List of Military Tactics - Offensive Tactics

Offensive Tactics

• Charge
• Highland charge
• Ambush
• Skirmish
• Trench raiding
• Peaceful Penetration
• Rapid dominance
  • Blitzkrieg: A misnomer, usually associated with specific weapons systems (such as the use of tanks and aircraft) rather than as a technique. Blitzkrieg could be also referred to as the "Expanding Torrent" (Liddell Hart), Tukhachevsky's and the post 1960 Soviet theorists of 'Deep Battle', or even the 'OODA Loop' of contemporary US usage. Essentially, the ideas are the same. These include utilizing speed, manoeuvre, and the shock of sudden violence throughout the entire depth of an enemy's defence to create conditions of psychological shock in the minds of their troops and commanders. The idea is to beat them mentally, as a prelude to their destruction or surrender. Deep penetrations by raiding formations - such as a Soviet Operational Manoeuvre Group (OMG) or a battalion of air cavalry - coupled with disruptive techniques and air superiority wrest the initiative away from the enemy, keep them off balance and unable to react faster than one can exploit, and prevent them from establishing effective defences.
  • Carpet bombing: The usage of massive bomber squadrons to annihilate an enemy city. While useful in destroying industrial might and wrecking the enemy's ability to wage war, it can often fail to impact civilian morale. During various stages of World War II, air raids against British and German cities became as routine for civilians as the weather.
  • Human wave attack
  • Shock tactics
  • Swarming (Military)
• Planned attack
  • Use of Supporting Fire
  • Indirect Fire Support
  • Base of fire
  • Flying wedge (used by Alexander the Great)
  • Armoured spearhead
  • Encirclement
  • Hammer and anvil
  • Inverted wedge
  • the "refuse" (cavalry formation)
  • Frontal assault
  • Holding attack - to hold the enemy in position while other offensive or defensive activity takes place
  • Penetration or infiltration
  • Pincer movement - An army assaults an enemy by attacking two sides at opposite locations, often planning to cut off the enemy from retreat or additional support in preparation for annihilation.
  • Flanking maneuver
• Interdiction - Severing or disrupting lines of communication and supply
  • Air interdiction
• Control MSR (Main supply routes)
• Envelopment tactics
  • Circumvallation
  • Finnish motti tactics
  • Siege
  • Vertical envelopment
    • Airborne Forces
    • Air Mobile Forces
• Rapid deployment
  • Capturing key points
  • Airborne operations
  • Air Mobile operations
  • Amphibious operations
  • Motorized operations
  • Tank desant
  • Mechanized operations
  • Armored operations
  • Raiding: A small team is inserted deep behind enemy lines to capture a high valued individual or destroy a vital enemy installation then extracted before the enemy can respond.
• Preemptive Strike
• Disrupting Communications
  • Electronic countermeasures
  • Radar Jamming
  • Radio Jamming