Military Tactics: An Analysis of Warfare Strategies and Concepts

This essay delves into the multifaceted world of military tactics, examining three critical concepts: offensive operations, surgical strikes, and attrition warfare. It begins by highlighting the significance of using appropriate weapons and strategies based on geographical positions and modern warfare scenarios. The essay explores offensive operations, detailing the importance of all three military branches in an all-out attack and the role of commanders. It then discusses surgical strikes, emphasizing their precision and minimal collateral damage, providing historical examples like the 1981 Israeli bombing and recent Indian Army strikes. Finally, the essay analyzes attrition warfare, illustrating how it aims to wear down enemies by depleting their resources, using the Russian Army's success against the German Army as an example. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of these strategies and their impact on military operations, supporting the importance of tactical implementation for defense against militant groups and terrorists.

Running head: COMPOSITION
Composition
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The aim of the following essay is to discuss about the different concepts in the different
military tactics. The military tactics of the different countries vary on the geographical position
of the countries. The implementations of the different military tactics are very crucial for
defending the country against the militant groups and terrorists (Lind: 34). The different concepts
in the military concepts will be described in this paper. Many people do not have a clear idea
about how the military operations are done and the impacts of these military operations are very
critical as well. In this essay, four important things in each of the three concepts would be
discussed.
Concepts in military tactics
Use of weapons by the military personnel
One of the most important issues for the military personnel is to use the proper weapons
based on their strategies. It has been noticed in some cases that most powerful countries have to
fight in the most extreme weather conditions and using the proper weapons so they can use the
best available weapons in their arsenal (Lind: 34). The military strategies should be applied
perfectly to the situations of warfare. In the modern times, the import and export of the weapons
has become a business (Van Crefeld: 67). Some of the major exporters of the weapons are the
countries like United States of America, Russia, India, France and Israel. The military strategies
had been invented by Carl Von Clausewitz centuries ago. During that time, so many self-
propelled rifles and guns were not available in the market (Quimby: 26). The military tactics are
mainly the strategies by which the troops are used in the battles by the military forces. The troops

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might have to get ready for the battle on a very short notice as well. The four important things
are:
 Following the offensive operations Using the heavy artillery machines by the forces for counter attacks Battle of annihilation tactics Penetrating into enemy zone
The offensive military tactics have been considered as one of the main driving forces for
the success of the military operations (Harkins: 112). The military forces do not give
anything loose on their enemies when they go out for an all out attack. The offensive attacks
can be done by all the three forces of the military- namely territorial, naval forces and the air
force (Quimby: 26). The military forces can also penetrate into the zone of the enemy and
destroy their artillery. The commanders will play the major role in this.
Attempt to the surgical strikes
The surgical strike is considered as one of the deadliest warfare tactics for the military
forces. This concept of tactics is only applied by the forces to destroy the military target and
cause the maximum damage to their targets (Quimby: 26). They do not intend to cause any
havoc or collateral damage to the surrounding structures, buildings, vehicles, utilities and the
entire infrastructure. The surgical strike attacks must be swift and destroy the military target in
just one go. There are some recommendable surgical strike attacks in the history of the world
military forces. These are the surgical strikes by Israel of 1981 Bombing event at the nuclear
reactor region at Osirak and numerous surgical strike attacks by the United States military forces
on the Al Qaeda base camps at Afghanistan (Harkins: 112). The most recent example of the

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surgical strike is the attacks by the Indian Army in the PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) as a
revenge of the Uri attacks in Kashmir. Some of the major features of this tactics are:
 Destroying the targets without harming any utilizes around Cause maximum damage to the enemies with the minimum collateral damage to
civilians Not to give any glimpse of the attack to the enemy forces till the attack itself begins Using the air force to carry out the attack without any damage to the military personnel
The purpose of the surgical strikes is best served when the military forces would be able to
come back to their base without any casualties and completely destroying the launch pads of the
enemies and destroying the enemy forces completely (Van Crefeld: 67).
Attrition warfare
Another very crucial warfare tactics for the military forces is the attrition warfare. The
attrition warfare has been applied in many warfare situations in the past. One of the best
examples of this warfare strategy is the case of Russian Army when they wearied down the
German Army of Hitler and the German Army froze in the severe cold of Russia. Their food and
ammunition was coming to a finish and they had to give up because of the lack of resources (Van
Crefeld: 67). The main target of the dominant military force will be to wear down the enemies to
an extent when their resources will almost finish and they will have no option left but to
surrender. If the resources of the opponents are not enough to combat, they will give up (Daniel:
89). The four most important things in the attrition warfare are:
 Surround the enemies with the maximum amount of resources Not giving any opportunities to the enemy forces to make the counter attack

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 Make the enemy forces to surrender to the dominant forces The surprise attacks or siege of the enemy camps is also a very useful method
This attrition warfare has been regarded as a method when the military forces can outnumber the
enemies and complete their aggressive movement. The damage caused in this kind of war is
minimal (Daniel: 89).
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it can be said that different tactics of the military forces have been
discussed in this paper. The military forces implement several different strategies to conquer the
battles. The three very important tactical steps have been discussed in this paper. The military
forces of the topmost powerful countries follow this kind of warfare strategies most of the times.
These tactics have yielded good positive results at some point of time.

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References and Bibliography
Daniel, Donald C. Anti-submarine warfare and superpower strategic stability. Springer, 2015.
Fowler, Mike. "The strategy of drone warfare." Journal of Strategic Security 7.4 (2014): 9.
Harkins, Homer W. "What is old is new again: The reemergence of special warfare." Special
Operations Journal1.2 (2015): 112-118.
Hunter, Eve, and Piret Pernik. The challenges of hybrid warfare. International Centre for
Defence and Security, 2015.
Hutchinson, William, and Matthew Warren. Information warfare. Routledge, 2012.
Lind, William S. Maneuver warfare handbook. Routledge, 2018.
Quimby, Robert S. The Background of Napoleonic Warfare: the theory of military tactics in
eighteenth-century France. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2015.
Van Crefeld, Martin. Air Power and Maneuver Warfare. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2015.