There’s military theory that defines and informs how war and warfare are conducted.[i] In modern military history, it is a requirement for military officers to have a glimpse of military science. To better understand how warfare is conducted, the theory mainly deals with normative and explanatory analyses, where normative concentrates on behavioral phenomena while explanatory deals with the casual aspects of war. Despite military theory being multi-disciplinary, it deals with three questions:
1.
What are the natural causes of war?
2.
What are the characteristics of war?
3.
How is military power or warfare applied to attain victory?[ii]
In summarizing
war tactics, the major factors that make it a reality constitute the following:
1.
Effective Statesmanship: The total application of dynamic
military and state leadership as it relates to war. It is of vital importance
for the leader of the state to be aware of the military leader’s war
applications before embarking on the defensive or invasion. On the other hand,
top military leaders must discuss and listen to the officers fighting on the ground,
in the air or in major and minor waters.
2.
Strategy: implies properly organizing and directing select
groups to the theater of war either for the sake of defense or invasion. Having
war hardened and able-bodied men and women who can strive to survive longer
periods in the battlefields is a requirement. Depending on the type and kind of
war being fought, the military usually applies either a platoon, company or a
division. A platoon could be headed by a sergeant or senior sergeant while a
company could be headed by a captain, a battalion could be headed by colonels,
a brigadier is head of a brigade, while the military officer in charge of a
division could be the rank of a major general who is assisted by two
brigadiers. Usually, as for divisions, even though it applies to developed
countries with large militaries, a division could either be airborne, armored, infantry and
mountain divisions. In a nutshell, a military strategy has been conclusively
divided into 5 categories: extermination,
exhaustion, annihilation, intimidation, and subversion.
3.
Grand tactics: is an exclusive modern military tactic or
strategy that is applied by opposing parties to emerge victorious. Some of the
military tactics applied to this day are almost 17 in number, even though they
could exceed according to differing military sources: 1. infiltration tactics,
2. Flanking maneuver, 3. Peaceful penetration, 4. Guerilla warfare, 5. Marching
fire 6. Rapid deployment, 7. Ambush, 8. Skirmisher, 9. Frontal assault, 10.
Penetration or infiltration, 11. Envelopment, 12. Basic drill, 13. Encirclement
14. Raid, 15. Hammer and Anvil, 16. Individual movement techniques, 17. Bull
horn formation.
4.
Logistics: it is the art of moving modern military and their
heavy machineries that could be a composition of transport planes and faster
than sound jet fighters, Aircraft Carriers (A/C) and other warships such as
auxiliaries, battleships, destroyers, and frigates for long distance travels.
Other heavy carriers such as heavy trucks deliver soldiers to specific
locations before getting instructions from their commanding officer. The heavy
trucks could be loaded with armaments such as machine guns, modern automatic rifles,
and shoulder- held grenades
5.
Engineering: that is the attacking of defensive
fortifications. This fighting criteria requires sophisticated application of
the necessary war implements that could be used to cause total devastation
since a fortification is like a military barrack or garrison that is heavily
guarded. Scorched earth bombing is a modern warfare that is also known as
saturation bombing or carpet bombing. Destroying forts or all types of military
structures such as bridges, roads, farms, reconnaissance and satellite radars,
lighthouses used by ships, ports or harbors plus the jetties and their anchored
ships, mooring buoys, and oil refineries together with every type of
communication installations that sustains the enemy, is part of the scorched
earth bombings. Ancient Romans also used the scorched earth tactic against
their enemies to cut- off water supplies and farming produces.
6.
Minor tactics: it is the art of fighting individuals or small
units and was coined in 1780 by a French military author whose name was Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte
de Guibert.
[i]
Angstrom, Jan and, Widen, J.J. (2015). Contemporary Military
Theory: The Dynamics of War. New York: Routledge. pp. 4–9. ISBN 9780203080726.
[ii]
Lider, Julian (1980). "Introduction
to Military Theory". Cooperation and Conflict. XV:
151–168 – via JSTOR.
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