Echelon formation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An echelon formation is a military formation in which members are arranged diagonally. Each member is stationed behind and to the right (a 'right echelon'), or behind and to the left ('left echelon'), of the member ahead. The name of the formation comes from the French word échelle, meaning ladder, which describes the staircase effect that this formation has when viewed from above.

Use of the formation dates back to ancient infantry and cavalry warfare when attempting to flank an enemy or to break one wing with overwhelming numbers. One of the earliest uses was at the Battle of Leuctra when the Thebans attacked the Spartan right with a column 48 men deep while their weaker center and right was refused. The echelon formation was also used by Frederick II of Prussia.

The tactic persists up to the present day, where it is regularly employed by all branches of the modern armed forces. Tactically, echelon formations are used because of the excellent range of vision offered to each participant in the formation. In particular, it is commonly employed by armored cavalry because of the large, overlapping fields of fire that it gives to each tank in the formation, and by combat aircraft, where the close, streamlined flight formation can allow the planes to shed drag.

Echelon formations are also commonly used by civic, or riot police to move crowds either to the left or right.

[edit] Derived meanings

The name has also been adopted by the birdwatching community to describe the familiar V-shaped formations of flights of geese, ducks and other migratory birds, though this more symmetric formation is more strictly defined as a V formation.

In geology an echelon formation is a set of short linear features that overlap or are staggered in a line that runs obliquely to the strike of the individual features. Echelon faults are an example of this.