The Essential Debate: Combined Arms and the ... - Australian Army

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Tactics Lieutenant Colonel David Kilcullenposition to receive early warning of any attempted enemy countermoves. Investmentmay include electronic warfare, the use of aviation or airborne fire support, satellites,fixed-wing aircraft and the employment of Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).The next stage in the attack is the break-in. In this sequence, attack from mortars,machine-guns, heavy direct-fire support weapons and snipers is delivered againsta key break-in sector. The aim of the attacker is to neutralise a selected tacticalpoint, allowing assaulting forces to break into the village. In this stage, deceivingthe enemy with respect to the whereabouts of the actual break-in point is a keyobjective. Smoke and dust, electronic attack, bad weather or darkness, and deliberatedeception measures can be exploited in order to allow the attacking force to gainentry into the village and to occupy a series of points from which the assault cancommence in earnest.Following the break-in, the attacking force conducts infiltration in order tosuppress enemy positions. The attackers ideally move on a broad front using small,semi-autonomous teams that exploit covered approaches, probing forward until theenemy is detected. Simultaneously, the investing elements provide radio commentaryon enemy movement and on the evolving tactical situation. As the assault teamscome into contact with enemy forces, they seek consolidation in covered positionssuch as houses or other buildings from which they can observe the adversary anduse fires to suppress his activity. The assault force progressively feels its way forwarduntil the enemy’s main positions have been located in what is, in effect, a ‘reconnaissancein force’. Such an action is extremely difficult in complex terrain, and airborneobservers, intelligence sources, thermal sensors or electronic warfare elements canbe valuable in this process.The use of infiltration has the effect of creating a non-linear deployment at theforward edge of the battle, with the attacking force forming a series of points fromwhich the enemy can be observed and suppressed. On a standard map, such adeployment may resemble a ‘high-tide mark’, but on the ground it is not a continuousfront; rather, it is a series of mutually supporting strong points. These strong pointshave the potential to communicate with each other, to suppress enemy positions,and to provide cooperative self-defence. By this stage in the battle, the attackingforce is likely to have assumed suppression positions, with perhaps 50 per centof its strength engaged in combat. In our company attack scenario, this situationmight mean that there are two platoons and the headquarters engaged in contact,with another platoon uncommitted and assault groups standing by for orders tocommit to battle.The next, critical, stage is winning the firefight. This stage will be the most timeconsuming, and is likely to absorb large amounts of ammunition. The infantrycompany seeks to attack by fire all key enemy positions, applying direct-fire weaponsand mortars, using observation from investing forces and employing its own leadpage 70 Volume I, Number 2 Australian Army Journal
The Essential Debateelements in order to react to any enemy countermoves. However, enemy positionscannot be destroyed unless they can be targeted. As a result, sensor and reconnaissancetechnologies and deception measures become critical in ‘unmasking’ hiddenpositions so that they can be destroyed. Assault teams may now conduct limited andlocal manoeuvre in order to generate more effective fire against enemy positions.While ammunition resupply is important in supporting the close fight, the infantrycompany—by consciously adopting a point suppression approach—ensures that itsleading platoons carry large ammunition loads. In a linear assault, such extra ammunitionloads would hamper an attack and would be likely to require classical ‘fireand movement’ techniques. However, in the point attack scenario being outlined,the assault platoons infiltrate to first contact with the enemy and then apply firefrom relatively static positions. Each suppressive element conserves an ammunition‘assault reserve’, which it retains for use later in the action.As the suppression battle continues, the enemy will become progressivelyincapable of dealing with the flow of the attack, or of manoeuvreing and applyingcounter-fire. If concealed enemy positions do open fire, their locations can bequickly identified and then suppressed by the attacking force’s fire superiority.When the attacking commander judges that the enemy has been comprehensivelysuppressed and is about to ‘crack’, he then commits the assault team. The lattermay comprise between twelve and sixteen assault troops equipped with grenades,breaching charges, flame weapons, CS gas and white phosphorous grenades. Assaulttroops may also include pioneers, engineers and infantry, but should always seekto operate as a combined arms team. The assault group must be committed underthe heaviest possible weight of supporting fires, with the company ‘shooting in’the assault team.Company elements unable to support the assault directly should concentrateon neutralising enemy in-depth positions in order to prevent any of the latterfrom engaging the attackers. Offensive support also provides smoke and suppressivefire in order to isolate each successive position as it is engaged by the assaulttroops. Offensive support elements can occupy enemy positions once the latterare secured, thus relieving the assault troops of mounting defensive tasks. Thecompany should constitute at least two ‘mirror teams’ of assault troops capable ofrotation in action.Throughout the assault, the commander monitors progress and decides whento order exploitation. An exploitation force may be drawn from another platoon, orfrom suppressive elements of the company. The commander may seek to commithis exploitation force in depth so that it is able to reinforce the cascading collapseof the enemy’s positions under the impact of the assault force. At this point, tacticalcoordination becomes critical because the intention should be to use the exploitationand assault forces as mutually reinforcing elements in order to ensure theAustralian Army Journal Volume I, Number 2 page 71
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The Essential Debate: Combined Arms and the ... - Australian Army

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