Better Italian Performance WWI

Brusilov

The Germans plagiarized Brusilov's tactics with what von Hutier did,

No they did not. Brusilov tactical inovation in 1916 was that he understood that the superior tactical mobility enjoyed by the defenders allowed quicker reaction times for the reserves, and he denied the Austrians that advantage by attacking along a broad front, therefore making the ability of reserve forces to reach critical areas faster (using local railways and unbroken terrain while the attackers had to move over battle areas) useless because the whole austrian front got critical at the same time. The german 1917 tactics were based on in depth operations. You get broad front linear tactics vs narrow front in depth tactics. It's as different as line vs column.
Brusilov concept was brilliant, and failed only because of logistic inability to sustain the momentum of a broad front offensive. German tacticts failed because non mechanized forces lack the speed to exploit their penetration vs an oppenent that has (using trains and, in 1918, motor trucks) superior mobility. The allied 1919 plan would have been a version of Brusilov concepts with allied logistics and lots of tanks...
 
relevance of Stormtroopers, etc

The problems of WWI were delt with by all sides, with varying success. The stormtrouper concept was a german experiment to evolve the german army, starting with selected units, in terms of small infantry unit organization tactics and trainning. This merged with new concepts for the use of artillery support. All nations armies evolved from 1914 to 1918, incorporating mortars and LMG in their Rifle Platoons/companies, improving battlefield comunications, improving trainning, etc. The lead units in the french army were the Alpine troops, whose doctrine inspired the US forces, in Italy the arditi, in germany the Jagger units lead the way. The stormtroops are just a visible trademark for the progressive improvements in German tactics in WWI. The Brits came up with some brilliant ops, like Vimy and Messines.
The basic problem with WWI offensives is that once you break your oppenent lines, you're walking while they are moving around by train. The final solution devised by the allies was to roll back the german lines one limited defeat at a time, giving up on the idea of a breakthrough. The German alternative was to punch in, create a deep salient, and get counterattacked on your newly created exposed flanks.
If you look at the pictures of the Canadian units in the final stages of Passchendale, you'll see the lewis guns, hand granades, light mortars and general evidence of Stormtrooping...
The allies had their own stromtroopers. They called them canadians (and Australians,etc)
 
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