Central Powers. Russian hopes for support from believed was delusional: "Owing to our inactivity,
Romania's comic-opera army were soon dashed. Kerensky was able to carry away the [Russian]
Two armies, composed mostly of Austrians and army with his persuasive eloquence and induce
Bulgarians, but commanded by Mackensen and them to continue the struggle, and thus hold 80
Falkenhayn, overran Romania in less than four German divisions on the eastern front during the
months. whole summer of 1917."
In fact, Kerensky's skills as an orator kept
Hoffmann Takes the Lead enough troops in the line to enable Brusilov (now
Falkenhayn had been removed as chief-of-staff commander-in-chief) to undertake a final offensive
in August 1916, another victim of Brusilov's sur¬ in July 1917. Forty-five Russian divisions attacked
prise attack. He was replaced by Hindenburg, with a smaller mixed force of Austrians, Germans and
Ludendorff as "First Quartermaster-General," an Turks on a 40-mile front along the Dniester River.
entirely new position that in effect allowed him to Once again the Austro-Hungarians broke, and the
run the war. Hoffmann took over the eastern front, attackers advanced 20 miles. It was Russia's last
under the figurehead of Prince Leopold of Bavaria. victory of the war.
Conrad retained his post until February 1917, but Hoffmann had been expecting the attack, and
was rendered nearly powerless by the integration had gathered reserves to counter it. On 19 July he
of Austria-Hungary's armies into OberOst's com¬ struck back, and the "Kerensky Offensive" col¬
mand. lapsed. Within days the Russian armies in Galicia
For two years H-L had insisted the war could began to melt away, entire divisions abandoning
only be won in the east, but now installed at OHL the war to begin the long trek back to their homes.
they changed their mind, giving priority to the The defeated Brusilov was replaced by Gen. Lavr
fighting elsewhere. It wasn't that they had Kornilov, a daring Cossack with a fondness for
changed their opinion, but during the second half intrigue.

36 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 In September, Hoffmann, impatient to bring Selected Sources
events in the east to a head, authorized Gen. Oskar Asprey, Robert B. The German High Command at
von Hutier's 8th Army to attack at Riga. Hutier War. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
had closely studied Brusilov's tactics and further Brusilov, A.A. A Soldier's Notebook. Westport, Conn:
refined them. With the help of the artillerist Greenwood, 1971.
Bruchmuller, he launched a surprise attack preced¬ Clark, Alan. Suicide of the Empires. New York:
ed by a brief but intense "hurricane" bombard¬ American Heritage, 1971.
ment. Small groups of specially-trained shock Farmborough, Florence. With the Armies of the Tsar.
troops led the assault, bypassing and cutting off New York: Stein & Day, 1975.
Russian strong points. (These tactics, the fruition of Hoffmann, Max. The War of Lost Opportunities. New
two years' experiments in the western trenches, York: International Publishers, 1925.
later formed the basis for the German 1918 "Kai¬ Lincoln, W. Bruce. Passage Through Armageddon.
ser's Battle" offensives in France.) New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986.
The Battle of Riga was, Hoffmann wrote, Rutherford, Ward. The Russian Army in World War
"almost ridiculously easy." The Russians were I. London: Gordon Cremones Publishers, 1975.
soon in full retreat. "The army was very enthusias¬
tic and wanted to...continue the offensive as far as
Petrograd...this unfortunately was not possible."
Ludendorff, who required troops on other fronts,
halted the advance.
Kornilov, however, did march on Petrograd.
back to
Hew Wars in the GuL
The "Kornilov Affair" was caused by the mutual
suspicions of Kerensky and his commander-in¬
chief. Each believed the other was plotting his
removal. To block Kornilov, Kerensky was forced
to ally himself with the Bolsheviks, freeing those
who had been imprisoned and allowing their other
leaders to come out of hiding. Six weeks later the
Provisional Government was itself overthrown and
Lenin came to power.
Hoffmann opened one last offensive in Febru¬
ary 1918, when the Bolsheviks tried to refuse
Ludendorff's harsh peace terms. OberOst attacked
with 53 divisions toward Petrograd, Moscow and
Kiev. There was virtually no resistance. Dvinsk fell
in one day. "This beast leaps fast!" Lenin ex¬
claimed. The Bolsheviks rushed to sign the Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk, taking Russia out of the war for
good.
Under that treaty, the Russians lost control of
Poland, the Baltic states, Georgia and the Ukraine,
in addition to having to pay 6 billion marks in
reparations. These were brutal terms, far worse
This XTR game covers three possible near-future wars around the
than those inflicted on the Germans in 1919.
Hoffmann, who titled his memoirs The War of Persian Gulf. Participants include Iranians, Iraqis, Kurds, Marsh
Lost Opportunities, had realized the triumph in the Arabs, Turks, Saudis, Kuwaitis, and the Desert Storm Coalition.
east, when it finally came, was a hollow one: "After Special rules cover weather, airpower, naval support, supply by air,
the Russian revolution, we could [have decided] to amphibious landings, Iranian fanaticism, chemical warfare, nukes,
put Russia in order, to make an alliance with a new collateral damage, airmobile ops, and more.
Russian government to bide our time in the west; Designed by a US Navy intelligence analyst, Btl includes a
or else to employ the superior numbers we pos¬
20-page rulebook, one map, 320 x5/8" counters, and a player aid
sessed in order to make a great decisive attack in
chart in a ziplock bag.
France."
Ludendorff chose the latter course, but his $22.00*
greed for Slavic territory kept almost a million sol¬
diers tied down in Russia while the decisive cam¬
X'CFyCorp, P.O. Box 4017, San Luis
paigns of 1918 were fought elsewhere. The hard
won supremacy in the east lasted only until
Obispo, CA934°3
phone: 800-488-2249 (foreign 805/546-9596) • Fax: 805-546-0570
November, when defeat and revolution swept both
the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs from their *CA residents add 7.25% tax • Foreign residents add $4.00 postage
thrones. ©

37
COMMAND MAGAZINE
 Medical Department

The Eastern Front in

World War I
The Medical View
by David W. Tschanz

In the decades immediately following the isms a chance to breed or find hospitable environ¬
American Civil War, medical knowledge about the ments, the science of disease control was discov¬
nature and causes of disease — and about their ered empirically. Suddenly a whole range of
prevention — underwent a revolutionary advance. organisms could be attacked at their source. For
In 1876, Robert Koch proved that a particular dis¬ the first time in all the millennia of one-sided war¬
ease (anthrax) was caused not by "miasma" or an fare between man and disease, where man had
"imbalance of humors," as had been thought for always been in the open and disease ever in
centuries, but by bacteria. ambush, the victim was in a position to organize
It was as if a searchlight had been turned on in and rationally plan strategies against those historic
a darkened room. One disease after another was enemies.
found to be caused by bacteria as more and more The Russo-Japanese War was fought in 1904-
medical researchers began to train microscopes on OS, and though certainly important for other rea¬
their patients. Typhoid fever, dysentery, syphilis, sons, it was also noteworthy in that for the first
plague and cholera all revealed their causes to be time in the history of armed conflict the number of
microscopic life forms. combat-related deaths exceeded those from dis¬
During the same period the role of insects in ease. Military doctors were finally able to devise
transmitting disease to man was also explained. means to prevent disease.
Ronald Ross, a British military doctor, demonstrat¬ By the time World War I broke out in 1914,
ed mosquitoes transmit malaria. US Army medical medical science had made such great progress
officer Walter Reed made the same discovery about there was reasonable hope the epidemics that had
yellow fever, using soldiers who volunteered for accompanied all previous major wars could be
his experiments. Armed with this new knowledge, avoided. With the exception of the mortality from
another Army major, William C. Gorgas, made war the worldwide epidemic of influenza in 1918—19
on the mosquitoes of Cuba and thus drove that dis¬ (see Command no. 16), that was more or less the
ease off the island. When the same principles were case on the western front. Neither side in that the¬
applied in the United States, they worked again. ater experienced anything remotely resembling the
The last yellow fever epidemic in this country war-related epidemics of the past: typhoid fever,
occurred in New Orleans in 1905. dysentery, cholera, plague or typhus fever. But in
Malaria proved susceptible to the same line of the east one disease returned in all its medieval
attack. Gorgas led a campaign against mosquitoes ferocity and wreaked havoc on the plans of the
during the building of the Panama Canal that Central Powers.
allowed the Americans to succeed where de Les-
seps, the builder of the Suez Canal, had failed. The Serbian Front
In the Hong Kong epidemic of 1898, Yersin After the assassination of the Archduke Ferd¬
showed bubonic plague was transmitted by fleas. In inand in July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war
1909, Charles Nicolle discovered lice gave typhus to on Serbia and attacked that country. Militarily the
man. French scientist Louis Pasteur had already Serbs were in desperate straits. They had just fin¬
shown defenses could be built against disease — he ished a war with Turkey, the third they had fought
developed immunizations against rabies, chicken in two years. Munitions and war materiel were
pox and anthrax. A few years later vaccines for scarce. Belgrade, the capital, was dangerously
typhoid and cholera were also devised. exposed on the frontier with Hungary, and the
Once it was understood why diseases hap¬ entire populace was war-weary.
pened, it was also understood why some measures, Belgrade was bombarded and the Austro-
such as sanitation, worked. By denying the organ¬ Hungarians tried to push their way across the Sava

38 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

River. Those efforts were repulsed, but later, room. They move from one person to another more
attacking from the Bosnian border, the invaders or less by accident, such as an accidental brushing
succeeded in taking Valjevo and then Belgrade. against, loan of clothing, or simple proximity, espe¬
There were reverses, however, and some 20,000 cially at night, rather than by deliberate migration.
Austro-Hungarian prisoners were taken by the The one time they make a mass exodus from a per¬
Serb defenders. son is when death overtakes their host and the
The loss of Belgrade was not of crucial impor¬ rapidly cooling body forces them to find a more
tance, since the city was in no way the heart of the hospitable environment.
country. The Serbian government relocated to Lice feed by sucking blood from their host.
Nish. At the same time, the widespread destruc¬ They are incredibly prolific, laying eggs called
tion of towns and villages across northern Serbia "nits" that stick to clothing and human body hair.
caused the civilian population there to flee south¬ Lice were once ubiquitous, and a plethora of phras¬
ward. There was no shelter for them, and hospitals, es refer to them, their progeny, and getting rid of
doctors, nurses and drugs were in short supply. them. Expressions like: "You louse!" "Nit-pick¬
There were only 400 physicians in the entire coun¬ ing," and "Going over it with a fine-tooth comb,"
try. In addition to the many sick and wounded serve as testimony to our long and uncomfortably
Serbians, there was also the burden of caring for intimate relationship with them.
the 20,000 POWs. Man has known how to get rid of body lice for
Typhus fever began to appear first among the millennia, and the method is mentioned by the
refugees, then within the ranks of the Serbian army Greek playwright Aristophanes in one of his come¬
and the Austro-Hungarian prisoners. The disease dies. Head lice are eliminated by shaving one's
had been endemic in Serbia for centuries, and these head (hence the popularity of horsehair wigs
first cases caused little alarm — there was, after all, among our unwashed ancestors). Getting rid of
a war on. But in 1812, typhus fever had shattered body lice requires washing the body and boiling
Napoleon's Grand Armee in Russia long before the clothes. These are simple actions in some cir¬
"General Winter" had its effects (see Command no. cumstances, but soldiers, refugees and prisoners
11), and it was about to reprise its role as a prime can rarely engage in such activities, even when
determinant in military strategy. they have changes of clothing available.
The louse becomes infected with typhus fever
Lice & Typhus Fever by biting an already infected person (or rat). About
Typhus fever is not typhoid fever, nor is it six days after his meal, the louse becomes infec¬
related to it, despite their similarity in names. tious. If the louse stays where it is, not much hap¬
Typhoid fever is a disease of the gastrointestinal pens; if he moves to another host, the process
tract caused by a bacterium. Salmonella typhi. Man begins.
acquires the disease by eating or drinking food or Because lice are extremely temperature sensi¬
water contaminated with feces from an infected tive, they will move from the body of a person suf-
person. Typhoid fever is therefore a disease result¬
ing from poor sanitation and impure food and
water supplies.
Typhus fever, in contrast, is a disease of filth. It
is transmitted from one person to another by the
common body louse, Pediculus humanus (but not by
the head louse). These small insects have been the
bane of armies throughout history and have been
known variously as "cooties" and "personal live¬
stock." But the actual causative agent of typhus
fever is a microscopic organism that is not quite a
bacteria, but is at the same time too developed to
be classified as a virus, called Rickettsia prowazeki.
These Rickettsia in fact cause a variety of sicknesses,
including trench fever and Rocky Mountain spot¬
ted fever.
Typhus fever is common only where lice are
common — among large aggregations of people
who do not bathe or change clothes regularly and
are forced to live in close quarters. In other words,
in just the situations infantry, refugees and POWs
are likely to find themselves (typhus fever was also
once called "jail fever" and "ship fever").
The lice cling to the seams of clothing, cuffs,
hems and any other space that provides hiding Serbians who have died from Typhus.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 fering from typhus fever as quickly as from a dead no nurses, beds, linens, and no medicines. Of the
person. Rickettsia prowazeki meanwhile multiplies in 400 doctors in the country, almost all of them con¬
the louse's gut and is excreted in large amounts tracted the disease, 126 fatally. There was eventual¬
when the insect defecates. These feces retain their ly even a grave digger shortage as they also fell
infective power for a considerable time. Infection of victim.
humans occurs when the dry feces are rubbed into Through February and March 1915, the epi¬
the skin, fall on the eye, or (and this is still debated) demic flared up with a speed and virulence never
are inhaled into the lungs. Humans can also become equaled in any typhus outbreak for which we have
infected by crushing a louse in scratching and thus reliable records. In April, when it reached its peak,
rubbing the content of its gut into the skin and the new cases ran at 10,000 per day (that was 2,500
bite puncture just made by the insect. For the louse daily admissions for the military hospitals alone).
the ingestion of the microbe is also a death sentence The mortality rate ranged from 20 percent at the
—10 days after being infected it too dies. beginning and end to 60 percent at the height of
Once in a victim's bloodstream, Rickettsia the epidemic in March and April.
prowazeki begins to multiply. In humans the clinical For six months, Serbia was politically and mili¬
symptoms begin about 12 days after infection. The tarily helpless — a ripe plum ready to be picked.
onset is sudden, with high fever, headache, chills, But the Central Powers did not attack. Their strate¬
numbness, generalized body pain and prostration gists knew better than to enter a country while an
often leading to delirium, coma and heart failure. epidemic raged. General Typhus, while scourging
The most characteristic symptom consists of red¬ the Serbian population, also held the borders invio¬
dish spots, looking like flea bites, that rapidly dark¬ late.
en and may even merge, covering the entire body. Thus Berlin and Vienna lost six months during
Before antibiotics, the fatality rate varied from 10 to the most critical period of the war. It is anybody's
80 percent. guess as to the effect this delay had on the immedi¬
ate course of the war. But it is at least reasonable to
General Typhus believe a quick thrust through Serbia at the time —
The appearance of typhus fever, the large with its effects on Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, the
number of refugees, and the general devastation of closing of Salonika, and the establishment of a
the country did not, at first, stop the Serbian mili¬ southwestern front against the Russians — might
tary. On 2 December 1914 they launched a counter¬ have tipped the balance in favor of the Central
attack, and after three days of battle the entire Powers. Typhus fever may not have won the war
Austro-Hungarian invasion force was shattered for the Allies, but it certainly helped by denying
and in headlong rout. The Serbs took another the Germans and Austro-Hungarians the Balkans
40,000 prisoners, and the northern part of their at a critical juncture.
country was now entirely devastated. In the mean¬ Typhus quickly established itself along the
time, typhus fever had spread throughout the civil¬ entire eastern front, but was kept from reaching
ian and military population; its lengthy incubation epidemic proportions in both the German and
period no doubt meant it was circulating in the Austro-Hungarian lines by the energetic delousing
blood of the Serbs who drove out the Austro-Hun¬ of the troops. Though it penetrated into the POW
garians. In the confusion of war it found ample camps of central Europe, the disease was prevent¬
opportunity to spread. ed from spreading to the civilian population there.
It is impossible to state with any real accuracy The total absence of typhus from the western front
just where the epidemic started. The first accumu¬ at the same time it raged on the eastern front, tear¬
lation of cases occurred among the Austro-Hun¬ ing at the Russian army and at least making itself
garian prisoners held at Valjevo. Outbreaks felt among the forces of the Central Powers, was
throughout the rest of Serbia followed within a among the most remarkable phenomena of World
week. The infection traveled with the wandering War I.
refugees, with prison trains, and with moving No full explanation for this has ever been
troops, and was rapidly disseminated to all parts of established. Soldiers in the trenches of the western
the country. What followed next was a scene of front were as universally lousy as their counter¬
horror such as Europe had not witnessed since the parts in the east. Another louse borne disease,
Black Death. trench fever, which is closely allied to typhus, was
At the start of World War I, there were some 3 common. The only reasonable idea is that armies
million Serbs. Within six months 500,000 — one in on both sides were more afraid of typhus than they
six — developed typhus fever. Over 200,000 were of shot and shell. The Central Powers, realiz¬
(including 70,000 soldiers) died from the disease. ing a typhus epidemic introduced with troops
Half of the 60,000 POWs also died. transferred from the east could easily lose them the
The Serbs were simply unable to cope. The few war, took the utmost precautions to avoid it.
existing hospitals were full to overflowing and oth¬ Soldiers were deloused whenever they came back
ers had to be improvised in buildings that often from the frontline. Army sanitary organizations on
lacked sanitary provisions. There were practically both sides were ever conscious of the peril, alert for

40 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

suspicious cases, and unusually quick to resort to
wholesale unit delousing. The mortality of the lice
in that war must have been the greatest in history. How to Read Unit Symbols.
Thus all the great powers but one prevented a Unit symbols are a quick and easy way (once you get used to them) to clearly show the
typhus fever epidemic from crippling their armies. makeup of even the largest and most complex military organizations. The symbols are used
But hapless Russia was the next target after Serbia. to show the location of the unit on a map. When combined with other symbols in a wire-
As defeat, famine and refugees swept the Roman¬ diagram, the symbols can be used to show the strength and weaponry of a single unit (a
ovs' empire, cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery Table of Organization and Equipment, or TO&E) or show all the units commanded by some
swept with them as essential services collapsed. higher organization (an Order of Battle, or OB).
Then in the winter of 1918-19, typhus fever ap¬ Each unit is identified by a box. The symbol inside the box indicates the unit's type, meaning
peared in epidemic form. the primary weaponry and equipment the unit uses to carry out its missions. Examples of
Typhus fever wasn't unknown in Russia; in unit types are:
the 20 years before the revolution there had been
an average of 82,000 cases per year. During the war
1X1 Infantry |-$>| Rocket Artillery

the disease had spread slowly but steadily. In the |^>x| Road-Motorized Infantry 1 j | Mortars
first two years there were 100,000 cases; after the
Great Retreat of 1915 the number reported rose to IXJ Cross-Country Motorized Infantry |\$/1 Anti-Tank
154,000. But even that number was soon to pale to IXJ Airmobile or Air Assault (heliborne) |/Aj Anti-Aircraft Artillery (pre-1945)
insignificance.
The great epidemic that broke out at the end of Airborne (or Paratroop) t—Modern Air Defense Artillery
1918 invaded the Soviet Union on three fronts:
Marines or Naval Infantry P^\| Signals or Communication Troops
Petrograd, the Romanian border, and the Volga
region. The disease raged for four years amid the j A | Mountain Infantry |q|p| Fixed-Wing Bombers
famine and dislocation of the revolution. For a
while it looked as if the fate of the Communists [tx5l Mechanized (or "Armored") Infantry lc|o| Fixed-Wing Fighters
was to be determined by typhus fever. Lenin, sur¬
Im) Combat Engineers 1X1 Attack Helicopters
veying the situation early in 1919, put it succinctly:
"Either socialism will defeat the louse, or the louse XI Commando or Special Forces | Supply or Transport
will defeat socialism."
XI Horse Cavalry El Replacments
Conclusions |(75| Armored Cavalry or Reconnaisance IfeCl Motorized Special Ops
During World War I, typhus fever was only
kept from reestablishing its role as a "Great |,X1 Motorcycle Troops | ^ | Military Police
Captain" and ravaging the armies of all the combat¬
ants because medical science finally understood it |°°°| Armored Cars [Xl Motorized Anti-Tank
and how to defeat it. Generals came to appreciate |d)| Armor or Tank IX/1 Self-Propelled Anti-Tank
that their greatest enemies were not always their
armed opponents, but the microbes lying in wait |(Z)| Assault Gun or Self-Propelled Artillery XI Combined Arms
for them. Sanitation, medical care and hygiene
became as important to military planners as muni¬
J Truck-Towed Artillery Wheeled Marines
tions, tactical innovation, and strategic gambits. 1X1 Horse-Drawn Artillery D)&(1 Motorized Marines
Still, the experiences on the eastern front showed
what could happen if the guard were let down even
for a short time. The Serbian campaign was the last Unit Size
time typhus fever played a significant role in the XXXXXX - Theater of Operations 111 - Regiment
outcome of a war — and it will probably remain so XXXXX - Army Group or Front 11 - Battalion
unless some future leaders forget what it can do. © XXXX - Army I - Company
XXX - Corps ••• - Platoon
Sources X X - Division •• - Section
Cloudsley, Thompson J. Insects & History. New X - Brigade • - Squad or Fire Team
York: St. Martin's, 1976. Notes
Farmborough, F. With the Armies of the Tsar (origi¬ 1. If a unit symbol displays a heavy band down its left side, or a portion of its symbology is
nally published as Nurse at the Russian Front: A filled in, that unit is armed with "heavy" weapons. For instance, this 1/%! would mean
Diary, 1914-1918). New York: Stein & Day, 1975. "heavy weapons infantry," while this |o| would mean "heavy tanks."
Marks, G. and Beatty W. Epidemics. New York: 2. If there is bracket(r~l) atop a unit's size-symbol, that unit is ad hoc in nature, Meaning
Charles Scribner, 1976. it was/is) not a regular organization in its army, but was created for some special
Strong, Richard P. Typhus Fever: With Particular (temporary) purpose or mission.
Reference to the Serbian Epidemic. Cambridge: 3. The number or word appearing to the side of a unit box is that outfit's numeric or name
Harvard Univ., 1920. identity. For instance, this unit rAAi would be the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division.
Zinnsser, H. Rats, Lice & History. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1935 (reprinted 1963).

