The Infantry

American infantrymen in the Ardennes, 1944.

Set aside the bombers, the battleships, the aircraft carriers, the cruisers, the destroyers, the tanks, the armored personnel carriers (APC), the fighter jets, the big guns of the artillery, and all of the other trappings of modern war. All of those are simply there to support the infantry.

Ships can't occupy ground nor can aircraft. Tanks and APCs are virtually helpless in built up areas and forests. Visibility out of them is not that great and if you poke your head out of a hatch, count on some gravel agitator with a rifle to blow it off. A timber beam knocked from some ruined building is just the thing to immobilize your mighty steel beast. Gasoline in a bottle is nice for toasting tankers stuck in a broken down tank.

So what's an armor chap to do? Bring your own infantry, of course. Keep the enemy grunts from messing with you until you're back in the open and fight other tanks as is proper. (Though not the original mission of the tank which was to punch holes in the line - for the infantry to exploit - and then roam through the enemy's rear areas messing with his supplies, communications, and REMFs.*)

But Sarge, you might protest, Japan surrendered because we nuked them, twice. Carrier aircraft and Army Air Force bombers put paid to them. And submarines, don't forget the submarines sinking everything with a Rising Sun flag. No infantry necessary!

Ah, who do you think captured the islands where the B-29s launched from and could emergency divert to? Carriers and submarines need bases too, who captured those? The infantry, that's who. (Worth noting is that Marines are specialized infantry, for those who think the term "infantry" only applies to the Army. It doesn't.)

In days of yore it was the man with his shield and sword (or spear) who fought the battles and won the wars. Sure the cavalry galloped around and made themselves a nuisance but they couldn't storm a town or hold a building. Not to mention how expensive maintaining a man and a horse in the field was. Which is why many of the cavalry were some kind of noble or rich dude back in the day and which is why there weren't too many of them.

But Sarge (I hear your plea) what about the steppe barbarians, the Mongols, the Huns, and others of that ilk? They were mounted, they were cavalry, amirite? Yeah, but where are their empires now? Defeated in the long run, by infantry.

Now missile weapons (bows and arrows, slings, even just a guy chucking a rock) are useful at a distance. But if they walk to battle, yup, just a different kind of infantryman.

There are many weapon systems with massive amounts of firepower, that can move fast, and travel far, but once they get there what do they do? Aircraft can land and carry infantry you might say (even drop them from the sky) but what happens if the enemy shoots down your airplanes. Even if they don't, the guys they landed need to be relieved by marching infantry (legs as the airborne calls 'em) otherwise they eventually get worn down. They have to surrender or die at that point. Think Arnhem and a Bridge Too Far.

Infantry will always be necessary to defeat an enemy, eventually even the biological, chemical, and radiation effects wear off and you'll need to send your grunts in so that their infantry can't reoccupy the ground.

One could make the argument that most of the armed forces required by a nation are solely there to support the Poor Bloody Infantry. They don't get much in the way of headlines, but their importance can't be underestimated.

(Source)

God bless the infantry!





* REMF = Rear echelon mother fire truckers. Not a complimentary term by any means. But try fighting a war without them!