35087 WWI GERMAN STORMTROOPER

By joining the First World War, the German army adhered to a very offensive tactic of infantry, using large-scale artillery support. However, the disastrous experiences of the Trench War in late 1914 and early 1915 pushed the German army to search for new infantry tactics. The result of this search was the creation of Stosstruppen units (also called Sturmtruppen), i.e. infantry units specially trained for trench combat, using light machine guns and hand grenades on a large scale. At the same time, these units (formed in companies or battalions) were trained in the so-called infiltration tactics, i.e. moving forward by avoiding the enemy's most difficult resistance points, using terrain covers, which was a move aimed at Stosstruppen at the rear of the enemy troops. There they were to destroy its artillery and command and communication posts. It was therefore the implementation of the principle of indirect actions. This tactic was also adapted to the tactic of the artillery fire, which was to be as short and as intense as possible, so as to crush the enemy with a fire. Missiles with chemical weapons were used on a large scale. The Stosstruppen units were used for the first time in 1915, but they were used on a larger scale in the Battle of Verdun, especially in the course of the so-called Kaiserschlacht in 1918.