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 ©res&eb to Ml
The Role of Uniforms in Military History
by David W. Meyler

Romans & Barbarians

The sight of a formally arrayed Roman legion, The hallmark of many of Rome's tribal ene¬
its solid formations in ordered ranks, armor gleam¬ mies was the valor of the individual warrior. Each
ing in the sun, was sometimes enough to intimi¬ battlegroup and clan was distinctive, and the most
date an enemy so badly that the ensuing battle was renowned warriors and their followers stood out
already won before the first javelin had been among the rest in both dress and action. Whether it
thrown. There was, however, more to this Roman was a mustard-painted British chieftain engaged in
uniformity than the mere display of martial daring acrobatics on his chariot before the enemy,
prowess.
a Gallic champion, naked, with hair whitened and
starched into spikes with lime, ready to dedicate
his own death and those of his enemies to the bat¬
tle god Teutates, or a lone German riding forward
to boast of his accomplishments and taunt the
silent ranks of the Roman foe — all of it, too, had
deeper meaning.
Uniforms, or military dress, are in the literal
sense superficial: what a soldier wears on his phys¬
ical exterior. However, by examining what a sol¬
dier wears, and why he wears it, we can get a bet¬
ter impression of how war is viewed by his society,
and what are the motivating factors that lead him
to fight in it.
In the example above, by the time of the
Roman Empire at the start of the Christian era, that
army had become a multi-national force. It had
already been several generations since Italians,
much less native Roman Latins alone, made up its
majority. Recruits came from all parts of the
Roman Empire — Spain, Gaul, the Balkans, Asia
Minor and North Africa. There was no natural
bond between those men in native language, reli¬
gion, or other customs.
Unit cohesion therefore had to be created arti¬
ficially. Whether a legion was raised in Spain or
Syria, organization was virtually identical, hierar¬
chically built up from the eight-man contubernium
(squad), to the century (company), cohort (battal¬
ion), and finally the legion itself. Commands and
command structure also followed the same pat¬
tern.
Unit standards — in the form of an eagle or
other animal totem mounted atop a pole — were
used as a physical representation of the unit itself,
from century up to legion. But those standards
were also imbued with religious/mystical signifi¬
cance. They symbolized the distinct living person¬
Clockwise from top left: Signifer, Legio XIV Gemina, Tiberian period, ality of a unit, of which the individual soldiers
Aquilifer, Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis, mid-lst C. AD, Centurio, Legio were only constituent parts. For a unit to lose its
II Augusta, late Augustan to Tiberian period. standard was a particularly serious calamity — it

42 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
meant the death or disbandment of that unit, since
it could no longer exist with its symbolic heart
ripped out.
During the heyday of the Empire, Roman
legionaries dressed pretty much the same from one
unit or garrison to the next. Though there were
some local differences, they were matters of detail
rather than substance. The use of a uniform dress,
like the other forms of standardization, masked the
racial and social differences existing among the
troops. Whether they had been born black Africans
or red-haired Britons, all were Roman soldiers —
all equally expected to live, fight and die for their
legion. Previous identifications and allegiances
were obliterated.
The lives of young men in the "warrior soci¬
eties" outside the Empire were vastly different. In
most there was no distinction between fighting
man and civilian. All boys were expected to
become warriors when they reached manhood.
Women, too, were expected to fight in defense of
their tribe and clan, and especially in some Gallic
tribes they played key roles in organizing and
directing warfare. (That is, in serious fighting
wherein the survival of the clan /tribe was at stake,
as distinct from cattle raids and petty brawls,
which were exclusively the prerogative of male
warriors.)
It was in Rome where a distinct martial class
first developed, and where the concepts of "sol¬
dier" and "civilian" became significant. There,
being in the army developed into a profession. The
word "soldier" itself demonstrates this — it comes
from the Roman solidus, or coin. Thus someone
who lived by being paid to fight eventually came
to be referred to by the name of the coins given to
him. In the early Empire, legionaries were usually Celtic light infantry, 1st century BC/lst century AD
paid with a measure of salt, or solarium — though
today it's not only soldiers who earn "salaries," it's It was the tribes, not the legions, which eventually
still military men who are most commonly called proved dominant in the West.
on to prove they're "worth their salt."
Tribal armies didn't need the artificial organi¬ Soldiers & Civilians
zation of a legion; there were inherent social bonds There is a direct historical relationship
between the warriors based on family and clan ties. between the level of military organization and mil¬
Family units — father, brothers, sons — formed the itary dress. Armies in societies with a formal and
core units, while larger military groupings were developed military force, where there exists a dis¬
based on their extended families, clans, and tribes. tinct division between combatants and noncom¬
Command hierarchy was also based on that of the batants, show more formalized military dress or
family. uniforms. The more distinct the division between
Just as the barbarians lacked a formalized mili¬ soldier and civilian, the more formal the uniform
tary structure, so they also lacked uniforms. The becomes.
Gauls, Germans and Britons went to war dressed Tribal warfare in Europe remained the domi¬
much as they were in their daily life. The elite war¬ nant form of warfare until the end of the first mil¬
riors, who by the time of the Empire had begun to lennium. Then the various Germanic kingdoms
evolve into a noble class, wore distinctive gear, but that had grafted themselves over the structure of
it tended to emphasize their individuality — the the fallen Roman Empire began to develop a cer¬
exact opposite of the Roman uniform designed to tain permanence. From the Carolingian Empire
obscure the individual. To Roman observers the there came the Kingdom of France and the Holy
tribal armies seemed a confused and disorganized Roman Empire, while the Kingdom of England
mob, but those forces had an inherent cohesion developed from a fusion of late Roman, Anglo-
that no amount of Roman training could overcome. Saxon, Danish and Norman sources.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 43
 riors decorated their shields, but those simple pat¬
terns eventually developed into heraldic crests
encoding whole family histories and social rank¬
ings. A lord and his retinue of knights decked out
in their livery and armor — the "uniform" of the
medieval warrior — were immediately recogniz¬
able to their peers.
Likewise, a complex code of behavior devel¬
oped for the knights — chivalry. It determined
behavior on the battlefield and dictated how a
Christian knight should act from one end of
Europe to the other. At the same time, the idea of
the "just war" was developed. Warfare was becom¬
ing formalized again.
Toward the end of the chivalric era, as the feu¬
dal system broke down, knights' armor continued
to become more complex. Finally, the costly suits
of heavy plate armor grew so heavy they became
unsuitable for actual use on the battlefield. They
had become ceremonial, only good for visually
emphasizing the distinction between members of
the military class and others.
Armor itself came to denote rank, and vestiges
of the symbolism — such as the officer's gorgette
— lasted until the 19th century. Even as late as the
17th century, officer-aristocrats usually donned
their ceremonial armor when having their portraits
painted.

Mercenaries
From 1300 onward, the complex society that
had grown out of the simpler feudalism of the 10th
century began to unravel. States based on territory
overseen by a centralized administration began to
A Marshal of France in the 15th Century. replace the systems of mutual obligation that had
held feudalism together.
While there were exceptions, feudalism be¬ The growth of centralized kingdoms, of
came the predominant form of political and mili¬ course, struck at the very existence of the feudal
tary organization in Europe. Military service was noble class. The newly emerging central govern¬
tied to land rights and a distinct class of fighting ments resorted to hiring mercenaries to directly
men began to rise again. This was the classic undercut the nobles' previous monopoly of mili¬
medieval division of society into three broad class¬ tary force. These new armies, maintained on a per¬
es: the Church, the nobility, and the peasantry. The manent basis, became the sole possession of the
nobility formed the military class, the knights. king. No longer did the throne have to rely on the
Military service in exchange for land was even¬ nobles to raise the military forces needed for war.
tually supplanted by a money payment. A noble¬ Around the same time, gunpowder and fire¬
man, rather than going to war himself, could pay arms brought on revolutionary technological
his lord a sum of money, or pay for the mainte¬ changes. Building the new weapons and training
nance of a number of his knights. By the time of specialists to operate them were often beyond the
William the Conqueror in 1066, armies were again financial means of individual nobles.
largely based on a cadre of paid professionals, The first of the new standing armies, such as
though overall manpower still was supplemented the French Campagnies d'ordinance appearing late in
by a form of the earlier tribal levy. As the Middle the Hundred Years War, were relatively small.
Ages progressed, the mounted knight and his Mercenaries were expensive even for kings to
retainers more and more dominated all military maintain, and unlike the knights, they had no par¬
activity. The peasant levy degenerated to the point ticular bond or allegiance to their employer. Once
where it was virtually worthless in terms of pro¬ the money ran out, it was just as likely they would
ducing forces with real combat power. join the enemy as remain loyal. Disbanding merce¬
As the dominance of the knights increased, so nary units at the end of a war or campaign also
too did their military accoutrements become more often proved difficult, and roving bands of unem¬
complex and distinctive. The early Germanic war¬ ployed soldiers were an endemic plague across

44 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
France at the end of the Hundred Years War. Still, achieved by first reforming the army. The merce¬
by 1550, mercenary companies formed the bulk of naries had proven unreliable at best, and the seven
every European army. provinces revolting against Spain weren't united
The Spanish monarchy fielded the most formi¬ by language, culture or economy. The civic militias
dable army on the continent at the time, with its of the various towns had been enough to keep the
highly trained masses of musketeers and pikemen. Dutch in the war, defeating a number of Spanish
The mounted noble horsemen were still present, sieges, but they were of no use for offensive action.
but they were now only auxiliary to the army of Like the Romans — and that classical example
footmen. The word "infantry" comes from this served as a direct influence on the Dutch — an arti¬
period, and is derived from the troops of the ficial means had to be. found to create a loyal and
Spanish Crown Prince, the infanta. All of these cohesive army.
troops were mercenaries in the sense that they The Dutch Republic thus became the first mod¬
were paid soldiers, but unlike completely freelance ern nation-state. It was not a polity based upon a
companies they served only the Spanish Crown. particular nationality — rather, an individual's
Without pay, however, they quickly became nationality was derived from his identification
uncontrollable and liable to complete breakdowns with the state. Their red, white and blue flag was
in discipline. Other countries failed to attain even the first national flag. It was a flag representative of
that degree of control, and mercenary armies,
sometimes numbering into the tens of thousands,
became the scourge of Europe. Military Dress Adopted By Civilians
The formalized and restricted warfare of feu¬ Cravat: The decorative neckties that are today part of the
dalism broke down completely, a process that cul¬ wardrobe of most white-collar males around the world had
minated in the terrible ravages of the Thirty Years their origin in the scarves worn by Croatian troops serving
War. In that conflict mercenary captains such as in the French armies of the 17th century. "Cravat" comes
Wallenstein became virtual powers unto them¬ from the French for "Croat."
selves. What began as a dynastic/religious dispute Cuff Buttons. One common story attributes the origin of the
in 1618 within the Holy Roman Empire, soon grew now functionless buttons on men's jacket cuffs to Frederick
into a conflagration across much of Europe. States the Great or Napoleon. Supposedly one of those rulers
often lost control of their armies. The mercenaries decreed the buttons be sewn on to uniform sleeves to deter
had no desire for peace, and if they weren't paid the men from wiping their noses there. In actuality, the
they simply took what they wanted. There was no buttons date to the 17th century, when military coats were
power to stop them except other mercenary forces given extra-long sleeves that hung over the wearers' hands
— so there was plenty of "work" for everyone. The for protection in cold weather. In action the sleeves were
slaughter wasn't stopped until 1648, after an esti¬ folded back and buttoned to keep them from being a hin¬
mated one-third of the German population had drance in handling and firing a flintlock. Eventually the
been killed and some areas completely depopulated. folded sleeves became decorative and finally disappeared
That war also saw the complete blurring of the altogether, but the buttons have remained.
distinction between civilian and soldier. Uniforms Pantaloons. This piece of women's fashion became popular in
no longer existed. Everyone who could afford a Paris during the Allied Occupation of the city in 1814-15. It
weapon was a soldier, and anyone was a target. It was copied from the flowing trousers worn by the Russian
was a war without rules, and thus one of extreme Cossacks, part of the army of occupation.
brutality. To avenge years of murder and pillage, Cardigan. Lord Cardigan, commander of the British Light
peasants would often ambush and kill any soldiers Cavalry Brigade in the Crimean War, gave his name to this
they could find. That would bring retaliation, and popular type of wool sweater. He was prone to bronchitis,
the cycle would continue. Where mounted men had and therefore wore a specially-knitted sweater to keep
once been chivalrous, they became mere cavaliers. warm.
Even before the Thirty Years War, there had Balaclava. Another item derived from the Crimean War, this
been portents of the new trend. For example, in the type of hood closes to leave only the smallest part of the
long war of the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648), the wearer's face exposed to the elements. It was named for the
Spanish mercenary armies received their first seri¬ main British base, the town of Balaclava, during the bitter
ous check. But that reverse didn't come from the winter siege of Sevastopol in 1855.
largely ineffective mercenary forces raised by the Raglan Sleeve. This particular (seamless) cut of sleeve is
rebels; it came when the cost of the fighting bank¬ named after Lord Raglan, commander-in-chief of the
rupted the Crown and Madrid could no longer pay British forces in the Crimea. Raglan died during the cam¬
its troops. As a result, in the early 1570s the paign from a combination of ailments brought on by expo¬
Spanish army went on an orgy of pillage and rap¬ sure and fatigue. Maybe he should have worn a cardigan.
ine — not in enemy territory, but in friendly cities. Homburg. The Homburg hat started as headgear worn by the
Homburg Militia in the mid-19th century. Prince Albert,
National Armies Queen Victoria's husband, saw the unit, liked their hats,
The Dutch, under Prince Maurits of Nassau, and popularized it for civilian wear.
were the first to realize victory could only be

COMMAND MAGAZINE 45
 and discipline. A standardized system of command
and a professional officer cadre were established.
In 1607 The Exercise of Arms was published, the
first modern training manual. It was translated
into many other languages and became a standard
military text for the next half-century. Companies,
battalions and regiments were set up on a perma¬
nent basis — and uniforms were issued.
As the century progressed after 1648, uniforms
returned to being the norm, rather than the excep¬
tion, throughout Europe. By the time of the War of
the Spanish Succession in 1702, not just regiments,
but entire national armies could be identified by
the color of their uniforms. While there were
exceptions, English troops generally wore red; the
Dutch wore blue, the French wore pearl gray; the
Hapsburg Empire wore white, and the Russians
dark green.
During the 18th century, then, European war¬
fare regained many features to formalize it and
separate it from civilian life. Unlike the Thirty
Year's War, when civilians were often the main
victims of the fighting, in the 1700s they were usu¬
ally left unaffected.
The great monarchs of the day, in fact, went to
great lengths to separate their new armies from
their civilian subjects. Thus the new forces did not
so much represent and defend the interests of their
nation's citizens as they did that of their nation's
monarch. As the distinctions between soldier and
civilian were re-emphasized, uniforms reflected
the changes by becoming more elaborate. Various
colors, markings, embellishments and decorations
were used to differentiate one regiment from
another; even companies within regiments were
sometimes differentiated by uniform: grenadier,
chasseur, flanquer, etc.
By 1789, new ideas about nationalism again
began to shake the power structures of Europe.
The mass of citizens were no longer content to be
subjects of a particular monarch; they became con¬
A typical musketeer from 1607, taken from The Exercise of Arms. His scious of the idea they were citizens of and within
apparel is that regularly worn in civilian life at the time, and aside from nations, part of a greater collective whole.
his weapons, there is no obvious distinction of dress marking him as a The wars of the French Revolution saw the rise
soldier. of mass national armies based on broad conscrip¬
tion rather than paid professionals. Wars were thus
a state as an artificial entity, not one formed by a no longer mere arguments between competing
particular religious group, guild, city or dynasty. dynasts and governed by accepted laws and codes
The only unifying factor among the seven of conduct. They became struggles between entire
provinces was their opposition to Spain — beyond nations, where the stakes were all or nothing. The
that, artificial symbols were created and used to distinction between civilian and soldier began to
define the new nation and build unity among its diminish again.
citizens. The first reaction of the old regime, like the
The new Dutch army was still, strictly speak¬ baroque development of ceremonial armor at the
ing, made up of mercenaries, in as much as the sol¬ end of the feudal period, resulted in even more
diers were paid — but these were no longer free- complex and elaborate uniforms. The armies of the
formed companies working under contract. The enemies of France were dressed in a spectrum of
new units were paid directly by the state, and the regimental color schemes, with piping, epaulets,
strength of the Dutch economy was such that they braid, feathers, shakos and busbies. But the real
were well and regularly paid. In return, the Dutch future was best shown by the Prussian army field¬
government insisted its soldiers submit to training ed during the late Napoleonic Wars.

46 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 Due in part to impoverishment, the Prussian
army of 1813-15 was equipped with a much sim¬
pler and more functional uniform than had been MILITARY HISTORY
the norm over the previous quarter-century. The
militia (Landwehr) regiments — the most poorly A History Book Club Selection
outfitted of all — in fact became the general model
for all later 19th century European soldiers. They
PRISONER OF THE RISING SUN
wore soft caps, loose trousers and long great coats. By William A. Berry
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dress of peasants in East Prussia. Military dress Berry's tale of capture, escape, recapture, and punishment,
had again moved closer to that of civilians. vivdly recounted with mounting dramatic tension, stands as a
The trend since then through the 20th century testament to the fortitude ana bravery of the "battling bas¬
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By Michael D. Pierce
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World War, women's fashion in the West had Volume 10 in the Oklahoma Project for Discourse and Theory
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COMMAND MAGAZINE 47
 Thousand Year March
A History of the Roman Army
by Richard M. Berthold

T he longevity of the Roman army is matched

by few other military organizations in histo¬
soldiers meant there was a great variety in arma¬
ments, particularly in defensive equipment such as
ry. Stretching from the founding of the city in breastplates and greaves. The wealthiest citizens
the mid-eighth century BC to the collapse of the made up the cavalry, and the poorer citizens acted
Western Empire in the fifth century AD, its history as skirmishers, equipped with javelins and slings,
spans a millennium (or two, if its Byzantine succes¬ but the bulk of the army was heavy infantry. They
sor is included). During this period the army were organized into "centuries" of 100 men (hence
evolved continuously, changing its armament and the nickname "army of the centuries"), but the
tactics to become in the late Republic and early actual combat unit was the legion, which may have
Empire the finest pre-gunpowder infantry force amounted to 4,000 men.
the world has seen. More important for the history The army of the centuries was the first real
of Rome, its character also changed, from warrior incarnation of the legion, consisting of soldiers act¬
band to citizen militia to professional army, from ing in a coordinated fashion, rather than warriors
servant to sometime master of the state. fighting as individuals in a disorganized melee. As
a rule of thumb, in edged-weapon warfare the
The Monarchy (c. 753-509 BC) infantry that is better organized will have the
The early history of the Roman army is poorly advantage, even against cavalry, which explains
understood, particularly with regard to chronolo¬ the general success of Greek and Roman armies
gy. It almost certainly began as a group of aristo¬ against their barbarian neighbors. In a formation
cratic fighters, descendants of the Indo-European such as the phalanx, the soldiers are able to sup¬
warrior bands that settled the Italian peninsula port one another, protecting flanks and rear and
from the north in the early centuries of the second generally acting as a group, all of which creates a
millennium BC. Its earliest form would have been fighting unit more effective than the sum of its
more Homeric than anything else: a small force of parts.
warrior nobility, lightly equipped, undisciplined In a battle between organized armies, the cohe¬
and at least as interested in personal honor as sion of the group becomes all important, and typi¬
group objectives. The quality of their bronze arma¬ cally in ancient warfare the side that first lost its
ments and whether they were mounted would cohesion and became disorganized was defeated,
have varied according to the wealth of the individ¬ its individual soldiers being more easily killed or
ual, and the spear probably predominated, if only chased off. That was especially the case with the
because it was much cheaper and easier to make classic phalanx, which had a lack of maneuverable
than a sword. sub-units, thus preventing it from being able to
When and by what process these warriors deal effectively with uneven terrain or sudden
evolved into soldiers is unclear, especially since breaks in the front line.
Roman historians had a habit of assigning develop¬
ments that occurred much later to one of the seven
Early & Middle Republic (c. 509-
kings. The first great step, the introduction of the
phalanx, was attributed to the mid-sixth century 133 BC)
Etruscan king of Rome, Servius Tullius. In as much The phalanx army reached its fullest develop¬
as the Etruscans were masters of metallurgy and ment in the fifth century BC, as Rome's growing
organization, and were in contact with the Greeks, economy swelled the ranks of those able to afford
the inventors of the phalanx, it-is just possible this the necessary equipment to join it. This army was a
claim is correct. On the other hand, the political citizen militia, heir to the old warrior host from
reforms associated with the so-called "Servian" which the Indo-European chieftains had derived
army definitely came in the fifth century, and the their authority, and it was soon playing a political
army itself may actually be from that later date. as well as military role.
The phalanx was made up of a dense mass of The early Republic was an aristocracy of birth,
infantry formed in lines and armed in the Greek and while the citizen assembly included all Rom¬
fashion with a thrusting spear and round shield, ans, the political apparatus was completely domi¬
though differences in wealth among the individual nated by the Patrician families. The state, however.

