Die Wehrmacht-Elite

Through Artillery from Thrust to Fire: How Prussian Military Thinking Anticipated Emergent Warfare in 1870

“…It took until 1 October 1912 that General der Artillerie Friedrich Scholtz, the second full general and commanding general with artillery background since 1889, was promoted to this rank. 116 Due to the advancement time from graduate of the General Staff Academy to the first general rank, it took until the First World War before a larger number of artillerymen became visible as higher commanders. The high number of artillerymen among the senior leadership since 1920, as identified by researchers, was therefore not only due to the discontinuation of a supposed social protectionism to the disadvantage of apparently predominantly bourgeois artillery officers.…”

“…The high number of artillerymen among the senior leadership since 1920, as identified by researchers, was therefore not only due to the discontinuation of a supposed social protectionism to the disadvantage of apparently predominantly bourgeois artillery officers. 117 It seems to be rather a retarded sign of structural change, which transformed the artillery into an equal and integral element within the combat of combined arms. These changes had been first introduced in 1866, tested in 1870, and finally implemented in 1889.…”