Holding Out: The German Army and Operational Command in 1917

Cambridge Military Histories

by Tony Cowan

This is a ground-breaking study of German operational command during a critical phase of the First World War from November 1916 to the eve of the third battle of Ypres. The situation faced by the German army on the Western Front in 1917 was very different from the one anticipated in pre-war doctrine and Holding Out examines how German commanders and staff officers adapted. Tony Cowan analyses key command tasks to get under the skin of the army's command culture, internal politics and battle management systems from co-ordinating the troops, matériel and different levels of command needed to fight a modern battle to continuously learning and applying lessons from the ever-changing Western Front. His detailed analysis of the German defeat of the 1917 Entente spring offensive sheds new light on how the army and Germany were able to hold out so long during the war against increasing odds.

Genres: World War I

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2023

Reviews

[John Vandike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent monograph on the German Army in 1917. This was a year where the Central Powers, weakened after two years of fighting and facing a resurgent collection of Allied powers to their west, east, and south managed to, if not take the initiative, prevent their enemies from doing so.

This book is not about the battles of 1917. Instead the author focuses on the non-combat aspects of the German army, especially as they relate to command, morale, intelligence, and to some extent materiale. The author states in the foreword that the book grew out of his Ph.D. thesis, which is much of the reason for the very laser focused topic, it still reads well for the non-academic.