48 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
was being defended by an army made up mostly
of commoners, the Plebeians, and by the middle of
the fifth century they were using their control of
the military as leverage with which to pry conces¬
sions from the upper class. Called the "Struggle of
the Orders," this process lasted into the early years
of the third century BC, when the last vestiges of
Patrician dominance were eliminated and the
Republic was henceforth in the hands of an oli¬
garchy of wealth, centered on the Senate. (The pha¬
lanx had the same political impact of overturning
blood aristocracies when it first appeared in the
Greek world some 200 years earlier.)
During the two centuries of the Struggle of the
Orders, Rome was continually at war, which made
the Plebeian tactic of threatening a military strike
particularly effective. This constant warfare also
led to changes in the army, the first of which came
at the end of the fifth century with the final strug¬
gle against EtrUscan Veii (4067-396? BC). Until
then the scope of Rome's wars had been limited,
consisting mostly of cattle rustling, raiding, and
campaigns of short duration against neighboring
Italic tribes. Veii, however, was a strongly fortified
city, and the siege kept the army in the field for
years. The state thus was compelled to begin pay¬
ing its citizen soldiers. This first step on the long
road to a professional army resulted not only in the
possibility of longer service, but also in more stan¬
dardized equipment. Position in the ranks was
increasingly determined by age and skill rather
than wealth.

Legion Command Structure

In the Republic, the head of the legion was typically above all the rest. The primus pilus commanded the first
one of the two consuls, but with the establishment of the century of the first cohort, but was also a general officer,
Principate the commander of the legion was a legate cho¬ ranking just below the camp prefect.
sen by the emperor. These were normally men in their The 54 centurions commanding the centuries of the
30s, drawn from the senatorial class and dedicated to other nine cohorts were all of equal status. From among
their political careers, of which a legion appointment of the privates in his unit each centurion chose his own
three to four years was only one stage. The second- second-in-command, and another who dealt with sen¬
in-command was the senior tribune, who also came from tries and fatigue parties among other things.
a senatorial family, but was typically a man in his early The 80 men of each century were divided into 10
20s, about to begin his political career after a short stint in sections, each consisting of eight men, who shared a tent
the army. The other five tribunes were also young men, and mule and probably made up a mess.
but of the lower equestrian order, and they held staff The legion was no more immune to bureaucratic
appointments with administrative responsibilities. needs than the modern regiment, and a considerable
The third-in-command of the legion was the camp headquarters staff existed to deal with all the paper work.
prefect, who was also the ranking noncommissioned The senior officers all had personal aides, and the legion
officer and generally a man who had spent decades had a regular staff of clerks and orderlies who operated
moving up through the hierarchy of centurions. This under the direction of an adjutant. Each century even had
was the highest office to which an enlisted man could its own office staff to deal with records, all of which gave
aspire, and he retained it as long as possible. For exam¬ the literate recruit an edge in promotion. Finally, there
ple, M. Aurelius Alexander of Legio XX Valeria was still were the standard bearers, who were chosen from among
camp prefect when he died at age 72. the regular troops, and dozens of specialists — surveyors,
The backbone of any professional army are its non- armorers, carpenters, musicians, doctors, etc. — collec¬
coms, and in the legion these were the centurions. The tively termed immunes, because they were normally
five centurions of the double-size first cohort ranked exempt from fatigues and other routine duties.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 1. Roman triarius
2. Roman hastatus or princeps

The introduction of pay is attributed to M.

Furius Camillus, hero of the war with Veii, who is
also credited with the change to the manipular
legion. That, however, was more probably a devel¬
opment of the later fourth century, made as the
Roman military reacted to changing circumstances
by altering its formations and tactics. Rome's wars
of the fifth and most of the fourth centuries were
fought for the most part on the coastal plain, an area
well-suited to the use of the rigid and cumbersome
phalanx. But matters became more difficult when
the army had to venture into the hills to fight the
Hemici or Volsci, and the phalanx proved complete¬
ly inadequate when Rome began a series of wars
against the Samnites (326-304 BC, 298-290 BC), who
inhabited the mountainous regions of central Italy.
The Romans, who possessed a surprising military
flexibility for so extremely conservative a people,
replaced the army of the centuries with a more elas¬
tic organization, the manipular legion.
Unlike the Servian army, the new formation
consisted of tactical sub-units — maniples —
which could to a degree maneuver independently.
The exact form of the manipular legion evolved j
over the course of the third century BC. In the ideal
legion of 4,200 men, there were 3,000 heavy infan¬
try, normally arranged in three lines: in front were
1,200 hastati, the younger men; behind them 1,200
principes, those in their prime; and in the rear 600
triarii, the older vets. Each line was divided into 10
maniples of two "centuries" (now a unit designa¬
Roman soldiers of the 1st Punic War, c. 264 tion and not necessarily 100 men).

Diet & Medical Care

The dangers inherent to his profession aside, the
they could not of course have understood the mecha¬
Roman imperial legionary probably enjoyed a healthier
nisms involved, the Romans were well aware there was
life than most civilians of his time, particularly those liv¬
a close connection between disease and human waste. A
ing in the Empire's cities. Selected in the first place for
clean water supply and efficient waste disposal were
his sound physical condition, the soldier was kept in
thus a serious concern even in the temporary marching
good shape by constant and rigorous training, a concern
camps, and in the permanent forts and encampments
for sanitation, and a regular and sensible diet.
the Roman talent for hydraulic engineering came into its
A modern soldier might not find that diet too pleas¬
own. Virtually every fort had baths, usually involving a
ing, however, since its main component was grain, eaten
series of pools at different temperatures, and typically
as porridge, bread or hard biscuits. The only acceptable
the dirtied water was used to flush the waste system.
grain was wheat; barley was issued to units as a mild
Ironically, the common soldier probably received
punishment. This was supplemented by vegetables, fish
the best medical care available in the empire. A career as
where available, and some meat, obtained both from
an army doctor brought neither high status nor high
cattle and wild game. But the cereal was central to the
pay, and thus did not attract the famous physicians.
soldier's diet and dear to his heart: when discussing
That meant the troops were generally spared the cutting
Corbulo's eastern campaign in AD 60, Tacitus adds an
edge of classical medicine, with its superstitions and
all-meat diet to the list of ills suffered by the army in
incorrect theories. The sick legionary would certainly
Armenia. As for beverages, wine was consumed when it
have his own superstitions, but he was likely to receive
was available, but normally the legionary drank vinegar
more common-sense treatments and medicines from his
mixed with water.
camp doctor than his wealthy civilian counterparts. In
The traditional Roman concern for hygiene and san¬
the areas of anatomical knowledge, trauma care, and
itation certainly had its impact on their military, and in
surgery, the experienced army physician was probably
this area the legions might have served as a model for
unequaled, and not until the late 19th century could a
every western army until the late Victorian era. While
wounded soldier expect substantially better care.

50 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 In standard deployment, the maniples were under Roman officers and increasingly in the
lined up with intervals between them, and those of Roman fashion. Rome's gradual conquest and uni¬
the second and third lines were stationed behind the fication of the Italian peninsula thus provided a
gaps in the line in front, thus creating a checker growing base of military manpower, and more
board pattern. The remaining 1,200 troops were than anything else it was that manpower that
light infantry, who acted independently of the man¬ defeated Hannibal.
iples, but were apparently attached to them for ad¬ But Rome's successes and the growth of her
ministrative purposes. Ten cavalry squadrons of 80 power began to strain a military that was still in
horsemen each were also brigaded with the legion essence a short service citizen militia. Beginning
and generally deployed on its flanks during battle. with the First Punic War, (264-241 BC), the Romans
All the heavy infantry were equipped with were increasingly fighting for longer periods and
helmet, greaves, breastplate (chain for the wealthi¬ much farther afield, and despite the Senate's pref¬
er) and a large oval shield about four feet in length. erence for indirect control through client states
The triarii retained the thrusting spear, but the has¬ rather than direct provincial rule, the city's stand¬
tati and principes carried two throwing spears or ing military commitments grew. Gone were the
pila, designed so the iron shank would either bend days of fighting Italian militias and tribal levies;
or break away from the shaft on impact, rendering the second century BC was filled with wars against
the weapon useless and encumbering the enemy's the professional armies of the Hellenistic east.
shield. The primary weapon of these legionaries The switch to the short sword also pushed the
was the gladius, a short double-edged thrusting army toward greater professionalism, since it was a
sword. The light infantry wore little or no armor much more skill-dependent weapon than the old
and carried a sword, small round shield and
javelins.
In a typical set battle, the light infantry would
swarm in front of the heavy infantry, shower the
A Career in the Legions
The careers of hundreds of soldiers of the empire are
enemy with javelins, and retreat back through the
known from their tombstones, but perhaps the best known is
gaps in the line. The hastati would then throw their
that of Spurius Ligustinus, a legionary of the middle
pila and close to engage with the sword. If they
Republic. The account he gives of himself in Livy is probably
were hard-pressed, they could also move back
true, but even if not, his story is nevertheless typical of many
through the gaps, allowing the second line to take
in the second century BC and shows how the one-time citi¬
over, or the principes could themselves advance to
zen militia was evolving toward a long-service professional
fill the breaks in the front line. The triarii formed a
final, steady line. force.
My father left me an acre of land and a little hut, in which
The adoption of the pilum and short sword as
I was bom and raised, and I live there still...I became a sol¬
primary armament required the new formations to
dier during the consulships of P. Sulpicius and C. Aurelius
be more open than the old shoulder-to-shoulder
[200 BC]. In the army that was sent to Macedonia, I served
phalanx, and each legionary now had about a yard
for two years as a private against King Philip [V]; in the
of frontage. The existence of independent sub¬
third year, because of my bravery, T. Quinctius Flaminus
units, the maniples, eliminated most of the brittle¬
made me a centurion of the tenth maniple of hastati. When
ness of the phalanx, wherein the lines had to be
after the defeat of Philip and the Macedonians I had been
kept intact at all costs, and allowed the legion to
returned to Italy and discharged, I immediately went to
deal more effectively with broken terrain. The new
Spain to volunteer with the consul M. Porcius [Cato the
system also made it possible to deal with local
Censor; 195 BC]. This commander judged me worthy to be
crises and exploit opportunities by moving mani¬
appointed centurion of the forward first century of hastati. I
ples around in the midst of battle. But the fact that
enlisted for the third time in the army that was sent against
the triarii still used the thrusting spear well into the
the Aetolians and King Antiochus [III; 191 BC]. I was
second century shows how grudgingly the conser¬
appointed by M. Acilius centurion of the forward first centu¬
vative Romans could be when it came to abandon¬
ry of the principes. With King Antiochus driven out and the
ing old ways.
Aetolians defeated we were brought back to Italy, and I then
It must be kept in mind that despite all these
twice served in legions that campaigned for a year. Then I
changes the Roman army was still a citizen militia,
served twice in Spain, once when Q. Fulvius Flaccus was
an army of amateurs. What saved them was the
praetor [181 BC] and again when T. Sempronius Gracchus
frequency of their wars and the long liability for
was praetor [180 BC]. I was brought home by Flaccus with
service (from age 17 to 45 for active duty), which
others who because of their bravery he brought to his triumph
meant any given legion was going to have a high
from the province; because Gracchus requested, I returned to
percentage of veterans. Add to that the Roman
the province. Four times within a few years I was primus
character, with its heavy emphasis on duty and
pilus; 34 times I was rewarded by my commanders for brav¬
ready obedience to authority, and the result was an
ery; I have received six civic crowns. I have served 22 years in
army of experienced and disciplined amateurs.
the army and am over 50 years old." (Livy XLII.34.2-11)
The legions were usually strengthened by an
equal number of allied Italian troops, who fought

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 the burden on the small freeholder or yeoman
farmer. Those people were, however, disappearing
because of massive demographic changes in Italy
in the wake of the Second Punic War. Still, the
Senate refused to eliminate the qualification and
tap the growing numbers of dispossessed farmers
and urban poor.
That was the situation confronting C. Marius
in the last decade of the second century BC. In rais¬
ing troops for the Jugurthine War (111-106 BC)
and German invasions (102-101 BC), he ignored
the property qualification and the unpopular con¬
scription and instead sought volunteers from
among the poor, promising spoils and glory to get
them. The minimum property level had been suc¬
cessively lowered, and a decade earlier the state
had taken complete responsibility for equipment,
but this was the decisive change. Henceforth mili¬
tary service was not a citizen duty, but a career
opportunity, particularly for the poor. By creating
what was in effect a volunteer army, Marius took
the last big step toward the professional, long-ser¬
vice military Rome increasingly needed.
Unfortunately for the Republic, Marius had
also created the basis for the client army, more
loyal to its commander than to the state. Any army,
especially a volunteer force raised by the comman¬
der himself, is naturally inclined toward devotion
late to a successful leader, but this can have disastrous
Republic period consequences if the government is in turmoil and
the general has political aspirations.
2&3. Legionary infantrymen,
During the last century of the Republic, the
late Augustan to Tiberian
Ronald Embleton/Osprey Publishing government was indeed in turmoil, as various
period
groups challenged the dominance of the Senatorial
oligarchy, and every Roman general was by defini¬
thrusting spear and the shoving match tactics of
tion involved in politics, since it was only the high¬
the phalanx.
est elected officials, the consuls and praetors, who
had constitutional authority to command troops.
Roman Revolution (133-27 BC) The issue of discharge bonuses aggravated the
The growth of Roman power put a strain not
situation. Bonuses, usually dispensed as pieces of
only on the legions, but on the Republic itself. The
land or cash payments, had traditionally been
Senatorial class was corrupted by the tremendous
awarded to soldiers after long campaigns. But the
wealth afforded by the empire, and the govern¬
practice had never been regularized, and after each
ment proved unable to deal with necessary change.
war it was necessary to pass a specific bill through
The land reform attempt of the elder Gracchus in
the assembly authorizing disbursement. That had
133 BC ended in the first serious political violence
formerly been no problem, but with political stabil¬
since the fall of the monarchy. Gracchus' failure led
ity crumbling and army commanders such as
to growing extremism and violence on all sides,
Marius increasingly at odds with the Senate, the
and the army was drawn into the political arena to
legionary more and more looked only to his com¬
participate in the collapse of the Republic and the
mander to secure his due. A patron-client relation¬
establishment of autocracy.
ship was thus forged between a general and his
One particular problem that faced the army in
men, he being obliged to remain in politics to fulfill
the late second century was the dwindling supply
his promises to them, they, as veterans, to support
of eligible recruits. The shortage was in a sense arti¬
him politically to insure his success.
ficial, since there were actually plenty of able-bod¬
Marius also undertook a number of organiza¬
ied Romans around. The problem lay in the fact
tional reforms. His campaigns against the Germans
there was still a minimum property qualification
had shown the maniple of 120-160 men lacked the
for service in the legions, a carryover from before
size and mass to deal effectively with the all-or-
the introduction of pay, and a reflection of old
nothing onslaughts of the northern barbarians. He
ideas about military service and social status. This
therefore replaced it as the legion's combat unit
qualification excluded the very poor and placed
with the cohort. A full-strength legion of 5,000-

52 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
6,000 would have 10 cohorts, each consisting of six
centuries, which now became important units. The The Order of March
old system of three lines in checker board forma¬ The historian Josephus provides a description of the
tion was no longer used, and the light infantry Roman order of march in his account of Vespasian's advance
were done away with altogether. The entire legion into Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt.
was now composed of heavy infantry, uniformly But Vespasian, impatient to invade Galilee himself, now
equipped with helmet, chain-mail cuirass, shield, set out from Ptolemais, after drawing up his army for the
short sword, and pilum, the last of which was also march in the customary Roman order. The auxiliary
improved by Marius. light-armed troops and archers were sent in advance, to repel
Appropriately for what was rapidly becoming any sudden incursions of the enemy and to explore suspected
a professional army, Marius also established rigor¬ woodlands suited for the concealment of ambuscades. Next
ous training procedures, setting the high standards came a contingent of heavy armed Roman soldiers, infantry
of fitness and skill that would distinguish the and cavalry. They were followed by a detachment of 10 men
legionary from his opponents for several centuries from each century, carrying their own kit and the necessary
to come. The most skilled veterans were given instruments for marking out the camp; after these came the
command of the centuries, and like the sergeants pioneers to straighten curves on the route, to level the rough
major in any professional army, these Centurions places and to cut down obstructing woods, to spare the army
were the men who really won Rome's battles. the fatigues of a toilsome march. Behind these Vespasian
To reduce the baggage train, Marius com¬ posted his personal baggage and that of his lieutenants with a
pelled his men (who became known as "Marius' strong mounted escort to protect them. He himself rode
Mules") to carry 80-100 lbs. of equipment: arms, behind with the pick of the infantry and cavalry and his
armor, bedroll, cloak, cooking/mess kit, rations, guard of lancers. Then came the cavalry units of the legions;
earth-moving basket, entrenching tools and a cou¬ for to each legion are attached 120 horse. These were followed
ple of stakes for the palisade built around the camp by the mules carrying the siege towers and the other
at the end of every day's march. machines. Then came the legates, the prefects of the cohorts
In recognition of their professional standing, and the tribunes, with an escort of picked troops. Next the
each legion was given an eagle standard, which ensigns surrounding the eagle, which in the Roman army
symbolized the unit's corporate identity in much precedes every legion, because it is the king and bravest of all
the same way regimental colors would do later in birds; it is regarded by them as the symbol of empire, and,
the British army. whoever may be their adversaries, an omen of victory. These
Marius' internal reforms had the most long sacred emblems were followed by the trumpeters, and behind
lasting effects, but it was his new recruiting prac¬ them came the solid column, marching six abreast. A centuri¬
tices that had immediate impact. Marius only used on, according to custom, accompanied them to superintend
his veterans as "campaign workers," toughs who the order of the ranks. Behind the infantry the servants
could intimidate voters and do violence to the attached to each legion followed in a body, conducting the
opposition, but within two decades of the reforms mules and other beasts of burden that carried the soldiers' kit.
his opponent and successor, L. Cornelius Sulla, At the end of the column came the crowd of mercenaries [that
actually occupied Rome with his army and subse¬ is, the rest of the auxiliaries], and last of all for security a
quently fought the Republic's first civil war. rearguard composed of light and heavy infantry and a consid¬
erable body of cavalry. (Josephus, The Jewish War III.
115-126)

