Germany
Fritz von Loßberg
1868–1942 Architect of defense in depth
Friedrich Karl von Loßberg was a German general staff officer whose talent for defense made him the army's trouble-shooter. During the Somme battle in 1916, as chief of staff of the Second Army, he applied the lessons of the first weeks and developed the system of a thinly held forward zone backed by a deep battle zone and mobile counterattack forces. His ideas shaped the Principles of Command in the Defensive Battle of December 1916 and the design of the Hindenburg Line. He was sent to every threatened sector, including Arras in 1917 and Passchendaele, and wrote an account of his war after it ended.