Mountain Warfare: Strategies and Tactics in High-Altitude Combat

By Fouad Sabry

What is Mountain Warfare

Mountain warfare or alpine warfare is warfare in mountains or similarly rough terrain. The term encompasses military operations affected by the terrain, hazards, and factors of combat and movement through rough terrain, as well as the strategies and tactics used by military forces in these situations and environments.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Mountain warfare

Chapter 2: Indian Army

Chapter 3: 10th Mountain Division (United States)

Chapter 4: Nuristan Province

Chapter 5: Ski warfare

Chapter 6: Northern Light Infantry Regiment

Chapter 7: Jungle warfare

Chapter 8: Cold-weather warfare

Chapter 9: Counterinsurgency

Chapter 10: Kunar Province

(II) Answering the public top questions about mountain warfare.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Mountain Warfare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 29, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Mountain warfare

Mountain warfare or alpine warfare is the conduct of hostilities in mountainous or similarly rugged terrain. The word incorporates military operations affected by topography, dangers, and combat and movement through hard terrain, as well as the strategies and tactics employed by military personnel in these scenarios and locations.

Mountain ranges are strategically significant because they frequently serve as a natural boundary and may be the source of a water supply, such as the Golan Heights. Attacking a fortified enemy position in mountainous terrain typically necessitates a higher ratio of attackers to defenders than in a fight fought on plain ground. Mountains bring natural dangers such as lightning, strong gusts of wind, rockfalls, avalanches, snowpacks, ice, extreme cold, and glaciers with their crevasses; thus, it can be comparable to cold-weather warfare. The often uneven terrain and the sluggish movement of troops and supplies provide extra dangers to soldiers. Movement, reinforcements, and medical evacuation up and down steep hills and regions inaccessible to pack animals require a tremendous amount of energy.

In 218 B.C. (DXXXVI A.U.C. ), the Carthaginian army leader Hannibal crossed the Alps with troops, cavalry, and African elephants in an attempt to take Rome by approaching it from the north of the Italian Peninsula. The Roman administration felt complacent because the Alps were seen as an impregnable natural barrier against potential invaders. Using elephants, Carthaginian soldiers beat Roman troops in the north in December 218 B.C. Many elephants perished due to the usual European climate's cold weather and sickness. Hannibal's army fought the Romans for 15 years in Italy, but was unable to seize Rome. In 202 BC, the Roman general Scipio Africanus conquered Carthage at Zama in North Africa (DLII AUC).

According to legend, the phrase mountain warfare arose in the Middle Ages because European kings found it difficult to resist Swiss forces in the Alps because the Swiss fought in smaller units and took vantage spots against a large, immobile army. Later, guerrillas, partisans, and irregulars utilized similar attack and defense strategies, hiding in the mountains after an attack to make it difficult for a regular army to fight back. Mountain warfare played a significant role in Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian campaign and the 1809 revolt in Tyrol.

During World War I, some of the combatant nations fielded untested mountain divisions, which brought mountain warfare to the forefront once again. The Austro-Hungarian defense was able to rebuff Italian invasions by utilizing the terrain in the Julian Alps and the Dolomites, where frostbite and avalanches proved more lethal than gunfire.

The Battles of Narvik, the Battle of the Caucasus, the Kokoda Track campaign, Operation Rentier, Operation Gauntlet, Operation Encore, and the British defense at the Battle of Hong Kong are examples of mountain warfare employed during World War II.

During the Battles of Narvik, hairpin bends were employed as an ambush technique against the Germans. The defenders would position themselves above the attackers and open fire when they reached a particular point parallel to them below. This would compel the attackers to retreat, continue firing, or attempt to scale the mountain via a different route. This strategy could be pre-planned or adopted by a retreating force.

Since 1947, when India was divided, India and Pakistan have been at odds over the Kashmir territory. In the region, they have fought two wars and several skirmishes and border disputes.

The majority of the Falklands War was fought on semi-Arctic slopes of the Falkland Islands. During the initial phase of the war, however, there was military activity on the desolate mountainous island of South Georgia, where a British expedition attempted to expel Argentine occupying soldiers. South Georgia is a periantarctic island, and the conflict occurred during the southern winter, when Alpine conditions prevailed nearly to sea level. The mission (codenamed Operation Paraquet) was unique in that it incorporated elements of long-range amphibious warfare, arctic warfare, and mountain warfare. Multiple ships, special forces soldiers, and helicopters were involved.

