Digital List Price:	$17.99
Kindle Price:	$11.99 Save $6.00 (33%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Lossberg's War: The World War I Memoirs of a German Chief of Staff (Foreign Military Studies) Kindle Edition

by Fritz von Lossberg (Author), David T. Zabecki (Editor), Dieter J. Biedekarken (Editor), Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 11 ratings

Part of: Foreign Military Studies (18 books)

See all formats and editions

“This book is a work of detail and scholars can now envision the campaigns and battles of the First World War from a high-level German perspective.” —Journal of Military History

Gen. Fritz von Lossberg (1868-1942) directed virtually all the major German defensive battles on the Western Front during the First World War. Hailed as “the Lion of the Defensive,” he was an extremely influential military tactician and, unlike many other operations officers of his era, was quick to grasp the changes wrought by technology.

Now available for the first time in English, Lossberg’s memoir explains how he developed, tested, and implemented his central principles—flexibility, decentralized control, and counterattack—which were based on a need to adapt to shifting conditions on the battlefield. Lossberg first put his theory of elastic defense combined with defense-in-depth into practice during the Battle of Arras (April-May 1917), where it succeeded. At the Battle of Passchendaele (June-November 1917), his achievements on the field proved the feasibility of his strategy of employing a thinly manned front line that minimized the number of soldiers exposed to artillery fire. Lossberg’s tactical modernizations have become essential components of army doctrine, and Lossberg’s War: The World War I Memoirs of a German Chief of Staff will take readers inside the mind of one of the most significant military innovators of the twentieth century.

“Make no mistake about it, the appearance of this book is one of the most significant Great War publishing events of the year. It deserves to be on the shelf of every serious student of this titanic conflict.” —Stand To!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This memoir is arguably the best of its genre: objectively presented, seeking explanations as opposed to assigning blame, eschewing the backbiting and recriminations that increasingly permeated the German high command as defeat loomed ever larger."―Michael Neiberg, author of Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I

"David Zabecki brings a lifetime of real military experience as well as deep understandings of Germany, command, staff work, and World War I, among other topics. He has worked in the archives at Freiburg more often than probably any other non-German and can therefore place Lossberg in the widest historical context."―Dennis Showalter, author of Instrument of War: The German Army 1914–18

"This is an essential work for anyone seriously studying military operations during World War I or for those interested in the Germany Army and staff system."―NYMAS Review

"Military historians and enthusiastic readers of military strategy will devour this book."―New York Journal of Books

"This book is a work of detail and scholars can now envision the campaigns and battles of the First World War from a high-level German perspective. This book belongs on the shelf of every scholar of the Western Front."―Journal of Military History

"Thanks to the herculean feat of translation and editing, [this book] is available to the entire Anglophone audience―and what a valuable piece of work this is for all who study the Great War. Make no mistake about it, the appearance of this book is one of the most significant Great War publishing events of the year. It deserves to be on the shelf of every serious student of this titanic conflict."―Stand To!

About the Author

Major General David T. Zabecki, USA (Ret.), is the author or editor of many books, including Germany at War: Four Hundred Years of Military History and The Schlieffen Plan: International Perspectives on the German Strategy for World War I. He was a distinguished visiting professor at the US Naval Academy. He is an honorary senior research fellow in the War Studies Programme at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Lieutenant Colonel Dieter Biedekarken, USA (Ret.), is coeditor of Order in Chaos: The Memoirs of General of Panzer Troops Hermann Balck, 1893–1948.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06W9M6L13
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University Press of Kentucky (November 15, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 15, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5837 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 458 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,042,809 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #759 in World War I History (Kindle Store)
- #1,155 in History of Germany
- #2,263 in World War I History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 11 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

11 global ratings

2 star

0%

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Albert A. Nofi

A German Staff Officer's War

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2018

A summary of the review on StrategyPage:

'General der Infanterie Fritz von Lossberg (1868-1942) was perhaps the ablest staff officer in the German Army during the Great War, becoming chief-of-staff of an army while still a colonel, and going on to head the staffs of several armies and army groups. His 1939 memoir of the war, translated into English for the first time by American soldier-scholars Zabecki and Biedekarken, who have added notes and commentary, throws considerable light on the workings of the general staff during the war, while telling Germany’s side of the battles in which he played a role – among them the Frontiers, the Aisne, the Somme, Verdun, Arras, Passchendaele, and on to the Armistice. Lossberg developed many new tactics that made him a master of defensive warfare. As he discusses these actions, Lossberg gives us insights into some of the more unusual aspects of the German staff system, from the power staff officers could exercise over more senior commanders under certain circumstances to the remarkable frankness with which they would communicate with their superiors. He often includes blunt commentary on many senior officers, Germany’s allies and enemies, and the overall conduct of the war. This is an essential work for anyone seriously studying military operations during World War I or for those interested in the Germany Army and staff system.'

For the full review, see StrategPage.

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Image Unavailable