Servus,
In most western armies, officers specialize in a particular branch or specialty such as Infantry, Armor, Artillery. I have always found it fascinating that the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS was able to move their officers around throughout the war to command positions in various specialties. Reading about the career progression of some officers, he might command an Infantry company then move to an Artillery battalion and subsequently be assigned to a panzer unit. having been an Infantry officer many moons ago, other than calling in artillery fire, I would be lost in an artillery unit. Any one of these specialties is a "career" into itself and yet the Germans were able to shift their personnel around and they were able to function at all of them.
Even some officers such as Otto Kumm who commanded motorized infantry in Russia (SS-Inf Regt DF) moved smoothly to transition to command of the SS-PE Div, a mountain Division, and then move to command the SS-LAH (a panzer div) towards the end of the war. Talk about multitalented! Each of these commands had it's own ideosyncracies and yet Kumm did well in them all. And he is just one. There are multiple examples of this.
What is it that they did in thier officer's training that made this possible?
Regards,
Helmut
German Military Multispecialties
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Christoph Awender
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Re: German Military Multispecialties
Hello,
The examples you bring are exceptions which I am sure (but do not know) are also present in the US, british etc.. army. The Wehrmacht also had their specialists and every officer had to come from a branch and attend the weapons school of his branch.
Often the lack of officers was it that forced them to give someone another position.
/Christoph
The examples you bring are exceptions which I am sure (but do not know) are also present in the US, british etc.. army. The Wehrmacht also had their specialists and every officer had to come from a branch and attend the weapons school of his branch.
Often the lack of officers was it that forced them to give someone another position.
/Christoph
Re: German Military Multispecialties
Servus Christoph,
Perhaps you are right but having served 12 years in the US Army I never saw an Infantry officer, for example, serve as an Artillery Commander or an Armor commander and vice versa. From my readings it just seems that in the WH/W-SS this happened more than just rarely. I thought that perhaps the Germans had a taining method that crosstrained officers in various specialties.
Even such lights as Jochen Peiper at various times commanded Infantry and panzer units.
Thank you.
Regards,
Helmut
Perhaps you are right but having served 12 years in the US Army I never saw an Infantry officer, for example, serve as an Artillery Commander or an Armor commander and vice versa. From my readings it just seems that in the WH/W-SS this happened more than just rarely. I thought that perhaps the Germans had a taining method that crosstrained officers in various specialties.
Even such lights as Jochen Peiper at various times commanded Infantry and panzer units.
Thank you.
Regards,
Helmut