Introduction Mouse-holing is a tactic used in urban warfare in which soldiers create access to adjoining rooms or buildings by blasting or tunnelling through a wall. The tactic is used to avoid open streets since advancing infantry, caught in enfilade, are easily targeted by machine-gun and sniper fire. Another purpose is to reach enemy troops… Read More
Introduction military taA crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. Siting weapons this way is an example of the application of… Read More
Introduction The Svinfylking, Old Norse for “swine array” or “boar snout”, was a formation used in battle. Outline Related to the wedge formation, it was used in Iron Age Scandinavia and later by the Vikings. It was also used by Germanic peoples during the Germanic Iron Age and was known as the “Schweinskopf” or “Swine’s… Read More
Introduction The caracole or caracol (from the Spanish caracol – “snail”) is a turning manoeuvre on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics. In dressage, riders execute a caracole as a single half turn, either to the left or to the right, representative of the massed cavalry tactic of caracole previously used in the… 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 A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation. The column formation allows the unit rapid movement and a very effective charge (due to weight of numbers), and it can quickly form square… Read More
Introduction Night attack formation refers to the arrangement of soldiers in advancing in attack at night. Refer to Tactical Formation and Military Tactics. Outline With the advances in arms that led to trench warfare, daytime attacks across open ground toward defensive positions became prohibitive and often futile. Night attacks may have the advantage of maintaining… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 