A Primer On Maneuver Warfare

By Matthew Ellis


When it comes to choosing battle strategies, military tacticians often have a wide range of options. One strategy that has been deployed in the battlefield countless times is maneuver warfare. Evidence of its use can be drawn from the wars that General Napoleon Bonaparte fought to modern conflicts. It is a strategy that chiefly relies on incapacitating an opposing force by impacting its ability to make key decisions. It is more of a shock and awe strategy.

It is no secret that warfare is primarily based on movement and kill rate. Each side attempts to occupy more territory and kill more enemies with each wave of its attack. Throughout its deployment in conflicts, it had proven most effective when adopted by scattered units that are properly trained. Small units have always been effective when adopting the technique due to the fact that they have a lesser risk of attrition that full standing armies. Small units attacking from various directions also hold the all important element of surprise.

In most battles, success is usually gauged by the number of enemy equipment destroyed, territory occupied and combatants killed. Attrition battles portray a general lack of creativity from both opposing groups. A shock and awe attack, on the other hand, often causes the party being attacked to panic and make a retreat. This way, the attacking force gets sufficient latitude to reoccupy seized ground and attain its primary objectives.

Napoleon is one general who went down in history as being successful in the deployment of shock and awe tactics in battle. Through this tactic, he would easily overwhelm numerically superior forces. He would instruct his troops attack quickly so as to create shock in the enemy camp and immobilize it.

A good example is the France and Austria conflict in Northern Italy, a battle in which Austria had a larger army. The French, commanded by Napoleon, overwhelmed the Austrians by launching rapid attacks against their units, thereby giving them very little reaction time. After his victory, several other generals copied him in their battles.

The mechanization of movement in the 1850s brought about a new challenge to the implementation of the strategy. Warring factions could finally match their speeds. This development necessitated the creation of a new battle plan, albeit based on the same strategy. Attacking troops would encircle their enemies and quickly destroy their strong points, thereby rendering them incapacitated.

The massive success of the Germans during the early stages of WW2 can also be linked to the technique. At the time, battle involved the heavy usage of tanks. German armored divisions, commanded by Erwin Rommel, would launch quick attacks against allied troop formations. The tactic was latter billed the Lightning or Blitzkrieg Attack.

Maneuvering also has its limitations. For instance, it is not effective without prior intelligence on enemy formations. This became apparent in the Lebanon War in 2006. By the end of the war, the Israelis had not met their objective of decimating the Hezbollah command.




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