The epidemic is serious, based on the attitude of being responsible for the society of my family, I have no choice but to stay at home, idle and bored, and pick up a book from my collection to flip through. As a military fan, especially those interested in World War II, the book "History of World War II: Strategy and Tactics" in my military books is not a description of the course of the war like other books on the full history of World War II, but a narrative reflection on the entire strategy and tactics of World War II from a macro perspective, detailing the strategies and tactics of Germany, Japan, and the Allies in World War II on various fronts, as well as their thinking on combat success and failure, which is definitely a book that is useful in the open volume. Of course, the focus of this article is not to explain the content of the book, but to talk about the author of the book, John Frederick Charles Fuller.
That's him
Many military fans and friends may have questions, is the father of armored warfare not Guderian, one of the three famous german generals? It is true that Guderian is also the father of armored warfare, but Guderian can be called the father of German armored warfare at most. The title that really deserves the title of the father of armored warfare is the one I would like to talk about in this article, the pioneer of the theory of armored warfare, known as "Clausewitz of the 20th century", the famous British military scientist General Fuller. During World War II, Germany translated Fuller's book "Armored Warfare" into German, and the officers of the armored unit had a copy, and even two of the three famous German generals, Guderian and Rommel, regarded Fuller's "Armored Warfare" as a classic, and in 1936, when Guderian commanded the Second Armored Division to practice the idea of "Armored Warfare" on the exercise ground, he also specially presented the retired Fuller as a guest of honor and let him guide him, which shows the geometry of Fuller's position in Guderian's mind.
Guderian
The "Blitzkrieg" that Germany regarded as a classic in World War II was not first proposed by Guderian, just as the stealth technology of the fighter was first proposed by the United States, but the former Soviet Union, but was carried forward by the United States, as early as 1919, the "1919 Plan" in which he participated in formulating it had proposed an armored warfare concept similar to "Blitzkrieg", and systematically described the imagination of aircraft and tanks working together. However, a person's sobriety can not lead a group of sleeping people, the British general still firmly believes that the tank can only be an auxiliary tool, can not undertake the combat task alone, although Fuller has an advanced combat concept, but in the end it can not be truly implemented, helplessly can only regret retirement.
Napoleon
Perhaps because of his height (only 1.63 meters tall), Fuller was particularly interested in Napoleon. During his studies at the Royal Military Academy, Fuller read a large number of books on the Napoleonic Wars and wrote many papers from them, and Fuller's military theory edifice began to gradually take shape. In 1914, Fuller participated in World War I, and the baptism of war made his military theory more solid and closer to actual combat. Two years later, Fuller published "From the Campaign of 1914 to 1915 to See the Operational Principles" to criticize the old British "Field Regulations", and more importantly, Fuller put forward the theory of in-depth breakthrough in the text, which was the beginning of Fuller's concept of armored operations, and Fuller began to think about future operations from then on, in order to explore the combat mode of the future Army and the law of war. But at this time, Fuller suffered from the lack of such a carrier of deep breakthrough theory, the cavalry was unrealistic, let alone the infantry, until August 20, 1916, Fuller saw the British army's new weapon- the tank. Fuller was overjoyed, it was simply a weapon tailored for his own theory, and when Fuller first saw the tank, he understood that this was what he needed, this was the carrier of his military theory. Later, Fuller combined his own military theory and began to systematically analyze the role of tanks in war and how to use them through the performance of tanks in war. In 1917, Fuller published the Sixteenth Training Principles, in which Fuller's theoretical system of tank warfare had begun to take shape. And Fuller repeatedly emphasized in subsequent articles that the use of tanks must implement the principle of centralization, and that tanks should be concentrated in large quantities in important areas and main directions.
World War I tanks
In 1917, the Franco-Belgian border was under strong German pressure, and julian Bin, commander of the British Third Army, was ordered to launch an offensive to attract German troops and ease the pressure on the Franco-Belgian border, although Fuller's tank warfare ideas were rejected by the British superiors, but General Bin felt that he could try. The British army adopted the tactic of tank breakthrough trench warfare, with three tanks as a combat unit, after breaking through the barbed wire, it was not in a hurry to attack, but turned the tank 90 degrees, strafed with flank machine guns, covered the arrival of subsequent tanks, broke through the German position in just one day, and resisted 6 infantry divisions with 378 tanks and more than 4,000 tank soldiers, and made the enemy pay the price of more than 5,000 casualties, while also capturing more than 8,000 people and capturing 100 artillery pieces. An impressive record of 250 machine guns. Although the British returned to the starting point again in less than a week due to insufficient defensive preparations, the superiority of tanks was vividly demonstrated in this battle. However, out of distrust of the new tactics, the Allies did not continue to organize large tank attacks in 1918. Although the situation of the war has not changed thoroughly, the resulting war has completely laid the foundation for Fuller's military theoretical status.
Fuller
In 1932, Fuller's famous work "Armored Warfare" was finally published, but this work was somehow almost unpopular at the beginning, practice is the only criterion for testing truth, and as the war progressed, its theoretical value was gradually discovered, and various countries translated and studied it. For example, the Soviet Union listed "Armored Warfare" as a must-read for officers, the American and British countries called it a document of obvious practical value on war, and the German generals regarded it as a treasure.
Advanced military theory, coupled with untamed character, Fuller's situation in the army is getting more and more difficult, and finally Fuller offered to resign, in December 1933 with the rank of major general retired from service, but Fuller's military theory Germany gave proof, the side of the verification of Fuller's military theory forward-looking and practical, so Fuller is known as the "father of armored warfare" deservedly.