CLASSIC LEGION

COMMAND MAGAZINE 53
 In the next half-century, towering figures such completely surrendered his patriotism to merce¬
as C. Julius Caesar and M. Antonius would use nary interests. The legionaries of Sulla and later
their client armies to tear the Republic apart, but it leaders were in part motivated by personal inter¬
should not be concluded the Roman soldier had ests, especially the fear of losing to other soldiers
opportunities for choice campaigns and the atten¬
dant spoils if their general were politically unsuc¬
Basic Training cessful. But the average trooper apparently re¬
Training in the earliest Roman legions probably didn't mained basically loyal to the state, and to a great
extend beyond the occasional muster to practice forming the degree had to be convinced his leader was engaged
phalanx, since in battles that were essentially armed shoving in saving Rome. Not for another three centuries
matches discipline and stamina mattered more than training. did the legions become completely corrupt and
Once the switch was made to the manipular legion and the venal and follow whoever promised higher pay
short sword, training rapidly grew in importance, both and easier conditions of service. These men were,
because the tactical maneuvers made possible by the new after all, Romans — and their sense of duty took a
structure required trained men to execute them and because long time to die.
the short sword was a much more skill-dependent weapon Another military development from the time
than the old thrusting spear. of Marius and Sulla grew out of the Social War
A major innovation came at the end of the second centu¬ (90-88 BC), when virtually all Rome's Italian allies
ry BC, when the weapons training practices of the gladiatori¬ revolted. The rebellion was brought on by the
al schools were introduced to the army by some comman¬ Senate's refusal to seriously consider the issue of
ders. This development ran into the usual conservative resis¬ granting citizen rights to the allies, and it ended
tance, but success made them more or less standard by the with the extension of full citizenship to most of
end of the Republic. Italy. Italian manpower was thus made fully avail¬
Physical training was the first order of business for the able to the legions, where it was increasingly need¬
recruit, and it remained a vital part of his routine throughout ed, while the auxiliary role previously played by
his career. The regimen included running, jumping, swim- the allies was taken over by forces raised in the
ming (if feasible), tree-felling, ditch-digging, and especially provinces outside Italy. These auxiliaries made up
marching. A trained legionary thought nothing of making a the light infantry, missile units and cavalry the
20-mile march with a 60-lb. load and then building a camp. legions themselves lacked.
The weapons training of the legions was already the stuff The Roman army didn't change substantially
of legend in antiquity: "Indeed, it would not be wrong to say during the death throes of the Republic. The num¬
that their exercises were bloodless battles and their battles ber of legions grew dramatically as the various
bloody exercises" (Josephus The Jewish War III.75). leaders jockeyed for power and ultimately fought
The initial stage of training involved using a special one another in two massive civil wars, but the
wicker shield and wooden sword, each weighing twice what actual size of each legion was usually well below
the regular weapons did. The recruit first fought against a its paper strength. Caesar's army in Gaul typically
six-foot stake planted in the ground, practicing the basic went into battle with legions averaging only
techniques of fighting with shield and short sword, and 3,000-4,000 men, the result of casualties, competi¬
learning particularly to use the point, rather than the edge of tion for recruits, and especially the growing prac¬
the weapon. He also practiced hurling an overweight pilum at tice of detaching cohorts for independent duty. The
the same stake. same period also saw, particularly in Caesar's
Once the novice soldier mastered the basics, he advanced army, the increasing use of fieldworks, a natural
to stake fighting with the normal weapons, and finally to offshoot of the Roman army's traditional expertise
combat drills with a live adversary (presumably with dulled in siegecraft.
swords). So important was this training considered that drill
instructors received double rations, while soldiers who didn't The Priiuipate (27 BC-AD 235)
attain minimum proficiency were punished by being given The Roman Revolution came to an end in 31
barley instead of wheat. Only when the soldier was able to BC with C. Octavian's victory over Antonius and
pass a proficiency test before a senior officer was his wheat Cleopatra at Actium, and four years later the
ration restored. Republic was declared restored. Of course, in actu¬
Until the Anarchy, the standards of fitness and skill in ality, Octavianus, now known as Augustus (27
the Roman army were tremendously high, but there was one BC-AD 14), was busy building the autocratic gov¬
major regional disparity during the Principate. Because, it ernment that would henceforth govern Rome. The
seems, of the climate and the availability of urban fleshpots, autocracy was disguised in Republican garb, and
legions stationed in the east for any length of time almost though in reality the first emperor, Augustus held
always needed stiffening by the addition of western units no office and presented himself only as the prin-
before any major campaign. Forces stationed on the Danube, ceps, the "first citizen." From this the early Empire
on the other hand, had a reputation for extreme toughness, a takes its name: the Principate.
result of the harsh climate, the relatively primitive frontier Augustus put the finishing touches on the pro¬
conditions, and the constant skirmishing with the Germans. fessionalization of the military, but his most imme¬
diate concern was stabilizing the state by getting

54 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
the army back out of the political arena. In effect, iliary trooper could expect, as an extra inducement,
this meant permanently securing the overall com¬ to receive citizenship upon discharge.
mand that became his with the defeat of Antonius, The auxiliaries were organized into cohorts of
but doing so without making it any more obvious infantry, squadrons of cavalry, and mixed cohorts
the restored "Republic" was in fact a military- of cavalry and infantry, and all were commanded
based autocracy. He succeeded by designating as by Roman citizens, most of whom by the end of the
"imperial" those provinces with the bulk of the first century BC were coming from Italian and
military forces in them and placing them under provincial municipalities. Equipment varied
direct control of the princeps, thereby avoiding the tremendously, according to national origin and
political stigma of assuming direct command. The military specialty, but much of the infantry came to
remaining provinces were "Senatorial," and were
governed by means of the traditional mechanisms.
Augustus was thus able to command the Artillery
legions through legates, a practice that dated back The Roman army regularly used torsion artillery, which
to the Revolution. Political considerations were derived its motive power from twisting skeins of hair or
typically more important than military abilities in sinew. These devices fell into two basic categories, which for
their selection, and the legates had political careers convenience may be called the ballista and the catapult,
to get back to, but the process did allow for the though these terms were used more or less interchangeably
recognition and retention of talented leadership. In by ancient authors.
any case, even the greenest legate-general could The ballista was essentially a large crossbow in which the
rely on his centurions, the now completely profes¬ separate arms of the bow were inserted into an upright bun¬
sional corps of noncoms who actually commanded dle of hair; pulling the arms back twisted the bundle and thus
the troops. Each legion also had six military tri¬ stored the energy to shoot a bolt or rock. The catapult was
bunes, young and generally inexperienced mem¬ generally much larger, with a single rock-hurling arm insert¬
bers of the upper class, who served mainly as staff ed in a horizontal bundle, which was twisted when the arm
officers. was pulled down for loading. When released, the arm swung
The officer class apart, Augustus completed up to the vertical and hit a bar, and the stone was on its way.
the professionalization of the army. The terms of Having only one arm, the catapult was easier to build
service were regularized (20 years), and the dis¬ and use (the two arms of the ballista required constant "tun¬
charge bonus was guaranteed by the state. A spe¬ ing"), but lacked the accuracy of the ballista. Catapults were
cific military treasury, funded initially by inheri¬ used in sieges, where they could pound a wall or gate with
tance and auction taxes, was created to insure reg¬ fairly heavy stones. At the siege of Jerusalem in the first cen¬
ular pay, but in practice periodic contributions tury AD, legion catapults hurled 55 lb. stones over 400 yards,
from the emperor's privy purse were needed to and machines that threw 100 to 200 lb. stones were common.
supplement the fund. With the army now a stand¬ In the late Roman army the standard catapult was called a
ing garrison force, each legion acquired a perma¬ "wild ass," because of the way it "kicked" when the arm
nent number and in most cases also a nickname, struck the bar.
further enhancing their professional stature. Ballistae came in all sizes, but in general they fired lighter
The structure of the legion had changed little projectiles than catapults. They were used in sieges mainly to
since Marius' reforms. There were 10 cohorts, each clear the walls of defenders, but they also served as field
divided into six centuries of 80 men, except the artillery, valuable for softening up the enemy line before the
first cohort, which had five double-strength cen¬ forces engaged. In the Roman army the smaller ones were
turies, a practice apparently begun by Caesar. With known as "scorpions," and fired bolts a foot or more in
sundry supernumeraries, the paper strength of a length up to 300 yards. By the time of Trajan, the army pos¬
legion was about 5,200 men, but in practice it sessed carro-ballistae, which were scorpions mounted on
might swell to as many as 6,000. Each legion mule-drawn carts.
included blacksmiths, carpenters and other techni¬ The standard artillery complement of a legion, if there
cians, and an average of 50 light catapults, which were one, is not known, though Vegetius, writing at the end
were used as field artillery, usually with devastat¬ of the fourth century AD, says each century had a carro-ballis¬
ing effect. The recruits were still Roman citizens, tae. Since it had its own cart, the carro-ballistae were apparent¬
but as the citizenship spread to provincial munici¬ ly carried intact, but other small machines were probably dis¬
palities during the first century AD, fewer and assembled for transport. Large catapults were built on the
fewer were Italian. (By the second century AD, the spot, only the metal sections being carried on the march. Such
legions were apparently less than one percent would also have been the case for the sheds, towers, rams,
Italian.) screens and other equipment necessary to any siege.
Augustus also organized the auxiliaries along Torsion artillery was invented by the Greeks, but it
more rational lines, establishing more or less perma¬ reached the peak of its development and use under the
nent units in place of the provincial levies that had Principate. Before the invention of firearms with rifled bar¬
earlier been raised on an as-needed basis. Length of rels, only the Welsh longbow could begin to compare with a
service (usually 25 years) and pay were regularized, legion ballista in terms of accuracy, range and rate of fire.
and after the reign of Claudius (AD 41-54), the aux¬

COMMAND MAGAZINE 55
 resemble the legionaries, for whom they might at Scipio Aemilianus, who was escorted in Spain by a
times serve as a cheaper substitute. bodyguard of 500 soldiers. Marius, Caesar and
Of far less military, but great political, impor¬ Antonius all had military guards, and Augustus,
tance was the establishment of the Praetorian though having a personal bodyguard of Germans,
Guard. The ultimate origins of the Guard stretch decided to organize a permanent force whose pur¬
back to the Republic, probably to P. Cornelius pose was to secure the person of the princeps.

Soldiers' Pay
The Roman army began receiving pay during the were paid out in cash and thus represented their pocket
war with Veii at the end of the fifth century BC, when money. The fact the clothing deduction is not a constant
campaigns became long enough that the citizen soldiers explains the absence from the accounts of the other two
were having increasing difficulty supporting themselves stoppages mentioned in Percennius' speech, weapons
in the field. No reliable information on pay is available and tents: a soldier was charged for these items only
until the mid-second century BC, however, at which when they needed replacement, which would have been
time it appears a legionary received an annual rate of infrequently. Burial club contributions went toward cov¬
180 denarii, which dropped to 112.5 when the denarius ering a soldier's funeral expenses.
was revalued at the end of the century. This was dou¬ In addition to his regular salary, a soldier could also
bled to 225 denarii by Caesar, then increased to 300 look forward to his discharge bonus and to the occasion¬
denarii by Domitian more than a century later. Not until al donative, especially upon the accession of a new
Septimius Severus was there another pay raise, proba¬ emperor. In the Principate these special peacetime pay¬
bly to 450 denarii, but by then inflation was bad enough ments replaced the traditional distribution of booty fol¬
that his successor Caracalla raised it again, to 675 denarii. lowing successful campaigns, thus somewhat easing the
After that, rampant inflation and the fiscal problems of pressure to pursue an aggressive foreign policy. Unfor¬
the Late Empire rendered fixed pay rates meaningless, tunately, the donative quickly became a mechanism for
and the troops were increasingly paid in kind. insuring or buying the loyalty of the army, particularly
These rates represent base bay, and those with any the Praetorian Guard. This culminated in AD 193 in the
rank would have earned some multiple of these figures. tragicomedy of the Guard auctioning off the empire to
A centurion, for example, may have received as much as M. Didius Julianus for 6,250 denarii per man, almost 10
five times that of a man in the ranks, and the primus years' pay for the ordinary legionary of the time. A sol¬
pilus, who was the senior noncom in the legion, got dier was, incidentally, required to put half of any dona¬
quadruple that of the ordinary centurion. All ranks in tive in the legion's bank.
the Praetorian cohorts received higher pay than their It is pointless to attempt to express a soldier's pay in
counterparts in the field army, with a ratio of 10:3 estab¬ terms of modern currency; purchasing power, rather
lished in Augustus' reign.
than value in gold or silver, is the only meaningful mea¬
At the other end of the spectrum were the auxil¬ sure. It has been estimated a legionary could live com¬
iaries, who were certainly paid less than the legionaries, fortably on only 5/7 of his salary, and while there was
though it is hard to generalize because of their more occasional grumbling from the troops, the serious com¬
complex pay structure. The auxiliary foot soldier proba¬ plaints typically centered on arrears of pay and other
bly earned 100 denarii in the period from Domitian to abuses, rather than the amount of pay. The telling fact is
Severus, and this appears to have also been the base pay a military career remained attractive, even though in the
of a sailor in one of the fleets.
quarter millennium from Caesar to Severus basic
Like the modern worker, however, the soldier did legionary pay increased by only a third.
not actually receive all his pay. Instead, in keeping with a
practice that went back at least to the second century BC, Q. Julius Proculus C. Valerius Germanus
much of it was deducted, as revealed in Percennius' Pay Period 1 II III 1 II III
speech to mutinous legionaries in AD 14: "Body and soul
Payment: 248 248 248 248 248 248
are valued at 10 asses (16 asses = 1 denarius ) a day; from
Deductions
this we must buy clothes, weapons and tents; from this
Bedding 10 10 10 10 10 10
we must bribe centurions and buy release from fatigues."
Rations 80 80 80 80 80 80
The bribing of noncoms aside, the official stoppages
could indeed add up, as demonstrated by the surviving Boots 12 12 12 12 12 12
pay accounts in the table below of two soldiers stationed Annual Feast 20 20
in Egypt in AD 81. Burial Club 4 4
Since the men were stationed in Egypt, a Greek Clothing 60 146 100 146
area, their pay was figured in drachmae (4 Egyptian Total Exp. 182 106 248 222 106 248
drachmae = 1 denarius ), which means they were receiv¬ Remainder 66 142 26 142
ing each pay period only 62 denarii, rather than the Prev. Balance 136 202 344 20 46 188
expected 75. Almost certainly the missing 13 denarii
Pres. Balance 202 344 344 46 188 188

56 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 He created a guard of 4,500 infantry organized
into nine cohorts, along with 90 horsemen in three
squadrons, all under the command of two praetori¬
HEGEMONIC EMPIRE
an prefects. The Guard was an "elite" unit, its men □ Provincial Territory [_j Client States
serving only 16 years and earning three times the
I _ | ClientTribes Dn Legions & Auxiliaries
normal legionary pay, but it was not a crack com¬
bat unit. The Praetorian Guard had a political
advantage in that it was stationed in and around
Rome and was thus always the first on the scene,
but it was no match for units from the field armies.
Perhaps the most important decision made by
Augustus regarding military affairs was the
unavoidable one to create a standing army to garri¬
son the empire. Out of the 60 or so legions left from
the civil war, he settled on an army of 28, which
was reduced to 25 by the disaster in Teutoburg
Forest in AD 9. The rather small size of this force
— roughly 150,000 legionaries, matched by an
approximately equal number of auxiliary troops —
was dictated by available manpower, the cost to
the imperial economy, and perhaps a desire to
minimize the political threat a professional military
represented.
The deployment of the army reflected a con¬
tinuation of the hegemonic approach of the
Republic, which favored indirect control through
client states, especially on the periphery of the
provincial core. For the most part, the legions and
auxiliaries were stationed just inside the provin¬
cial frontiers in widely spaced multi-legion camps
chosen not as defensive positions, but as efficient
staging areas for offensive thrusts. Though more
concentrated in high-threat areas such as the
Rhine-Danube frontier, the army remained in
essence a mobile field force, committed not to
defending territory, but to meeting and defeating
any invader. A central or strategic reserve was
eschewed because of the slow communications
TERRITORIAL EMPIRE
and the likelihood it would, like the Praetorian
Guard, become a political nuisance.
Client states and tribes bore the burden of
dealing with minor threats and provided some
defensive depth in the event of major incursions.
They bought more time for Roman forces to mount
a counterattack and thus minimized the damage to
provincial assets. The army concentrations also
kept the clients in line and intimidated potential
foes, though groups such as the Germans, who
were not civilized enough to appreciate Roman
power in the abstract, had to be periodically
reminded with military campaigns. This system
was extremely economical, defended large areas
with relatively small forces, and still allowed the
state the disposable forces necessary for threaten¬
ing unruly clients or mounting offensive cam¬
paigns.
For two centuries following Augustus, the
appearance and tactics of the legions did not
change substantially. By the end of the first century
AD, chain armor had been generally replaced by
corselets made of metal plates held together by

COMMAND MAGAZINE 57
 1. Cavalry Decurion, c. 200 - 300 A.D.
2. Cavalry trooper, c. 200 - 300 A.D.
leather straps, and the oval shields had become
rectangular, only to return to the oval shape in the
late second century.
The auxiliaries, meanwhile, were becoming
essentially a heavy infantry force, more and more
like the legions in their training, equipment and
make up. The revolt of Civilis and his Batavian
auxiliaries (AD 69-70) led Vespasian (AD 69-79) to
overturn the traditional policy, and auxiliary
troops were subsequently brigaded in mixed units
and stationed far from their homelands, thus los-
ing their national character. To a degree their place
was taken by other national units of irregular
troops raised by Trajan (AD 98-117) for temporary
duty. Hadrian (AD 117-138), and later Septimius
Severus (AD 193-211), widely expanded the use of
these militias and enrolled them as a permanent
part of the military establishment.
The size of the army remained relatively stable
until the third century. The number of legions had
grown to 30 by the reign of Trajan, and was
increased to 33 by Severus. What this meant in
terms of absolute numbers is impossible to say
with certainty, but under the Severan emperors
(AD 193-235), the empire was defended by per¬
haps 400,000 troops of all kinds.
While the army and its tactics didn't change
much under the Principate, the grand strategy of
the empire certainly did. Probably because it was
difficult to turn the Germanic tribes into reliable
clients, the hegemonic system gave way under the
Richard Hook/Osprey Publishing
Flavians to the more familiar territorial empire.
The client states gradually disappeared and the
provinces grew out to the limits of Roman power.
Legion Deployment Now well defined, the frontiers were laid out
This table shows the number of legions stationed in each according to strategic principles and were increas¬
province or provincial area at four points in the history of the ingly marked by static defenses: forts, ditches, pal¬
Principate. Note how the Danube rapidly replaced the Rhine isades, walls and, most importantly, lateral roads
as the area of greatest threat. that allowed rapid movement of forces. Smaller,
Province AD20 AD68 AD112 AD215 but increasingly permanent, camps replaced the
Nearer Spain 3 2 1 1 multi-legion concentrations as forces were distrib¬
Upper Germany (R) 4 3 uted more evenly along the frontiers.
Lower Germany (R) 4 4 The static defenses and their garrison units
Britain - 3 were intended to provide constant security against
Italy low-intensity threats and a support structure for
Raetia the concentration of heavy forces that would oper¬
Noricum (D) ate offensively to meet major threats before they
Dalmatia (D) 2 2 penetrated the frontier. The growing prosperity
Pannonia (D) 3 2 and Romanization of the empire, nurtured in the
Moesia (D) 2 3 frontier provinces by this type of defense, allowed
Dacia (D) the army to concentrate on external threats, as the
Galatia-Cappadocia danger of internal, native revolts faded.
Syria 4 3 Major threats could thus be countered tem¬
Judea - 3 porarily by shifting large numbers of troops with¬
Mesopotamia out seriously endangering the security of the
Arabia denuded areas. While not as flexible and economi¬
Egypt 2 2 cal as the hegemonic approach, this system still
Africa \ \ permitted the temporary concentration of forces
Total 25 28 ■ for offensive operations at the strategic level, pro¬
(R) = Rhine, (D) = Danube viding the empire with a weapon with which to
keep its enemies divided.

