Shock tactics
All-out attack to break enemy lines
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- 4 chapters
Related on Lably
Through World War I and World War II
Pre-modern
Shock tactics were usually performed by heavy cavalry, but were sometimes achieved by heavy infantry. The most famous shock tactic is the medieval cavalry charge. This shock attack was conducted by heavily armoured cavalry armed with lances, usually couched, galloping at full speed against an enemy infantry and/or cavalry formations.
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Modern
After the introduction of firearms, the use of the cavalry charge as a common military tactic waned. Infantry shock action required the holding of fire until the enemy was in very close range, and was used in defence as well as attack. The favorite tactic of the Duke of Wellington was for the infantry to fire a volley and then give a loud cheer and charge. The increasing firepower of machine guns, mortars, and artillery made this tactic increasingly hazardous. World War I saw the infantry charge at its worst, when masses of soldiers made frontal, and often disastrous, attacks on entrenched enemy positions.
Shock tactics began to be viable again with the invention of tanks and airplanes. During World War II, the Germans adapted shock tactics to modern mechanized warfare, known as blitzkrieg, which gained considerable achievements during the war and was afterwards adopted by most modern armies.
The United States tactic of shock and awe during the Second Gulf War was a shock tactic based on overwhelming military superiority on land and unchallenged dominance in naval and aerial warfare.
Famous examples
- The charge of the Polish cavalry (September 12, 1683) at the Battle of Vienna in the Great Turkish War.
- Charge of the Light Brigade (October 25, 1854) at the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War.
- Pickett's Charge (July 3, 1863) at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.
- Charge of the 21st Lancers (September 2, 1898) at the Battle of Omdurman in the Mahdist War: the last cavalry charge in battle by a British cavalry unit.
- Battle of Beersheba (October 31, 1917) in World War I: one of the last successful British cavalry charges in history.
- Charge at Krojanty (September 1, 1939) in World War II: a cavalry charge that gave birth to the myth of Polish cavalry charging German armoured vehicles.
Shock units
Cavalry
- Hetairoi
- Cataphracts
- Clibanarii
- Polish Hussars
- Carabiniers
- Cuirassiers
- Lancers
- Knights
- Gendarme (historical)