Shock tactics
(Redirected from
Shock cavalry
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Shock tactics, shock tactic, or shock attack is the name of an offensive
combatants
to retreat. The acceptance of a higher degree of risk to attain a decisive result is intrinsic to shock actions.
Pre-modern
Shock tactics were usually performed by
medieval cavalry charge. This shock attack was conducted by heavily armoured cavalry armed with lances, usually couched, galloping at full speed against an enemy infantry and/or cavalry
formations.
Modern
After the introduction of
Duke of Wellington was for the infantry to fire a volley and then give a loud cheer and charge.[2][3] The increasing firepower of machine guns, mortars, and artillery made this tactic increasingly hazardous. World War I saw the infantry charge at its worst, when masses of soldiers made frontal, and often disastrous, attacks on entrenched
enemy positions.
Shock tactics began to be viable again with the invention of
mechanized warfare, known as blitzkrieg
, which gained considerable achievements during the war and was afterwards adopted by most modern armies.
The United States tactic of
shock and awe during the Second Gulf War was a shock tactic based on overwhelming military superiority on land and unchallenged dominance in naval and aerial warfare
.
Famous examples
- The charge of the Polish cavalry (September 12, 1683) at the Battle of Vienna in the Great Turkish War.
- Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War.
- Pickett's Charge (July 3, 1863) at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.
- Charge of the 21st Lancers (September 2, 1898) at the Battle of Omdurman in the Mahdist War: the last cavalry charge in battle by a British cavalry unit.
- British cavalrycharges in history.
- Charge at Krojanty (September 1, 1939) in World War II: a cavalry charge that gave birth to the myth of Polish cavalry charging German armoured vehicles.
Shock units
Cavalry
- Hetairoi
- Cataphracts
- Clibanarii
- Polish Hussars
- Carabiniers
- Cuirassiers
- Lancers
- Knights
- Gendarme (historical)
Infantry
- Phalanx
- Hoplites
- Caroleans
Mechanized
See also
- Cavalry tactics
- Charge (warfare)
- Close combat
- Close quarters battle
- List of military tactics
- Melee
- Military doctrine
- Military history
- Shock units
- Special forces
References
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