German War Strategy Of WW 2 And Its Relation To Clausewitz's War Theory.

Attack and defence are the basic elements of combat. If the attack is successful it will develop into a pursuit and occupation of territory, if it is unsuccessful it will develop into a defence base. The defensive base itself, if successful, will develop into a counterattack, and vice versa, if unsuccessful, will force an army to retreat. Simply put, war is like a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other. Combat is a dynamic system, therefore it is constantly changing in line with technological developments, adopting the latest techniques, principles and procedures.

Ilustration Of Carl von Clausewitz and German Military Operations

In particular, the work of the classic military expert Carl von Clausewitz, entitled On War, has discussed the two elements of combat, namely (offence and defence) attack and defence. Meanwhile, the concept used by Germany during the Second World War was a combination of the elements of offence put forward by Clausewitz, such as speed, surprise, concentration of force and concentration of attack on one point. Meanwhile, the elements of defence were applied by Germany through an adaptation of Clausewitz's theory of terrain control, time allocation and counter-attack concentration. In short, an analysis of the German concept of war strategy, both offensive and defensive, can provide an overview of how Clausewitz's theoretical concepts work and how they can be directly applied on the battlefield.

Examples of such battles include the Battle of the Bulge in Operation Ardennes, where more than 400,000 German troops fought against more than 700,000 American and British troops combined, with some 75,000 casualties. The Battle of the Bulge is now regarded as the most intense military operation in history. In addition, the military operation also showed how Germany could launch a lightning attack and survive until there was enough time to counterattack.

In essence, German combat strategy in World War II was a series of complex and structured operational tactics. The strategy was a mass attack accompanied by the element of surprise with the intention of confusing the enemy on a physical and psychological level to prevent the enemy from counterattacking. Each force must have its own well-defined role, such as armored troops, artillery, motorized vehicles, and combat aircraft, linked through the use of operator radio communications. This is not the first time the concept of strategy has been practiced by the military.

In the late 1800s, early military theorists such as Carl von Clausewitz had put forward the theory in the context of the classical period, in the sense that all military components were in accordance with the conditions of the time, which were dominated by cavalry, infantry and artillery troops. In the Napoleonic Wars era, attacks were generally carried out en masse to a predetermined point in a theater of military operations. Cavalry troops became the main focus of attacks, supported by infantry troops, while artillery units provided support by firing into the enemy's stronghold.

However, technological developments, especially in the field of weaponry, made this strategy impossible, instead to overcome this, the Germans during World War II used the power of armored vehicles to take the role of cavalry troops and motorized infantry troops to take the role of infantry.The following table is a comparison between the classical strategy of the Clausewitz era and the modern strategy used by Germany in World War II.

Furthermore, in order to be able to further analyze how the concept of German war strategy includes both attack (offense) and defense (defense) based on Carl von Clausewitz's theory, it can be divided into two, namely the theory of attack or offense theory and the theory of defense or defense theory.

Comparison of Classical and Modern Strategies

Classic Strategy (Clausewitz)	Modern Strategy (Germany)
Troops fought in a single decisive battle	Troops fought several battles that did not directly determine victory
Logistics is something that is considered only at the beginning of a military campaign.	Logistics are always considered during a military campaign until the objective is achieved
War consists only of military campaigns	War consists of military campaigns, military campaigns consist of military operations, military operations consist of battles and different maneuvers
If a military campaign has been successfully executed then the war is generally over.	Modern strategy is a complex series of military operations that occur gradually.
The war general is on site and can see the entirety of the battlefield.	The war general can only see a small part of the many battlefields that are happening simultaneously
The main attack relied on Cavalry troops	The main attack relies on armored troops (armored fighting vehicles)
The main attack support troops are infantry	The main attack support force is motorized infantry
Artillery provides rearguard support in the form of indirect fire against the opposing defense.	Mechanized artillery advances along with motorized infantry to provide direct fire against the opponent's concrete defense system.

Source:

British Military Doctrine. 2008. Art Of Military Strategy (Third Edition). London C. von Clausewitz, On War, trans. and ed. M. Howard, P. Paret (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1976)

Ardennes-1944: An Analysis Of The Operational Defense.

Gray, C.S. The Future of Strategy (Cambridge, Polity Press, 2003)