1870-2022

Società industrializzate o in sviluppo, adottano nuove organizzazioni per coordinare l’azione bellica. Compaiono nuove specialità (forze aeree, forze corazzate ecc …) e domini, ma permangono i vecchi modelli a bassa intensità, combattute nei confini “regionali” in senso geostrategico, con l’impiego di tattiche di guerra asimmetrica e terroristiche. Strategia e tattica sono affiancate dal livello operazionale.

Articoli

La Prima guerra mondiale (1914-1918) II – Fronte Orientale e i teatri esterni

Introduzione Proseguiamo il racconto delle principali fasi militari della Prima Guerra Mondiale esplorando le battaglie che si svolsero nell’Europa dell’Est, così come nei Balcani, nel Medio Oriente, per non parlare delle operazioni condotte in…

La Prima guerra mondiale (1914-1918) I – Fronte Occidentale

Introduzione Questo è il primo di due articoli sulla Prima guerra mondiale del 1914-1918. Data la portata del conflitto e le diverse angolazioni da cui è possibile presentare le fasi principali, abbiamo scelto di…

The Long Pivot The Development of the Joint Warfighting Concept

The final withdrawal of troops from Iraq in December 2011 left most U.S. military leadership with the desire to shift their focus from counterinsurgency—which had achieved a position of intellectual dominance in the U.S.…

Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare: Theory and Practice (II)

Guerrilla units operating in cities must solve strictly defined tasks, limited in scale, being, in fact, reconnaissance and sabotage groups. This is due to the fact that, according to their conditions (high population density,…

Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare: Theory and Practice (I)

DOZENS of more or less large-scale local conflicts that took place during the 20th century, as well as the experience of using guerrilla methods of armed struggle during World War II, allow us to…

Guerrilla Warfare [1954]

No longer a limited military tactic, guerrilla warfare has political and economic consequences that can be more dangerous than the armed force employed. Guerrilla warfare is an open sore that annoys today, is a…

Intelligence Cooperation between the Kuomintang Agents and British Special Operations Executive in Singapore-Malaya, 1942–1945

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Singapore-Malaya during the Pacific War has consistently been a focal point of scholarly attention. In the existing academic and literary spheres, there is a plethora of research and…

The grand strategy of carl von clausewitz

As the affairs of states continue to evolve into a complex web of interdependence, cooperation, and competition, pressure mounts on states to effectively employ the tools of statecraft to attain their political objects. The…

German Mission Orders

Their Doctrinal and Operational Development from 1866-1940 and Mission Order Combat Illustrations from the 1870-71, 1914-18 and 1939-45 Wars “Orders are not written out in the minutest detail, a mission is merely given the…

The Development of American Armor 1917-1940 (II)

Official War Department doctrine called for tanks to be used as dose support weapons for the infantry, thus the wartime practices for the employment of tanks would continue. A board of officers convened by…

The Development of American Armor 1917-1940 (I)

The world war I experience When the United States entered World War I, in April 1917, tanks had yet to prove their capabilities. Following the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the Allies had…

Extending the Battlefield [ed. 1981]

General Donn A. Starry made the following comments on the genesis of this March 1981 article and AirLand Battle: “The ultimate lesson of `Active Defense’ and the 1976 edition of FM [US Army Field…

Combined Arms Theory and Practice in the 20th Century

Part 1: England: “Hurry up and proceed with caution!” In 1918, the British Empire was the world leader in both the development of armored equipment and tactics. The attitude prevalent at the time in…

A Brief History of the StG 44 the Father of Assault Rifles

Once upon a time there were two cartridges: the rifle and the pistol. The first one hits far and hard, but is difficult to control, while the second one is convenient, they have already…

D-Day 1944 – Air Power Over the Normandy Beaches and Beyond

Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion–like William the Conqueror’s before it or the Inchon landing afterwards–will long be studied as a classic in military planning, logistics, and operations. OVERLORD depended to a remarkable degree upon the…

America’s Byzantine strategy

The Roman Empire was the longest-lasting empire in world history, enduring more than fourteen centuries. Throughout its republican and imperial history, Rome relied heavily on military power, using conquest to expand the empire. As…

German Commander-in-Chief West, Field Marshal Karl R. Gerd von Rundstedt’s Report on the Allied Invasion of Normandy

Experiences from the Invasion Battles of Normandy A. Preliminary Remarks 1. Experiences fulfill their purposes only when they are quickly brought to the attention of the troops. This happens from time to time through the…

World War II Invasion of Normandy 1944 – The other side [III] Interrogation of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel

Questionnaire presented by US interrogators to Generalfeldmarschall (General Field Marshal) Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Supreme Command of the German Armed Forces), concerning German plans for counter attacking against the…

World War II Invasion of Normandy 1944 – The other side [II] Interrogation of Generaloberst Alfred Jodl

Questionnaire presented by US interrogators to Chief of the Operations Staff of OKW, Alfred Jodl, concerning German plans for counter attacking against the Allies after the Invasion of Normandy. Invasion and Normandy Campaign 1.…

World War II Invasion of Normandy 1944 – The other side [I] Interrogation of Generalleutnant Rudolf Schmetzer

Interrogation of Generalleutnant [Lieutenant General] Rudolf Schmetzer concerning the construction of German defenses in Normandy, France. A) Fundamentals 1) Commands and organization of fortress engineers The sector corresponded exactly to the extent of command of the LXXXIV.…

Behind Enemy Plans: A Process-Tracing Analysis of Germany’s Operational Approach to a Western Invasion

No plan survives contact with the enemy. —Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Sixty-four years after Moltke’s observation, two mid-level German commanders, faced with the herculean task of changing the course of…

D-Day, A Year Too Late?

