Franz-Stefan Gady

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Combined-arms warfare is a deadly ballet choreographed to overwhelm the defender by integrating different combat arms, such as infantry and artillery, and services, such as ground and air forces. Its origins lie in the last two years of the first world war. After years of stalemate, the German Imperial Army adopted innovative tactics to break through the layered Allied defences of the western front and thus out of the attritional deadlock.

This novel approach was not enough to win the war, but it changed the course of warfare. Before 1917 most operations were sequential. Days of artillery fire on a trench gave advance warning of an attack.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Tornado reconnaissance aircraft takes off from a military airbase in Jagel, Germany, on Dec. 10, 2015. Carmen Jaspersen/AFP via Getty Images

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There is a long history of German military pilots helping the Chinese air force. In the 1930s, Nazi Germany dispatched military advisors to help build and train the air force of the Republic of China, which was simultaneously fighting communist insurgents under Mao Zedong and the invading Imperial Japanese Army. Chinese-German relations soured a few years later, when Berlin allied with Tokyo in the Tripartite Pact. By then, however, Chinese pilots had not only been trained by the formidable German air force—the Luftwaffe—but were also flying German-made bombers and fighter aircraft to attack the communists and Japanese.

German fighter pilots are helping train China’s air force once again.…  Seguir leyendo »

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A culture war is brewing within Ukraine’s armed forces. It is being waged between top-down Soviet military thinking on the one hand, and bottom-up Western military culture on the other. This intellectual tussle is hindering Ukraine’s adaptation and learning. It is also hurting Ukraine’s performance in the war against Russia. This is one of my main lessons from a recent research trip to Kyiv and the frontlines of eastern Ukraine, which I conducted alongside some of the leading Western military experts on Russia.

This culture war is largely about leadership. Some army officers have embraced the Western philosophy of “mission command,” which grants commanders on the spot, regardless of rank, the freedom to execute their missions according to their own best judgment.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

In my life I have participated in several military parades, but one stands out. As an officer candidate in the Austrian Army, I marched in step to the tune of the “Radetzky March” past a crowd — my Uncle Winfried and Aunt Waltraud among them — down an alley leading to Eggenberg Palace, in Graz.

It was late fall, chilly and dark. Half the members of my company carried torches, which cast eerie shadows on the Baroque exterior of the castle.

As we marched by, crowds spontaneously clapped, some shouting, “Bravo, super Burschen!” (Well done, fine boys!) The shrill bark of red-faced sergeants and long days of monotonous drill were for a brief moment forgotten.…  Seguir leyendo »