The Making of a Fox: Erwin Rommel in World War I
In 1917, the Austrians were facing problems in the Alps against the Italians. Germany sent 7 divisions to help. Amongst those divisions was an outfit called the Wuerttemberg Mountain Battalion which was part of the German Alpine Corps.
The Battle of Caporetto
On the 25th of October 1917, the Germans and Austrians launched an assault in and around Caporetto, with units attacking the high ground where the Italians’ lines were while other units tried to run through the low ground to find a way around the Italian positions. The Wuerttemberg Battalion was supposed to be involved in the high ground battles, but one young German Lieutenant seemed pretty good at using new tactics: Every time he came in contact with the Italians, he would lead his men around instead of pushing forward, bypassing points of resistance, finding gaps between the enemy lines, and outflanking them or attacking them from behind. Time and time again, the Italians were caught by surprise and surrendered.
The following day, the young Lieutenant was told to take it easy and rejoin the main body of the offensive. Instead of complying, he led a company of riflemen supported by 6 machine guns in raids against the Italian lines, once again outflanking them and attacking them by surprise from behind.
Unparalleled Success
Between the 25th and the 27th of October 1917, this young Lieutenant and 150 of his men took 9000 Italian prisoners, bagged 81 guns, and ended up capturing one of the main objectives of the campaign on their own. His unit only suffered 6 dead and 30 wounded. A month later, using the same tactics, he captured another 10,000 Italians. For this, he was promoted to Captain and awarded the “Pour Le Merite” medal. His name? Erwin Rommel.
The world would hear about him again two decades later!
-RBM.
