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| Soldiers of The 3rd (East Kent) Regiment of Foot (The Buffs) defending the Colours at Albuera, 1811 (Source) |
With the current war in Ukraine I've seen a number of references to the obsolescence of various combat arms. Is the tank obsolete? Are surface warships obsolete? One thing to always bear in mind is that a war isn't over until the infantry have seized the ground, and held it against all comers.
Tanks cannot seize and hold ground, in fact, as the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022 demonstrates, tanks are virtually helpless against steadfast infantry. Tanks need their own infantry to protect them. So why bother with tanks?
Well, they are far more mobile than a man on foot, they are heavily armed and armored. It takes a set of brass ones to go up against a tank if you're an infantryman. But they do and with the proper training tanks lose much of their mystery.
The tanker is blind inside his buttoned up machine, to expose yourself leaves you open to all the nasty things flying through the air in a combat environment. But with the right support, the tank can punch holes in an enemy line and roll it up from within. As long as the infantry supports are nearby, the tank is a formidable foe.
Combined arms - infantry, armor, and artillery working together are an absolute must in modern warfare. Artillery is the man-killer extraordinaire, it's how an army reaches out and touches someone.
Aircraft are important, both fixed wing and rotary wing, to control the air above your own forces. Let the enemy control the air and your soldiers are just so many targets burrowing into the soil. Rooted in place, they will soon starve as enemy air deprives them of food, fuel, and ammunition.
The only weapon of war which will never be obsolete is the infantryman. The infantryman is the guy you have to beat on the ground to win battles and eventually the war. Everything else is support for that person on the ground with his personal weapon. All are important, but the infantry is indeed, the queen of battle.
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| Follow me! The Infantry School Fort Benning, GA |
Let's hear for Willie and Joe, Bill Mauldin is smiling Sarge. Did you happen to see the two photos of that artillery shell exploding in the forest in Ukraine?
ReplyDeleteI did not, I understand it was a left over munition from WWII.
DeleteSarge, I remember from some book - I would swear to you it was Heinlein's Starship Troopers but I have no idea - that this very argument was made: without infantry to hold territory, there was no such thing as victory (barring something like a nuclear war of course; but that makes the whole definition of "victory" rather hollow). Ultimately it takes soldiers - on the ground - to take and hold a piece of ground.
ReplyDelete(Right after that, of course, falls the word "Logistics"...)
Logistics is always in the picture. Unsupplied infantry cannot seize ground, they can hold it until they run out of ammunition, then they're screwed.
DeleteWars are won by some poor bastard with a rifle forcing some other poor bastard out his foxhole, and making him sign the peace treaty, as someone one said, George C Scott, perhaps?
ReplyDeletePatton maybe, the actor? Probably not.
DeleteThe first thing we heard going into the gates of Ft. Wolters, TX (primary helicopter) to the last thing we heard departing the gates of Ft. Rucker, AL (advanced helicopter) and many times in between was "you only exist for the guy on the ground." The group of soldiers I most respected was the junior enlisted man with a CIB and Ranger tab. "Keep up the fire Manchu!" regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeleteGotta love the grunts.
DeleteDuring my time, 1960's, in the Army, our 1st Sgt often reminded us Combat Engineers were Infantry that built stuff. We spent much of our training doing Infantry stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought of the combat engineers that way.
DeleteI know y'all know this but Combat Engineers are the only "non-Infantry" that can be awarded the CIB. regards, Alemaster
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DeleteSeaBees get infantry training. Not every Sailor needs that.
Delete"We build, we fight" though there are (or have been)other sailors who get trained as well.
DeleteBoat Guy
Trivia - it was Polish Lancers of the Vistula Legion that virtually annihilated three of four regiments of the Colborne's Brigade.
ReplyDeleteSudden rainstorm has made muskets unable to fire for a time, and Lancers, outranging the bayonnets were able to spear their opponents pretty much with impunity. According to Beresford, of the 1,258 men lost by Colborne's first three regiments, 319 were killed, 460 were wounded and 479 were taken prisoner.[82] According to Soult's report the Vistula Legion Lancers had 130 casualties out of 591 troopers.
I'm working on the next dose of Ewok Report. Should be able to deliver it by tomorrow...
And yeah, infantry is the boots on the ground, you can fly over the ground thousand times and reduce cities to rubble, you can bloackade the nation into poverty, but it takes boots on the ground to raise your flag over anothers capital.
Infantry might ride into battle into APC or helo, but their work is done on foot.
War? War never changes. Actors of new generations take stage. The decorations are often reused (looks at Kharkiv and Warsaw and Belgium in pretty much entiriety), costumes and accesories change, but the play is basically nonchanging.
Yes, it does seem to go on and on. Only the dead ...
DeleteJust a comment on my experience as infantry in Nam. Both units I was in, the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Air Mobile, always gave us fantastic support as ground pounders. Once a full bird colonel was the person off loading ammo and food to me at our location in the field. THAT is service.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a damn fine officer!
DeleteSpent the last 8 years of my career in Joint Billets, to include ARMY Training, Sir at Ft Leavenworth. Learned a lot, but then so did they. Infantry is indeed necessary, but so are virtually all the other branches/subpBranches/Units etc. I'd regularly get asked why we needed F-15s that didn't drop bombs (E Model still on the drawing board). I'd answer, "Wouldn't it be nice to have them die on their side of the boarder rather than by that 1 mile range Stinger you've got that will hit the target after he's released his?" Wouldn't it be nice to have his attacking force interdicted 10-20 miles behind the lines before he can begin his attack. We practice CAS all the time, but that's pretty much a last ditch effort. We prefer to kill way back where the only people watching them die are their own. Hurts their morale." Vince Brooks, now retired Army 4 Star was a junior Captain in my staff group. He was also my running buddy. We had several conversations that went like that. When we graduated, he told me he'd gotten on board with the whole Joint thing. He was infantry. I mark that as a big success.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was mistaken, <a href="https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/gen-vincent-brooks>Vince retired</a> as a 2 Star.
Deletejuvat #1 - All the pieces are needed, I just accord the infantry the position of "1st among equals."
Deletejuvat #2 - Actually his Dad retired as a 2-star, his brother as a brigadier. Your running mate was indeed a 4-star. See here.
Delete"1st among equals"? Aren't you referring to Field Artillery?
DeleteLending dignity to that which is otherwise a brawl.
Boat Guy
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DeleteWe always tease the holders of the crossed rifle insignia as wearing "idiot sticks" but in truth, some of the best and brightest lead infantry, from the fire team level up to the division level. regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeleteYup, I know the term. Far from the truth.
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