IMPERIAL GERMAN MOTORISED TROOPS 1914-18

DISPONIBILE FINE OTTOBRE 2025

The First World War is often remembered for trench warfare, massed artillery and the dominance of horse-drawn logistics—but it was also the first truly motorised conflict. Imperial German Army Motorised Troops 1914–18 Volume 1 uncovers the overlooked story of Germany’s mechanical transport and the soldiers who operated it, charting the rise of the Kraftfahrtruppen from pre-war experiments to a vital arm of the Kaiser’s army.

Drawing on extensive German-language sources and rare archival photography, Jacek Zabielski explores how the Imperial Army harnessed trucks, motorcycles, staff cars and road locomotives to meet the enormous demands of modern industrial war. Beginning with early state subsidies and the tentative establishment of motor transport battalions before 1914, the book traces how civilian vehicles were requisitioned on mobilisation, and how thousands of new machines were pressed into service to feed, equip and move the army across Europe.

The narrative examines the creation and daily operation of transport columns, depots and parks, as well as the integration of motor vehicles into specialised branches: pioneers hauling pontoons, motorcycle detachments carrying urgent messages, ambulances evacuating casualties, and aviation units relying on motorised recovery teams. Motor traction was also central to moving Germany’s heaviest siege artillery, with steam and petrol-powered tractors hauling giant howitzers across shattered landscapes.

This richly illustrated volume reproduces hundreds of rare and previously unpublished photographs, showing vehicles and their crews on every front—from the Western Front and the Balkans to the Middle East, as well as specially commissioned colour artwork. Technical detail is combined with human stories: drivers in leather tunics posing proudly by their machines, improvised adaptations to vehicles in the field, and the constant struggle against poor roads, shortages of fuel and tyres, and the sheer mechanical strain of total war.

Volume 1 lays the groundwork for understanding the broader impact of Germany’s motorized forces, which are further explored in Volume 2.