Battleplan

Blitzkrieg literally means Lightning War, a combat strategy that is hard, fast, and merciless. Examine the factors which are essential for modern Blitzkrieg to work, and the inherent dangers which can threaten disaster.

Assault from the air introduces a third dimension to a battlefield. Explore the key requirements in a battleplan for assault from the air and the changes which technology has brought.

Even before the Greeks used the wooden horse to capture Troy, deception was a critical part of warfare. Find out how deception can take many forms and turn the tides of even the most perilous of situations.

Seas and oceans cover almost two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, and assaults from the sea range from massive invasions to seize whole continents, to spectacular raids and counterattacks.

Counterstrike can take many forms, and history is full of examples where a numerically inferior army has turned the tide of battle by a brilliant execution of a counterstrike. Discover three historical examples of successful counterstrikes.

The Battleplan for blockade is directed not against an army or navy, or an individual town or city, but against a nation as a whole. Learn how blockades have the ability to destroy or at least damage a country’s ability to wage war.

Siege warfare is almost as old as history itself and can have several aims: to frustrate an enemy’s offensive battleplan, to seize victory by capturing a key position, or to tie down a critical element of the enemy’s forces.

The use of one’s battlefleet to establish control of the sea, or to frustrate an enemy’s attempt to do so, has been a key aspect of naval warfare for two and a half thousand years. Analyze the fundamentals of this very different type of battleplan.

Winning a swift victory by catching the enemy unaware is one of any commander's great dreams. Sometimes it can be a dramatic reaction to an opportunity, or it can be designed to remove a potential threat from the enemy’s arsenal.

Control of the air is an essential prerequisite of most modern military battleplans – blitzkrieg, assault from the sea, or preemptive strike. On occasion, the struggle to control the air was so crucial it has become a battleplan in its own right.

The defensive battle is often seen as the most dangerous of battleplans as it allows the enemy to directly attack you and exhaust himself before you counterattack. Whatever the circumstances, this battleplan requires great nerve and confidence.

Urban warfare is the most vicious form of fighting. In an era dominated by technology, it takes a soldier back to the most primitive type of warfare: hand-to-hand, knife-against-knife, street-by-street, house-by-house, even down to room-by-room.