The first edition of Infantry Attack was published in 1937, which immediately attracted wide attention. Its author, Lieutenant Colonel Rommel, gained fame and fortune and played a landmark role in his military career. Rommel's position in German military academic circles was further improved, and it was logical to take charge of Vienna New Town Military Academy later. More importantly, it is said that this book attracted Hitler's attention and personally appointed Long as the commander of the base camp, which became the beginning of his successful career. Abroad, at that time, the Swiss military took the infantry attack as a military textbook and invited Long to give lectures in Switzerland. Because Rommel was all-powerful in World War II, this book was reprinted, and only 9 editions were printed in the United States. General Patton loved the book so much that he even recited it paragraph by paragraph. Even after the dragon died, he still carried it. Sixty years later, this book is still called a military classic, and its first edition has become a collector's treasure. So what is the charm of this book?

(A) the author and writing background

Marshal Rommel is famous, and I have no intention of repeating his' great achievements'. In a word, Marshal Rommel was the most famous and controversial German general in World War II, but the author of Infantry Attack was not Marshal Rommel, but Lieutenant Colonel Rommel, an unknown and undisputed outstanding instructor. It is an interesting process from obscurity to fame, from one word to different opinions. After World War II, a large number of senior German generals attacked him. The main point of attack is that he lacks formal military education, so that he is seriously deficient in strategy and logistics. He is not an ideal candidate for a senior military post, which of course implies Hitler's improper employment. In order to fully understand the root of these accusations, we need to say a few more words about German military education.

Germany is a country that attaches great importance to education, especially the military. Its troops are characterized by normalization, specialization and elitism. Before World War I, there was a high proportion of aristocrats among senior officers, and most of them were military families. Their training mode is mainly: they receive a good education from birth, start at the age of eight or nine, enter the junior military academy at the age of twelve or thirteen, then enter the senior military academy, and then be selected for further study in the military academy after serving; Finally, we have to go through the training of the General Staff. After passing the training, we will hold a series of intermediate staff positions and gradually improve them. People who think they have a future will be promoted to senior military posts, and then those who meet the standards through training and observation will formally take up important positions (that is, generals). The whole training procedure is very strict, especially the training of the General Staff is the most important, so the overall quality of senior German officers is quite high. After World War I, the empire collapsed, but the German army basically maintained this pattern, and became more elite due to the influence of disarmament, with Lenstad as the old representative and manstein as the new representative. It should be said that the famous general staff model has indeed trained a large number of talents for Germany for many years, but it has also brought about the problems of strict hierarchy and seniority. After Hitler came to power, some changes took place. This problem will be further involved in the future. Here, I will focus on Lieutenant Colonel Rommel.

Rommel18911was born in a middle-class family, and his father was an ordinary middle school principal. He joined the army after graduating from high school. He graduated from Danzig Military Academy at the age of 265,438+0, equivalent to a junior college degree. This is the highest achievement of the dragon in his life. Later, he neither entered a military university nor was he an officer of the General Staff. His military career is very simple:1914-1918 participated in World War I as a junior officer; 19 19- 1928 as company commander; 1928- 1939 two years as a battalion commander and some temporary tasks, mainly as an instructor. 1940- 1944 World War II. In short, in the twenty years between the two wars, the first ten years were at the grassroots level and the last ten years were in the field of military education. From my simple description, we can already find that he did not enter the training sequence of senior German officers at all, which can be said to be the opposite; But sometimes special experiences can provide a special perspective, which can be said that there is a ray of hope behind the dark clouds for Long personally: rich practical experience, years of grass-roots training, and solid training in military academies give him an advantage that the General Staff lacks. His ability to meet challenges, solve practical problems, lead the army, change teaching and express orally and in writing ranks among the top German generals. In our customary words, the ability to integrate theory with practice is very strong, but at the same time there are some hidden problems.

The Infantry Attack was written in 1937, when Long was a senior instructor at the Potsdam Military Academy. At that time, he already enjoyed a certain reputation in the field of military education, but it was not known to the public. At that time, Germany was rearming and the army was expanding at a high speed. How to train a large number of qualified grassroots commanders in a short time is a thorny issue. "Infantry Attack" was born at the right time and immediately caused great repercussions, becoming the "Bible" in the hands of military students. Back to the question at the beginning: What kind of book is Infantry Attack? What is its charm? Professor Hans, a famous military scientist, once recalled: Rommel's teaching style is not passionate, but calm, and sometimes there will be a slight pause, but it will never be monotonous repetition. Even those hundreds of lectures are still fascinating. This sentence also basically applies to infantry attack. I will inappropriately quote this sentence as the beginning of the introduction.