Ernst Volckheim, Heinz Guderian, and the Origins of German Armored Doctrine

Following World War II, General Heinz Guderian claimed authorship of the development of Germany’s Panzer arm, which he had led to successes at the war’s start. In fact, Guderian had little influence on the foundation of the Reichswehr’s mechanized forces. He had built on the work of Germany’s first armored warfare theorist: Ernst Volckheim. One of few German officers to command a tank in World War I, Volckheim was Germany’s leading theorist of tank warfare in the 1920s. His work would reshape decisions crucial to Germany’s development of armored forces in World War II. This article reassesses Volckheim’s influence on German training, doctrine, and tank design.