Would man-portable radios have broken the stalemate?

First World War 1914-1918 from the German perspective.

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Ogiwan
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Would man-portable radios have broken the stalemate?

Post by Ogiwan »

Greetings, all. I'm reading Rommel's Infantry Attacks! for one of my classes, and I am struck by the massive difficulties Rommel had in conducting mobile (for that day and age) operations using wired communications.

Furthermore, I have read in other sources that what would happen in World War I is that attacks would succeed, gain the enemy's trenches, but reinforcements wouldn't be sent (because they wouldn't know the attack had succeeded), friendly artillery couldn't be targeted to interdict enemy counterattacks, and units couldn't coordinate offensive actions together.

So, I'm throwing this out there: man-portable wireless radios would have broken the stalemate in World War I, and allowed fluid, mobile operations. Such operations would have been possible because wireless radios would result in easy coordination between dispirate elements of the attacking force, thus allowing for rapid, combined operations.
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John W. Howard
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Commo

Post by John W. Howard »

Hello Ogiwan:
I am sure you are right that more advanced commo would have helped make a more fluid situation, but some form of well-protected pursuit forces with more range and protection from Arty and MG's than men or horses was needed to really do the trick, hence the development of the pursuit tank. Best wishes.
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Tom Houlihan
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Post by Tom Houlihan »

I'm honestly surprised the Germans hadn't developed something along the lines of the walkie-talkie in time for WWII! Doing it for WWI might have been an issue, but they should have been able to develop something smaller than the Tornisterfunkgerät!
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Ogiwan
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Post by Ogiwan »

Please, could you expound upon that? I mean, I know that generally, every tank had a radio in it, and every infantry formation had a radio in it. I know nothing about the US employment of walki-talkies, or the lack thereof in other forces.
Gold for the craftsman,
Silver for the maid.
Copper for the craftsman,
cunning at his trade

"Good!" said the Baron,
Sitting in his hall
"but Iron, Cold Iron,
is master of them all"
-Kipling
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Tom Houlihan
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Post by Tom Houlihan »

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_electronics_scr536.php

Here's an example of what I was talking about. I was referring to the hand-held radios that were a bit more convenient than the back-pack models.
TLH3
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Feldgrau für alle und alle für Feldgrau!
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