RAA Liaison Letter 2024 - 2025 Edition

RAA Liaison Letter – 2024 / 2025 Edition 106 Size Doesn’t Matter - It’s How You Use It! Manoeuvre Warfare Gunner Aiden Webster Introduction and Fundamentals Military officers are trained to understand and employ the philosophy of manoeuvre warfare, but why aren’t soldiers? Soldiers and junior leaders in the ADF are known for exceptional tactical appreciation skills, yet the common understanding of the strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of manoeuvre warfare is often under-appreciated and misunderstood. The goal of manoeuvre warfare is a situational dependant statement. For the Army of present and most certainly the future, manoeuvre is key to maintaining a proactive force that is agile and maintains the initiative. It provides a force with the aggression required to overwhelm an adversary. It provides a force with a capability to rapidly engage the enemy to the point they cannot react to the pure complexity of such a method of war. The theory of manoeuvre is applicable to all forms of warfare and all levels of command, from the section all the way to the division and above. The goal of manoeuvre warfare can be explained as simply as: “Shattering the opponent’s physical and/or mental cohesion” (Lind, 1984) But the real question is, is it really that simple? Is a broad effect that is already expected from a fighting force as notorious as the USMC enough to explain a theory for winning wars? The article continues to provide a justified and understandable explanation of how this goal is achieved, it states: “Presenting the opponent with a succession of unexpected and dangerous situations more rapidly than he can react to them.” (Lind, 1984) The current common understanding of manoeuvre warfare, from my observations whilst serving in the Australian Army, are that the common soldier and junior leader views manoeuvre warfare as the practical effect, and not as the philosophy that it comprises. “Manoeuvre warfare is a mental approach to conflict in which we seek to create and exploit advantage by creating a rapidly and continuously changing situation in which our enemy cannot effectively cope. We aim to do this by focusing our strengths against critical enemy vulnerabilities, generating superior tempo and distracting or disorienting our enemy through ambiguity or deception.” (1994 Royal Australian Armoured Corp Manoeuvre Warfare Handbook) Understand, Appreciate, Conduct A famous example of a prepared force failing to adopt manoeuvre theory would be the Italian Army in the Spanish Civil War. The Italians attempted a similar operation to the Blitzkrieg conducted by Nazi Germany into France during the Second World War. The Italians had the understanding, the composition, and the equipment necessary to achieve victory. But the reality is that they just weren’t as much of a capable force as the Wehrmacht. We need to ask ourselves though, what separated these two militaries from success and failure? What differentiates a military that is academically sound and equipped from a force able to conduct manoeuvre warfare? Is our military capable enough and prepared to make a drastic war fighting culture change if needed? The Italian Army relied heavily on the soldiers fighting spirit rather than the soldier having cognitive thinking and awareness of large-scale tactics and philosophies. The changes needed for our Army to achieve such effects will be revolutionary, not evolutionary. Crucially there has to be ways to develop these changes in the smallest formations of Army. Training for soldiers and junior leaders in combat roles to provide the understanding of the battlespace as a whole and high echelon intelligence and planning need to be reinforced. To understand is the first step to develop proactive soldiers and leaders in the battle space, this will begin the journey of being able to confidently and effectively conduct manoeuvre warfare operations. Anyone can develop a comprehensive academic understanding; passing test, identifying the intent of the manoeuvre arms commander, reading and writing articles, and teach the academics of this philosophy. To have exposure to manoeuvre theory leads to an appreciation of tactics and more confidence in the conduct. This is evident by the character of manoeuvre warfare which often sees multiple elements engaging with multiple enemy forces simultaneously and generating complexity and confusion for the enemy commander. To support