58 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 The relationship between the Roman military He also made it legal for soldiers to marry while
and state also evolved during the Principate. with the eagles, thus giving official sanction to the
Because of the reputation of Caesar and the work liaisons the men had been forming with local
of Augustus, the army remained loyal to the women since the time of Augustus.
Julio-Claudian house, even to the blatantly incom¬ In addition to those measures, all intended to
petent Caligula (AD 37- 41) and Nero (AD 54-68), make military duty more attractive as a career,
but in AD 68 that line became extinct. In a return to Severus gave attention to veterans, creating oppor-
the civil war days, various parts of the army sup¬
ported their own commanders as candidates for
the purple, and after a year of struggle Vespasian The Marching Camp
emerged triumphant, establishing the dynasty of One of the more familiar attributes of the Roman army
the Flavians. was its practice of routinely building a fortified camp at the
Vespasian certainly understood who was end of each day's march. Each legionary in fact carried as
responsible for his success and saw to it the army part of his kit entrenching tools with which to build the ditch
was well treated, though at the same time he main¬ and rampart, and even stakes for the palisade. The size of the
tained high standards of discipline and training. camp varied according to the size of the force, but its layout
The great achievement of the Flavian emperors was fixed by tradition and changed remarkably little over the
was to imbue the army with a sense of loyalty to centuries.
the Principate, rather than to individuals or fami¬ The site was selected by surveyors, who went ahead of
lies within it. When Domitian (AD 81-96), who the army to find an area sufficiently large, well drained, clear
was popular with the legions, was assassinated, of obstructing growth and as close as possible to a source of
the army grudgingly accepted the Senate's choice water. To enable the troops to begin erecting it immediately
of Nerva (AD 96-98), who was, however, quick to upon their arrival, the surveyors marked out the entire camp,
name as his successor a popular soldier from beginning with the location of the commander's tent, roughly
Upper Germany, Trajan. at the center of the square. Together with the officers' tents,
The army remained loyal to the excellent this constituted the headquarters, and before this ran a broad
emperors of the second century and only reentered (at least 50 feet) road, which terminated at the side gates. A
politics with the murder of the worthless Corn- second wide road was laid out perpendicular to the first and
modus (AD 180-192). In a rerun of AD 68-69, the led from the headquarters to the main gate; a rear gate was
legions fielded three candidates, and after several put in the side directly opposite.
years of war the victor was Septimius Severus. The eight-man leather tents of the infantry were set out
Like Vespasian, Severus understood the impor¬ in lines and so arranged and spaced that the centuries could
tance, both to himself and to Rome, of keeping the quickly and easily muster and the army form up to march
army satisfied, and he undertook a number of mili¬ out. Specific areas were also assigned for the tents and horses
tary reforms that began the process of making the of the cavalry and for the wagons, supplies and market, and
military a privileged class in imperial society. at regular intervals latrines were dug and ovens built. The
The Praetorian Guard had become so involved whole camp was surrounded by a ditch, generally about a
in the political game, auctioning off the empire to a yard deep and wide, and a wooden palisade was set up on
wealthy senator while Severus was marching on the rampart of excavated dirt. For this purpose each soldier
Rome, that the new princeps disbanded the organi¬ carried two pre-sharpened, seven-foot stakes that could be
zation. But he promptly recreated the Praetorian lashed together with thongs.
cohorts, doubled their size to a 1,000 and opened The marching camp was not meant to be a fortified posi¬
their ranks to non-Italians, which in practice tion; a shallow ditch and a flimsy fence would hardly mean
allowed him to pack the Guard with loyal soldiers much against a serious assault — it was in any case the prac¬
from his Illyrian legions. tice of the army when attacked to march out and fight a battle
Since by this time the Guard had already in the open. What then was the point of expending all this
become a prime source of new officers, giving the time and energy at the end of each day's march, thus limiting
common soldiery access to the Praetorian cohorts the overall mobility of the legions?
helped further the democratization of the entire In the first place, the camp protected the men from caval¬
army, breaking down the traditional dividing line ry assault, and the clear space left between the palisade and
between officers and enlisted, Italian and non- the first line of tents provided some buffer against missile
Italian. Severus also broke with precedent by sta¬ weapons. More importantly, the camp, with its orderly layout
tioning a legion in Italy. This was a change moti¬ of tents, allowed the men time to form up and meet the
vated most likely by his desire to have reliable enemy in good order in case of surprise attack. Perhaps
forces immediately at hand, but it was one that equally importantly, there was the psychological benefit: it
was nevertheless a further sign of the decline in provided soldiers in hostile territory a sense of security and a
Italy's special status within the empire. reassuringly familiar environment in which to sleep. A pro¬
Severus also dramatically increased legionary tected perimeter, even one with such weak defenses, meant
pay, and this was not so much an act of bribery as far fewer sentries were needed at night and that nothing
compensation for the ravages of inflation, since the short of a major assault could disturb the men's rest.
soldiers had last received a raise a century earlier.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 tunities for them in the growing civil service and
Legion Roster excusing them from many civilian burdens. In this
What follows is a roster of the legions from Augustus to way the privileged status of soldiers came to
the Anarchy, including their names and the emperors under extend beyond active duty into their civilian life.
whom they were formed. The creation of new legions roughly Severus' reforms might well be seen as pan¬
matched the disappearance or disbandment of older units, so dering to the soldiers, and there were in fact many
the total remained fairly constant, from 25 in AD 14 to 34 in instances of poor military discipline during his
AD 235. The numbers of the three legions annihilated in reign, but for all that he remained the master of the
Teutoburg Forest in AD 9 — XVII, XVIII and XIX — were not army, and the army remained proficient. But that
used again, and the numbers XXIII and XXIX were never used. was all about to change.
I Germanica (gained distinction in Germany) — pre-
Augustan The Anarchy (AD 235-285)
I Adiutrix pia fidelis (reserved, dutiful and steadfast) — Nero The Anarchy is the great watershed in imperi¬
I Italica (raised in Italy) — Nero al history. In the 50 years from the assassination of
I Macriana (raised by Clodius Macer) — Nero Severus Alexander (AD 222-235) to the consolida¬
I Flavia Minervia (raised by a Flavian, after the goddess tion of power by Diocletian (AD 284-305) , there
Minerva) — Domitian were some two dozen more or less legitimate
I Parthica (raised in the east) — Severus emperors and dozens of would-be rulers, most of
II Adiutrix pia fidelis — Vespasian them military commanders. The era was virtually a
II Augusta (raised by Augustus) — Augustus half-century of civil war (also marked by signifi¬
II Italica pia (dutiful) — Aurelius cant barbarian incursions), during which the last
II Parthica — Severus vestiges of the Principate disappeared. The empire
II Traiana fortis (raised by Trajan, strong) — Trajan that replaced it, the "late empire," is often called
III Augusta pia fidelis — Augustus the Dominate, because the Romans now had a
III Cyrenaica (gained distinction in Cyrene) — pre-Augustan dominus or absolute lord, rather than a princeps or
III Gallica (made up of Caesar's veterans) — pre-Augustan first citizen.
III Italica concors (harmonius) — Aurelius The character of the Roman army changed
III Parthica — Severus dramatically, as it became deeply and permanently
IV Flavia firma (strong) — Vespasian involved in the political system, undermining both
IV Italica — Severus Alexander the stability of the state and the defenses of the
IV Macedonica (gained distinction in Macedon) — Augustus empire. On the other hand, it speaks extremely
IV Scythia (gained distinction in Scythia) — pre-Augustan well of the discipline and professionalism of the
V Alaudae (lark, meaning great) — pre-Augustan imperial Roman military that it took two centuries
V Macedonica — pre-Augustan for the army to reach such a state, even after the
VI Ferrata fidelis constans (iron-shod, steadfast and firm) — obvious lessons of AD 68-69.
pre-Augustan During the Anarchy, the Roman military
VI Victrix (victorious) — pre-Augustan underwent its most serious changes since the adop¬
VII Macedonica Claudia pia fidelis (for loyalty to Claudius) tion of the manipular legion, as the familiar heavy
— pre-Augustan infantry began rapidly surrendering center stage to
VII Gemina (twin — made from two legions) — Galba new cavalry units. The traditional weakness of the
VIII Augusta (reformed by Augustus) — pre-Augustan army in horse had always been especially felt on
IX Hispana (gained distinction in Spain) — pre-Augustan the eastern frontier, where Rome faced the mount¬
X Fretensis (of the straits — from the naval war between ed archers and heavy cavalry of the Parthians, and
Octavian and Sextus Pompeius) — pre-Augustan that situation became more acute with the appear¬
X Gemina — pre-Augustan ance in AD 227 of the aggressive Sassanid Persian
XI Claudia pia fidelis — pre-Augustan Empire. More importantly, the frequent and serious
XII Fulminata (lightning thrower) — pre-Augustan barbarian penetrations that resulted from the dis¬
XIII Gemina pid fidelis — Augustus traction of constant civil war required the existence
XIV Gemina Martia Victrix (after the god Mars) — Augustus of a highly mobile striking force. Perhaps most
XV Apollinaris (after the god Apollo) — Augustus importantly, the security of the emperor demanded
XVI Flavia firma — Vespasian a fast and powerful force that could be employed to
XVI Gallica (gained distinction in Gaul) — Augustus crush competitors quickly.
XX Valeria Victrix (gained distinction-under Valerius The first major cavalry corps was created by
Messalinus, or named by Claudius for his wife Valeria) — Gallienus (AD 253-268), but little is known about
Augustus its composition. It included both light horse armed
XXI Rapax (greedy) — Augustus with missile weapons, with which the Romans had
XXII Deiotariana (raised by Deiotarus) — Augustus great success, and heavy armored cavalry with
XXII Primigenia pia fidelis (after the goddess Fortuna which they had no success. The political impor¬
Primigenia) — Caligula or Claudius tance of this corps is easily seen from the fact so
XXX Ulpia victrix (raised by M. Ulpius Traianus) — Trajan many of its commanders became emperors, and in
a vain attempt to maintain loyalty, Gallienus

60 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 ROMAN ELASTIC DEFENSE^

formed the cavalry officers and others into a punch due to the decline of offensive Roman mili¬
household troop personally attached to the emper¬ tary power during the Anarchy.
or. At the other end of the empire, the Sassanid
The infantry, meanwhile, was going into Persians quickly demonstrated themselves to be
decline. The legions were shrinking, the result of much better organized than the Parthians and
unreturned detachments and a chronic lack of much more ambitious when it came to expanding
replacements, as scarce resources were diverted their domain westward. This emergence of major
elsewhere and wasted in civil war. Quality also threats on two fronts would have in any case
sank rapidly with the breakdown of the training strained the old system, though probably not to the
system and discipline in general, and it appears breaking point.
many of the "legions" became little more than light Given the new threats and the constant civil
infantry formations, lacking the expertise and war, the empire had little choice but to adopt an
equipment to carry out traditional infantry tactics elastic defense. Low intensity threats were dealt
and combat engineering. The auxiliary units either with by poor-quality frontier troops, but no
faded into the legionary formations, disappeared attempt was made to stop the initial penetration of
altogether, or devolved into static frontier guards. major invading forces. Rather, they were met inside
The grand strategy of the Principate, based on — often deep inside — the empire by more mobile
forward defense, could not survive in the condi¬ central and regional reserves, as Rome sacrificed
tions of the Anarchy, with the constant withdrawal territory for time to concentrate forces strong
and wastage of troops in internal struggles. Yet enough to defeat the invader. This strategy meant
even had there been political stability, the military paying a high cost in ravaged provinces and dam¬
would nevertheless have faced dangerous new age to the infrastructure that ultimately supported
challenges. After centuries of confronting the the army, but it virtually insured the enemy would
Romans, the Germans were beginning to learn and in the end be defeated and the empire preserved.
were forming larger, more threatening coalitions The very character of the Roman army
that were no longer easily broken up by Roman changed rapidly during the Anarchy. In a phrase, it
diplomacy. That diplomacy also lost much of its became less Roman. This was due in part to the

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 increasing territorialization of the military, as the from the towns that grew up around the major
frontier units became more static and attached to legionary encampments. That meant the army
their immediate localities. More important, howev¬ drew upon the most Romanized elements in the
er, was the decline in the quality of the recruits. populace. For most of the Principate the military
The army of the Principate had obtained most of its was in fact a civilizing force, bringing the basics of
recruits from the provincial municipalities and Latin culture to the most distant parts of the

Rewards & Punishments

Beyond the material reward of booty or a donative, as it did from fear of punishment, and the most notori¬
the Roman soldier could also expect to be awarded vari¬ ous punishments on the books, such as decimation,
ous decorations for distinguished service. In early years were carried out only rarely. The fact a strict disciplinar¬
these awards were associated with specific acts of brav¬ ian such as Cn. Domitius Corbulo (died AD 66) was con¬
ery: the civic crown for saving the life of a comrade; the sidered so remarkable strongly suggests that by the
wall crown for the first man over the enemy wall; and early Principate most Roman commanders were rela¬
the grass or siege crown for distinguished service in res¬ tively more relaxed in their attitudes.
cuing a besieged army.
Desertion, mutiny and insubordination were all
By the late Republic, however, these decorations punishable by death, but it appears the circumstances of
had become more or less generic, specific to rank rather the crime were usually considered and lesser penalties
than deed. Crowns, including the gold crown intro¬ were commonly substituted. Those included corporal
duced by the Emperor Claudius, were presented only to punishment, fines and pay reduction, extra duty, demo¬
centurions and senior officers. The latter were also eligi¬ tion, transfer to a lower status service or unit, public
ble to receive the silver spearhead and small silver- humiliation, and dishonorable discharge. Though the
mounted standard. Privates had to be content with last, with its loss of discharge benefits, was the most
necklaces, armbands and embossed discs, all of which intimidating punishment, at least for the older vets,
could be won repeatedly, signifying ever higher marks fl°gging was the one most despised and most often
of honor.
mentioned among the soldiers' complaints. It was gen¬
The commanding general was of course eligible for erally carried out rather informally and on the spur of
special honors, all of them probably dating back to the the moment, it seems, by the centurions, part of whose
early Republic. After a victorious campaign he might be distinctive uniform was a kind of swagger stick, which
saluted as imperator by his troops, and after a particular¬ was handy for this purpose. There was a notorious first
ly spectacular victory (at least 5,000 enemy killed) he century centurion, Lucilius, who had the nickname
might be awarded a triumph, which involved a parade "Give-me-another," because he kept breaking his staff
through Rome, or the lesser ovation, which involved a on his men's backs.
somewhat less elaborate procession. Entire units could also be punished for mutiny, bat¬
This state of affairs changed with the establishment tlefield desertion or insubordination. The most infa¬
of the Principate, since as commander-in-chief of the mous penalty was decimation, in which every 10th man
army the Princeps alone was entitled to these distinc¬ in the unit (usually a cohort) was stoned or beaten to
tions (which is why he gradually became known as death by the soldiers from the other units. But instances
emperor — from imperator), though he often allowed of this punishment are extremely rare, especially in the
them for members of the imperial family. In place of an Principate. Punishing the innocent with the guilty was
actual triumph, the emperor might award a successful hardly conducive to recruiting, and in any case it wasn't
army commander (usually a provincial governor) the often the crime and disgrace of the men in a particular
triumphal insignia, and to a legion commander the con¬ unit would be so clear cut their comrades in the legion
sular insignia. A victorious fleet commander could be would be willing to execute them. Much more common
awarded the naval crown.
punishments were reduced pay, being fed on barley
Like their modern counterparts, these decorations instead of wheat, public disgrace (such as being forced
were worn on dress parade and special occasions, and to sleep outside the regular encampment) or disband¬
to judge from the inscriptions on tombstones they were ment, particularly if an entire legion were involved.
a source of immense pride. Entire units might also be In the army of the early Republic, the commander in
decorated, either with the same insignia, which would the field possessed the absolute power of life and death
be displayed on the unit's standards, or with the grant over his men, but by the time of the Principate capital
of a special title.
cases had to be referred to the provincial governor (who
Punishment in the Roman army could certainly be might in fact be the army commander) or, in the case of
severe, but that aspect of military life has been generally senior officers, to the emperor. Lesser penalties could be
exaggerated, especially by Roman writers, who tended carried out by the legion commander, and many punish¬
to magnify most aspects of the old Republic. The leg¬ ments, including flogging, could be meted out on the
endary discipline of the legionary came as much from authority of a centurion, who seem to have had a great
his Roman character, shaped by his family and civic life. deal of leeway in this regard.

62 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
empire and processing provincials into rudimenta¬ iliaries. But it was the Anarchy that really began
ry Romans. the process of barbarizing the army. The constant
This situation began to change quickly with demand for more manpower led to increased
Caracalla's (AD 211-217) Edict of 212, which recruiting from the rural areas, and the ranks came
extended Roman citizenship to virtually every free to be filled with peasants untouched by Roman cul¬
male in the empire, thus removing a major incen¬ ture or any sense of loyalty to Rome. Such soldiers
tive for the better sort of provincial to join the aux¬ were not only much harder to train, but also much

The Standards
The standards were the equivalent of regimental emperor and those with figures of deities and Zodiac
colors for the Roman army, fulfilling functions similar to, signs appropriate to the birthday of the legion or some¬
their 19th century counterparts. On the battlefield they one important to it. The eagle and the emperor's image
identified units and marked rallying points, and move¬ were entrusted to the first cohort and were carried by
ment orders were often given in relation to the positions two special standard-bearers, the ac/uilifer and the imag-
of standards. It appears they were also used in connec¬ inifer.
tion with musical instruments to relay commands in the It appears that within each legion every maniple
midst of battle: a horn would signal the men to look to and perhaps each cohort had its own standard, carried
their standard, which would be used to convey a basic by a signifer. (The maniple, which consisted of a pair of
instruction by means of some movement, such as centuries, had no combat role after Marius, but tradi¬
"Follow me!" or "Extend the formation!" tions died hard in the Roman military.) The signifer was
Like the colors of Victorian-era regiments, the stan¬ generally stationed between the two centuries of his
dards, particularly legion eagles, were also the focus of a maniple, and troops were thus often described as
unit's morale and the symbol of its honor. As such they "before" or "behind" the standards.
consequently played a vital role, since in most profes¬ The maniple standard was topped by the facsimile
sional armies the honor and reputation of a soldier's of an upright open hand, which might have something
cohort or regiment has been at least as great a motiva¬ to do with the original meaning of manipulus, "handful."
tion to fight as "God, King and Country." Below the hand was a crosspiece, to which wreaths or
Examples abound, particularly from the early other unit decorations won by the maniple could be
Republic, of generals hurling a standard into the enemy attached, and below that, affixed to the staff, were from
ranks to motivate their men, and there is the well- four to six discs, the meaning of which remains unclear.
known incident of the eagle-bearer of Caesar's hesitant The legion also sported a standard that was in effect
Xth Legion plunging into the British surf with the words: a flag, the vexillum, and one of these was actually found
"Leap down, soldiers, unless you wish to betray the preserved in a grave in Egypt. It is a linen square, dyed
eagle to the enemy." (Caesar, Gallic War IV.25). To lose red and about 20 inches on each side, and displays in
its eagle was the ultimate disgrace for a legion, and gold the figure of Victory standing on a globe. This ban¬
Augustus dispatched diplomatic and military missions ner would have hung from a crosspiece on a staff, but its
to recover those lost by Crassus and Varus in the function is not understood. This type of standard was
Teutoberg Forest. associated more with cavalry than infantry, but surviv¬
The standards occupied a special place in camp, ing depictions suggest an importance to the legions far
where they were the first thing set up, and in the beyond that of the small units of horsemen attached to
Principate an entire cult grew around them. They were them. They may have been the unit standard adopted
anointed and decorated on religious occasions, and sol¬ by legion detachments, which were called vexillationes.
diers would swear oaths on them. Anything unusual The auxiliary units also carried standards that
happening to the standards, especially the eagle, would served the same functions as those of the legions. They
immediately be read as an omen. If, for example, they lacked the eagle and upraised hand of their legion coun¬
stuck in the ground when being moved as camp was terparts, but were otherwise similar in form. The auxil¬
struck, the men might well refuse to budge. iary standard-bearers, also like those in the legions,
The origin of the standards is obscure, but they wore the traditional bearskin cloak (lionskin in the case
probably developed from totemic animal standards car¬ of the Praetorians), which was probably another totemic
ried into battle in the earliest days of Italian society. The carry over.
pre-Marian legions are reported to have had five animal As suggested above, the standards were apparently
standards: the eagle, boar, horse, wolf and minotaur, but used in connection with musical instruments. The cornu,
after Marius emphasized the eagle, the others disap¬ a kind of giant French horn, and the tuba, a yard-long
peared. Henceforth, the main standard and symbol of trumpet, were the battlefield instruments. The former
each legion was a silver (later gold) eagle clutching a was used to direct attention to the standards, and the
thunderbolt in its talons. But each legion would inevit¬ latter to sound advances, retreats and other simple com¬
ably have other, purely ceremonial, standards as well. mands. Two other kinds of horns and a reed flute were
The most common were those bearing a portrait of the added only for religious and ceremonial occasions.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 63
 easier to corrupt and lead in revolt against the empire. But the system soon collapsed into civil
state. war when Diocletian abdicated in AD 305. The
Finally, there was a growing recruitment of subsequent history of the fourth century was
Germans, which naturally barbarized the army marked by alternating periods of civil war fol¬
directly. In response to a critical manpower short¬ lowed by some stability under a strong military
age, Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180) had estab¬ leader, which meant that to a great degree the
lished a German militia just within the northern political conditions of the Anarchy persisted. The
frontiers, trading land for military service and set¬ evolution of the military thus continued to be
ting a precedent. Subsequent emperors, particular¬ influenced by the needs of an insecure central gov¬
ly during the Anarchy, recruited Germans for their ernment.
warlike qualities, but the Roman military was no Under Diocletian and his successors, the mili¬
longer capable of Romanizing them. All of this was tary, which had grown to perhaps a half-million
a harbinger of the future, when increasing reliance men, was organized into two very different forces:
on Germans to defend the Western Empire would the limitanei, low grade static frontier garrisons,
ultimately make them the masters of it. and the comitatenses, a better trained and more
mobile field force, which itself contained an elite
The Dominate (AD 285-395) corps, the palatini.
The Anarchy came to an end with the ascent of The infantry units in both forces were still
Diocletian, a soldier-emperor of humble origin. In called legions, but any similarity with those of the
an attempt to restore stability, he created the tetrar- Republic and Principate ended with the name. The
chy, an arrangement that established a single formations of the late empire were much smaller,
emperor with a junior colleague in each half of the about 1,000 men for legions of the comitatenses, and

The Roman Navy

The first real need for a Roman navy came in the coastal cities, compelling the Senate to raise a fleet and
First Punic War, when Rome presumed to take on the methodically sweep the Mediterranean.
strongest naval power in the western Mediterranean. The civil wars that ended the Republic demonstrat¬
Since the Romans were never comfortable with being at ed the value of a reliable navy, and to both secure his
sea and had no real maritime experience, the allied rule and keep piracy suppressed, Augustus stationed
Greek cities of southern Italy supplied the ships and permanent naval squadrons at Misenum, Ravenna and
crews, while Rome supplied the marines. Rome was Alexandria. In the course of the first century AD, the
ultimately able to launch about 160 vessels, compared to Classis Britannica was established at Boulogne to secure
130 Carthaginian, but what gave them the edge against the Channel and communications with Britain, and
Punic naval skill was their tactics. flotillas were built on the Rhine and Danube to patrol
More than anything else, a classical warship was the frontier and shuttle troops to danger spots. The
like a giant racing scull: oars, shallow draft, flat keel and Classis Moesia on the lower Danube was also responsible
a narrow beam. The ship generally used by the Romans, for the Black Sea coast to the Crimea, while the Classis
the quinquereme, was about 120 feet long and 14 feet Pontica guarded the southern and eastern shores.
wide (excluding the outrigger) and was propelled in Initially the naval commanders were army men, but
battle by some 170 oarsmen. The vessel was equipped by the end of the first century AD, the prefects who
with a ram, and ramming and sinking, which involved commanded the major fleets were essentially civilian
maneuvering, was the tactic favored by those with mar¬ officials holding administrative posts. The active com¬
itime skills, such as the Athenians and Carthaginians. mands, apparently held by career navy men, were the
For landlubbers like the Romans, the simpler approach navarch, who commanded a squadron of 10 vessels, and
of closing and boarding was the choice, and they actual¬ the trierarch, who captained individual ships. The
ly developed new technologies to enhance their board¬ sailors generally came from the ranks of the poor and
ing tactics, as they attempted to turn sea battles into were mostly non-Italian, continuing the tradition of the
land combats. Republic. They served for 26 years, and like the provin¬
The boarding tactics worked, and Rome quickly cial auxiliaries received citizenship on discharge.
won control of the sea, losing more ships to weather Because of its usefulness in transporting troops and
than to the enemy. So disinterested was the Senate in checking the piracy that would otherwise have threat¬
maritime affairs, however, that the Republic never ened Rome's food supply, the navy survived into the late
established a permanent navy, instead only drawing empire, and the fleets at Misenum and Ravenna still
ships and crews as needed from the Greek allies and existed in the early fifth century. During that century, the
cities of the eastern Mediterranean. But once Cartha¬ Roman navy in the west disappeared with the empire,
ginian and Greek naval power had been eliminated, this but in the east, in the emerging Byzantine Empire, the
lack of concern allowed piracy to grow to the point that navy gained new status and a new deadliness with the
by the 60s BC such fleets were actually raiding Italian introduction of "Greek Fire" in the seventh century.

