Military tactics
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Military tactics (Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army) are the collective name for methods for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics.
Up until the nineteenth century, many military tactics were confined to battlefield concerns, such as how to best maneuver units during combat in open terrain. In current military thought, tactics comprise the operational use of forces in a particular combat situation. Tactics should be distinguished from military strategy, which is concerned with the overall means and plan for achieving a long-term outcome, and operational art, an intermediate level in which the aim is to convert the strategy into tactics.
Specialized tactics exist for many situations, ranging from securing a room or individual building, to large-scale operations such as establishing air superiority over a region. Today, military tactics are employed at all levels of command, from individual and group up to entire armed forces. Indeed, the units used in warfare have always been a reflection of current military tactics, and their size and composition have varied accordingly. In British terminology, military tactics involving naval forces are often called naval tactics (cf. usage of military).
The United States Army Field Manual 3-0 offers the following definition of "tactics:" "Tactics – (Department Of Defense) 1. The employment of units in combat. 2. The ordered arrangement and maneuver of units in relation to each other and/or to the enemy in order to use their full potentialities. (Army) The employment of units in combat. It includes the ordered arrangement and maneuver of units in relation to each other, the terrain, and the enemy in order to translate potential combat power into victorious battles and engagements. (FM 3-0)."
Within the scope of war, the US military generally defines three levels of war; 1. the strategic which includes both the National level and the Combatant Command (theater) level; 2. the operational level, which extends from the level of a joint task force including the combined forces of naval and air power with amphibious and ground operation to the maneuver brigade echelon; and 3. the tactical echelon that extends from the maneuver brigade to the lowest fighting elements including individual soldiers.
Common military tactics include frontal assaults, attempts to flank the enemy, keeping troops in reserve and the use of ambushes. Often deception in the form of military camouflage or misdirection using decoys, are used to confuse the enemy. Another major military tactic is trench warfare. This was mainly employed in World War I in the Battle of Gallipoli and the western front. Trench warfare often turned to a stalemate, because in order to attack an enemy entrenchment soldiers had to run through an exposed "no man's land" under heavy fire from an entrenched enemy.
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[edit] 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, or by cutting off its supplies so that it runs out of weapons, medication, food and drink, and then "starves" to death.
[edit] 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. Please note: encirclement is conditional, i.e., only a good idea if it is the most beneficial course of action. Flanking is a form of partial encirclement.
[edit] 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 to face the threat.Human wave attack was one such tactic. With this tactic, encirclement is not necessary, since the attackers 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 concealing the army's location, movements, and intentions are critical for success with this kind of tactic, since it depends on the defending army to have spread out thinly, not knowing where to expect the attack, while the attackers concentrate their forces in one location and destroy all in their way.
In order to make the opponent spread his or her forces out thinly, the attackers using this tactic need to make him or her ignorant of their exact whereabouts, intentions, and where they will attack next. This can be very difficult to do since the opponent will often be able to see where the attacking army is amassing its forces, and he or she will respond by amassing his or her forces opposite to that build-up, thereby countering the attackers' build-up. Thus, this tactic is normally only employed when the attacking army is much stronger than the one defending, so even if the defender amasses his or her forces opposite the offensive army, he or she still cannot face up to the attacker.
[edit] Hit and Run Tactics
If the opponent is much weaker and cannot stand up to an attack of overwhelming force, they will then break their army up into small groups, so that there is no way the army can be destroyed in one blow. They will now send the groups at the attacker from different angles, when they are not expected, to cause damage and then run off again before the attacker has a chance to respond effectively or catch them. These tactics are also called 'Guerrilla Tactics'.
To respond to these kinds of tactics, the larger army has 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, cities 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, guerrilla armies.[citation needed]
While many people do not realize this, hit and run tactics are very useful for armies of a large nature also. While the vast majority of the army is in a defensive position on the front lines, small groups of raiders with demolitions and other "exotic" weaponry (such as Punji sticks) can destroy well fortified positions that could have sucked many lives out of the main regiment.
[edit] Supressive Fire
One of the best defenses is a good offense. So, using large volumes of firepower to pin down an enemy is useful to get the enemy to stop firing at you. When the enemy is pinned in his/her shelter from your supressive fire, you can get a teammate to take out the enemy taking cover. He can do this by flanking around, past your line of fire, to near the sheltered enemy's front.
