Men-At-Arms 394: The German Army in World War I (1) 1914-15

by Nigel Thomas, with color illustrations by Gerry Embleton

Soft covers, 7.25 x 9.75-inches, 48 pages, 40 B&W photos, one map, one rank chart, four tables, eight pages of color art and index. MBI order number 135843AO, ISBN 1 84176 565 1. Price: $14.95 USD.

This is the first book in a three-part series, which seeks to acquaint the reader with the uniforms and organization of the army of Imperial Germany as it appeared in World War One. The second part is reviewed separately below, while the third part is, at the time of this writing, not yet available.

The author takes a very methodical and highly detailed approach in describing the basic uniforms and equipment as worn by officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men. In order to do so, the text is much denser than that typically seen in these books. That’s because the author has lots to cover.The book is divided into three main parts. The first part entitled “The German Empire and Army in 1914” describes the high command structure, methods of recruitment, state (Germany was composed of four kingdoms and 21 lesser states) and corps organization, and the expansion of the army. Also covered is the organization of the Field Army. This section is complimented by a map showing the various Corps districts within Germany as well as showing sections of Eastern and Western Europe that were occupied by them through September of 1915.

The next section, “Strategy”, dwells mainly on the Schlieffen Plan, which was Germany’s conceptual answer to its problem of fighting a two-front war. The final section, “Uniforms”, deals in detail with the books main focus and comprises the bulk of the book. It details the so-called “Orders of Dress”, and then goes on to break the coverage down into branches of service such as Line Infantry (and its variations), Light Infantry, General Officers and General Staff, Cavalry, Artillery, Technical Troops, Medical and Veterinary Corps, and finally Rank and Rank Insignia. This section is complimented by charts that give detailed, annotated orders-of-battle for the eastern and western fronts through September of 1915, Orders of Dress for August 1914, Ranks and variants and finally Rank Insignia as seen through September of 1914.

The photos depict various officers and enlisted men in official and semi-official portraits, as well as in the field. They are as well reproduced as the originals will allow, and are usually accompanied by detailed and informative captions. There are very few photos depicting or describing weapons in either of these books. I believe that may be either because that’s not the focus of these books or that perhaps the author is saving that for the last book. Time will tell, but that does not detract from what we do get.

The color plates are full of variety and cover full dress uniforms, troops in Belgium and France through 1915, and the eastern front through 1915. The art work is attractive but more “stylized” then one would ordinarily expect. But that is a matter of taste; it certainly provides the information figure painters will need to produce an accurate model. As an aside, there is a plate depicting that most infamous of Bavarian Corporals, Adolf Hitler, in France.

After recently reviewing quite a few titles devoted to the “War To End All Wars”, I suppose that what is most astonishing from the viewpoint of modelers, is the lack of suitable models and figures for this era. I would hope that some of the major manufacturers would take pity on us and give us something different. Perhaps, they should get hold of these and other related books and see what they (and we) are missing.

Highly recommended.

Frank De Sisto

More details from Osprey Publishing

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