64 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 ROMAN DEFENSE-IN-DEPTH [
m Initial Barbarian incursion

» Initial Roman intercept

» Roman counteroffensive

'» Barbarian retreat

engines

| Legionary fortress
Fortified granery
denies raiders food 0 Local troops

f~l Fortified granery

□ Fortified farmhouse

■“ Road fort
Province mounted O Watchtower
■— Imperial boundary

2,000 to 3,000 for the limitanei, and they were most¬ like the old military colonies of the middle Repub¬
ly composed of poorly-trained, lightly armed lic. That the limitanei were called upon only to
troops, short of body armor and equipped with defend fortified points compensated for their poor
spears, missile weapons, and the long sword quality; offensive operations were undertaken by
(spatha), useful because of its reach in the now com¬ the better trained units of the comitatenses.
mon undisciplined melee. Conscription of "Roman" citizens was partially
The strength of the comitatenses was its cavalry used to fill the ranks, but manpower shortages
units, most of them barbarian in origin, and required greater and greater reliance on barbarians,
Diocletian created a special bodyguard of German especially Germans. Not only were the fighting
cavalry, the scholae palatinae. qualities of those northerners admired, but military
With the restoration of some measure of order service also provided an occupation for the grow¬
by Diocletian, the empire steadily moved from the ing number of German settlers allowed into the
elastic defense of the Anarchy toward a defense- empire. Constantine I (AD 307-337) greatly ex¬
in-depth. Under this strategy a zone of self-sus¬ panded the use of Germans and finally abolished
taining frontier fortifications and garrisons slowed the Praetorian Guard, replacing it with the German
and stopped an invading force, while mobile units scholae palatinae. As the fourth century wore on, the
stationed among or just to the rear of them gath¬ German pressure grew into a migratory flood,
ered to counterattack and defeat the invader. This leading to the Roman disaster at Adrianople in AD
required dramatic changes in military architecture, 378, and Theodosius I (AD 379-395) had little
as the empire began to build true strongholds and choice but to absorb even more Germans. He grant¬
lines of forts that could hold out for a considerable ed the Goths the right to establish a virtually inde¬
time, denying invaders immediate access to the pendent state within the imperial frontiers.
interior, and especially to food supplies.
The frontier towns also turned into fortresses, The Divided Empire (AD 395-476)
and the limitanei manning all these defenses rapid¬ Theodosius I was the last man to rule a united
ly evolved into part-time soldiers, farming the Roman state — after his death the empire split per¬
local land until called to arms by a threat, rather manently down the Adriatic into an eastern and

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 western half. More wealthy and civilized, better sit¬ skill, trained in the endless wars against the
uated strategically and relying far less on barbarian Persian Empire. With the arrival of the stirrup
confederates, the East survived and evolved into from central Asia, perhaps as early as the seventh
the Greco-Christian Byzantine Empire, which century, true heavy cavalry became possible, and
endured another 1,000 years. by the 10th century the Byzantine army was built
Through careful policies and recruitment with¬ around an impressive striking force of armored
in the empire, especially among the sturdy high¬ horsemen, the kataphraktoi.
landers of Anatolia and the Balkans, the East was The West was not so fortunate. Less economi¬
able to maintain a "Roman" army and avoid the cally viable, and with a long, difficult frontier, the
barbarization of the military that dragged down Western Empire was compelled to admit and rely
the West. During this period extensive use was on entire nations of Germanic peoples. These
made of the limitanei, but the cavalry units of the groups were in theory the allies of Rome, bound to
comitatenses also grew steadily in importance and provide the empire military support. In reality,
they were independent states, governed by native
rulers, sending no taxes to Rome, and fielding their
own armies. Deprived of the resources of the East,
the fifth century emperors in the West had little
choice but to rely not only on their barbarian
troops, but also on their military leaders, such as
the Vandal Stilicho.
As barbarian settlement gradually eliminated
Roman culture and replaced the provinces with
Germanic kingdoms, the emperors in Ravenna
(which was adopted as the new capital because it
was more easily defended than Rome) grew to be
nothing more than puppets of the German com¬
manders. Finally in AD 476, A German mercenary
named Odovacar deposed Emperor Romulus
Augustulus and proclaimed himself king of Italy.
The Roman Empire was gone, and the end of
the 1,000-year dominance of the infantryman,
begun with the Greek phalanx and spectacularly
represented by the classic legion, was also at hand.
With the appearance of the stirrup, the supreme
heavy cavalryman — the mounted knight —
became the centerpiece of European warfare, easily
dominating a world that couldn't support trained
and disciplined infantry. But in a sense the classic
Roman legion returned a 1,000 years later, in the
guise of the late medieval pike armies that brought
the curtain down on the knights. O

Primary Sources
Arrian, Tactica.
Josephus, The Jewish War, Book III.70-126.
Livy, Book VIII.8.
Polybius, Book VI.19-42.
Vegetius, De Re Militari.

Secondary Sources
Grant, M. The Army of the Caesars. New York, 1974.
Hanson, V.D. The Western Way of War. New York,
1989.
Luttwak, E.N. The Grand Strategy of the Roman
Empire. Baltimore, 1977.
Parker, H.M.D. The Roman Legions. Oxford, 1928.
Warry, J. Warfare in the Classical World. London,
1980.
Watson, G.R. The Roman Soldier. London, 1969.
Webster, G. The Roman Imperial Army. London,
1969.

66 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
 Remember

A Wdrcrime at Sea
1944
by James Blears, as told to John Berger
Introduction: James Blears was born in 1923 near then to the after gun, the ship was back on an even
Manchester, England, the son of a professional rugby keel. It sank in another 5-6 or minutes. But I got to
player. A championship swimmer in school, he was the gun, threw my little waterproof bag into the
invited to try out for the English swimming team in boat, and got the radio transmitter out of the case
anticipation of the 1940 Olympics. Of course, as events and put it in the boat too.
turned out there were no 1940 Olympics, and that year We were firing; the gun crew had spotted a
instead found him volunteering for training as a ship¬ periscope and was firing. Every gun position had
board radio operator. While in training for his operator's been taken except for loading the shells, so I start¬
certificate, he also began a career as a professional ing passing those, but the ship had begun to list
wrestler; earning five pounds per match at a time when again, and soon we couldn't elevate the gun high
skilled labor was paid about three pounds per week. enough to shoot at anything. There was a kid on the
Blears passed the six-month radio-operator's course in bridge, though, who kept firing a 20mm machine-
only four months. Though he could have waited until his gun at where he thought he could see a periscope.
18th birthday, he decided to put to sea immediately, and As the ship went down, another guy and I
soon shipped out on his first convoy to Canada as swung the boat away and got in it. While we were
Second Radio Officer aboard the Baron Douglas. doing this, there was another guy — an English
In 1943, lured by promises of better food and work¬ regular sailor, a gunner, a red-headed guy I used
ing conditions, and 25 percent higher wages, he shipped to play cards with — who dived into the water,
aboard a Free Norwegian troopship, and later signed on and as he did he hit his head and knocked himself
the Free Dutch freighter Tjisalak. On 26 March 1944, out. So I jumped off the boat and got him. It wasn't
en route from Melbourne to Colombo with a cargo of a big rescue or anything; I only had to swim a total
flour and 27 passengers, Tjisalak was torpedoed by the of about 20 feet. And then the ship was gone.
Japanese J3-type submarine 1-8, commanded by LCDR There were four lifeboats drifting. Capt. Hen
Ariizumi Tatsunosuke. It was about 0545 hours, local had an engine on his boat, along with the chief
time. Blears had just gotten off watch at 0400 and was engineer, the chief radioman, most of the officers,
in his bunk when the ship was hit. and the Red Cross nurse. Right away all the boats
started leaking because they were wood and
The torpedo hit right below my cabin on the hadn't been in water in over a year and the seams
port side. The ship rolled to starboard and I was were split. So we all started bailing.
thrown out on the floor. The door to get out was All of a sudden a periscope came up and cir¬
suddenly the ceiling, and we stayed that way for a cled us, and then finally the submarine surfaced a
while. After I got out of my cabin, I ran to the radio couple hundred yards away. It was a big bugger
cabin to see if the first radioman was injured. I with a small airplane hanger on deck. We could see
found him sending a message, but we had fragile the crew rushing to man their guns — they had
"goal post" antennas, and when the ship was hit some kind of twin-gun mount — and then one of
they'd broken, so though he was sending, it wasn't them started yelling, "Captain?! Captain?!" Finally
getting out. Capt. Hen identified himself and they waved him
My job, if we were attacked while I was off to come over toward the submarine. We watched
duty, was to go to the after gun. There was a small everybody on the Captain's boat climb aboard the
lifeboat there, and a big metal case with a rifle and submarine and disappear below decks. Then the
some ammunition and a big waterproof radio Japanese shouted for everybody else to come, and
transmitter, about as big as a giant suitcase and we started rowing over.
weighing 60 or 70 lbs. As we climbed up, I noticed all the Japanese
The ship had begun to right itself, but as I was were short, some of them so short their scabbarded
going to the after gun I had to swim across the well swords were dragging on deck as they walked. It
deck to get there. From the time I got my stuff, got hit me they looked exactly the way they were
out of my cabin and went to the radio shack and depicted in The Saturday Evening Post — it was the

COMMAND MAGAZINE 67
 first time I'd ever seen any Japanese. They grabbed
front. One swing with those swords and off lopped
us and ripped off all our rings and watches, and the head.
batted us with the flats of their swords. Some of
So I was thinking I had to get off that subma¬
them carried submachineguns on slings around
rine. By this point we were miles away from the
their necks, or had pistols on lanyards.
wreckage, but I figured my only hope was to get
Soon, except for the officers and woman they'd
back there and find an empty lifeboat. But I
taken below, they had us all — about 80 people —
couldn't work up the nerve to jump overboard
sitting on the foredeck ahead of the guns. I was
because the Japanese with the submachineguns
taken forward, and the guy escorting me whacked
were all around us, keeping us covered. But every
me real hard on the back of the head, and I just did
minute you'd hear their laughing from up front,
what everybody else was doing and squatted with
and then "zhunk!" Then individual pistol shots
my head down. There was a cameraman taking
started, "bang! bang!" Then came the "rat-a-tat-
movies of the whole thing. The sub got underway
a-tat of a machinegun from behind us on the con¬
and was doing six or seven knots, and away we ning tower.
went, leaving the wreckage and our boats behind,
As I was trying to make up my mind what to
and they started having their fun.
do, the guy two people in front of me — a Hindu
We had a lot of Hindus among the passengers,
jumped up, let out a scream, and dived over¬
and our crew was Indonesian with Dutch officers^
board. They were on him with the machineguns as
plus three British officers and 10 British gunners.
soon as he hit the water, and I saw him go straight
All I could see at the time was a big mass of squat¬
down. That changed my mind about that idea.
ting men around me. I was mentally numb and
Then a Japanese officer hit me on my back
didn't know what to do, but I was looking at the
with the flat of his sword and said something, I
water and started trying to get myself to think.
don't know what, and I stood up. As I turned I saw
Then they grabbed one of the Indonesian guys and
our British gunners all tied together, along with a
pushed him down all the way, and they were
couple of our Dutch officers, standing over by the
laughing and yelling, and two Japanese crewmen
conning tower. The Japanese behind me gave
held his arms up and a guy with a sword swung it
another shove and they tied my hands behind my
and it went "zhunk!" I was watching, and they cut
back and then tied me to Peter Bronger, our fifth
off the top half of this Indonesian's head, and it fell
officer. He was my best friend on board and they'd
down and then they let him fall. He started flop¬ tied me right to him.
ping around and they kicked him overboard.
The rope was really thick, and as they tied me I
Then they started really having their fun.
tried to keep my wrists as wide as I could. They
They'd just go up to a guy and hit him on the back
tied the one wrist in a way I knew I couldn't get
with a sword and then take him all the way up
out of, but I could also feel that I could get the
other free.
Then the guy started shoving all of us with his
sword, wanting us to move around the conning
tower. On the other side of the conning tower there
were two more Japanese officers, one holding a
sword, the other with a sledgehammer. I was in the
lead, and I knew the way those guys were looking
at us this was it. So when they started coming at us,
I kicked with my foot and pulled my loosely tied
hand out of the rope and dived, dragging Peter
with me. I didn't know it at the time, but a lot more
people than I'd been able to see had already been
killed, and I turned out to be the fourth of only five
who got away.
I hit the water and swam to get as deep as pos¬
sible. The sub kept going by, and I could even see
her twin screws passing in the clear water. I stayed
under as long as I could, and then came up with
my head just breaking the surface, and right away I
could hear bullets splashing all around. I went
back under and noticed that bullets don't keep
going straight once they hit the water; they go off
in all directions.
When I came up for another breath, the sub
was quite a ways off and all I could see was her
stern. There were two officers sitting there in old
James Blears as a radio officer in 1945.
fashioned deck chairs, and they were firing rifles at

68 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
whoever they spotted. So I kept diving under until I swam all day. From about 8:30 in the morn¬
I saw and heard no more firing. ing, I swam until the sun was going down. I was in
Peter was kind of half under water, floating great shape, so I just kept going, figuring I
with his head down. They'd either hit him with a wouldn't give up, but when it started to get dark
sword or machinegunned him as we were going and I still hadn't found anything, I got scared that I
over, because his back was torn wide open right was going to die.
down to the spine and he was all covered with But then I let the big swells lift me up and I
blood. I was in some kind of shock myself and I started looking around, and the second time I did
stayed with him for a while, but he looked dead, so that I happened to look behind me and I saw little
I finally untied my other hand — that took another black dots floating far off, and I knew I'd found
five or 10 minutes — and I said, "Peter, if I can find something. I'd gone past the wreckage, just miss¬
anything to come back for you I will." But as far as ing it.
I know he was already dead. I swam toward the dots, and the first thing I
I guessed I was aboard the sub for about 45 found was a big, heavy, round table that we used
minutes to an hour. I didn't know how far away to play cards on when we were off duty. I grabbed
from our wreckage I was — if I'd known how far it that — it was the first solid thing I'd touched in six
was I probably would've given up — but I knew or seven hours. I hung on and then I felt strength
getting back there was my only shot. It turned out coming back into me as my hope returned. Then I
to be about four or five miles. There were big saw garbage floating, and sharks thrashing away
swells and the water was warm, so I just started at that. Our ship's food — the stuff that we ate, not
swimming in the direction opposite to where I the cargo — had all blown out and there were
thought the sub had been going. things all over the place.

LCDR firiizumi Tatsunosuke and the 1-8 Submarine

Ariizumi sank three more ships, and claimed a sail¬ by the Emperor's announcement of Japanese surrender
ing vessel sunk by gunfire, while commanding the sub¬ on 15 August.
marine 1-8 in 1944. On 2 July 1944, he sank the Jean Ariizumi committed suicide on 31 August, as an
Nicolet. Ninety-six survivors were taken aboard the 1-8 "act of apology" to the Emperor for the failure of his
and forced to run a gauntlet. When the submarine sub¬ division. His suicide also aborted his certain trial and
merged again, only 23 had survived from the Nicolet. execution for the crimes he perpetrated against the
They were finaly rescued by an Indian warship on 4 crews of the Tjisalak and the Jean Nicolet.
July. Two lower-ranked officers, Monontaka Sadao and
Following his tour of duty on the 1-8, Ariizumi was Hattori Masanori, who had been aboard 1-8 when
promoted to captain and given command of the 1st Tjisalak was sunk, were convicted of war crimes in 1948.
Submarine Division/631st Air Corps, comprising the STo They served five years and were released around the
class submarine/aircraft carriers 1-400 and 1-401, and the end of the Korean War.
AM class boats 1-13 and 1-14. The unit prepared for a by John Berger
"special attack" mission against the Panama Canal, in
which the ships' 10 M6A1 float planes were to strike the Secondary Sources
locks and the damn that provided the reservoir neces¬ Edwards, Bernard. Blood and Bushido: Japanese Atrocities
sary to operate that manmade waterway. However, on at Sea, 1941-1945, Self-Publishing Assoc., Ltd.,
25 June 1945, the division was ordered to expend its air¬ Upton-on-Severn, England, 1991.
craft in a conventional Kamikaze attack against the US Rohwer, Jurgen. Axis Submarine Successes, 1939-1945.
Navy aircraft carriers at Ulithi anchorage. That attack — Naval Inst. Press (English language ed., 2nd ed.,
planned for predawn on 17 August — was preempted revised, expanded), Annapolis, 1983.

COMMAND MAGAZINE 69
 Then I saw a life raft — we had four on the and got the sulfa powder and put it on around the
ship — actually made of two big oil drums sur¬ wound and bandaged it and wrapped his head all
rounded with wood and shaped into a big square. around.
There was a hole in the center, and Red Cross There was a canvas cover, so we lay down on
emergency stuff was stowed in there. Then from it in the center of the raft. But I was scared to death
the raft I saw an arm waving and heard a voice over the idea the Japanese might be circling back to
calling, and I let go of my table and swam over get us, so I kept looking for periscopes. Then I
there. I'm sure I broke a world record doing that — heard another voice, and it was Third Engineer
I didn't even think to worry about the sharks. I got Spuybroek. We traded stories, and it turned out
over to the raft and it turned out to be Chief Officer he'd escaped similar to me, and he was fine, so that
Frits de Jong. made three of us.
He was 6'6" and about 300 lbs. What had Then I said to Spuybroek, "Let's get to the
saved him was the Japanese who'd tried to kill him boats." Everything was still drifting, and it was
was so short that when he put the gun up to blow really getting dark, but there were little lights all
de Jong's brains out the angle had been so steep around because all the life-saving equipment on
the bullet only whacked the back of his head. He'd the ship — lifebelts and lifejackets — that they'd
rolled into the water, and that brought him back to ripped off us and thrown overboard, had chemical
consciousness. They'd started with the biggest lights, and they were all around. We didn't have
guys first, so they'd shot him early on and he'd any oars, so it took the two of us maybe half an
only had to swim maybe a mile. He had a hole in hour to finally get to my boat. I looked inside and
the back of his head, so I opened the first aid kit saw the transmitter was still there. So was my little
waterproof bag with my I.D. book that showed the
ships I'd served on — and I still have that.
We got de Jong moved into the boat — which
by then was nearly full of water, but didn't sink
because it had air tanks under the seats. One of us
bailed while the other got the oars out. Once we
got her bailed we each took an oar. By this point
we'd been going steadily since about six o'clock
that morning. We rowed over to another boat and
got all the food and water from it. Even though
everything was floating around inside, it was all in
water-tight containers. We figured we had enough
for about 40 days.
It was completely dark when we heard another
voice. We rowed toward it, and it turned out to be
Second Officer Jan Dekker, and the same thing had
happened to him as to me and Spuybroek. There
was another guy with him, a Hindu named
Dhange, and they were floating on a hatch cover.
Dhange was able-bodied; he'd swam farther than
I, and he was the last survivor.
Dhange and the rest of us eventually gave evi¬
dence about this atrocity personally to Lord Louis
Mountbatten and his staff after we made it back to
Colombo. Dhange was from Bombay, had survived
the sinking of his own ship earlier, and was going
home on a free ride when we were sunk. He testi¬
fied that after the Japanese had gotten rid of the
officers, they took the last 20 or 25 guys and tied
them all together using one long rope, made that
rope fast to the deck of the submarine, and dived.
Dhange was the last guy on the rope at the tail end,
and as they were being towed down under the
water he managed to get loose and he swam for it.
Anyway, after we'd gotten the mast up and
started sailing, Dekker got out a little compass and
figured the prevailing winds were taking us
toward Java [Japanese held]. We didn't want to go
there, so we started trying to tack, but it was very
James Blears today. difficult in that little boat.

