Or How to Hold the Other Guy in Place Long Enough to Organize a Nice Surprise for Him German doctrine believed that victory could only be obtained through offensive operations. In the early years of World War II, defensive tactics initially called for massive and rapid counterattacks, with armor and panzergrenadiers against enemy penetrations. However, from 1943 on, the Germans were forced more and more into defensive operations. As the availability of mobile resources dwindled, the Germans had to rely more on static defenses. The following article is from the US War Department's Technical Manual TM-E 30-451, Handbook on German Military Forces. The handbook was published 15 March 1945 and at that time was restricted. Section V. DEFENSIVE 1. General In German doctrine the object of the defense (Verteidigung, or Abwehr) is to halt the hostile attack, or to gain time, pending development of a more favorable situation for resumption of the offensive. Thus German and US doctrine are essentially the same: only the offensive leads to deoisive successes. In the last two years German defensive operations have become increasingly passive in nature. The Germans forinerly placed the greatest stress on immediate and violent counterattacks as an effective means of destroying the attacking enemy. This required great mobility and large reserves. At present, more emphasis is placed on the construction of defensive positions, and counterattacks are frequently local in character. It is most likely that this passive type of defense is only an expedient due to German shortages of mobile equipment and manpower. Verteidigung WWII German Defensive Doctrine 1. Introduction and General 2. Organization for Defense 3. Conduct of the Defense 4. Defense of Towns 5. Doctrine of the Westwall System Back to Table of Contents -- Combat Simulation Vol 1 No. 4 Back to Combat Simulation List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Mike Vogell and Phoenix Military Simulations. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com