Military Tactics: Strategic Maneuvers, Decoding the Art of Conflict

By Fouad Sabry

What is Military Tactics

Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related kinetic or firepower, mobility, protection or security, and shock action. Tactics are a separate function from command and control and logistics. In contemporary military science, tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting, the higher levels being the strategic and operational levels. Throughout history, there has been a shifting balance between the four tactical functions, generally based on the application of military technology, which has led to one or more of the tactical functions being dominant for a period of time, usually accompanied by the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry, artillery, cavalry or tanks.

How you will benefit

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

Chapter 1: Military tactics

Chapter 2: Armour

Chapter 3: Armoured fighting vehicle

Chapter 4: Infantry

Chapter 5: Mechanized infantry

Chapter 6: Tank

Chapter 7: Combined arms

Chapter 8: Frontal assault

Chapter 9: Skirmisher

Chapter 10: Maneuver warfare

(II) Answering the public top questions about military tactics.

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 Military Tactics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 3, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Military tactics

The skill of coordinating and using fighting forces on or near the battlefield is referred to as military tactics. They entail the use of the four closely connected combat functions of kinetic or firepower, mobility, protection or security, and shock action. Command and control, logistics, and tactics are distinct tasks. Tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting according to modern military science; the higher levels are the strategic and operational levels. One or more of the tactical functions have typically been dominant for a period of time throughout history, usually along with the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry, artillery, cavalry, or tanks. This shifting balance between the four tactical functions has generally been based on the application of military technology.

The kinetic or firepower role of tactics has evolved alongside technical advancements, starting with the use of melee and missile weapons like clubs and spears, with the emphasis eventually shifting to longer-range projectile weapons. Before the Romans invented artillery, kinetic effects were typically delivered by the sword, spear, javelin, and bow. A battle's outcome was rarely determined by infantry firepower alone until the middle of the 19th century since infantry-delivered missile firepower did not have a high value. Instead, artillery was frequently used to provide substantial kinetic impacts. Early muskets had limited range, poor accuracy, and low rate of fire; nevertheless, the invention of disciplined volley fire, delivered at close range, started to improve the hitting power of infantry and somewhat made up for these shortcomings. The advent of the rifled musket, which was used in the Crimean War and the American Civil War, combined with other technological advancements led to flatter trajectories, enhanced accuracy at larger ranges, and higher losses. As a result, defensive firepower increased, making infantry attacks without artillery support more challenging. Firepower also became essential for trapping an adversary so that a decisive blow could be made. At the turn of the 20th century, machine guns substantially increased infantry firepower, and in the century that followed, tanks, self-propelled artillery, and military aviation all significantly increased mobile firepower. The firepower of modern armies is supplemented by infantry weapons, armored vehicles including tanks and other armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery, guided weapons, and aircraft.

Even when supplies were carried by beasts of burden, a battle force's mobility was for the majority of human history restricted by the pace of a soldier on foot. Due to this limitation, most armies could only move a maximum of 32 kilometers (20 miles) per day, unless they were moving along rivers. Only tiny components of a force, such cavalry or light troops with specialized training, might go beyond this cap. This limitation on tactical mobility persisted until the latter stages of World War I, when the introduction of the tank significantly increased mobility and permitted decisive tactical maneuver. Despite this development, complete tactical mobility wasn't attained until World War II, when motorized and armored forces had outstanding success. However, a sizable portion of the World War II forces continued to rely on horse-drawn vehicles, which constrained tactical mobility within the total force. Field obstacles, frequently built by military engineers, can be used to restrict tactical mobility.

Since the classical era, people have worn personal armor to provide some level of personal protection. This practice was then expanded to include barding of the mount. Armor has always been constrained by its weight and size, which has an adverse impact on both human and animal endurance and movement. Personal armor had largely been abandoned by the 18th and 19th centuries by the time helmets were brought back into use during World War I as a defense against artillery fire. During World War II, armored fighting vehicles were widely used, and after that conflict, body armor was once again worn by infantry, especially in Western armies. Since antiquity, fortifications have been utilized to offer group defense; contemporary examples include entrenchments, roadblocks, barbed wire, and minefields. Fortifications are frequently built by military engineers, just like obstacles.

The use of surprise can greatly improve shock action, which is a psychological as well as physical function of tactics. Infantry that is charging has contributed to it, as have chariots, war elephants, cavalry, and armored vehicles that provide an assault impetus. It has also been employed defensively, as seen by the English longbowmen's drenching arrow flights that terrified the French knights' horses during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The deployment of tactical formations like columns and lines during early modern warfare had a bigger impact than the firepower of the formations alone. In the early stages of World War II, German machine gun and tank gun firepower, combined with precise indirect fire and air attack, frequently dispersed Allied troops before their assault began or made them waver owing to fatalities among senior unit leaders. The cumulative psychological shock impact on the adversary was frequently higher than the actual casualties sustained in both the early modern and World War II cases.