70 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 We had to bail all night, so we took turns. One night some time after the war had ended,
Finally, as it started to come light, I just collapsed. I I woke up screaming. Rain was spattering on the
was out of it, and just lay there for five or six hours. skylight above me, and I guess it reminded me
Then I came to, and we opened up some pemmican somehow. But since then I've never had any kind
and ate that along with a dipper of water, and boy of flashbacks or any worries about it. O
that revived me fine.
We kept trying to tack north, away from Java, Epilogue: After his discharge as a merchant seaman in
but by the third day the Chief Officer started get¬ 1945, Blears wrestled professionally full-time in Europe
ting delirious. Dekker said to me, "Sparks, I think and England. Eventually he moved to New York and
we have to risk transmitting a message tonight." So extended his successful wrestling career in the States as
I got out the radio and climbed the mast and put "Lord Tally Ho Blears." A resident of Hawaii for 30
the antenna up. I hooked up and keyed it once and years, he is still an avid surfer and rough-water swim¬
everything worked O.K. mer who lives with his wife and his dog on what he calls
It was around 4:00 p.m., and we we're waiting "the poor side" of Makaha Beach. He has remained in
'til dark to send, and we decided to have a can of touch with Frits de Jong and the USAAF pilot from the
peaches. Every March 29th since then I've always James A. Wilder.
eaten a can of peaches. Anyway, we opened a can
and each had a big peach and drank the juice, and
it tasted so good. I'd memorized the coded mes¬ Civil War Command Trivia
sage I'd send — "SSS," for "attacked by subma¬
rine" — when all of a sudden — Boom! — there Board Game
was a big explosion right in front of us. Then, for Novice or Expert
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and kill us. We tried to decide if we should jump
back in the water, when we finally spotted a mer¬
chant ship. I said it was probably a Japanese sup¬
ply ship for replenishing their submarines. They
kept firing as they got nearer, but then they turned
and I could see it was a Liberty Ship — you could
tell by the silhouette — and they stopped firing
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A two-player wargame recreating the World War I in
and came thundering up right along side and
the east. One player assumes the role of the Russian
threw a cargo net over.
I yelled up, "We got a wounded man weighs Commander-in-Chief, and must launch attacks to aid
300 lbs!" So they put a crane out and hauled him the allies on the western front, succor the Serbs and
up. As we were climbing the net they were already Romanians, and topple the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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as it was getting dark, and their lookout thought German command on the Eastern front, and he must
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they'd started firing at us. Luckily, they were bad Russian Empire early enough to give Germany a chance
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Two guys pulled me aboard and gave me a
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COMMAND MAGAZINE
 THE SIE6E OF
TYRE
BY CARLO. SCHUSTER
I n July 332 BC, Alexander the Great and 2,000 of
his best troops stormed ashore against the port
would be similarly accepted there; envoys met him
in front of the ancient settlement and graciously
city of Tyre. Two hours later they broke through placed themselves at his disposal. But then Alex¬
the beach defenses and entered the main part of ander asked to enter the island city itself, with an
town. By mid-day one of the ancient world's escort, to offer sacrifice at the Tyrean shrine to
wealthiest and most powerful city-states was in Menzikert, whom the Greeks called Herakles
flames and its inhabitants facing enslavement. (Hercules), and from whom Alexander claimed
What had begun seven months before as a classic descent. Citing a variety of reasons, including their
struggle between a maritime island power and an king's absence from the city on that day, the
omnipotent land power had finally ended in histo¬ envoys said Alexander could not come in. Alex¬
ry's first combined land, amphibious and naval ander took the refusal as an act of defiance, and the
assault. siege was on.
The origins of Alexander's conflict with Tyre Though they had hoped to avoid just such a
seem innocent by today's standards. Fresh from his conflict, the Tyreans probably felt immune to the
victories at Halicarnassus and Issus, Alexander had power of Alexander's army. Lying nearly a mile
been accepted as overlord by all the Phoenician offshore. Tyre was one of the strongest maritime
city-states except Tyre. At first it appeared he powers of the age, with colonies stretching across
the Mediterranean to Sicily, Spain and North
Africa (including Carthage, which would go on to
become a great power in its own right).
THE ARMIES
Tyre
The Mole
Light Infantry 8,000-12,000
Alexander had no fleet with which to chal¬
Alexander lenge Tyre, and he therefore had little prospect of
Macedonian Phalanx 9,000 being able to transport his army out to the island
Hypaspists 3,000 city. Even if he could do so, the city's walls, mea¬
Greek Hoplites 7,000 suring several feet thick and possibly over 100 feet
Light Infantry 5,000 high, posed another significant barrier to any
Heavy Cavalry 2,300 attacker. No ancient military commander before
Macedonian* Light Cavalry 6,000 Alexander had successfully assaulted a defended
Greek Cavalry beach, and the Tyreans no doubt believed none
3,000
ever would on their island.
Total 35,000
Undaunted, Alexander initially attempted the
simplest and most direct solution. He ordered a
Notes: Little if anything is known about Tyre's troops except
causeway (or "mole") be built out to the city from
that the city was well equipped with catapults, ballistae and the mainland. Once that was completed, he would
other missile weapons. Most authors estimate Tyre's defend¬ take Tyre by storm. Using rubble and other materi¬
ers were light infantry who were most accustomed to fighting als from the on-shore remnants of an earlier city of
from ships. The city had withstood three major sieges in its Tyre, the Macedonian troops at first made quick
time, including one lasting 13 years, and had never had its progress. The water close to shore was shallow,
walls breached. and the Tyreans made little effort to interfere with
*The Macedonian cavalry employed shock tactics and the construction. But if Alexander interpreted that
attacked at a gallop. This was unusual in antiquity, since the initial inactivity on the part of the defenders as a
lack of will, he was soon disappointed.
lack of a stirrup (introduced by the Huns in the 5th century AD)
The city's leaders had immediately dispatched
prevented riders from having a firm purchase on their mounts.
vessels to ask assistance from Carthage and to
The cavalry did not participate in the assault on the city.
recall their own navy, then serving with the main
Persian fleet near Chiosk. Lumber was brought in

72 SEPT-OCT 1993 ISSUE 24

 Tyre: The Strategic Situation
Tyre posed a significant strategic problem for Alexander.
He could not afford to let it remain neutral or exist as an
enemy. Protected from his army by its offshore location. Tyre
was a potential rallying point that might stimulate the recent¬
ly fallen Phoenician cities to overthrow their Macedonian gar¬
risons and rejoin the Persian cause. That would have resulted
in an entirely reconstituted Persian fleet that would have
posed a serious threat to Alexander and may well have
offered Darius his best opportunity to defeat him.
Likewise, Macedonian domination of Greece was far
from universally accepted there, and Sparta in particular was
waiting for an opportunity to stir up trouble. The Persian
fleet might have transported gold to buy treachery there, or
to build additional towers along the walls and to
transferred troops from Sparta's allies on Crete to the main¬
construct catapults to attack the besiegers. Tyrean
land. Persia's naval power also offered Darius a means to
agents landed farther north along the Lebanese
recapture the Mediterranean coast in Alexander's absence if
coast to bribe nomadic tribes to harass Alexander's
he pushed on into the Persian hinterlands.
foraging parties and inland garrisons. Beyond that,
Though many modern scholars doubt the ability of any
they watched the mole's progress and waited for
ancient fleet to conduct such operations effectively, Alex¬
their fleet to return.
ander certainly took the threat seriously. In fact, he justified
The fleet arrived just as the mole reached deep
the siege to his generals on that very basis.
water and its builders suddenly found themselves
having to fight a fast northerly current that began
washing away the lighter materials. Alexander had
to send his foragers farther afield to acquire the The Tyreans converted a horse-transport ship
lumber needed to reinforce the sides of the mole. into a fire ship, filling its spacious cargo hold with
That reduction of his available work force was wood chips, pitch, sulfur and other combustible
made worse by the need to assign additional units materials. Oil pots were slung from the yardarms,
to act as escorts against the nomads. and the stern was weighted so the bow could be
The Tyrean fleet had meanwhile returned and pushed up on the mole more easily. A special
become active, carrying archers and slingers to
attack the workers on the mole from offshore.
Occasionally the ships even got close enough for
swimmers diving from them to attach lines to the
mole's pilings. The ships pulled the pilings loose
and the current did the rest. Progress on the mole
slowed.
Alexander's solution to the naval raids was
twofold. First, he constructed a palisade along the
sides of the mole to protect his working parties
from the Tyrean ships' missile fire. Second, and
probably more importantly, he had two tall "bat-
tletowers" built, which could be moved up and
down the mole to engage the enemy ships.
Manned by archers and equipped with small cata¬
pults, the battletowers began to inflict heavy losses
on the raiding ships. After a few weeks of steady
fighting around the mole, the Tyrean navy with¬
drew and progress picked up again.

The Raid
In Tyre the construction of the additional tow¬
ers was continued, but the oncoming movement of
the mole led the defenders to launch one of the
most interesting naval commando operations of
ancient times. Preparations for it were carried out
in great secrecy; ships were moved about in the
city harbors with all sails out to screen the activity
underway inside.

COMMAND MAGAZINE
 and pulled them away as the fires raged, collaps¬
ing several sections. After their tremendous victo¬
THE OPPOSING FLEETS
ry, the Tyrean crews returned to several days of
Ship Contingents Tyre Alexander
celebrations inside the city.
Native 100+ 1
It was the high water mark of the Tyrean
Phoenician (Sidon, Byblos, etc.) 0 80 effort, and a watershed in the overall progress of
Carthage 1 0 the siege. The Tyrean success carried the seed of
Rhodes 0 10 their eventual destruction, though, since Alexander
Soli and Mallus 0 3 now realized he could not defeat them until he
Lycia 0 10 achieved naval superiority in the waters around
Combined Fleets of Cyprus 0 120 the city. He therefore approached Tyre's Phoen¬
Total Fleet 101 + 224 ician competitors, the cities of Sidon and Byblos, as
well as the kings of Rhodes and Cyprus. As a
result, over 200 ships were sent to join his cause,
Note: The Tyrean fleet numbered over 100 ships, of which
instantly making Alexander one of the world's
the bulk were triremes, but several quinquiremes — the
most powerful admirals. With Carthage unable to
largest warships of the period — were also included.
assist her mother-city because of an ongoing war
with the Greek city-states in Sicily, Alexander now
had the maritime advantage he needed.
crew of strong swimmers was selected and put
aboard. The Siege - Phase II
The raid was launched shortly after dawn, Alexander hoped to induce the Tyreans to
with the crew using muffled oars to reduce noise as come out and engage in open battle, but they
much as possible. The ship arrived at the mole just refused. He considered storming the city's harbors,
as the Macedonians were coming out of their tents but the Tyreans had arranged their ships in a solid
for breakfast. The fire ship was run up on the mole concave formation around their entrances, packing
and into the battletowers. The fires were then lit the walls there with archers. Alexander recognized
and her crew swam out to a recovery ship while that disposition as a potential deathtrap for his
several other Tyrean galleys attacked the Macedon¬ new fleet, and therefore contented himself with
ians rushing out to fight the conflagration. blockading the city.
Caught without their armor, the Macedonians He next ordered the mole widened to allow for
suffered many casualties as the fires spread up the the deployment of more troops. He also led a
battletowers. Within minutes the structures burned detachment into the hills and eliminated the no¬
to the ground. Meanwhile still other Tyrean ships mad threats to his foraging parties. Lumber and
had attached ropes to several of the mole's pilings other needed supplies began arriving in a timely
fashion. Tyre was isolated and alone.
Reinforced by the arrival of 4,000 Greek merce¬
naries, Alexander began to believe he could bring
Tyre: The Assault Troops the siege to an end. He doubled the number of men
Alexander chose his best troops for the amphibious
working on the mole, and positioned catapults at
assault (again, setting a precedent continued to our day). His
its extending head to begin attacking the city walls.
Hypaspists carried the same 14-16 foot pike ("Sarissa"),
Work on the mole continued as both sides' cata¬
30-inch sword, and four foot-diameter shield as the regular
pults exchanged fire throughout the day.
Macedonian phalanx-infantry, but they were drawn from
Alexander also converted several of his tri¬
among his army's best fighters. Their training was also much
remes to siege-support craft by mounting catapults
more rigorous and demanding.
on their decks. He had them anchored at various
Combining the speed of light infantry with the shock
spots around the city, and they begin a bombard¬
power of the phalanx, the Hypaspists were organized into
ment of the walls, always probing for weak spots.
three regiments (Chiliarches) of 1,000 men each, of which the
These new operations turned into a daily bat¬
most elite were the "Foot Companions," or Agema. These
tle, with the Tyreans planting rock barriers off¬
troops constituted what we might term Alexander's "multi¬
shore at night in the hope of damaging the catapult
mission-capable special forces." He would use them at criti¬
ships when they came in to bombard during the
cal moments to extend the flanks of a hard-pressed phalanx,
day. Alexander's men reacted by using swimmers,
link the main line to cavalry flankers, or serve as skirmishers.
under the protection of shipborne archers, to attach
After Tyre, Alexander increasingly used them as shock
lines to the rocks so they could be dragged clear.
troops at the most critical point of every battle. He thus
Tyrean swimmers and a heavily-armored
stormed ashore at Tyre at the head of the elite of an out¬
trireme began sortieing to attack the catapult ships,
standing army. Even though they suffered heavily at Arbela
often cutting their mooring lines. Alexander coun¬
in 331 BC, and again at Porus in 326, they never failed him in
tered by switching to metal anchor chains, and
battle.
then armored one of his own triremes and sent it to
drive the Tyrean vessel back into harbor.

74 SEPT-OCT 1993
ISSUE 24
 By late May, it was apparent Tyre was in trou¬ managed to swim to the city. It was the defenders'
ble. Cut off from outside support by the Macedon¬ last gasp.
ian blockade, the city's food and lumber stocks
declined as the mole drew ever nearer. Still, the Finale
city was not yet defeated. By late June, Alexander's men had succeeded
Seeing that Alexander's fleet was too strong to in making a small breach in the wall along the
engage when it was united, the Tyrean admirals island's southernmost beach; however, the main
waited for an opportunity to attack its separate ele¬ wall facing the mole remained intact. The Tyreans
ments. Ironically, it was the mole's progress that reacted with desperate attempts to keep the
gave them their chance. Macedonian fleet away from the breach. They put
Alexander had divided his fleet into two divi¬ rocks and staked logs into the shallow waters off¬
sions, with the Cypriots blockading the north har¬ shore. Once again, Alexander's fleet had to engage
bor and the Phoenicians the south. The mole now in daily obstacle removal as it also struggled to
reached so close to the city walls that it blocked widen the breach and tear down any repairs
the two divisions from being able to move direct¬ attempted the night before.
ly to each other's support. The crews of both divi¬ Other ships were sent around to pound the
sions had fallen into a pattern of tying up to the city's western walls, and Alexander had two cargo
mole at midday to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Even ships modified into landing craft. Their bows were
Alexander had begun taking naps during the cut off and moveable landing ramps added. As
worst of the noontime heat. The Tyreans hoped to July began, he selected a regiment from his person¬
make use of their enemies' daily schedule to elim¬ al "Companion" guards and another of heavy
inate Alexander's numerical advantage in ships infantry ("Hypaspists") to conduct a landing. All
by concentrating against and destroying the was now ready.
Cypriot vessels before the Phoenicians could get The first assault against the southern beach
into action. was repulsed when Tyrean reserves rushed to join
As with the earlier battletower raid, prepara¬ the defenders stationed there. Alexander saw it as
tions were conducted in secrecy, with sail and can¬ only a temporary setback, and ordered the area be
vas screens used to hide the activities within the subjected to three more days of intense shore bom¬
harbors. Once again, muffled oars helped conceal bardment to further widen the breach. He also
the Tyreans' departure from the northern harbor. ordered final preparations for a general assault on
No timing drums were struck, lest those sounds the city.
give warning. The Tyreans also posted lookouts
along their city walls to provide a warning when
and if the Phoenicians got underway. Estd 1976
Meanwhile the Cypriot crews were enjoying GAMES BY MAIL
their lunch ashore, and only a few crewmen were Home of The Errata File
actually on the ships when the Tyrean fleet crashed
into them. Within minutes the raiders had rammed Looking for new, used, or out-of-print games
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ing ships. Almost a third of the combined Cypriot
fleet was destroyed in the early fighting, and it Games by Mall/The Errata File. Dept. C2S
looked like the Tyreans were going to win a major P.O. Box B676, Station T\ Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3J1
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Unfortunately for them, the Tyreans had not
reckoned on Alexander's initiative and reaction.
Hearing the initial clash, he rushed out of his tent
and took personal command of the Phoenician
ship division. Ordering the first ships manned to
blockade the south harbor, he took a handful of
Buena Vista
Santa Ana vs Zacharv Tavlor. 1847
quinquiremes and five triremes in a mad rush
In this decisive battle of the Mexican-American war, a tiny
around the island. The Tyrean sailors were so American force, including many future Civil War commanders,
intent on destroying the Cypriots, they failed to repulses a massive Mexican army.
hear the warnings shouted to them from the city This grand-tactical simulation introduces innovative command
walls. and fire combat systems, adding up to a playable game that is a lot of
Alexander's arrival came as a complete sur¬ bloody fun...
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COMMAND MAGAZINE 75
 Finally, his main fleet surged into the city har¬
THE FINAL ASSAULT bors while other ships threw up ladders against the
walls along the eastern side. Several other ships
JULY, 332 BC even attached rope ladders to the walls along the
west and northwest and conducted feints there.
Then Alexander personally led his amphibious
units ashore against the southern breach. The fight¬
ing was furious.
Unlike the earlier assault, no Tyrean reserves
came to save the defenders at the last minute —
n they were already engaged elsewhere around the

v:;
mmg
perimeter. Alexander was among the first to cross
the walls, and within an hour the Macedonians
had control of the southern battlements and were
fv driving northward into the city proper. The harbor
areas fell next, threatening the main wall's defend¬
ers with envelopment.
Their walls breached, the Tyreans pulled back
ANCIENT from them and retreated into their citadel, the
TYRE Angenorium, in the city's northern section. Alex¬
ander and his troops pursued close behind. By
••Cypriot Naval Units
noon they broke across the citadel's walls and
•- Phoenecian Naval Units
began the slaughter of its defenders.
Main Macedonian Army
—> Macedonian Attacks Over 8,000 Tyreans died in the final fighting,
—t» Cypriot Attacks which reportedly cost the Macedonians only some
Phoenecian Attacks 400 men. Alexander spared a few Carthaginian pil¬
Chain Boom grims sheltering in the temple of Herakles. All the
A - AGENORIUM: TYRE'S
other inhabitants, including foreigners, were sold
MAIN CITADEL
into slavery. Tyre was then razed to the ground.

Conclusions
Command Back Issues Alexander's final assault on Tyre marks the first
time four coordinated assaults were launched on se¬
#5 Jul/Aug '90.*3.95 parate axes against a single objective. More germane-
ly, this was the first true amphibious assault oper¬
#6 Sep/Oct'90.*3.95 ation in history. In carrying it out, Alexander had to
#11 Jul/Aug '91.*3.95 conduct many of the same preparatory operations
used in modern amphibious warfare: advanced-
#12 Sep/Oct'91.*3.95 force operations, deploying combat swimmers for
#15 Mar/Apr'92.3.95 beach reconnaissance, obstacle removal, and off¬
shore fire support before and during the attack.
#17 Jul/Aug '92.3.95 The siege of Tyre also highlighted Alexander's
#18 Sep/Oct'92.3.95 flexibility and genius in problem solving. He was
the tactical innovator of the ancient world, and at
#19 Nov/Dec '92.3.95 Tyre he left a permanent impression on the devel¬
#20 Jan/Feb '93.3.95 opment of military operations. His mole still con¬
nects the ruined city to the shore, and its blocking
#21 Mar/Apr '93.3.95
of the area's northerly current has resulted in the
#22 May/Jun '93.3.95 silting shut of the former south harbor. ©
#23 Jul/Aug '93.3.95
Sources
#24 Sep/Oct '93.4.50 Arrian. The Campaigns of Alexander. Middlesex,
* old format, 64 pages including game rules England: Penguin Books, 1971.
Curtious. The History of Alexander. Middlesex,
Command Magazine England: Penguin Books, 1984.
POBox 4017 Delbruck, Hans. Warfare in Antiquity. Lincoln,
Nebraska: Univ. of Nebraska, 1975.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403 Fuller, J.F.C. The Generalship of Alexander the Great.
1-800-488-2249 (foreign 805/546-9596) • fax 805/546-0570 New York: Da Capo Press, 1960.
CA residents add 7.25% tax • foreign residents add $2 per issue postage Head, Duncan. Armies of the Macedonian and Punic
Wars. Poole: Wargames Research Group, 1982.

