The Creation of the German Armoured Branch

Abstract

During World War I, the German Army did not find a proper way to avoid the trench warfare. Among other things the German hinterland was incapable to create the proper conditions necessary to continue the fight and the result was a decisive defeat. The Germans needed new means by which they could avoid the positional warfare and achieve a rapid, decisive success at the same time. The German theorists found the solution in the novel use of tanks. In the 1920s and 1930s they carried out significant theoretical and practical research and development, which resulted in the creation of a new type of army branch, unique in its time. As a result, the armoured branch allowed Germany to have its greatest military success of the twentieth century at the beginning of World War II.