: Tactics Volume 1 (of 2). Introduction and Formal Tactics of Infantry by Balck W William Krueger Walter Translator - Military art and science; Tactics

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ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS TRANSLATION.

INTRODUCTION.

The utopian plans for a universal international court of arbitration are chimerical and conjured up by idealists unacquainted with the harsh facts of reality, if their ideas are not, indeed--as are many proposals for disarmament--calculated to serve as a cloak for ambitious plans.

This is attained by defeating the enemy's forces, by occupying the hostile country and seizing the enemy's sources of supply, so that he will be convinced of the futility of further resistance. . Only in the rarest cases will it be necessary to continue the war until the power of resistance of the hostile state is completely destroyed. . The extent to which the enemy's power of resistance may have to be crippled or broken, in order to compel peace, depends upon his tenacity. Political considerations will also have to be taken into account in answering this question. From the military point of view, however, the purpose of every war will always be the complete overthrow of the enemy.

Precise definitions of strategy and tactics, clearly fixing the scope of each, have been vainly sought in the past. That efforts in this direction have led to no results is only natural, as tactics and strategy are complementary subjects that often encroach upon each other, while grand tactics is frequently identical with strategy.

"The art of directing armies In the theater of operations."

"The art of directing troops on the field of battle."

Strategy determines direction and objective of the movement of armies, while the manner of execution belongs to tactics.

"Strategy should devise the plan of campaign, take in with a comprehensive glance the entire probable theater of war, establish the lines of operations and direct the masses on the decisive points.

"It is the mission of the tactician to decide upon the order of march of the troops, to form them for battle at the various points determined by strategy, to begin the action, to sustain it, and to maneuver so as to attain the desired end." THIERS.

Archduke Charles considered the subordination of tactics to strategy a law. "Tactics should execute the conceptions of strategy; where the two come in conflict, where strategical considerations are opposed to tactical interests, the strategical considerations should, as a rule, take precedence. Tactics must occupy a subordinate place and attempt to neutralize existing disadvantages by skillful dispositions." Clausewitz not unjustly censures Archduke Charles for placing advantages of terrain in the first rank, and for failing to attach the proper importance to the annihilation of the hostile forces. Should the demands of strategy conflict with those of tactics on the battlefield, the latter must unquestionably take precedence, since the general's foremost thought must be the annihilation of the hostile forces. Tactical considerations should likewise govern in the selection of the direction of attack in a battle, strategical reasons for striking in this or that direction becoming effective only after the attainment of tactical success. It is true that strategy, by directing the armies and their concentration on the battlefield, provides tactics with the tools for fighting and assures the probability of victory; but, on the other hand, the commander-in-chief appropriates the fruits of each victory and makes them the basis for further plans. "The demands of strategy are silent in the presence of tactical victory; they adapt themselves to the newly created situation." Fieldmarshal MOLTKE.

The view that the direction of attack should be governed by the possibility of easy execution in minor warfare only, is held by General v. Scherff, who says: "General v. Moltke was not influenced by the question 'will the attack here or there be tactically easier or more difficult?' Only the question, 'will it there be strategically advantageous or not' was able to determine his course with reference to measures on the battlefield."

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