The years 1915-17 saw the Imperial German Army forced to adapt to the new realities of static trench warfare. Prewar uniforms and equipment had to be modified, for both utility and economy; on battlefields ruled by machine guns and artillery the steel helmet reappeared, as well as masks to protect against poison gas. Fashionable cavalry regiments soon proved irrelevant on the Western Front; many were dismounted to join the infantry, while new units usurped their prestige - assault battalions, and the air corps. This second volume in a three-part sequence offers vast detail on organisation, uniforms and insignia, illustrated with rare photographs and meticulous colour artwork.

NIGEL THOMAS PhD is an accomplished linguist and military historian, formerly at Northumbria University, now a freelance military author, translator and military uniform consultant. His interests are 20th-century military and civil uniformed organizations, with a special interest in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. He has written widely for Osprey with titles such as MAA 518 Polish Legions 1914-19 and Elite 227 Armies of the Baltic Independence Wars 1918-20. He was awarded a PhD for the study of the Eastern enlargement of NATO.