Military tactic
Defeat in detail, ordivide and conquer, is amilitary tactic of bringing a large portion of one's own force to bear on small enemy units in sequence, rather than engaging the bulk of the enemy force all at once. This exposes one's own units to many small risks but allows for the eventual destruction of an entire enemy force.[1]
In military strategy and tactics, a recurring theme is that units are strengthened by proximity to supporting units. Nearby units can fire on an attacker's flank, lend indirect fire support such asartillery, or maneuver tocounterattack.Defeat in detail is the tactic of exploiting failures of an enemy force to coordinate and support the various smaller units that make up the force. An overwhelming attack on one defending subunit minimizes casualties on the attacking side and can be repeated a number of times against the defending subunits until all are eliminated.
An attacker can successfully conduct the tactic of defeat in detail by exploiting the absolute weaknesses orcomparative disadvantages in the deployment or structure of defending troops, as well as advantages such as maneuvering speed that the defender cannot match. In anasymmetric support structure, A can support B, but unit B cannot support unit A. For example, duringWorld War I, whenhorse cavalry was still in use to some extent, aircraft could support cavalry, but cavalry had little or no ability to support aircraft.
Thus, if a unit is equally suited for use against cavalry and aircraft, using it to eliminate enemy aircraft would have benefits that would last well into future engagements against enemy cavalry units weakened by their lack of support. However, using it against enemy cavalry, while leaving the enemy aircraft intact for subsequent engagements, would bring benefits only during that specific engagement.
Weaknesses of defenders
[edit]- Dug-in units that are spread out over so wide a distance that the maximum effective range of their weapons is significantly shorter than the distance between units, which prevents those units from supporting the flanks of neighboring units.
- Defending units on opposite sides of physical barriers such as hills, forests or rivers (but see the "reverse slope defence" for a historically attested deliberate tactic, now rendered obsolete by crewed and uncrewed aircraft).
- Defending units whose artillery support is too far to the rear and so cannot effectively engage attackers.
- Defending units that have no effective communications with their command structure and so cannot request assistance.
The following methods can enable the attacker to defeat the enemy in detail:
- Attacking one unit faster than other defending units can move to counter-attack.
- Attacking faster than the defending intelligence, communications, command or control systems can respond (exploiting theOODA loop).
- Disabling or disrupting systems required for one defending unit to support another (as by attacking communications, command, or control systems with air strikes, artillery attacks, orradio jamming).
Strategic campaigns
[edit]- 1796:Napoleon'sMontenotte campaign, in which his army of 37,600 men defeated 67,000 Sardinian and Austrian troops by rapid advances, which prevented the two nations' armies from combining.[2]
- 10–15 February 1814: theSix Days' Campaign was a final series of victories by the forces of Napoleon, as theSixth Coalition armies closed in onParis.[3]
- 1862:Stonewall Jackson'sShenandoah Valley campaign, in which Jackson defeated threeUnion commands (a total of 60,000 men) with his own command (of 17,000 men), by fighting each of the enemy columns in turn while the Union commands were separated from each other by impassable terrain or a significant distance.
- 1912–1913: TheBalkan League's victory over theOttoman Empire in theFirst Balkan War.[4]
- 1914: TheBattle of Tannenberg and theFirst Battle of the Masurian Lakes, with theGermans exploiting the geography of theMasurian Lakes and the personal antipathy between the Russian commanders to defeat theRussian Second Army and later theRussian First Army.[5]
- 1941:Operation Compass, when the British defeated an Italian force more than four times larger in North Africa by exploiting the fact that the Italian defenses could not support each other.
- TheBattle of Gaugamela, in whichAlexander the Great used hisCompanion Cavalry to chargeDarius III
- Gallic tribes tried and nearly succeeded in defeatingJulius Caesar's army in detail at theBattle of the Sabis.
- In theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest, an army of Germans underArminius exterminatedLegio XVII,Legio XVIII andLegio XIX, Roman legions underPublius Quinctilius Varus.[6]
- TheBattle of Sluys, a naval battle fought on 24 June 1340 between England and France.
- TheBattle of Pavia (1525), during theItalian War of 1521-1526
- TheBattle of Pratapgarh in whichShivaji defeated the army ofAfzal Khan
- TheBattle of the Little Bighorn (1876), in whichGeorge Armstrong Custer essentially orchestrated his own defeat by dividing his regiment in four portions, allowing the Sioux and Cheyenne to annihilate half of the 7th Cavalry
- TheBattle of Raate Road, in Finland (1940)[7]
- TheBattle of Savo Island, a naval battle fought on 8-9 August 1942 in whichVice AdmiralGunichi Mikawa of theImperial Japanese Navy was able to defeatAllied naval forces in detail, with only light damage to his own.
