Abstract At its peak, the Eastern Front encompassed the entire frontier between the Russian Empire and Romania on the Allied side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on the other: a distance of c . 1500–1700 km. Mobile warfare alternated with periods of static trench and siege warfare, when ‘mines’ (tunnels charged with explosives detonated to breach the overhead fortifications) and ‘dugouts’ (to protect troops from artillery or aerial bombardment) were constructed in at least 50 localities between 1915 and 1917, from Mitau in present-day Latvia to Rarancze in Moldova. Terrain ranged from plateaux floored by Cenozoic sediments in the north to mountains with more complex, older, stronger rocks in the south. Despite lessons learnt from the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–05, both sides began the conflict unprepared for tunnelling warfare. However, German and Austro-Hungarian forces soon developed units of military geologists whose duties included guidance of tunnelling projects. Eight teams of German military geologists and four of Austro-Hungarian, in total over 60 men who can be named, are known to have served on the Front, as did newly formed and equipped specialist engineer mining battalions from Prussia, Bavaria and Austria-Hungary.

Abstract The potential for cross-country mobility (CCM) by vehicles has increasingly become an integral part of tactical planning for military operations and depends on a multitude of parameters. A comprehensive trafficability forecast requires the analysis of terrain, including slope, land cover and soil properties, and weather, as well as specific vehicle parameters. Terrain and weather interactions were recognized as important for the first time during World War I, when all types of vehicle would frequently bog down in muddy ground. The lessons learned influenced the orientation of future German military geology. During World War II, German military geologists and engineers prepared their first CCM maps. However, these often lacked a consistent format and standardized analysis. During the Cold War, the US Army carried out extensive research to create empirical mobility models based on physical properties and trafficability tests. These results were incorporated into the production of CCM maps. Present day computer-based data processing and analysis have opened up the possibility of enhancements to trafficability forecasting and thus make a vital contribution to providing the armed forces with advice on exercises and operations.

Abstract The German Army developed a military geological organization during World War I largely as a response to near-static battlefield conditions on the Western Front, in Belgium and northern France. In 1916 it was assigned to support military survey, but in late 1918 it was reassigned to the engineer branch of the Army. It contained over 350 geologists and associated technicians by the end of the war. Military geologists contributed advice on engineering geology and hydrogeology (principally on water supply, but also site drainage). They compiled a large number and wide range of groundwater prospect maps to guide military planning, at scales typically from 1:250 000 to 1:25 000. They contributed advice to guide effective use of groundwater by means of dug or bored wells, ‘Abyssinian’ driven tube wells, and protected capturing of springs. Field hygiene was of particular concern, and military geologists helped to avoid contamination of groundwater, for example by appropriate siting of cess-pits and cemeteries. A few officers made use of dowsing in attempts to locate groundwater, including at least one German in support of Ottoman Turk campaigns SW from Palestine towards the British-held Suez Canal, their Austro-Hungarian allies in campaigns south against Italy and in the Balkans, but with relatively insignificant success.

Abstract A uniformed geological organization was re-created within the German Army by the start of World War II and developed to comprise 40 centres or teams by 1943. Many specialist geotechnical maps and reports prepared by these military geologists have survived the war as part of the Heringen Collection; some remains in the USA, but other parts are in Germany, notably within the archives of the Bundeswehr Geoinformation Office. German armed forces made use of about 400 geologists in total during the conflict, mostly in the Army. Many of their tasks involved groundwater studies, some including the preparation of groundwater prospect maps. Temporary water supplies were set up during mobile campaigns by planning efficient use or enhancement of existing civilian resources, supplemented by driving shallow ‘Abyssinian’ tube wells, for example, in Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of SE England planned for September 1940 but ultimately cancelled. Sustainable long-term supplies in militarily occupied territory were achieved by rigorous data collection and programmes of well drilling, spring capture or percolation gallery construction, one example being on the Channel Islands between 1940 and 1945. Geophysics sometimes aided the geological and borehole studies that guided deployment of well-drilling teams, for example, in 1941/1942, to support German and Italian forces operational in North Africa.

Abstract An army, the Bundeswehr , was created in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1956, from the 1960s supported by full-time geologists employed as civilians but with reserve army military ranks. A peak geologist strength (about 20) was achieved in the 1980s, to provide expertise that included hydrogeology. Roles in these Cold War years were confined to Germany, but included guidance to ensure that potable water would be available both to the civilian population and armed forces during a state of emergency, and the optimum siting of boreholes to supply water to military installations. In 1993, Bundeswehr troops deployed overseas, to support United Nations (UN) peace-keeping operations in Somalia. Military geological expertise was used to site wells that enhanced secure water supplies for German and other UN personnel, and the civilian population. In 1999, Bundeswehr troops were among those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) deployed to Kosovo. Wells to supply water to German troops in Albania and Yugoslavian Macedonia prior to deployment, and in Kosovo itself, were drilled under civilian contract but military geologist guidance. From 2002, Bundeswehr troops joined coalition forces in Afghanistan. Well drilling was again guided by military geologist expertise, but contract drilling proved inadequate, so was supplemented by rigs operated by military engineers. These operations have proved the value to the Bundeswehr of retaining military expertise in both hydrogeology and well drilling.