MNBG-E learns mountain warfare the German way

Photo By Ardian Nrecaj | German Army Lt. Col. Matthias Puschnig, German liaison officer for Multinational Battle Group-East, conducts a mountain warfare class for soldiers of MNBG-E at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, March 20.  

CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO

03.20.2015

Story by Ardian Nrecaj 

KFOR Regional Command East

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo – For many U.S. service members, the Alpine Campaign of World War I is an event seldom studied as most are more familiar with events of the Western Front. But for others, especially European military personnel, the high-altitude campaign along the Italian Front is considered a benchmark for students of mountain warfare.

Using the campaign as a backdrop, German Army Lt. Col. Matthias Puschnig, German liaison officer for Multinational Battle Group-East, held a mountain warfare class for soldiers of MNBG-E at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, Mar. 20.

“I wanted to do the class in a way so every soldier from colonel to sergeant could benefit from it,” said Puschnig. “During the class I tried to cover every military aspect, starting with introductory remarks about geology, topography and physiology, and then I went to strategic aspects.”

Puschnig started the class by explaining how mountains are created and how the temperature changes two to three degrees for every 100 meters of altitude.

“I explained tactically what [one needs] to know as a soldier and as a leader [for offensive and defensive] operations in the mountains,” said Puschnig. Puschnig added that such training is not only important for infantry personnel, but for other military personnel such as artillerymen, engineers and aviators.

U.S. Army Capt. Eric Richards, Deputy Planner for MNBG-E, and a native of Jackson, Ohio, attended the class and said it was extremely interesting to him.

“He gave us the technical aspect of how German soldiers conduct mountain warfare,” said Richards. “[He also] explained how it was done before, specifically during the First World War and the Alpine Campaign, so he showed us the doctrinal approaches and how to apply them in real world [situations].”

Richards highlighted the two things he found most interesting about the class.

“Line hauling (the movement of heavy equipment) – setting up basically a wire pulling system where you can actually move heavy equipment up to a kilometer – and how you can use pack animals [such as] mules,” said Richards.

After a short break, Puschnig split the class into small groups and gave each a combat situation where participants had to come up with an operational planning estimate.

“They could draw a campaign plan on the map where it had mountainous areas and plains,” said Puschnig. “We talked about what enemy and friendly forces would most likely do and how we could benefit from the fact that there is a mountain in this campaign.”

Puschnig explained that this was a quick class, but everybody seemed to have fun.

“[I was very pleased] with the quality of the questions and answers I got and it was a very worthwhile training event,” added Puschnig.

• Date Taken: 03.20.2015
• Date Posted: 03.26.2015 08:29
• Story ID: 158145
• Location: CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