Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-09-13
BY GEN. ERICH Won LrDENDoRFF

/ garded improved discipline as the
| Foundation of our army and of al
success. 1t was rated the more highly
when 1t was realized that the home in.
fluenee on the army was bad. AS
| in peace, special Importance was at.
tached to individual training; exercises
were seldom carried out by larg,
| 70 rces of all arms.
| Just as in the previous year every
/ thing had been done to train the army
FOR defensive fighting. so now it was
| trained for the attack. The country
is indebted to the work of the officers
and the ll-thought-out scheme oil
training for the fact that our losses
! in killed and wounded. though very
| great, were much less than those OF
| the enemy.
1 According to rough estimate Eng.
/ land and France have lost far more
than two million killed and Russia as
many. Taking half the Russian casual.
| ties as having occurred on our front
which is probably too low an estimate
| the enemy had far more than three
million killed as compared with two
million Germans.
l have included those killed on other
fronts, both our own and the enemy
This makes the proposition more
| favorable to us, and the more we
know, the more favorable will il
turn out to be. These numbers are
terribly high. but they prove that we
tried to fulfil our responsibilities to-
| wards the troops.
| Stress Laid on the Tanks.
In preparing for attack we did not
forget defense, as eounter-attacksw were
to be expected. The principles of de.
Tense We're retained; we only laid
| greater stress on anti-tank measures
Both in attack and defense the auxil.
larry arms served this purpose also
In the artillery, especially in the CASE
of field guns and light trench mortars
training in direct individual fire al
tanks was considered of decisive i'm.
portance.
The allotment of special ammunition
to the heavy machine guns was in.
creased more extensively. Expert.
ments in destroying tanks with null
tiple grenades were carried out ant
Iall experiences gained in fighting then
was communicated to the troops
whose opinions were called for.
/ Our positions were examined as t
their liability to attack by tanks; traps
and stops were made, barricades con
structed, mines put down and anti
tank guns dug in at many points
Naturally, the extent of these defen
siye measures largely depended upor
the available labor and the views O
the troops as to the likelihood OF tanl
attack.
i The war ministry kept us informed
of the progress in the manufacture
of anti-tank weapons. which Is pushed
on INCREASINGLY.
Once more l spent much time at thu
1 front, and in active interchange o.
ideas with the various army head
lquarters on the tactics of offensive
Il fighting and on the attack itself. Man!
proposals and counter proposals, man!
pros and cons were laid before me.
can still recall the discussions ahou
the barrage and the advance zone.
Troops Slow in Learning.
AS was my duty. had to give thu
/ ultimate decision. The tactical prin
ciples were considered to be correc
and readily accepted h. the troops
They left room for individual actor
in all directions.
] was present. at various exercises
land had conversations with man,