Improvement in German Military Geology from the Napoleonic Wars to First World War

Abstract

The roots of military geology date back to the end of the seventeenth century when Swiss Mining Officer Johann Samuel von Gruner made use of the knowledge of dip and strike of formations for tactical purposes during the Napoleonic War in 1792. When he immigrated to Bavaria in 1802, he joined the Bavarian Army as a commissioned officer. In 1820 Gruner wrote down a memorandum on the relationship between geology and military science. This paper titled “Verhaltnis der Geognosie zur Kriegs-Wissenschaft” (The relation of geology to war science) was published posthumously in a mining yearbook in 1826. Due to the fact that his early approach on geologic military terrain evaluation was neglected for nearly a century, Gruner can be termed the forgotten father of military geology. In the early twentieth century, Walter Kranz, a commissioned officer, again pioneered German military geology. In 1913 Kranz published his first paper on military geology, recognizing the importance of geology with regard to military planning. In particular, he understood the need for studying underground installations, mining, and water supply. Receiving his PhD in geology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Kranz set a milestone in German military geology, making use of applied geology for military needs. He joined the First World War as a major and also as a military geologist. In total he published more than 170 scientific papers, a third of which deal with military geology and his experiences in war geology. Therefore, Kranz actually can be termed the father of German military geology.