The Artillery School in Berlin (III)
From the Memoirs of Major General Franz von Lenski (1865-1942)
In the 1920s, Franz von Lenski (1865-1942) wrote a memoir of his adventures as a junior officer in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The post the follows continues our serialization of the fourth chapter of this book, the one that deals with the year that Major General Lenski spent as a student at the United Artillery and Engineer School in Berlin. (The links listed at the bottom of this page, in the section marked ‘for further reading’, will take you to other posts in this series.)
On the whole, the instruction was not half bad. It was, however, highly formulaic, to the point where it was rarely possible to inspire, or even discover, particularly gifted gunners. Nevertheless, one learned a lot of theory relating his profession, and, somewhat unconsciously acquired technical information that he might otherwise have missed.
This institution needed reform. A third of the field artillerymen in each class - the chosen ones of the Selekta - remained at the school for a second year. As a result, at a point in their careers in which they still had much to learn about practical matters, they missed two years’ worth of regimental service.
During the break between academic years, which ran from 15 July to 1 October, when they might have been seconded to unit of another branch, they enjoyed no opportunities to ride horses or hear the sound of cannon firing live ammunition.1 Thus, as a result of a policy that could easily have been changed, they were like newborn children when they returned to their regiments.
Instead of making these minor changes, the authorities assumed that their predecessors had all been idiots and threw the baby out with the bathwater. Thus, in 1892, they abolished the Artillery School.
This so-called reform arose out the artillery community. Indeed, accomplished gunners, such as the otherwise admirable General von Dulitz, spoke out in favor of this measure, and thus must be considered its spiritual fathers (or, to be more precise, stepfathers).2 Only an arm like the artillery, still young and lacking in tradition -fermenting, bubbling, and struggling to find its form - could make such a mistake.
To be continued …
Source: Franz von Lenski Aus den Leutnantsjahren eines alten Generalstabsoffiziers [From the Years an Old General Staff Officer Spent as a Lieutenant] (Berlin: Georg Bath, 1922) Chapter 4 ‘Die Vereinigte Artillerie- und Ingenieurschule zu Berlin’ [‘The United Artillery and Engineer School at Berlin’]
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The idea of seconding officers to units of branches other than their own seems to have been inspired by the practice of assigning graduates of the War Academy to tours of duty of that sort.
Like Franz von Lenski, Otto von Dulitz (1847-1912) served as both an artillery officer and an officer of the Prussian General Staff. He ended his career as Inspector General of the Garrison (Foot) Artillery.
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Is ever there an adjustment called reform that doesn’t defenestrate the baby to change the water?