FM 57-35 Airmobile Operations - Survival Books

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMBRIDGEHEADLINEFigure 9. Attack of a river line.dispositions and locate crossing sites. If possible, airmobile forces seize a bridgehead before the enemy canposition his force and prepare his defense. A river is notan obstacle to airmobile forces. When faced with airmobile forces, the enemy may have to reduce the strengthof his river line to protect his rear area.(2) Airmobile forces seize objectives that dominate theground forces' crossing sites. They should be on theirobjectives early enough to warn of counterattackingenemy forces or to prevent them from striking the groundforces while they are astride the river. The airmobileforces should also seal off surface routes of withdrawaland approach while the bridgehead is being developed.(3) Less engineer assistance is required when airmobileforces can be used in attacking a river line, and the problems of supply and evacuation are reduced by using aircraft for transport.e. Pursuit (Fig. 10). The commander of a pursuit force canmaintain or rapidly regain contact with the enemy by using airmobile forces. He gives the encircling force the highest prioritywhen assigning Army aircraft. Because an encircling movementis quickly planned and executed, airmobile forces may have to relyon the intelligence already at hand. For this reason and because56 AGO 2294B