Imaginary Armies

The Tactical Notebook
Slimming Down Großdeutschland
Between 1939 and 1944, Hermann Balck commanded a variety of mechanized units and formations. In those years, he developed a reputation for pushing his troops and equipment to their limits in order to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. From January to May of 1943, he commanded the…
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14 days ago · 4 likes · Bruce I Gudmundsson
The Tactical Notebook
The German Peacetime Army of 1941
This page makes it easier for readers to enjoy an article that was published in installments.Thanks for reading The Tactical Notebook! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work…
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3 months ago · Bruce I Gudmundsson
The Tactical Notebook
The US Army "System of Mobile Artillery"
Between 1902 and 1915, the Ordnance Department of the United States Army developed a system of mobile artillery pieces based upon two ideas. The first of these called for the creation of a family of projectiles, each of which would weigh twice as much as its predecessor. (The lightest of these shells would weigh 15 pounds. The heaviest would tip the s…
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3 months ago · Bruce I. Gudmundsson
The Tactical Notebook
The Uhle-Wettler Battalion (Part I)
During the 1970s, the army of the Federal Republic of Germany began to acquire infantry fighting vehicles. Designed to protect main battle tanks against a variety of dangers, these were, in essence, light tanks that, in addition to their weapons, carried a handful of infantrymen. Ironically, the very prosperity that enabled the purchase of these weapo…
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3 months ago · 1 comment · Bruce I Gudmundsson
The Tactical Notebook
The Uhle-Wettler Battalion (Part II)
In the territorial light infantry battalion designed by Franz Uhle-Wettler, the “command and supply” company consisted of a substantial supply echelon (Versorgungs Staffel ) and a number of autonomous elements. The latter include the battalion command group, the finance section, the staff group, the driver team, the company…
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2 months ago · Bruce I Gudmundsson
The Tactical Notebook
The French Peacetime Army of 1914 (Part I)
In sharp contrast to the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, which a previous article in this series described as “mature,” the French Army of the same year was growing rapidly. The best-known contributor to this expansion was the Three Year Law (Loi des Trois Ans…
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3 months ago · Bruce I. Gudmundsson