Training and Development of German General Staff Officers

Westphal’s study consists of four parts. Part I is the selection, education and training of general staff officers in peace and war; this includes training at the War College in peacetime, training at general staff schools during wartime, probationary service, and final transfer in the general staff itself. Section II contains the organization, work and inner life of the general staff (activities, staff attitude toward procedural problems, and opinions). Part III is the general staff in World War II and includes over-all development of staff in wartime, cohesion within the general staff, relations, influence of the general staff, measures taken by the supreme military command, wartime lessons, and overall evaluation of successes. Part IV addresses the basic problems of the general staff. Main topics include the roots (formative forces and personalities), ideals, tradition and demands of modern times, weaknesses of the general staff, and finally comparisons with other general staffs.

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