The German Army in World War I (1): 1914–15 (Men-at-Arms)

In August 1914 the mobilization of Imperial Germany's 800,000-strong army ushered in the first great war of the modern age - a war which still stands as the greatest slaughter of soldiers in history. That German Army is also the best example of a particular period of military thought, when virtually the whole manpower of the European nations was integrated into mass conscript armies, supported by several age categories of reservists and by dedicated industrial and transport systems. In this first of three volumes the author offers an extraordinary mass of information, in text and tables, illustrated by photographs and colour plates. The years 1915- 17 saw the Imperial German Army forced to adapt to the new realities of static trench warfare. Prewar uniforms and equipment had to be modified, for both utility and economy; on battlefields ruled by machine guns and artillery the steel helmet reappeared, as well as masks to protect against poison gas. The fashionable cavalry regiments soon proved irrelevant on the Western Front; many were dismounted to join the infantry, while new types of unit usurped their prestige - assault battalions, and the air corps. This second volume in a three-part sequence offers a mass of detail on organisation, uniforms and insignia, illustrated with rare photographs and meticulous colour artwork. The first of a three-part study of the organization, uniforms, insignia and equipment of the German Army of World War I. It covers the troops who fought at Mons, Arras and 1st Ypres in 1914; at Neuve Chappelle, 2nd Ypres, Artois and the Argonne, 1915; and in East Prussia and Poland, 1914-15. IN 1914 GERMANY, with 65 million inhabitants and an area of 20,871,408 square miles, dominated Central Europe.