Doctrine
COMMANDING THE BATTALIONÂ III
THE COMPANY IN ACTION Unlike conventional European linear warfare, on American battlefields it was common for the companies within the battalion to operate as semiautonomous tactical entities, each one under the direction of its captain or senior subaltern. Indeed, individual companies were not infrequently detached from the battalion during combat to perform particular tasks. Although this phenomenon was most marked…
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TACTICAL ADAPTATION -1915-6 Part I
Trench construction diagram from a 1914 British infantry manual The year 1915 was a formative experience, one in which the lines of development which would be followed through into the battles of 1918 were put in place. Although the front was static, the thinking of the armies was not. The…
TACTICAL ADAPTATION -1915-6 Part II
John Tiller Squad Battles World War I. This one I didn’t expect to see any time soon: a squad/tactical level war game about World War I. I have been playing the grand-tactical/operational level war game France ’14 and boy many things that I’ve seen there now make sense! Like how…
Lessons Learned From Goodwood
M4 Shermans of the 23rd Hussars advance through Deurne, 26 September 1944. Note the “Charging Bull” on the first tank’s front hull (third marking from the left), the 11th Armoured Division’s emblem. Major-General Roberts, commanding 11th Armoured Division, in his White scout car, 15 August 1944. Interest in the Normandy…
The Development of Naval Tactics in the 19th Century
It was on this day in 1866 that the naval battle of Lissa was fought, during the Third Italian War of Independence, which was a stunning defeat for the Kingdom of Italy. In the end, the Prussian victory over Austria eventually brought Venice back into the Italian nation but no…