Steel Wind ― Colonel Georg Bruchmuller and the Birth of Modern Artillery

Steel Wind is a piece of historical detective work that explains how Colonel Georg Bruchmuller, an obscure German artillery officer recalled from retirement, played a pivotal role in the revolution of offensive tactics that took place in 1917-18. Ironically, the methods developed by Bruchmuller ultimately were rejected by the German Army of World War II, but they were taken up and applied with a vengeance by the emerging Red Army. The Soviets further developed Bruchmuller's principles and incorporated them into their doctrine, where they remain to this day. Through Soviet doctrine, they have become fundamental to the practice of many other armies. Bruchmuller's influence in shaping the former Soviet Army has also been mirrored in the shape of those armies designed to oppose it.

DAVID T. ZABECKI, an Engineer by profession, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. He is a field artillery officer with an additional skill designator as a historian. He is currently a contributing editor toMilitary History magazine. In 1987 he received the General John J. Pershing Award as the Distinguished Honor Graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Presently, he is enrolled in the U.S. Army War College. In 1968 he served as an infantry rifleman during the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive.