Fritz Von Lossberg - Innovations in Defensive Tactics

Innovations in Defensive Tactics

The doctrine of “defense in depth” or “elastic defense” was formulated in 1915 by a small group of young staff officers at the German Army High Command at Mézières, France; specifically, it was proposed by Major Max Bauer, Major Bussche, Captain Hermann Geyer, and Captain Harbon. In 1916, Major Bauer and Captain Geyer expounded their ideas in an army manual, “Conduct of the Defensive Battle.” In an elastic defense, the front line would be held by a minimal number of troops (to minimize the number of men exposed to artillery fire). During an attack, these troops would retreat. Reserves, who would be stationed nearby but beyond artillery range, would then counterattack and retake the front line.

Initially, Lossberg, who was Bauer and Geyer’s superior, opposed elastic defense. He argued that it was impractical to expect men to make an orderly retreat under artillery fire. Furthermore, allowing units to retreat at will would make coordinating a defense almost impossible. Also, the counterattack would have to be precisely coordinated with the enemy’s attack.

Lossberg thought that the front line should be held at all costs. Nevertheless, Lossberg agreed that the front line should be thinly manned, and that if the front line were breached, counterattacks by nearby reserves should restore the line. Furthermore, Lossberg gave more freedom and authority to front-line commanders, so that they could respond quickly to local threats and opportunities. This freedom and authority also made practical the launching of the rapid counterattacks that Bauer and Geyer had advocated. Lossberg’s ideas became official army doctrine.

It was Lossberg who first put into practice the theory of elastic defense during the battle of Arras (April–May 1917), where it succeeded. But the elastic defense at Arras had been improvised. At the subsequent battle of Passchendaele (June–November 1917) Lossberg carefully planned an elastic defense and again was successful. Lossberg’s successes in battle proved the feasibility of defense in depth.