In April 1942, General George C. Marshall, the U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff, went to London with a set of plans to bring about the defeat of Germany in northwestern Europe. Operation Bolero detailed…

D-Day: planning and execution

A cross-channel attack to initiate the European Campaign remained the linchpin of American strategy for taking the war to Germany and defeating its armies in the field. This approach remained the centerpiece of Allied…

The Japanese-Russian War of 1904-1905 [Russian encyclopedia entry – ed. 1908]

In March 1902, Russia , in order to protect the East China Railway, occupied Manchuria with its troops, pledging to evacuate it within three deadlines; the last was October 8, 1903. This obligation was not fulfilled…

The military concept of the modern breakthrough, created by gen. Aleksei A. Brusilov

The Modern Breakthrough In the modern era of the novel Coronavirus plague, a revolutionary concept of the Breakthrough on the battlefield should be contemplated when considering engaging in the friction of war on…

The Turkish Army 1914 – 1918

Army Organization At the turn of the century, there were two major administrative levels in the Ottoman Armed forces, which were the “armies” and the “divisions”. The latter was directly linked to the former…

Il vento del Diavolo: la rivolta dell’esercito del Bengala

La Compagnia delle Indie Orientali e l’Esercito del Bengala Nel 1670 Carlo II d’Inghilterra accordò alla Compagnia delle Indie Orientali[1] il diritto di acquisire nuovi territori, di battere moneta e di arruolare truppe sui…

Cavalry raids (Рейды конницы) [ed. 1927]

What is the army rear? Every state in a war with another puts up huge armies to defend its borders, in the ranks of which there are hundreds of thousands and millions of fighters.…

Italian armored division in attack and defense [ed.1975] – Soviet analysis

The core of the Italian armed forces is the ground forces, the development of which is in accordance with the requirements of the command of the aggressive NATO bloc. Italian experts consider the armored…

US Mechanized Division in Primary Types of Combat [ed.1975] – Soviet analysis

The Pentagon’s military preparations devote a significant place to the development of armored and mechanized forces. Thus, of the 13 divisions currently in the regular army’s combat strength, three are armored and four are…

The Russian army and the Japanese war – Critical comments by General Kuropatkin (III) [ed. 1909]

WHY THE JAPANESE WERE SUCCESSFUL The army we put in the field was unable to defeat the Japanese in the time allotted to it. Many historians will probably essay to solve the riddle of…

The Russian army and the Japanese war – Critical comments by General Kuropatkin (II) [ed. 1909]

REASONS FOR OUR REVERSES Against this part of the memorandum I wrote the words, “It would be better to do it simultaneously.” On my way to the front I received a telegram from General…

The Russian army and the Japanese war – Critical comments by General Kuropatkin (I) [ed. 1909]

REASONS FOR OUR REVERSES The minor part played by the fleet—The small carrying capacity of the Siberian and Eastern Chinese Railways—Absence of any diplomatic arrangements to permit of the unhampered dispatch and distribution of…

On Attrition – An Ontology for Warfare

Let’s hit a reset, please. Attrition is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and abused ideas in contemporary military thinking. Policymakers, military practitioners, and theorists often use and abuse a slew of pejoratives to…

A Solution Looking for a Problem: Illuminating Misconceptions in Maneuver-Warfare Doctrine

Warfare exists in the realm of both art and science – as a phenomenon in which sensing and intuition (in other words, art) play a complementary role to education and training (science). Just as…

August Neidhardt von Gneisenau

Though many of the figures central to the reform of the Prussian army and state that took place between the battle of Jena-Auerstadt (1806) and the final defeat of Napoleon (1815) were of humble…

Measuring combat effectiveness: a novel method based on two-dimensional frontline advancement rate

Accurately measuring combat effectiveness is a cornerstone of military and political science research. Lanchester (1916) laid the foundation for this field with his renowned Lanchester equations, which focus on quantifying casualties based on the…

L’impiego tattico della fanteria durante la guerra Russo-Giapponese [ed.1911]

Sebbene della guerra russo-giapponese non sia stata ancora pubblicata la storia ufficiale, pure le notizie che ci sono fin qui pervenuta per opera essenzialmente dello stato maggiore tedesco e di quello inglese, nonché per…

L’OPERAZIONE BRITANNICA “CHARIOT”

Abstract: Questo saggio analizza in modo approfondito, attraverso fonti britanniche ufficiali e documenti tedeschi inediti, la pianificazione e lo svolgimento dell’audace attacco condotto dalla Marina britannica contro la base navale tedesca di Saint-Nazaire, tra…

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