Jürgen Kraus
Handbook of the units and troops of the German Army 1914-1918
Kraftfahrtruppen, Volumes 1 & 2
As the youngest branch of the Army, a Motor Transport Troop had been established in 1907 as part of the Transport Troops. Until the start of the war, these troops mainly tested trucks for military use. From a small peacetime force, 114 wartime formations were created at mobilization, with a total of about 200 officers and 8000 men. The newly formed formations concentrated on truck columns for the stage. Soon the motor truck columns proved to be indispensable for securing supplies, which led to a great increase in motor trucks.
In December 1916, there was a fundamental reorganization of the motor transport system. It was headed by a newly appointed chief of field motor transport, who took charge of the motor transport troops in the field and at home. Since in the meantime the emphasis of the motor transport troops had shifted from the stage to the area of operations, all motor vehicle columns, squadrons, and parks became army troops and were renamed accordingly. At the same time, each division received its own motor transport column. With this reorganization, the motor transport force was finally established as an independent branch of the armed forces, which was now located in the army area and, in addition to about 240 division columns, consisted at its core of at last 320 army motor vehicle columns.
In the fall of 1914, the first detachments of motorcyclists were formed, which were used primarily in reporting and patrol duty; in 1917, they were renamed Kraftrad-Abteilungen (motorcycle detachments).
The Kraftfahrruppen also included the armored cars, also called tanks. It was not until 1917 that a war-useable A7V armored car could be developed and produced in small numbers. With it, the first assault armored car detachments were established, followed by other detachments in 1918, which had to be equipped with booty tanks.
Increasingly, the Kraftfahrtruppe provided assistance in motorizing other troop branches. Since the beginning of the war, individual motor cars with personnel had been provided for staffs, aviators, airmen, etc. A special emphasis was placed on the provision of tractors to move heavy and heaviest guns of the foot artillery.
In the homeland, the Kraftfahrtruppe had its own supply organization: replacement detachments provided the personnel, while immobile motor vehicle depots provided the motor vehicle equipment.
From the beginning of the war, the motor transport system received support from several civilian organizations. These included a Voluntary Automobile Corps, on whose model a Bavarian and Saxon volunteer corps was also formed. Volunteer ambulance motor vehicle formations were particularly numerous.
All command posts and motor corps are treated in detail here for the first time, providing an in-depth picture of motoring in World War I.
- Hardcover
- 2 volumes
- total 722 pages
- German text
