Specialized Assault Units Of The World War I Western Front:: A Comparative Study Of The German Stormtrooper Battalions, And Canadian Trench Raiders

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Text originally published in 2010 under the same title.

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SPECIALIZED ASSAULT UNITS OF THE WORLD WAR I WESTERN FRONT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE GERMAN STORMTROOPER BATTALIONS, AND CANADIAN TRENCH RAIDERS

by

CHRISTOPHER J. GHIZ, MAJOR, U.S. ARMY

B.A., The Citadel Military College, Charleston, South Carolina, 1995

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

This thesis will use a comparative study of the German Storm trooper battalions and the Canadian trench raiders in order to examine the dynamics of the World War I battlefield, the role of military culture in adaptation in order to acknowledge and act on the requirements of battlefield innovation. The purpose is to determine what key factors contributed to the tactical effectiveness of specialized assault units on the Western Front. The military cultures of these armies comprised the logical and innovative principles that were fundamental in the tactical effectiveness of these elite assault units by making revolutionary developments in force structure, institutional support, personnel selection, decentralized leadership, and training on small-unit tactics and advanced weaponry. Did these tactics create similar or different effects for each army? What factors did these armies use to organize and employ these assault units? To answer these questions, several areas will be examined: (1) force structure, (2) institutional support, (3) personnel selection, and (4) training on decentralized leadership, small unit infiltration tactics, and advanced weaponry. Both armies had different backgrounds and situations. The German Army’s Sturm battalions represented an army-wide institutionalization of organization, selection and technique. The Canadian Corps’ trench raiders were based on the Canadian Corps’ homogeneous structure that separated itself from the BEF in developing its own doctrine, training schools, organization, and tactical innovations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the members of my thesis committee, Dr. D. Scott Stephenson, Dr. Mark T. Gerges, and Mr. Scott Porter for their many hours of work and guidance towards the completion of this thesis. Had it not been for their efforts completion of this work would not have been possible. I would like to express my thanks to the Command and General Staff College faculty of staff group 20A, class 2010-01, their mentoring, support, and understanding was extremely beneficial in the completion of this thesis. I would also like to thank the members of my staff group for their support and friendship during this year. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Dr. Robert and Vivian Ghiz for their support and encouragement during this year.

CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION

Charles Carrington, a World War I combat veteran, accurately summed up the beginning of trench warfare:

Back in the heroic age of 1914, during the race to the sea, French and German infantry had confronted one another here and had dug themselves in where they happened to beat the end of the skirmish. The first front line followed the string of rifle pits … which men had scabbed for themselves with their entrenching tools, under fire. Step by step, as labour and expert assistance from the corps of engineers was available, this line of pits was joined into a continuous trench and covered by an apron fence of barbed wire.{1}

This was the beginning of static trench warfare beginning in 1914. Throughout the remainder of the war, armies innovated ways to break the stalemate of trench warfare to gain ground and reduce casualties on the Western Front.

This thesis concerns the specialized assault units of the German and Canadian armies in a comparative study to examine the dynamics of the World War I battlefield, the requirements of battlefield innovation, and the role of military culture in adaptation. The primary research question is how did military culture contribute to the key factors essential to the tactical effectiveness of the specialized assault units on the Western Front? The military cultures of these armies structured the logical and innovative principles that were fundamental in the tactical effectiveness of these elite assault units by making attainable revolutionary developments in force structure, institutional support, personnel selection, decentralized leadership, and training on small-unit tactics and advanced weaponry seen in the German storm troops and Canadian trench raiders.

Did these factors create similar or different effects for each army? These factors create similar or different effects for each army? The factors created a larger, more unique effect on the German army. These factors that led to the development of storm troop tactics, had a profound effect on the German army later during the interwar period. The German general staff used combined arms warfare concepts from the second half of World War I to innovate blitzkrieg tactics during World War II. Another example is that these factors set the frame for creating entire storm troop divisions in preparation for the Spring Offensive of 1918. As the effects for the German army lasted well into World War II, this was not the case for the Canadian army.