This episode of out of the trenches was sponsored by "The Great Courses Plus". "Out of the Trenches" is where I sit here in the
"Chair of Wisdom" and answer all your questions about the First World War.
"Hi Indy and The Great War gang. I have a question for [an] Out of the Trenches segment.
Why did the Imperial German Army
continue distributing the Picklehaube even after the adoption of steel helmets? It was an obvious target and
served minimal protection on the head.
Thank you guys for your amazing work and greetings from Austin, Texas!
Jared Enriquez, okay Jared, and hello there Texan boy.
the Germans
wanted to completely replace all of the obsolete German picklehaube by 1916.
But because of production limitations, this had to be done gradually.
Picklehaube materials had changed from 1915 onwards as well. As the German high command
soon realized that they offered little protection on a modern battlefield.
Thin sheets of steel were used to try to upgrade the existing model, but this was difficult to incorporate
because of the complex design of the Picklehaube itself, and a shortage of materials because of the British blockade.
This meant that the ersatz materials used were actually less effective, and
felt and even paper were used to replace the original leather.
The spike, which was also an obvious target for enemy snipers, became detachable in the later models of 1915. Side note here!
The troops on the Western Front were primarily equipped with steel helmets, while
Distribution to the East and other fronts took longer. And the Picklehaube helmets were still stored away and used during parades,
when high officials came to visit the front.
Spartan 80 writes, "What role did the German Jager Corps play in the war, and did the other countries have similar units?"
The German Jaeger regiments had been made up of
elite soldiers since the 18th century.
The name "Jager" literally translates as hunter and often soldiers who served in these regiments had been
professional hunters. Their uniforms slightly differed from the rest of the German Army. They wore
Shackle helmets rather than the common Picklehaube. They did try to adapt during the war.
Many rode bicycles on the Eastern Front and some were equipped with skis.
Both German and Austro-Hungarian Jager forces like the French Chasseurs were designated light infantry.
Skilled and equipped for combat in woodlands and harsh environments.
And many had training in camouflage and sharp shooting. They were an elite force, designed to scout ahead,
fighting deep woods or mountains and harassed the enemy. During the British retreat from Mons, soldiers reported being shot at by
nearly invisible soldiers from behind bushes and on trees.
Those forces were especially useful in an environment where large artillery pieces could not be transported or
used effectively, like say in the Vosges where the infantry still took the brunt of fighting.
An example of a British version of these units would be the lovat scouts, who had originally been a dragoon regiment,
were required to dismount their horses and became one of the British Army's new elite sharpshooting regiments in 1916.
They were also the first unit to where the famous Ghillie suit.
Christopher Commins from Patreon says, he asks
I mean, "Why did Russia not have the same steamroller effect in World War One as they did in World war Two?"
Okay, well...
Keep in mind the Germans took far more Russian territory during the second war than they did in the first. And in fact...
But the Russians managed to advance into east Prussia a considerable amount in
1914. Although the Eastern Front during The Great War was in many ways a prelude of what to expect during the Second World War,
then you had you know the really clearly visible ethnic tensions.
The Germans dealt with both Russian soldiers and civilians with far greater brutality in the second war. They saw that war as a
battle of ideologies and a struggle between races, right? There was, though,
because of that, a far greater incentive for ordinary Russians to fight in the Second World War,
than there was in the first as far more was at stake.
Specifically their own lives, as well of those of their families. In spite of initial patriotic sentiment, as
The Great War dragged on it became harder and harder for officers of noble birth to coerce peasants and workers to continue fighting.
Even though the Germans were still nowhere near the gates of
St. Petersburg as they were in 1941, the ordinary Russian populace
wanted political reforms back home rather than to carry on fighting for a cause
they no longer really had faith in in many cases. This disillusionment was something that Britain and France had not taken into account
at the beginning of the war. There was a naive belief that in spite of Russia's string of military blunders
before the war, the country was
unconquerable due to its size and population.
But nobody considered the possibility that Germany wouldn't actually need to conquer the whole country, but rather
break the resolve of the Russian people.
In addition to this, nobody could have anticipated
that modern war would become a war of industrial production. A war in which Germany would easily
outstrip Russia, which often couldn't supply its own soldiers with a rifle each,
or proper clothes and equipment for the winter, and had a lack of proper railway infrastructure in the border regions.
A similar problem afflicted the Russians during the Nazi invasion. That was eventually rectified.
Now, The Brusilov Offensive [Russia's offensive in 1916] did have such a steamroller effect,
but it could not be exploited. Partly by uncooperative commanders in the north,
and partly due to the limitations of the first world war itself. You had no motorized armies, no T-34 spearheads, no
combined offensive doctrine with aerial bombers, no real industrialized war economy.
Not much help from allies.
No, NKVD commissars who spurred the troops with ideological fierceness, and, you know, stuff like that.
The German Army of the Second World War
was in many ways different than it had been a generation before. It could pack a powerful punch,
but did not have the capacity and the stamina of its predecessor.
And it took the best of its commanders to repeatedly stabilize the Eastern Front each time it was penetrated. As I said at the beginning,
this episode of "Out of the Trenches" was sponsored by The Great Courses Plus,
which is a great [as its name implies] a great video learning service that features lectures by professors from top
universities from around the world, and also experts from places like National Geographic or the Smithsonian. And for
$14.99, you get access to all
7,000 video courses and you can learn something about pretty much any topic under the sun. Now, that last question
reminded me and Flo actually, of one of their courses which is about the history of Eastern Europe. A
part of the continent which does have a rich cultural history, but which is often overshadowed by war or ethnic tensions.
Veas Liu Lavisious gives you a really good overview of this region from before the middle ages, until the time
following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it's a really great overview, and, well
We certainly learned a lot from that. If you visit TheGreatCoursesPlus
.com/TheGreatWar [or follow the link in the video description],
you can start a one-month free trial in which you can watch all of those great videos. And while you're doing
so, you are also supporting this show. And by the way, now that we have recommended three lectures in three of these calls to action,
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