In September 1944, a major argument broke out between the Allied commanders during the Normandy Campaign. The roots of this argument went back a long way, to the very concept used by the Allies to fight wars, the dysfunctional Allied command structure used in the Mediterranean Campaign, and the assumptions made by COSSAC in the early planing stages of Overlord. The actual arguments may have been about the day to day tactical decisions but these were only a symptom of larger command problems.
Mechanised Corps represented the most expensive divisional sized combat units in the Red Army yet we know relatively little about how they were organised and equipped. Although only a small number of these corps were raised, they were important indicators as to STAVKAs strategic intentions as Mechanised Corps were deployed in many of the key offensives. New information for Russia now allows a more comprehensive look at these interesting units.
Mobility was key to German plans at the opening of the Great War and yet I could find little about the establishment of Infanterie Divisionen in 1914, so this article aims to address the question of what transport was available to the hard marching men of the first summer of the war and comparing this to the forces of 1918.
