Battle Leadership, Some Personal Experiences of a Junior Officer of the German Army with Observations on Battle Tactics and the Psychological Reactions of Troops in Campaign by Adolf Von Schell, Captain Staff Corps, German Army; 1933; 95 pages; The Benning Herald, Fort Benning-Columbus, GA; Interlibrary Loan from the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID; 6/22/09-6/25/09

This little book is jam packed with insights into battles and battlefield decisions and leadership.  This should be required reading for anyone who is going to lead people, not just in the military but in any endeavor.  This articles in the book follows a series of talks that Captain Von Schell gave to American officers in 1933.  The talks are examples given are from World War I and the Germans hadn’t completely fallen under the thrall of Hitler.  One of the interesting things in the first chapter is the observation, which I have seen in many books on war, is that there will be never be another war like this one.  Men won’t ever face one another in hand to hand combat again, that everything  will be done at a distance.  The more things change the more they stay the same.  There are some important lessons here for those who lead troops, but many of the insights from Captain Von Schell could also be applied to any leadership situation.  RRRR