[edit] Suicide Attack
Attacks in which the combatant is intended to be sacrificed. During World War II the Japanese used their kamikazi attacks to great effectiveness. Suicide attacks can be especially effective for several reasons: Since the combatant is intended to be sacrificed, no provisions in equipment, training, and infrastructure need to be made for the combatant's long-term survival and return. In the case of the Zero suicide bomber, for example, this tactic doubles the effective range of the attack aircraft, as all its fuel can be used on the way to the target. Suicide tactic can also be used to greatly increase the effective technological sophistication of a weapon. The said kamikazi bomber was effectively an optically guided, autonomous cruise missile, a technology that would not appear for many years after WWII.
[edit] Principles of Battle
[edit] Line Tactics
A common tactic used primarily when armies face off, is the usage of line tactics. Line tactics generally involves the use of long lines of army forces facing the enemy with the goal of stopping the enemy from surrounding the troops. The difference in spacing of forces determines how the enemy will respond to the usage of this tactic. There is always a weakness in the use of line tactics though. Spreading the troops too thin will make it easy for the enemy to use the Overwhelming Force tactic. However, heavily concentrated troops let the enemy surround and eventually destroy the surrounded troops. There is no exact best way to use the tactic, which has led to several books detailing how best to use it.
[edit] 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 until the army is ready to engage the enemy. 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.
Range is an issue which permeates the military arts - even in individual skills, such as boxing, tae kwon do or fencing, range is a crucial issue. It is important to note that no two people, no two platoons, no two armies will have exactly equivalent range and capabilites (assessing these fundamental differences is crucial to strategy, but also important to tactics). A simple way to think of range and its importance is to imagine two boxers facing off against each other. Imagine one has arms 6 inches longer than the other. The boxer with longer arms will be able to stand out of the others range, but still hit the opponent. Common military stories of mismatched ranges include the Battle of Agincourt (also Crecy and Poitiers), where English bowmen first used longbows to strike knights. Terrain was also arguably a factor in that classic battle.
[edit] Mobility
One of the best ways to punch through an opponent's line, or circle around, behind, or over it, is by using transportation devices. In the past, the most commonly used transportation 'device' was the horse. Now, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, helicopters, planes and parachutes 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.
[edit] Protection
On the battlefield, protection is very important, for obvious reasons. There are several methods of protection used by armies:
- Staying out of range of the enemy's weapons
- Hiding from the enemy making it difficult for the enemy to know the location of the attacking forces
- Wearing armour which can resist enemy weapons to some degree. The tank is, for example, considered a form of armour.
- Building fortifications such as walls, trenches and minefields to stop enemy movement and provide defenses against enemy weapons.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Accuracy
Being as accurate as possible so that one army is able to hit the opponent when ideally the opponent is too far away to accurately hit them is a critical skill. Remember that armies tend to stay out of range, so if one side can accurately hit their enemy at a long range, they will have a big advantage. This takes lots of practice, and the development of better weapons technology.
[edit] Speed
It is critical to hit the opponent first. This means an army must attempt to act faster than their opponent. And, as mentioned above, an army must be accurate even though working at such a high speed. Therefore, the development of speed and accuracy better than one's opponents takes endless practice. One's opponents may be practicing just as much as them, so an army can never stop training and improving their skills.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Tactical Aphorisms
These are not complete tactics or strategies in of themselves but aphorisms for a commander to bear in mind when formulating a battleplan.
- "No battleplan survives contact with the enemy".Clausewitz
- "To be strong everywhere, is to be weak everywhere". (see Concentration of effort)
- "Starve failure, reinforce success".
- "God is on the side of the big battalions".
- "Don't interrupt the enemy when he's making a mistake".(attributed to Napoleon)
- "With this war is made". Napoleon speaking with regard to artillery, an endorsement of the concentrating of Fire power.
- "Victory goes to the side with the biggest reserves".
- "Don't do your enemy a small injury". Machiavelli, the Prussians had the similar "Smash don't tickle."
- "An army marches on its stomach", the Chinese had the similar "Provisions should be in place before an army moves." both stress the importance of logistics.
- "If you know your enemy, and you know yourself, then victory shall be yours." Sun Tzu.
- "Discretion is the better part of valour." and "He who lives to run away, lives to fight another day."
- "A cornered enemy fights the hardest.", and "Don't force a dog into a cul de sac."
- "All other things being equal, an attacker needs a three to one superiority in numbers to break a fortified enemy." (traditional)
[edit] See also
- Infantry Minor Tactics
- List of military tactics
- Military doctrine
- Military History
- Modern naval tactics
- Operational warfare
- Warfare
- Cavalry tactics
- Roman Military Tactics
- Army Field Manual
[edit] Bibliography
- Muhm, Gerhard. German Tactics in the Italian Campaign.
- Gerhard Muhm : La Tattica nella campagna d’Italia, in LINEA GOTICA AVAMPOSTO DEI BALCANI, (Hrsg.) Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993
