Georg Bruchmüller

Georg Bruchmüller

Georg Bruchmüller
Born (1863-12-11)December 11, 1863
Berlin
Died 26 January 1948(1948-01-26) (aged 84)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Allegiance  German Empire
Service/branch Imperial German Army
Years of service 1885–1919
Rank Colonel
Battles/wars

World War I

Awards Pour le Mérite
Iron Cross

Georg Bruchmüller (December 11, 1863 – January 26, 1948), nicknamed Durchbruchmüller, was a German artillery officer who greatly influenced the development of modern artillery tactics. His nickname Durchbruchmüller is a combination of the German word Durchbruch ('breakthrough') with his name.

Early life

Bruchmüller was born in Berlin into a middle-class family. He studied physics at Berlin University; when he left in 1883 he became a three-year volunteer in the Imperial Army. [1] Two years later he was commissioned in the foot artillery (Fußartillerie), the branch of the German Army armed with heavier guns, howitzers and mortars, designed principally for siege warfare, but which now was assuming a role in mobile and static warfare in the field.

In 1897 and 1898, Bruchmüller served as a battery commander in Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 3 in Mainz.[2] Next he commanded a battery in the Lehr-Bataillon (Demonstration Battalion) of the Royal Prussian Fußartillerie-Schießschule (Foot Artillery Firing School) in Jüterbog in 1901 and 1902. During this time, he worked with one of the instructors at the Fußartillerie-Schießschule, Hauptmann Arthur Bilse, a heavy artillery specialist who during the First World War while serving as General der Fußartillerie 15, was killed in action on New Year's Day 1916 at Les Baraques France.[3] In 1908 Bruchmüller was promoted to major and assigned to write the tactical manual for foot artillery. In 1913 he was thrown from his horse and subsequently had a nervous breakdown. He was medically discharged as a lieutenant colonel, but with major’s pay. [4]

World War I

At the beginning of World War I he was recalled to active duty, soon becoming artillery commander of 86. Infantry Division at the Eastern Front. In 1915 he fought in thirteen actions, winning the Iron Cross First Class and Second Class. In 1916 the Russians attacked at Lake Naroch. For the counterattack Bruchmüller persuaded Tenth Army to centralize its artillery command to lead the infantry attack with a creeping barrage, which contributed to the German victory, for which he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military award, in 1917, one of only four senior artillery officers to receive this honor during the war.

As the war went on, the British used prolonged bombardments before an infantry assault to try to destroy the defenders , like the seven days opening the Battle of the Somme, while the Germans favored short, intense bombardments, like the ten hours opening the Battle of Verdun. Bruchmüller devised intricate, centrally-controlled firing plans for intense bombardments. His operations emphasized fire in depth throughout the enemy positions, switching rapidly from target to target and then back again, which required strict, detailed control of every gun, to cause maximum disruption of the defenders. Each battery of each type of weapon received specific fire missions on a specific timetable. He delivered fire in three stages. The first hit headquarters, phone links, command posts, enemy batteries, and infantry positions. The fire was sudden, concentrated, and made extensive use of gas shells. In the second stage more guns engaged the enemy batteries. Many shots were required: for example 100 shots from 6 in (150 mm) howitzers were considered necessary to eliminate a gun pit. [5]The third stage directed fire for effect on designated targets, some batteries continued to shell infantry positions, while heavy pieces engaged long range targets to cut off reinforcements. The advancing infantry followed a precisely organized creeping barrage, the Feuerwalz. For some of the key counterattacks during Russia’s Brusilov Offensive he directed the 76 artillery batteries of Army Group von Linsingen. In July 1917 he commanded 134 batteries during the counterattack that recovered Tarnopol from the Russians after its loss during the Kerensky Offensive.

Surprise was essential for creating maximum disruption, so Bruchmüller adopted the technique developed by Captain Erich Pulkowski for striking without the customary preliminary registration fire. To do so, each gun's location was precisely surveyed. [6] Then, knowing the gun’s muzzle velocity and taking into account variables like air temperatures and wind velocity and direction, by using the tables provided by mathematicians it was possible to fire fairly accurately at targets on the gunner’s maps. Thus, the Germans concealed their attack preparations very carefully and their initial target data had to be precise.

Bruchmüller commanded the artillery of von Hutier's Eighth Army during the victory at Riga in September 1917. Hutier's army moved west soon thereafter, where in the first months of 1918 Bruchmüller's techniques were taught to artillerymen at a special school in Belgium, [7] preparing them for the great German attacks to come. Infantry officers were also taught his methods and there were joint infantry-artillery exercises with live ammunition: advancing shielded by the creeping barrage. The first attack, Operation Michael, began with a barrage of 3.5 million shells in 5 hours, almost 200 shells fired each second. Defying instructions, he eliminated preliminary registration by firing from the map. He also directed the artillery during the next attack in Flanders, where the artillery had not yet been trained in the Pulkowski method so they registered the guns by observation during the first phase of the bombardment. Still only a retired Lieutenant Colonel on temporary recall, he commanded the artillery in Crown Prince Wilhelm’s Army Group attacks in the Third Battle of the Aisne and the Second Battle of the Marne. Now they fired from the map in darkness and the infantry advanced at first light. [8] Ludendorff cited him as an example of "... the decisive influence of personality on the course of events in war ..." [9]

Post-war life

He was not eligible for the post-war Reichswehr, because the Versailles Treaty prohibited heavy artillery, so he was retired in 1919 as a colonel.He wrote several books on artillery that were translated into English, French, and Russian. In 1939 he was promoted to major general on the retired list. [10] He died at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1948.

References

  1. ↑ Zabecki, David T. (1994). Steel Wind : Colonel Georg Bruchmǔller and the birth of modern artillery. Westport CT: Praeger. pp. 27–31.
  2. ↑ Preußen. Armee. Vollständige Dienstaltersliste der Offiziere der Königlich Preussischen Armee und des XIII. (Königl. Württ.) Armeekorps mit Angabe d. Datums d. Patente zu den früheren Dienstgraden. Burg: Verlag von August Hopfer, 1898.
  3. ↑ Preußen. Kriegsministerium. Geheime Kriegs-Kanzlei. Rangliste der Königlich Preußischen Armee und des XIII. (Königlich Württembergischen) Armeekorps für 1902. Mit den Dienstalterlisten der Generale und Stabsoffiziere und einem Anhange enthaltend das Reichsmilitärgericht, die Ostasiatische Besatzungs-Brigade, die Marine-Infanterie, die Kaiserlichen Schutztruppen und die Gendarmerie-Brigade in Elsaß-Lothringen. Nach dem Stande vom 1. Juni 1902. Auf Befehl Seiner Majestät des Kaisers und Königs. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1902.
  4. ↑ Zabecki, 1994, pp. 28.
  5. ↑ Broad, C. N. F. (1922). "Artillery Intelligence and counter battery work". J. Roy. Artillery 49: 221– 241.
  6. ↑ Zabecki, 1994, pp. 49-50.
  7. ↑ Sulzbach, Herbert (1981). With the German Guns. Four Years on the Western Front 1914-1918. Hamden, CT: Archon Books. pp. 49–50.
  8. ↑ Zabecki, David T. (2006). The German 1918 Offensives : A case study in the operational level of war. London: Routledge. p. 216.
  9. ↑ Ludendorff, 1919, vol II, p. 239.
  10. ↑ Zabecki, David T.. (1996), "Bruchmüller, Georg (1863-1948)", in Tucker, Spencer C., The European Powers in the First World War. An Encyclopedia, New York: Garland, p. 144.

Further reading

External links


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