Page "Military strategy" Paragraph 77

British general J. F. C. Fuller, architect of the first great tank battle at Cambrai, and his contemporary, B. H. Liddell Hart, were amongst the most prominent advocates of mechanization and motorization of the army in Britain.

In Germany, study groups were set up by Hans von Seeckt, commander of the Reichwehr Truppenamt, for 57 areas of strategy and tactics to learn from World War I and to adapt strategy to avoid the stalemate and then defeat they had suffered.

All seem to have seen the strategic shock value of mobility and the new possibilities made possible by motorised forces.

Both saw that the armoured fighting vehicle demonstrated firepower, mobility and protection.

The Germans seem to have seen more clearly the need to make all branches of the Army as mobile as possible to maximise the results of this strategy.

It would negate the static defences of the trench and machine gun and restore the strategic principles of manoeuvre and offense.

Nevertheless, it was the British Army which was the only one truly mechanised at the beginning of the Second World War, the Germans still relying on horse traction for a portion of their artillery.