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