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Universal Military Tactics Military tactics are the tricks used on the battlefield, while conducting a war, to gain success. There are two main ways to defeat an army: by destroying it through fighting, and by cutting off its supplies so that it runs out of weapons, medication, food and drink, and thus 'starves' to death. Encirclement In both cases, encirclement is a good idea. When fighting, an encircled army is being hit from many angles at once, making it difficult to fight back effectively. Also, encirclement cuts off supplies. Therefore, encirclement is one of the most central tactics used in warfare. Overwhelming Force Second to encirclement comes the tactic of overwhelming force concentrated on a weaker part of the opponent's army, attacking by surprise so the enemy is not even ready for you. With this tactic, encirclement is not necessary, since you can destroy the opponent with one powerful blow, and then regroup and go on to overwhelm other parts of the enemy's army (also known as "defeat in detail"). Surprise and hiding your location, movements and intentions are critical for success with this kind of tactic, since it depends on your enemy spreading his or her army out thinly, not knowing where to expect your attack, while you concentrate yours massively in one location and destroy all in your way. In order to make the opponent spread his or her forces out thinly, you need to make him or her ignorant of your exact whereabouts, intentions, and where you will attack next. This can be very difficult to do since the opponent will often be able to see where you are amassing your forces, and he or she will respond by amassing his or her forces opposite yours, to counter your build-up. Thus, this tactic is normally only employed when your army is much stronger than the enemy's, so even if he or she amasses his or her forces opposite yours, he or she still cannot face up to yours. Hit and Run Tactics If the opponent is much weaker and cannot stand up to an attack of overwhelming force, he or she will then break his or her army up into small groups, so that there is no way the army can be destroyed in one blow. He or she will now send the groups at you from different angles, when you do not expect them, to cause damage, and then run off again before you have a chance to respond effectively or catch them. These tactics are also called 'Guerrilla Tactics'. To respond to these kinds of tactics, you have to send out parties of soldiers to find out where the enemy's groups are hiding, and then destroy them one by one. This can become almost impossible if they are hiding in jungles, forests, mountains and so on, and they have no permanent homes to defend. All through history, many large and powerful armies have been defeated by small, wandering, guerilla armies. Sending out mobile squads of troops to find the enemy is called 'scouting'. Line Tactics Typically, when armies face off, they draw their forces out in long lines facing each other. The reason for this is to prevent the other side from encircling them. You do not want to draw out your forces too thinly, or the enemy might be able to overpower you by using the Overwhelming Force tactic. However, you do not want to mass your forces too closely together, or you will be encircled, and will make your troops too easy of a target for the enemy, since they are all in more or less the same place. Many long books have been written about the exact spacing armies should employ. Range Armies, when they draw up their lines, draw them up slightly out of range of the enemy's weapons. This has always been the case throughout history. This is so that the soldiers remain safe. As soon as any group of soldiers advances closer to the enemy line, it is said to have come 'within range', and it can be destroyed by the enemy. However, if the enemy does not notice its advance, either because it remains hidden and advances secretly, or advances so quickly the enemy cannot react fast enough, this group of soldiers might be able to inflict significant damage on the enemy. If this group of attacking soldiers destroys the enemy soldiers opposite it, then other soldiers can follow behind the group and rush through the gap in the enemy's line, and then turn around to hit the enemy from the rear, creating an encirclement. Mobility One of the best ways to punch through an opponent's line, or circle around behind it or over it is through transportation devices. In the past, the most commonly used transportation 'device' was the horse. Now, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, helicopters, planes and paratroopers are used. These devices enable soldiers to circle around through or behind the enemy and catch the enemy forces from behind while the remainder of the army attacks them from the front. Transportation devices have always been expensive compared with the cost of raising footsoldiers, so typically, highly mobile forces have accounted for only a fraction of an army's total strength. Their usefulness comes both from their mobility and in the case of ground mobility, breaking through the enemies lines, overwhelming, separating and driving back the enemy. The modern tank is used much like the horse of ancient battlefields; a cavalry can give any army an advantage. It has been previously argued that mobility only serves for movement and scouting purposes. This is wrong, because the cavalry of any age is designed first and foremost to "run over" the enemy, and separate them, as to make them far more vulnerable to being overwhelmed and overrun. Air mobility is also useful, as a strike from 30,000 ft is very difficult to prevent. Protection On the battlefield, protection is very important, for obvious reasons. There are several methods of protection used by armies: Individual Fighting Skills Fighting skills include all of the above, working as part of a team. On the individual level, speed and accuracy are the most important. Accuracy Being as accurate as possible so that you are able to hit the opponent when ideally the opponent is too far away to accurately hit you is a critical skill. Remember that armies tend to stay out of range, so if you can accurately hit your enemy at a long range, you will have a big advantage. This takes lots of practice, and the development of better weapons technology. Speed It is critical to hit the opponent before he or she hits you. This means you must act faster than your opponent. And, as mentioned above, you must be accurate even though working at such a high speed. Therefore, the development of speed and accuracy better than your opponents, takes endless practice. Your opponents may be practicing just as much as you, so you can never stop training and improving your skills. Protection of Self It should also be noted that all the 'protection' skills listed above apply as well to the individual soldier. So training in self-protection on the battlefield is critical, just as training to work as a unit and to be effective with weaponry are. See also Bibliography German Tactics in the Italian Campaign , http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/gerhardmuhm2.htm LA TATTICA TEDESCA NELLA CAMPAGNA D'ITALIA, in LINEA GOTICA AVAMPOSTO DEI BALCANI, (Hrsg.) Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993 | |||||||||
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