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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The Tactical Notebook
The German Peacetime Army of 1941
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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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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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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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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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