Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel Summary

Infantry Attacks is Erwin Rommel's classic military tactics book detailing his World War I combat experiences as a young officer. Written in the mid-1930s, the book chronicles Rommel's innovative Stoßtruppen (shock troops) tactics across six campaigns, from Belgium and France to the Italian front. It emphasizes speed, deception, deep penetration, and terrain exploitation to overwhelm enemy forces while minimizing casualties and resource expenditure.

Erwin Rommel was a German field marshal who gained fame as the "Desert Fox" during World War II's North African Campaign. He wrote Infantry Attacks in the mid-1930s as a lieutenant colonel to document his WWI tactical innovations and leadership principles. The book emerged from his experiences commanding mountain infantry and shock troops, where he earned Germany's highest military honor, the Pour le Mérite.

Infantry Attacks is essential reading for military officers, tactical leaders, and students of military history seeking timeless combat principles. Modern military professionals will find relevant insights on mission command, combined arms coordination, and small-unit leadership that remain applicable today. History enthusiasts and those interested in WWI tactics, leadership under pressure, and the development of modern warfare will also benefit from Rommel's detailed battlefield accounts.

Yes, Infantry Attacks remains remarkably relevant despite being nearly a century old. The book's principles on terrain analysis, logistics constraints, mission command, and adaptive leadership transcend their WWI context and apply directly to modern military operations. Readers consistently note that without dated nomenclature, many passages could describe contemporary warfare, making it a timeless military leadership text valued by professionals and historians alike.

Infantry Attacks introduces Stoßtruppen (shock troops) tactics emphasizing speed, deception, and surprise. Rommel's approach involved using small diversionary forces to simulate expected attacks while main assault elements infiltrated enemy flanks and rear positions. This combined surprise with psychological warfare, often intimidating enemies into surrendering without costly frontal assaults. The tactics prioritized careful terrain exploitation, reconnaissance, and flexible mission command over rigid adherence to original plans.

Rommel attributes his tactical successes to meticulous map analysis and reconnaissance to exploit even the smallest terrain irregularities. In Infantry Attacks, he demonstrates using draws, ditches, and berms to penetrate defenses at minimal cost, such as during the Mount Cosna capture. He also describes indirect terrain effects—delaying attacks when rocky ground would slow enemy entrenchment, or directing artillery onto cliffs to rain stone fragments on enemies below.

Infantry Attacks emphasizes front-line leadership and personal reconnaissance, with Rommel consistently sharing risks with his men to earn their loyalty. The book illustrates disciplined initiative and mission command, showing how junior leaders must understand complete operational plans to make safe deviations when circumstances change. Rommel demonstrates calculated disobedience when necessary—once ordering an immediate forward attack instead of a withdrawal that would have exposed his troops to devastating fire.

Infantry Attacks repeatedly illustrates how ammunition and artillery support constrained WWI operations. Rommel recounts numerous last-minute plan abandonments due to unavailable resources, forcing adjustments to less optimal approaches relying on sheer surprise and violence. The book emphasizes how psychological suppression from indirect fires was critical to infantry success, and how losing artillery priority or machine gun ammunition before counterattacks created contingencies that remain relevant in modern warfare.

Infantry Attacks is divided into six chronological chapters covering Rommel's WWI service. These include the 1914 movement war in Belgium and Northern France, 1915 Argonne forest battles, 1916 position warfare in the High Vosges and Romanian campaign, August 1917 fights in the Southeastern Carpathians, the 1917 Caporetto offensive (Tolmein attack), and the pursuit along the Tagliamento and Piave rivers.

Infantry Attacks provides insights that transcend its WWI context, addressing command post survivability, combined arms coordination challenges, and NCO leadership principles still relevant today. The book's descriptions of mission command execution across diverse environments—mountains, forests, trenches, and urban centers—offer timeless lessons on synchronized operations and disciplined initiative. Modern readers find the tactical decision-making frameworks and logistical considerations directly applicable to contemporary small-unit leadership and operational planning.

Rommel planned to write Panzer Greift An (Tank Attacks) about armored warfare tactics, gathering extensive material during the North African Campaign. However, he never completed this successor work due to his forced suicide in October 1944 following his perceived involvement in a failed assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. This incomplete sequel would have documented Rommel's evolution of Blitzkrieg tactics and desert warfare innovations that earned him the "Desert Fox" nickname.

Infantry Attacks stands out for its first-person combat narrative and granular tactical detail rather than strategic theory. Unlike armchair analyses, Rommel writes from direct battlefield experience, providing specific examples of split-second decisions, terrain exploitation, and leadership under fire. The book's enduring value lies in its timeless principles presented through vivid storytelling, making complex tactical concepts accessible while maintaining professional military depth that continues educating officers nearly 90 years after publication.