•Response
•Infiltration fire and movement schemes can be viewed as
Napoleon’s multi-thrust strategic penetration
maneuvers being transformed into multi-thrust tactical
penetration maneuvers down to the lowest operational/organizational
level—the squad.
•Point
•Until the rise of the infiltration tactics
(and the use of tanks by the allies) in the latter
part of WWI, neither the 19th century nor the 20th century commanders
were able to evolve effective tactical penetration maneuvers
that could offset the massive increase in weapons lethality
developed during this same period.
•Why
•The aristocratic tradition, the top-down command and
control system, the slavish addiction to the “Principle
of Concentration”, and the drill regulation mind-set,
all taken together, reveal an “obsession for control” by high-level superiors
over low-level subordinates that restrict any imagination, initiative,
and adaptability needed by a system to evolve the indistinct-irregular-mobile
tactics that could counter the increase in weapons lethality.