Neustrelitz
Neustrelitz (; East Low German: ''Niegenstrelitz'') is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 ...
,
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in northern Germany consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district (the former Lordship of Stargard), ...
– 30 August 1939,
Lugano
Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
) was a German military officer from a family of military officers. He was the primary military figure of Bolivia during the two decades preceding the
Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõMecklenburg-Strelitz
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in northern Germany consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district (the former Lordship of Stargard), ...
, Germany, and was commissioned in 1888 (1889 ''
Fähnrich
Fähnrich () is an officer candidate rank in the Austrian Bundesheer
The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria.
The military consists of 22,050 active-d ...
''). In 1902 he served as captain of the
Generalstab
The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (german: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the Imperial German Army, German Army, respons ...
(General Headquarters) and later commanded a regiment on the Russian Front. Kundt arrived in Bolivia in 1908, as head of a German military training mission. He enjoyed an excellent relationship with the Bolivians and acquired a reputation as a competent peacetime administrator and troop trainer. In 1911, he began the reorganisation of the
Bolivian Army
The Bolivian Army ( es, Ejército Boliviano) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of Bolivia.
Figures on the size and composition of the Bolivian army vary considerably, with little official data available. It is estimated that the arm ...
, following the pattern of the
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
.
At the start of
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Kundt returned to Germany. In 1914 he was commander of a regiment on the Eastern Front and achieved the rank of ''
Generalleutnant
is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries.
Austria
Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of O ...
''. He served as chief of staff on the corps level, and as a brigade commander. After the First World War, Kundt retired at the rank of colonel, although he was conferred the rank of general upon retiring.
In Bolivia
Following the First World War, Kundt again returned to Bolivia. There he was offered the posts of Chief of Staff of the Army, and of Minister of War, with the rank of general. Kundt accepted the posts and headed the program of rearming Bolivia during the 1920s, and the planning to occupy the Chaco. He adopted Bolivian citizenship and entered the army as a general. In this post he continued the reorganisation he had begun in 1911, and became very popular as – unlike much of the Bolivian officer corps – he was concerned with the well-being of the troops. In 1923 he was named Minister of War. After the fall of president
Hernando Siles Reyes
Hernando Siles Reyes (5 August 1882 – 23 November 1942) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 31st president of Bolivia from 1926 to 1930. The founder of the Nationalist Party, he soon gravitated toward the Saavedrista faction of th ...
in a coup in 1930, Kundt was exiled for having collaborated with that administration.
Chaco War
Only two years later, Kundt was brought back to direct the Bolivian Army against Paraguay in the
Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõSeverin, Kurt, ''Guns in the 'Green Hell' Of The Chaco'', Guns Magazine, Nov. 1960, Vol. VI, No. 11-71, pp. 20,22-40-43 Kundt later boasted to an American reporter that 'if the Paraguayans ever dare to take up the Chaco issue again, I shall make a military walkover right over to their capital of Asunción, and settle the matter once and for all'.
However, Kundt's directing of the Bolivian military campaign was problematic. Bolivia's
tanks
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...
and tankettes proved almost useless in navigating the thick scrub and quebracho of the Gran Chaco, and were easily isolated and destroyed or seized by Paraguyan infantry using grenades and mortars. By 1934, Paraguay was employing a large number of captured Bolivian Army automatic weapons and trucks against their former owners. The loss of the tanks forced the Bolivian government to purchase a quantity of bipod-mounted Oerlikon SSG36 anti-tank rifles to deal with their potential recovery and use by the Paraguayan army.
The valuable aerial reconnaissance produced by Bolivia's superior air force (Bolivian pilots spotted several approaching Paraguayan encirclements of Bolivian forces) was largely ignored by Kundt, who dismissed the reports as exaggerations by overzealous airmen. Kundt repeatedly eschewed flanking maneuvers for futile frontal infantry assaults against well-defended Paraguayan positions using machine guns with interlocking fire zones. Kundt also proved a failure at
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
, and large Bolivian forces were regularly forced to surrender for lack of water to their opponents. His refusal to develop an effective intelligence service meant that the Bolivian Army could not track enemy movements. Unit after unit of the Bolivian army were surrounded and destroyed.
After Bolivia's defeat in Campo Vía, Kundt was relieved of command on 12 December 1933 as Chief of Staff by Bolivian President Daniel Salamanca. Kundt left Bolivia and returned to Germany.Brockmann, Robert S., ''El General y sus presidentes'', Plural ed. (2009), p. 390 Retiring to Switzerland in 1936, Kundt died in Lugano (Switzerland) on 30 August 1939 at age 70.
Evaluation
Kundt displayed excellent qualities as an administrator and dedicated instructor, and was concerned for the well-being of his men.Farcau, Bruce W. (1996) ''The Chaco War: Bolivia and Paraguay, 1932–1935''. Praeger, p. 160. However, during World War I Kundt demonstrated a mediocre grasp of tactics, preferring frontal assaults in most situations. Despite his knowledge of staff issues, he was not a good strategist. Despite the Bolivian military's focus on the Chaco in the 1920s, Kundt never visited or familiarised himself with the region, and his concept of the war with Paraguay was essentially that of a triumphant, unopposed march across the region by Bolivian troops.
Kundt was reluctant to depend on his Bolivian officers (though many were quite capable), and preferred to supervise military operations directly.