Post by Johann Boyen on Dec 31, 2008 16:33:43 GMT -5
OOC Note: I am by no means a well-educated warfare man. I have never been to Sandhurst and I have read very little about various theories on war. What I am going to say will be a mixture of what I think personally, what I have drawn out of war games I play (including recwars of course), and Wikipedia for a little bit of chocolate sprinkling on top of the cappuccino. So, if anyone has a better idea on anything, or thinks I'm just plain wrong, it's probably so, so do say so. And then YOU might be Minister of War in no time. 
It seems that the focus of this class will be Armoured Warfare, so I will start with the Basics of Armoured Warfare.
"Theories on Armoured Warfare were first developed blah blah blah..." You're not here for a history lesson. I intend to focus on theory only when it is useful in application, and preaching dates of when the first tank was designed and so on will not help anyone. However, there is one actually useful thing to be taken from the origins of Armour. It came about as a result of the so called "stalemate" of the Great War, which is to say, tanks were produced solely with the idea of punching a hole through that blasted wall of enemies opposite your own. Which lands us nicely at key concept number one.
Mobility Focus
Armoured warfare is all about movement. A tank can move surprisingly quickly for an elegantly-shaped block of metal. Central to armoured warfare is the idea that you rush your enemy, punch two great big bloody holes either side of a position, and then annihilate anyone dug in. This focus on mobility also lends itself to another feature of Armoured Warfare (which you would most likely be expected to use anyway) called "Directive Control", basically meaning that Panzer Kommandants are given a general objective and told to do it. The specifics are worked out by lower-level commanders on a local, de-centralised basis, meaning things generally can happen faster.
Tanks are powerful AND mobile, a deadly combination, one that any panzer kommandant worth his salt will exploit. Great, right? There is only one problem. You don't want to shoot off like a bolting horse with your Panzer Korps and separate yourself from the main body of forces, you will end up isolated and cut off from supply and you will end up dead. This brings me on to key concept number two.
Infantry Support
Tanks are fantastic machines, but they are not invincible. A group of soldiers, well dug-in and armed with anti-tank weapons, can devastate even the most well prepared Panzer leader's detachment. In the same way that having a very short friend is useful to shoving him through dog flaps to unlock doors and so on, infantry are the Panzer's best friend for going into places and killing enemies that he cannot. The only issue that comes out of this is key concept number one, mobility focus. Surely the infantry will slow down the tanks, or get separated if the tanks speed off during combat? The solution is quite simple, Mechanised Infantry - soldiers in armoured cars essentially! They can keep up with the tanks, which can cover them in combat, and when the time comes they can be deployed for very effective use in urban settings and so on. Moving on, key concept number two as a whole hints at key concept number three:
Kampfgruppen, or flexible combined-arms formations
As a Panzer Kommandant you will now realise you will most likely not be commanding solely tanks, but also infantry (in or out of APCs) in order to support your tanks. But oh, does it get worse. One important feature of armoured warfare is that the whole unit can work independently to a large extent - the doctrine Directive Control means the Panzer leader will have to make many decisions himself, so it's quickest and easiest if the Panzer Group carries with them a number of other items of conducting warfare: mobile anti-aircraft to deal with the great enemy of the Panzer, the flying bomber; mobile heavy artillery to soften targets at a distance to enable the Panzers to encircle and annihilate; even, in a larger formation, air support in the form of bombers and fighters to deal with enemy aircraft and destroy enemy tanks. The truth of the matter is, commanding tanks ultimately means commanding much, much more if you want your campaign to be a success.
Thus ends the basic theory section of Armoured Warfare. Lesson II will be "Force Composition".
It seems that the focus of this class will be Armoured Warfare, so I will start with the Basics of Armoured Warfare.
"Theories on Armoured Warfare were first developed blah blah blah..." You're not here for a history lesson. I intend to focus on theory only when it is useful in application, and preaching dates of when the first tank was designed and so on will not help anyone. However, there is one actually useful thing to be taken from the origins of Armour. It came about as a result of the so called "stalemate" of the Great War, which is to say, tanks were produced solely with the idea of punching a hole through that blasted wall of enemies opposite your own. Which lands us nicely at key concept number one.
Mobility Focus
Armoured warfare is all about movement. A tank can move surprisingly quickly for an elegantly-shaped block of metal. Central to armoured warfare is the idea that you rush your enemy, punch two great big bloody holes either side of a position, and then annihilate anyone dug in. This focus on mobility also lends itself to another feature of Armoured Warfare (which you would most likely be expected to use anyway) called "Directive Control", basically meaning that Panzer Kommandants are given a general objective and told to do it. The specifics are worked out by lower-level commanders on a local, de-centralised basis, meaning things generally can happen faster.
Tanks are powerful AND mobile, a deadly combination, one that any panzer kommandant worth his salt will exploit. Great, right? There is only one problem. You don't want to shoot off like a bolting horse with your Panzer Korps and separate yourself from the main body of forces, you will end up isolated and cut off from supply and you will end up dead. This brings me on to key concept number two.
Infantry Support
Tanks are fantastic machines, but they are not invincible. A group of soldiers, well dug-in and armed with anti-tank weapons, can devastate even the most well prepared Panzer leader's detachment. In the same way that having a very short friend is useful to shoving him through dog flaps to unlock doors and so on, infantry are the Panzer's best friend for going into places and killing enemies that he cannot. The only issue that comes out of this is key concept number one, mobility focus. Surely the infantry will slow down the tanks, or get separated if the tanks speed off during combat? The solution is quite simple, Mechanised Infantry - soldiers in armoured cars essentially! They can keep up with the tanks, which can cover them in combat, and when the time comes they can be deployed for very effective use in urban settings and so on. Moving on, key concept number two as a whole hints at key concept number three:
Kampfgruppen, or flexible combined-arms formations
As a Panzer Kommandant you will now realise you will most likely not be commanding solely tanks, but also infantry (in or out of APCs) in order to support your tanks. But oh, does it get worse. One important feature of armoured warfare is that the whole unit can work independently to a large extent - the doctrine Directive Control means the Panzer leader will have to make many decisions himself, so it's quickest and easiest if the Panzer Group carries with them a number of other items of conducting warfare: mobile anti-aircraft to deal with the great enemy of the Panzer, the flying bomber; mobile heavy artillery to soften targets at a distance to enable the Panzers to encircle and annihilate; even, in a larger formation, air support in the form of bombers and fighters to deal with enemy aircraft and destroy enemy tanks. The truth of the matter is, commanding tanks ultimately means commanding much, much more if you want your campaign to be a success.
Thus ends the basic theory section of Armoured Warfare. Lesson II will be "Force Composition".