76 SEPT-OCT 1993
ISSUE 24
 The Meiji Restoration and the
Command Magazine Article Index Confederate Navy (SR) 9:6
compiled by Douglas A. Williamson Mysteries Unraveled—Sick Call in the
Union Army (Revisited) (SR) 8:6
Key: The Thousand Year Garrison State: "The Old Flag Never Touched the
10:46 = Issue 10, page 46. The Evolution of the Byzantine Ground" 19:26
(M) = Main Article Army, 476 - 1453 A.D. 7:48 Pinkerton and His Numbers (SR) 16:4
(SR) = Short Round Article Sick Call in the Union Army (SR) 6:12
Early Modern Period Southern Soldiers in the Union Army
Ancient Period (3,000 BC (1500- 1789)
(SR) 12:11
The Strange Case of the 27th Maine
- 500 BC) The Battle of Trenton (SR) 17:8
(SR) 13:9
An Ancient Weapon in Reuse (SR) 7:6 Charles V: Military Ambition Too Big
Under a Flag of Truce (SR) 22:11
Beware of Greeks Bearing Flutes (SR) to Fit the Bottom Line (SR) 3:9
1:5 The Conquest of Peru 21:64
Other 19th Century
Israelites in Canaan: Early Examples of Cortes—Conquest of the Aztec Empire
Deception & Ruse in Warfare 18:50 (M) 20:12 Topics (1815- 1914)
Kadesh: Clash of Empires (M) 7:12 East and West: The State of Medicine The Big Fear (SR) 12:6
The Ship That Didn't Come In (SR) in the 17th Century 24:44 x Blood & Iron—The Seven Weeks War
3:10 The Horse in America (SR) 7:11 (M) 21:12
Stone Weaponry (SR) 7:8 The New Model Army (SR) 20:5 The Bozeman Trail Campaign: The
Shogun Triumphant—The Rise of the Medicine Fight 11:58
Classical Antiquity (500 Tokugawa Shogunate—Japan, 1600 The British Square at Ulundi, 4 July
(M) 23:14 1879 (SR) 14:7
BC - 500 AD) The Capture of Riyadh (SR) 22:4
Alexander the Great (M) 10:12
Napoleonic Period (1789 Ethiopia Revisited (SR) 12:9
Backing Into Empire: The Growth of
First American Intervention in
Rome 24:52 - 1815) Vietnam—May, 1845 (SR) 5:8
Eagles in the Sand—The Battle of Devil Guns (SR) 16:7
The First U.S. Airman Shot Down in
Carrhae, 53 BC 16:45 France's Allies in the Napoleonic Wars
Combat (SR) 16:8
The First Flamethrower (SR) 18:5 (SR) 11:7
Great Campaigns, Hollow Victories—
Hannibal Barca: The Sunset Years (SR). Frigates! (SR) 13:10
The Expedition to Abyssinia (1868)
21:8 The Hal Garrison & Wellington's
and the Gulf War (1991) 19:68
Happy New Year, Q. Fulvius Nobilior Strategy at Waterloo (SR) 15:4
The Heliograph (SR) 10:8
(SR) 22:10 Hougoumont: Rock of Waterloo (M)
The Karankawa Indians (SR) 17:7
Let's Here it for the Huns! (SR) 13:4 11:12
Of Sterner Stuff (SR) 22:8
The Man Who Invented R&D (SR) 19:7 Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New
The Opium Wars and the Opening of
P. Claudius Pulcher and the Chickens Orleans (SR) 14:8
China (SR) 13:7
(SR) 21:5 King Kamehameha: Napoleon of
The Ox and the Army (SR) 4:8
Pyrrhic Victory 19:58 Hawaii 18:30
The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905—
Spartacus: War of the Gladiators (M) Napoleon as Gamer (SR) 8:11
The Land Campaigns (M) 19:10
15:16 The Price of Alliance (SR) 14:9
"To the Glory of Our Country"—The
The Successors: Clash of the Generals, Samuel Reed—American Privateer
Fenian Invasion of Canada, 1866
323-301 BC 14:44 (SR) 12:10
15:58
Supply in the Greek-Persian Wars (SR) Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (SR) 16:10
The Toledo War (SR) 9:9
7:8 Typhus Fever & the Destruction of the
Tar Wars: Arabian Oil and Politics, 312 Grand Army 11:22
World War I Era (1914-
BC (SR) 15:10 Yet Another Disease: Tin Disease (SR)
Teutoburgerwald: The Battle that 12:8 1933)
Saved English 14:23 Baltic Assault—Operation Albion 23:56
Xenophon: The March of the Ten American Civil War Bombing Italian Style: The WWI
Thousand, 401-400 BC 14:73 Antietam—High Stakes, Lost Caproni Bomber (SR) 10:6
World War Zero: The Rise of Scientific Opportunities (M) 22:12 The Cleanest Army in the World:
Strategy in Ancient Greece 3:43 The Fate of the Wounded in the Pershing, the AEF and VD 15:28
American Civil War 14:34 "Close" Air Support in WWI (SR) 20:6
Middle Ages (500- 1500) Fighting Americans (SR) 18:5 Close Air Support in World War I—
Early Breech-Loaders (SR) 14:12 The Forgotten Front: The Indian The Western Front 16:34
The Mongol Invasions of Japan (SR) Territory's Civil War 10:56 The Day of the Dupes (SR) 16:5
18:6 Gettysburg (M) 17:12 The Eagle and the Bear—The Russo-
The Strategy of Harold Godwinson, A Graver Threat Than Rebel Bullets: Polish War of 19201:43
Last Saxon King of England 24:62 Infectious Disease and the Union The Evolution of German Machinegun
Sword of Allah 20:44 Army 17:33 Units in World War I (SR) 17:11

COMMAND MAGAZINE 77
 From the Old Kitbag (SR) 19:9 The C.S.I.R. (SR) 4:9 1940: The BEF in France After Dunkirk
Great Britain as (Faltering) For Czar and Country: A History of 13:74
Superpower, 1919-39 18:70 the Russian Rifle Corps, 1942-1945 The 1941 German Army/The 1944-45
I Remember...The Western Front, 1918 22:46 U.S. Army: A Comparative
12:48 Czechoslovakia '38: What If They'd Analysis of Two Forces in Their
I Remember.. .With the 1st Ambulance Fought? (M) 24:12 Primes 18:54
Company in WWI (SR) 24:10 The Doves of War (SR) 22:11 A Non-Partisan View of World War II
It Is Balloon! 12:54 DOWNFALL: American Invasion of Yugoslavia 22:32
The Japanese Army in (and Around) Japan (M) 3:16 Odessa: Tobruk on the Black Sea 6:48
World War 114:38 East Front Combat Philately (SR) 3:8 One Brief Shining Moment: The Grant
Jutland: Clash of Dreadnoughts (M) Ethiopia: The Unconquered Lion of Tank (SR) 12:7
8:12 Africa (M) 4:10 Operation Icarus—The German Plan
A Long Road Home: The Evolution of Units in Wartime (SR) to Invade Iceland 22:62
Czechoslovak Legion in Russia 24:38 11:7 Poland '39 17:54
The Marching Man 10:48 The First Panzer of World War II (SR) The (Real) Problem With Soviet
1918: Storm in the West (M) 16:16 22:5 Railways, 1941-42 (SR) 6:11
The Plague of the Spanish Lady 16:40 Fletching the Arrows: The Luftwaffe in "A Samurai Cannot Fail"—The
Plan 1919 (SR) 19:5 Spain 1:52 Imperial Japanese Army in World
The Ruhleben POW Compound (SR) Footnote to Operation Sealion (SR) 1:5 War II 3:11
24:8 German Battlegroups in World War Seaborne Threats to the Continental
Serbia in World War 123:46 II—Born of Necessity, Raised on U.S. in 1945 (SR) 11:6
The Siege of Kut—Mesopotania, Circumstance 16:69 Sepp Dietrich and the SS
December 1915-April 1916 21:68 German/Japanese Military Leibstandarte—A Combat History
Six of One, Half-a-Dozen of the Cooperation in World War II (SR) of 1st SS Panzer Division 23:40
Other—Hybrid Warships of the 16:9 Smolensk-Yelnia: Blunting the
20th Century 18:64 German Operational Codenames in Blitzkrieg 21:52
Tank! The Development of Armored WWII (SR) 16:13 Some Thoughts on World War II 22:51
Fighting Vehicles in World War I German-Soviet Peace Talks, 1941-44 A Soviet-Allied Military Comparison:
15:67 (SR) 22:9 1945 15:40
Tanks in the Press (SR) 17:10 German Tank Destroyers in World Soviet Submarine Operations in World
That Terrible Tuber—World War? You War II (SR) 21:10 War II 19:74
Want Fries With That? (SR) 6:6 Good OT Boys (SR) 15:10 Stalin and the Start of Operation
A Great Power Needs A Great Army? Barbarossa 21:60
World War II (SR) 12:8 Stalin on Ammunition Requisitioning
The Antarctic and World War II: War Hammer of Victory: The Normandy (SR) 20:7
of the Markers (SR) 14:4 Campaign, 1944 22:24 The "Strategic Fighter" Concept 19:54
The Baltic States 1939-1952 23:62 I Remember... The Summer of '42: The Proposed Axis
Barbarossa: Misconceptions, Half- Bomba, Paul [Battle of the Bulge] Invasion of Malta 20:64
Truths, Lies and Savagery (SR) 1:10 Sunrise of Victory—How Strategy's
Unbridled—The Big Issues (M) 1:11 Bomba, Paul [The Ruhr] (SR) 2:13 End Turned the Tide in the East (M)
The Battle of Narva, 1944 14:56 The Cavite Disaster (SR) 11:8 2:16
Berlin '45: The Potential for World War "Gorkhali Ayo!"—Gurkha Soldiers Swiss Involvement in World War II
m 15:32 in the Battle for Imphal, 194416:52 (SR) 18:4
Blitzkrieg Army, Siege FAhrer—A Pearl Harbor, December 7,1941 8:60 Torpedo Damage at Pearl Harbor: The
Reinterpretation of World War II in A Polish Soldier's Odyssey Missed Opportunity (SR) 20:4
Europe 21:34 Through World War II 17:68 Weather War 13:70
Blood for Oil: The Quest for Fuel in At War on the Texas 18:76 Werwolf: Guidance for Ranger Units
World War II 20:34 James H. Doolittle: Visionary of (SR) 21:4
Brad's Boys (SR) 2:14 Victory (SR) 24:4 What If?—German Plans to Invade
"A Calculated Risk" (SR) 19:4 Japanese Military Wargaming in Sweden in World War II 9:48
Carrier Victory: The Battle of Midway World War II (SR) 17:9 Wind, Sound, and Hurricane Guns
(M) 14:14 The Ju-86P, Nazi Germany's U-2 (SR) (SR) 24:6
The Chaco: War for the Hell of It (M) 23:8 A World in Chains: The "New World
12:12 Krim: The War in the Crimea, 1941-42 Order" of the Axis Powers 13:62
A Christmas Gift for the Yankees: (M) 6:13 Yamamoto's Second Chance (SR) 21:6
Japanese Attacks on the U.S. Marching Orders (SR) 10:7 Zhukov's Plan to Attack Germany, 15
Mainland During World War II Me. 262 (SR) 1:5 May 1941 (SR) 15:9
11:48 The Mutiny That Never Was (SR) 24:5
Clash of Steel—Battleship Mysteries Unraveled [WWII] (SR) 6:6 1945 to Present
Engagements of World War II 23:67 Naval Helicopters of World War II Airland Operations—The US Army's
Counterattack at Arras 21:44 (SR) 9:10 Search for a New Doctrine 19:32

78 NOV-DEC 1993
ISSUE 25
Amazing Money (SR) 13:11 Desert Storm—Senior NCO 13:60 Staying Alive: How Iraq's Dictator
Armor Employment in Positional An Insider's View of the Controls His Military (SR) 2:11
Warfare: The Korean War (SR) 3:6 Bundeswehr (SR) 20:7 The Tacit Rainbow: Loitering on the
Battlewagons Eternal: A History of the My Eight Days in Vietnam 23:76 Job (SR) 3:7
Iowa Class Battleships 14:28 Safin, Bob [Vietnam] (SR) 9:8 Tet '68: Myths and Realities (M) 18:8
Beninian Air Force Follow-Up (SR) 8:7 Sergeant Caz [Vietnam] (SR) 5:9 Two Quotes From the Gulf (SR) 16:15
The Best Cannons in the World (SR) Iran Picks Up Where Iraq Left Off (SR) Ukraine's Role in a Dying Soviet
2:5 19:8 Union 8:48
Building (& Breaching) the Saddam Iraq Equivalents: U.S. Threat- Uncounted Enemies: The Role of Viet
Line (SR) 15:14 Assessment in the New World Cong Irregulars in the U.S. Defeat
Caribbean Storm: Panama, 1989 4:23 Order (SR) 17:4 in Vietnam 5:22
Chemical Warfare and Desert Storm The Iraqi Republican Guard: Just How U.S. Armor in Vietnam (SR) 5:5
13:52 Elite Were They? 13:44 U.S. Army Friendly Fire Engagements
The Cheney Factor (SR) 15:12 Japanese War Museums Today (SR) 6:7 in Desert Storm (SR) 20:9
The Decline and Fall of the Beninian Korean Propaganda Wars (SR) 1:7 U.S. Light Infantry on the Modern
Air Force (SR) 2:8 Letters from El Salvador (SR) 8:8 Battlefield 14:66
Deep Secrets and Black Projects (SR) Look-Down Radar in the Drug War The USMC in the War on Drugs (SR)
10:10 (SR) 2:7 23:4
Desert Storm—Abbreviations & McArthur's Gambit: Inchon to Seoul, Vietnam Fact Cards (SR) 10:11
Acronyms (SR) 15:11 September 1950 (M) 9:12 Vietnam: Victory of Revolutionary
The Desert Storm Homefront (SR) 17:8 Money and Blood: The High Cost of Warfare Pt. 1 5:41
Desert Storm—Mother of All Battles the Persian Gulf War (SR) 1:6 Vietnam: Victory of Revolutionary
(M) 13:12 Moscow's Fire Brigade: The Modern Warfare Pt. 2 6:24
Desert Storm: Robert E. Lee or William Soviet Airborne (SR) 2:9 Vietnam's War Machine Now
Tecumseh Sherman? 17:38 A New Kind of War 22:68 Smothers Its Future (SR) 5:7
Desert Storm TO&E (SR) 10:9 New Light on the Iran Hostage Rescue War Returns to Europe—Military
Desert Storm—War Casualties and Mission 17:74 Aspects of the Conflicts in
History 23:36 The Next Japanese-American War Yugoslavia, 1991-93 23:28
Desert Storm: Who Played (SR) 14:10 17:45 War in Nagorno-Karabagh:
Disease and Operation Restore Hope Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zones (SR) Background and Developments
(SR) 23:10 16:14 24:46
A Document of the New World Order Organization for Success: Operation What Goes Around Comes Around
(SR) 15:13 Urgent Fury, Grenada, 1983 (SR) (SR) 4:5
Drug Wars 18:40 14:11 What's in a Name (Revisited)? (SR) 8:6
Eyewitness to "Friendly Fire" 15:46 Organization of Today's Japanese When Private Hendrix Kissed the Sky
Factoids from Desert Storm (SR) 14:11 Army (SR) 14:6 1:54
5 Myths About Grenada (SR) 13:6 Other Vietnam War POW Rescue Women in Desert Storm (SR) 15:5
Go Figure: Soviet Army Cutbacks in Operations (SR) 6:12 Women in NATO Armies (SR) 12:8
Europe (SR) 3:5 Otto Skorzeny and the Mossad:
"Good Fence"—Israeli Guns and Partners in Espionage? (SR) 8:7 Miscellaneous
Money in Southern Lebanon 2:50 The PAVN and Tet (M) 18:16 The Aggravating, Arcane Military
Hamburger Hill: Futile Tactics, "Peace Now"—Palestinians and the Trivia Quiz 14:51
Bankrupt Strategy (M) 5:10 Israeli Army (SR) 6:8 The Counsel of Your Fears 14:77
Happy Anniversary (SR) 2:15 Pentagon Tallies Cost of Persian Gulf Coup d'Etat: A Primer 15:53
Hearts and Minds—The US Army War (SR) 16:9 An Enjoyable Saturday Afternoon (SR)
Green Berets Today 22:56 Public Health Consequences of the 1:8
How the Lessons of the Malayan Iraqi Civil War (SR) 15:11 Field Rations (SR) 4:5
Emergency Were Ignored or Raid on Son Tay (M) 5:17 Fire vs. Shock 24:68
Misused in Vietnam The Rambo Legacy—The POW/MIA "Humps!"—One Hump, or Two? A
(SR) 11:9 Issue that Won't Die 16:63 Burning Question 3:48
The Huk Option—A U.S. Victory of Saddam Hussein and the Palestinian League of Nations Trading Cards (SR)
Another Kind 16:74 Intifada 13:54 2:8
I Remember... The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces in More Cards to Collect (SR) 4:6
Christmas in Panama 4:43 the Early 1990s (SR) 23:12 Murphy's Laws of Combat Operations
Command and Control (SR) 6:10 SDI, GPALS, Red October Scenarios, (SR) 13:10
A Desert Rat's Tale (SR) 15:6 and Pentagon PR (SR) 14:5 Not Only the Pros Use Wooden Bats
Desert Storm: A Woman's Soviet Military Humor (SR) 18:7 (SR) 24:11
Perspective (SR) 21:5 Special Forces Have a New & Nasty Sarge's Corollaries to Murphy's Laws
Desert Storm: Another Woman's Surprise (SR) 16:12 (SR) 16:6
Perspective (SR) 22:6 Speculation: Did Desert Storm Avert Secrets of Japanese Sword Making
Desert Storm—Female Medic 13:61 Mushroom Clouds? 13:57 (SR) 4:7 ©

COMMAND MAGAZINE 79
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From Burma
to the Himalayas BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
by John Gordon
FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 514 SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA
Some of the most hair-
raising flying of the war. Indelibly POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE
burned into the memories of the r
who were there, this is Gordon’s gi
ping story of the fliers of the Chins COMMAND MAGAZINE
Burma-lndia theater!
Catalog #582.$22
P.O. BOX 4017
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA 93403-9949
Mauser Rifles and Pistols
by W.H.B. Smith - A historical har
book for gun enthusiasts, presentir
detailed study of German arms dev
ment. II.I....II..I..[Link].I.I..I.I...I..II.I..II...I
Catalog #571.1.$30

favorable opinions, until you get to "9,"

The Military
which means, "I can't imagine a better
Remington Rolling Block Rifle
article on this subject; I loved it."
by George Layman - A history and ref¬
5. Short Rounds
erence work on a rifle with a proud
record. Catalog #558.$21.00 6. When Eagles Fight
7. Medical Dept.
8. Dressed to Kill
11 1-800-899-7819 S 9. Thousand Year March
Wolfe Publishing Company • 6471 Airpark Dr. 10. I Remember POST CARDS OF NAZI
Prescott, AZ- 86301 • Phone (602) 445-7810 11. Siege of Tyre and IMPERIAL GERMANY
FAX (602) 778-51241-800-899-7810 • M-F Collect pieces of History—Original pre-1945 print¬
12. Command Index ed propaganda. All military and political events
8:30-4:30 MST • $3.00 S&H per book. covered. Photo and Artist Drawn—Knights Cross
13. This issue' cover art. Series, Propaganda, Hitler, Nurnberg Rallies,
$5.00 foreign per book. AZ residents add 6%.
14. Issue no. 25 overall. Combat Art, etc. Values of S20-S40 each.
Payment must accompany order. Reference books on this hobby available. SEND
FREE Catalog with any order. 15. Compare this issue (no. 25) with S3 for the next Illustrated Auction to:
V J the previous issue (no. 24). Tom Capparelli
P.O. Box 655 •• Villa Park, IL 60181

80 NOV-DEC 1993 ISSUE 25

 AUSTRALIAN DESIGN GROUP Proudly Presents
3 New World in Flames Kits |^B| [S—11-1 lassa n

PLANES^! FLAMES

' The
Gold Planes in Flames: the Gold ed. contains:
Edition 600 full-colour counters including
all major combat aircraft of WWII
(WIF countersheets 7-9)
1 x 4-page Rule book
1 x 16-page Scenarios book
(including optional rules, WIF5 air
rules and aircraft specs)
1 x WIF 5th Edition Charts
1 x Available Pilots Track

I Asia Aflame contains:

200 full-colour counters (WIF CS15)
A236mm x 584mm map of central Asia
A 175mm x 294mm map of Scandinavia
(both on the Pacific scale)
I x 8-page Rule book
II x WIF 5th Edition Charts

I Africa Aflame contains:

200 full-colour counters I
AFRICA (WIF Countersheet 14) I
466mm x 665mm map of I
Africa (Pacific scale) I
Nothing’:
I x 8-page Rule book
A Hotter,
II x WIF 5th Ed. Charts I

Send cheque to:

Aust. Design Group Mail Order Only - US$: US$ Prices (till Jan 95):
1387 5th St., (CoA games)
World in Flames - $60 1
Los Osos Armee du Nord-$34 Planes in Flames - $25 ]
Another Great CA 95682 USA Mont. St. Jean kit-$34
Ligny - $44
Africa Aflame-$20 I
Asia Aflame-$20
World M Flames Expansion Kit World Orders: QuatreBras-$34
Fatal Alliances - $25 I
Send cheque to: Auerstaedt - $34
© 1993 AUSTRALIAN DESIGN GROUP WiF Annual - $20
Albuera-Espagnol-$34
Aust. Design Group WiF5 Rules-$15
Emperor Returns-$29
IADG also proudly;
, /announces: I Mail Order Only-US$: 25 Quandong St., Lee takes Command - $24 WiF5 Rules &CS6-$20
the World in Flames Newsletter (Xeno games) O'Connor, ACT Campaigns of Lee-$34 Wif4 to 5 Update kit - $3|
• 12-page quarterly full of new World at War: 2nd ed.-$18 Australia Mississippi Fortress-$22 WiF5 CSl-6-$25
optional rules, hints & info World at War Plastics-$29 March thru Georgia-$22 WiF5 Maps - $20 set I
• WiF Rating System Seekrieg- $24 iDays of Decision II Chancellorsville - $34 WiF Newsletter - $20 I
• List of WiF players in your area Guard du Corps-$24 IPre-issue Special: War for the Union - $34 (annual subscription) I
• special subscril
subscriber discounts I Century of Glory-$14 iMail-orders posted Prelude to Disaster - $34 DoD II (avail. Oct '93)-$fi
| Subscibe Now! Ibv Oct 31 - US3 Speed ofHeat-$39 Rub Out - $20