Reddit reviews Attacks

Erwin Rommel (of WWII fame) served from the start. He has a memoir of his experience that, even while probably self-inflated, shows just how skilled he was as a tactician.

Edit: Crap, I forgot the even crazier one, Storm of Steel. This guy served almost the entire war on the western front, finally getting wounded (not for the first time) in August, 1918, 1.5 months before the war's end. No idea how he made it out, if his stories are even half true.

I think it is probably this one:

Attacks

https://www.amazon.com/Attacks-Erwin-Rommel/dp/0960273603/ref=la_B001H6J32W_1_1/168-0761651-4922548?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488196120&sr=1-1

Their tactics were better than decent. The Germans, Brits and French all developed effective tactics for seizing enemy trenches pretty quickly. That wasn't the problem. The problem is, how do you seize the first enemy line of trenches and hold it while you're under artillery fire and enemy infantry counter attack? You don't have effective radios and artillery is constantly cutting the phone lines you are able to lay. Signaling is difficult because of terrain, weather conditions, smoke created by fires and the fact that if you're visible enough to be seen by your support then you're also probably visible enough to be seen by the enemy. Even if the enemy doesn't counterattack immediately (which they would), how do you get to the second line of trenches under said conditions? How do you coordinate supporting fires and reinforcements when there is quite literally a wall of flying steel (barrage means wall/barricade in French, which is where the term comes from) between you and your start point?

The main issue was that the offensive technologies (communications, motorized vehicles, light supporting weapons, aerial weapons) hadn't caught up to the defense technologies (barbed wire, concrete pillboxes, heavy machine guns, massed artillery, rail-borne reinforcements). Even if you successfully seized line after line of trench, the enemy could always dig in behind their last line and pour in reinforcements via rail faster than you could break through. With all that said, strategically the allies were idiotic. Continuing to attack fortified German positions again and again and again with very little to show for it is just bad strategic judgement.

I've posted these links before, but if you'd like to educate yourself on WW1 infantry tactics/battle:

Stormtrooper Tactics

Infantry in Battle

To Conquer Hell

Infantry Attacks

Storm of Steel

PS. I know you can find the second one for free on the internet.

Irwin Rommel was an infantry lieutenant in WWI, and wrote Attacks, a fascinating book on his experiences.

There are some amazing stories of grenade fights on near-vertical mountainsides. Highly recommend!

Waaaayyy too late, but he was a pretty badass tactician. He was a First World War vet and was awarded the Frederician [Pour le Mérite] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pour_le_M%C3%A9rite) for valor, and [wrote a book] (http://www.amazon.com/Attacks-Erwin-Rommel/dp/0960273603) about it in the 1930s which still circulates among US military.

Edit: see u/kami 232's comment below