Throughout history, but notably since 1979, Afghanistan has been the site of numerous mountain combat operations. Since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by the coalition, the Taliban have largely been in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.

In counterinsurgency, preventing civilian casualties is more vital than capturing and maintaining territory. Instead of focusing on militarily defeating the insurgents, the major objective of counterinsurgency is to gain the support of the public and thereby legitimize the government. In Kunar and Nuristan, it has been tough to deploy counterinsurgency doctrine. In the sparsely populated mountainous parts of eastern Afghanistan, strategists have advocated for maintaining the high ground, a principle of traditional mountain warfare. The reasoning indicates that the insurgents can assault at will if the counterinsurgent does not deny the enemy the high ground. In Kunar and Nuristan, US forces used a hybrid form of counterinsurgency warfare, with an emphasis on winning hearts and minds, and mountain warfare, taking and holding the high ground.

The cost of training mountain troops prevents most armies from include them on their order of battle unless they plan to fight in such terrain. Mountain warfare training is rigorous and, in many nations, the sole domain of elite units such as special forces or commandos who, as part of their mission, must be able to battle on rough terrain, such as the Royal Marines. Occasionally, regular units may also conduct training of this type.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land-based branch of the Indian Armed Forces and the largest component. The Indian President is the supreme commander of the Indian military, The Indian Army's principal goal is to ensure national security and unity, defend the nation against external aggression and internal dangers, and maintain peace and security within its borders. It undertakes humanitarian relief missions after natural disasters and other disturbances, such as Operation Surya Hope, and can also be called upon to deal with internal threats. Alongside the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, it is a vital component of national strength. The army has participated in four wars with Pakistan and one war with China. Other significant army operations include Operation Vijay, Operation Meghdoot, and Operation Cactus. The army has participated actively in numerous United Nations peacekeeping missions, including those in Cyprus, Lebanon, Congo, Angola, Cambodia, Vietnam, Namibia, El Salvador, Liberia, Mozambique, South Sudan, and Somalia. Large peacetime exercises have included Operation Brasstacks and Exercise Shoorveer.

The Indian Army is structured geographically and operationally into seven commands, with the division serving as the basic field formation. Permanent regiments are responsible for their own recruitment and training below the division level. The army consists of more than 80 percent of the country's active defense soldiers and is composed entirely of volunteers. It is the world's largest standing army, Prior to India's independence, the Indian Army was a British-commanded force defined as the force recruited locally and permanently based in India, along with its expatriate British officers; the British Army in India referred to British Army troops assigned to India on a tour of duty. The Army of India referred to the British and Indian armies together in India.

In 1776, a Military Department was established inside the East India Company government in Kolkata. Its primary role was to record orders sent to the army by various East India Company departments for countries under its control.

The British Indian Army was essential to the maintenance of the British Empire's preeminence in India and around the world. In addition to maintaining the internal security of the British Raj, the British Army fought in numerous other theaters: the Anglo-Burmese Wars; the First and Second Anglo-Sikh wars; the First, Second, and Third Anglo-Afghan wars; the First and Second opium wars, and the Boxer Rebellion in China; and in Abyssinia.

The Kitchener Reforms ushered in a new century for the British Army. Singapore witnessed a rebellion by Indian soldiers in 1915. The United Kingdom made self-governance commitments to the Indian National Congress in exchange for its assistance, but reneged on them after the war, giving the Indian Independence movement momentum.

The Indianisation of the British Indian Army began in March 1912, when the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College was established at Dehradun to educate the sons of aristocratic and wealthy Indian families and to prepare certain Indian boys for admission to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After graduation, cadets get a King's commission and are assigned to one of eight units selected for Indianisation. Only 69 officers of Indian descent were commissioned between 1918 and 1932, prompting political pressure that led to the establishment of the Indian Military Academy in 1932 and the commissioning of a greater number of officers of Indian origin. After initial success, this army and the Japanese were defeated; yet, it had a tremendous impact on the Indian independence struggle.

Four of the ten Gurkha regiments were handed to the British Army in 1947, after the Partition of India and Indian independence. The remainder of the British Indian Army was divided between India and Pakistan upon independence. The Punjab Boundary Force, which had been created to