Since antiquity, the balance between the four tactical functions has changed as tactics have evolved, and the key drivers of these shifts have been changes in firepower and mobility.

Different theories have been put forth to describe how tactical functions and the supremacy of specific combat armaments at various times interact.

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For both the classical and Christian eras, Fuller postulated three tactical cycles..

For the most recent era, He suggested a shock cycle ranging from 650 to 1450, 1450-1850 is a shock and projectile cycle, with an 1850 projectile cycle, with respect to the Western and North American warfare.[5] During World War II, Tom Wintringham suggested six historical eras, which alternating between unarmed and armed troops having the upper hand and highlight tactical changes in each era.

Prior to the emergence of the English longbowman, massed volley fire by archers in Japanese conflict during the second half of the 13th century brought infantry firepower to the fore.

Combination tactics refer to the coordination of numerous fighting weapons to complete the tactical objective. The degree of integration of the weapons, especially military aviation, on the battlefield, is one way to gauge tactical efficacy. Effective combined arms tactics are based on the fundamental idea that all members of combined weapons teams must be equally mobile and have access to enough weaponry and protection in order to reach their full potential. Costly and bitter lessons have marred the evolution of combined weapons tactics throughout history. For instance, British commanders did not grasp the fundamental idea of combined arms tactics until much later than German commanders did during World War II. The combat arms must practice together and become familiar with each other's capabilities in order for combined arms tactics to be effective.

Airpower has significantly altered military strategy since the closing stages of World War I. Close air support was created during World War II, considerably enhancing the effectiveness of ground forces by the deployment of aircraft weapons, enhanced tactical reconnaissance, and the interception of opposing air power. It also made it possible for ground forces to be supplied by air, something the British were able to do during the Burma Campaign but the Germans were unable to do during the Battle of Stalingrad. Rotor-wing aircraft had a huge impact on firepower and mobility after World War II, serving as a fighting arm unto themselves in many armies. Aircraft remain vulnerable to other aircraft and ground-based air defense systems, especially while flying at low or medium altitudes.

Military strategies provide answers to the issues of how to use and deploy forces effectively on a small scale. Since the beginning of battle, many techniques have remained constant: attack, ambushes, skirmishing, turning flanks, scouting, building and employing barriers and defenses, etc. The ideal way to use the ground hasn't changed much either. There are several uses for heights, rivers, marshes, passages, choke points, and natural cover. Before the eighteenth century, a lot of military strategies were restricted to concerns on the battlefield: how to move troops around during fighting in open territory. Today, there are specialized strategies for numerous scenarios, such as guarding a room in a building.

Both technological and sociological advancements have the potential to make current military strategies obsolete and necessitate the development of new strategies. Soldier arming and training are governed by tactics. The evolution of various soldier or warrior types throughout history has thus been influenced by technology and society, including the Greek hoplite, Roman legionary, medieval knight, Turko-Mongol horse archer, Chinese crossbowman, or an air cavalry trooper. Each would approach a battlefield in a different way, limited as they were by their equipment, supplies, and societal training, but they would typically aim for the same results when employing tactics. Due to technological advancements that rendered earlier tactics obsolete, the First World War prompted significant changes in strategy.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Armour

The word armor can refer to a covering that shields an item, person, or vehicle from physical harm or damage, such as that caused by direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, as well as from potentially hazardous situations or activities (e.g. cycling, construction sites, etc.). Soldiers and war animals are protected by personal armor. Warships, armored battle vehicles, and some ground attack combat aircraft all use vehicle armor.

The term armor is also used to designate armoured forces, armored weaponry, and their employment in battle. Tanks, mechanized infantry, and their fighting formations started to be referred to collectively as armour after the introduction of armored warfare.

As an Old French derived word, armour first appeared in the Middle Ages. It is described as a mail, defensive covering worn in combat and dates to 1297. The word is derived from the Old French word armure, which was itself derived from the Latin word armatura, which means arms and/or equipment and has the root armare.

Throughout history, armor has been worn. Beginning with the use of leathers or fabrics as protection, it has been created from a variety of materials, progressing through chain mail and metal plate to today's contemporary composites. Metal personal armor production has dominated armor technology and use for much of military history.

Many significant technologies in the Ancient World, like as wood lamination, mining, metal refining, vehicle production, leather processing, and later decorative metal works, were driven by the creation of armor. The industrial revolution was influenced by its manufacturing, which also advanced the commercialization of engineering and metallurgy. The development of armor was the single most important contributor to the invention of weapons, which revolutionized warfare.

The economic and technological requirements for producing armor have a significant impact on its development. For instance, plate armor originally appeared in Medieval Europe when the production of plates