Introduction The strategy of the central position (French: stratégie de la position centrale) was a key tactical doctrine followed by Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. Refer to Defeat in Detail and Interior Lines. Outline It involved attacking two cooperating armies at their hinge, swinging around to fight one until it fled, then turning to face… Read More
Introduction Defeat in detail, or divide and conquer, is a military 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… Read More
Introduction The oblique order (also known as the ‘declined flank’) is a military tactic whereby an attacking army focuses its forces to attack a single enemy flank. The force commander concentrates the majority of their strength on one flank and uses the remainder to fix the enemy line. This allows a commander with weaker or… Read More
Introduction Air assault (also known by its original term ‘vertical envelopment’) is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft – such as the helicopter – to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy lines. In addition to… Read More
Introduction Envelopment is the military tactic of seizing objectives in the enemy’s rear with the goal of destroying specific enemy forces and denying them the ability to withdraw. Outline Rather than attacking an enemy head-on as in a frontal assault an envelopment seeks to exploit the enemy’s flanks, attacking them from multiple directions and avoiding… Read More
Introduction Force concentration is the practice of concentrating a military force so as to bring to bear such overwhelming force against a portion of an enemy force that the disparity between the two forces alone acts as a force multiplier in favour of the concentrated forces. Refer to Military Tactics and a List of Military… Read More
Introduction Reconnaissance by fire (recon by fire), also known as speculative fire, is a warfare tactic used in which military forces may fire on likely enemy positions to provoke a reaction, which confirms the presence and the position of enemy forces. Refer to List of Military Tactics. World War II Reconnaissance by fire was widely… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 