Close order formation
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A close order formation is a military
Around the
Antiquity
Images from the
The later Macedonian phalanx used a smaller shield but replaced the spear with a
on a similar frontage per man to the phalanx.Middle Ages
In the early Middle Ages, infantry used the
Growth in firepower
16th century
From 1490 to 1520 saw the emergence of a consensus in military thinking that armies should be increasingly ordered on the battlefield and that neat, rectilinear formations were the key.[8] The uniform bodies of pikes would be ordered based on an area occupied by a soldier of three paces frontage and seven paces depth, the soldier being positioned at the centre of the rectangle.[9] Pikes did not stand alone on the battlefield, however, and new formations of horns or sleeves of shot were developed to support the pike blocks with firearms. In the late 16th century, a system called countermarching was developed to enable an exchange of ranks of shooters. That led to the development of thinner formations and set tacticians on the road to developing the linear fire tactics of the 18th century.[10]
On horseback, the old knightly tactics slowly gave way to new tactics involving firearms, which led to the development of pistol-armed cavalry known as
17th and 18th centuries
In the 17th century, European armies expanded their use of firearms, which were at first
Another formation that saw use was the infantry square. Designed to defend against cavalry charges, an infantry battalion would form a square with the unit's standard in the center, along with reserve forces. That formation enabled the defenders to fire on cavalry on all sides of the formation although there was some risk that fire from one square might reach other squares formed nearby. The effectiveness of a square depended on the ability of the infantry to hold their ground against cavalry charges.
Eclipse
In the 19th century, advances in firearms technology rendered the use of close formations obsolete. The widespread use of rifled artillery and the advent of reliable
One of the last occasions involving the deployment in the face of the enemy of substantial numbers of British troops in close order occurred at the
In peace-time the major European armies persisted in training their infantry in close-order tactics that were to ensure very heavy casualties in August 1914. During the Battle of the Frontiers and the Battle of the Sambre the French attacked in shoulder to shoulder masses while at the Battle of Mons the German regiments went forward "as if advancing on a parade ground".[13]
Military parades
Though of no military value under modern conditions, military parades still feature soldiers standing and marching in close order formations for ceremonial purposes. Many armies maintain special ceremonial units, whose soldiers hold rigorous training in holding such formations, including armies established in the 20th century, which themselves have no experience of using such formations on the battlefield.
See also
- Night attack formation
- Phalanx formation
- Shieldwall
References
- ISBN 0-86101-034-5.
- ^ Warry (1980), pp. 72-3
- ISBN 1-898281-10-6.
- ISBN 978-0-313-33350-7.
- ISBN 0-85045-334-8.
- ISBN 0-631-13142-6.
- ^ Rogers (2007), p. 191
- ISBN 0-304-35270-5.
- ^ Arnold (2001), p.71
- ^ Arnold (2001), pp.78-81
- ^ Arnold (2001), pp. 98-100
- ISBN 0-7474-0976-5.
- ISBN 0-09-180178-8.
External links
- Moving 17th. Century Soldiers Website devoted to 17th. century drill which explains "close order" as it relates to pike and musket formation from the English Civil War era.