Emil Spannocchi (1 September 1916 – 29 August 1992) was an Austrian military officer and military theorist. He reached the apex of his career as a general in the

Austrian Armed Forces The Austrian Armed Forces () are the combined military forces of Austria. The military consists of 16,000 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 1.0% of national GDP (including pensions) or €3.317 billion (20 ...

Biography

Emil Spannocchi was born into a noble family on 1 September 1916 in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. He joined the military of the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I which ended the Habsburg rump state of ...

in 1934 and started to attend the

Theresian Military Academy The Theresian Military Academy (, TherMilAk) is a military academy in Austria, where the Austrian Armed Forces train their officers. Founded in 1751, the academy is located in the castle of Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria. History The Th ...

in 1935. Following the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

, he was transferred to the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

and received his

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

as a second lieutenant. At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Spannocchi commanded a platoon that took part in the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, in the course of which he was promoted to a first lieutenant. After various positions at both

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and Western Front and being wounded twice, he was captured by American forces in late April and became prisoner of war until June 1945. After the war, Spannocchi worked in the private sector for several years, until he decided to join the proto-military of

Allied-occupied Austria Austria was occupied by the Allies of World War II, Allies and declared independence from Nazi Germany on 27 April 1945 (confirmed by the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration for Germany on 5 June 1945), as a result of the Vienna offen ...

, the '' B-Gendarmerie''. Therein, he assisted the re-establishment of the ''

Bundesheer The Austrian Armed Forces () are the combined military forces of Austria. The military consists of 16,000 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 1.0% of national GDP (including pensions) or €3.317 billion (202 ...

'' as the successor of the ''B-Gendarmerie''. In 1956, by then having reached the rank of a lieutenant colonel, he worked in the central office of the Austrian ministry of defense in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1957, he was appointed commander of the Armored Troops School, 1960 as commander of the 9th Armored Brigade and from 1963 until 1973 head of the National Defense Academy of Austria.

Military theory

Spannocchi developed what was known as the doctrine of ''Raumverteidigung'' (lit. "space defense"), a variant of partisan warfare, inspired by

Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz ( , ; born Carl Philipp Gottlieb Clauswitz; 1 July 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral" (in modern terms meaning psychological) and political aspe ...

and akin to the concept of

Protracted People's War People's war or protracted people's war is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to maintain the support of the population a ...

, developed by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

, and the strategy of the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

, albeit missing their specific political contents.Spannocchi, Emil. ''Verteidigung ohne Selbstzerstörung'' ("Defense without self-destruction") in: Spannochi, E. & Brossollet G. ''Verteidigung ohne Schlacht'' ("Defense without battle"). Vienna: Carl Hanser Verlag (1977). Utilizing partisan tactics of a war of attrition or popular resistance, but also mobilizing scare-tactics, a small, neutral Austria could defend its sovereignty against both

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and the

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. Spannocchi's doctrine was the leading military doctrine of the Austrian Armed Forces for more than 20 years, until the end of the cold war made armed conflict in Europe very unlikely, and resulted in the construction of expansive bunker complexes and fortifications throughout most of Austria, particularly its Alpine part.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spannocchi, Emil 1916 births 1992 deaths Military personnel from Salzburg Austrian military personnel of World War II Theresian Military Academy alumni People from the Duchy of Salzburg