Army formation: veterans at the first line
score:13
Basically, the time to put veterans in the front line is when you are in an attacking mode. That is, you put your shock troops in front so that they can actually deliver a shock.
In a defensive mode, you put your less experienced troops in front 1) to give them experience and 2) to have them absorb casualties and spare your veterans. If and when the enemy breaks through, your veterans are available for a counterattack (the shock phase of the battle).
In the "olique" formation, generals would put their best troops at the "cutting edge," and "refuse the flank" with their weaker (backup) troops.
Upvote:2
The Greek phalanx often deployed the most elite soldiers on the right flank of the formation.
Hanson writes as follows in Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience(emphasis mine)
Each individual hoplite carried his shield on the left arm, protecting not only himself but the soldier to the left. This meant that the men at the extreme right of the phalanx were only half-protected. In battle, opposing phalanxes would exploit this weakness by attempting to overlap the enemy's right flank. It also meant that, in battle, a phalanx would tend to drift to the right (as hoplites sought to remain behind the shield of their neighbour). The most experienced hoplites were often placed on the right side of the phalanx, to avoid these problems.
The most expirienced soldiers would not form the whole front row, but the most important part of it.
Upvote:3
If your veterans are broken, your inexperienced warriors cannot help. Once the inexperienced are broken, the veterans can help. This is simple. If you put veterans in front row, you can rely only on them, and the young warriors are completely useless.
More post
- 📝 What was Japan's grand strategy in WW2?
- 📝 Was Falkenhayn the first commander to recommend defeating an enemy by bleeding them to death?
- 📝 Why are there so few Greeks and Macedonians in India?
- 📝 Was there any connection between the Ottonians and Benedictines?
- 📝 How were precise hand drawn illustrations copied between the 16th and 20th century in Europe?
- 📝 To whom does Napoleon refer in this letter to Josephine?
- 📝 What nationality was "Egbert Van Kampen"?
- 📝 What was the price of bread in France from 1789 - 1815?
- 📝 What were the dominant Native American cultures in Eastern Canada and New England in the late 900s?
- 📝 When was natural gas first used for cooking food?
- 📝 A German immigrant ancestor has a "Registration Affidavit of Alien Enemy" on file. What does that mean exactly?
- 📝 Why were bows referred to as "Indian Artillery"?
- 📝 Is Howard Roark's potted history of architecture accurate?
- 📝 What present-day monarchs descend from Rodrigo de Borgia, a.k.a., Pope Alexander VI?
- 📝 What does this spear & carpentry square symbol mean?
- 📝 What was the church's attitude to "magic" prior to the 15th century?
- 📝 If there was truly 3 hours of darkness in Roman empire following the crucifixion, would we expect some sort of record to survive of this happening?
- 📝 What was the origin of the Classical Antiquity culture?
- 📝 How did historians find out about the undoctored version of Stalin's doctored photographs?
- 📝 How were the prophecies of Biblical prophets such as Isaiah first published or disseminated?
- 📝 What were the population demographics in the South during the Hayes/Tilden election?
- 📝 Why didn't Royal Navy (columns of) ships turn outwards, rather than inwards?
- 📝 Are there any histories of indigenous Americans who were taken to Europe?
- 📝 What happened to all the historical photos taken by Malcolm X?
- 📝 Reasons for transfer of leadership in computing from Britain to US after WWII
- 📝 Was the king of England able to execute a high rank noble and his family between 1216 and 1688?
- 📝 When did the Roman consular year begin during the Republic and Empire?
- 📝 How did the Abbey of Cluny derive revenue from William of Aquitaine's hunting preserve?
- 📝 What repercussions did Agrippina's murder have for Pompeii?
- 📝 What did the word "fascist" mean in an early 1930's novel set in Italy?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Army formation: veterans at the first line
- 📝 When was the testudo / tortoise formation first used by the Romans?
- 📝 First US police officer killed in the line of duty
- 📝 When did the Pakistan army used tank for the first time during the 1971 Bangladesh war?
- 📝 What was the first army to have a radio operator in combat units?
- 📝 Were there any monarchs of England or the United Kingdom who were not technically first in the line of succession?
- 📝 How were army formations deployed in the First World War in trenches?
- 📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
- 📝 What is the first horse name recorded in history?
- 📝 Why did the German army execute so few soldiers in World War I compared to most other armies?
- 📝 Where would the first nuke have been dropped in Germany?
- 📝 Did the Soviet army intentionally send troops (e.g. penal battalions) running over minefields?
- 📝 When did the U.S. Army start saying "oh-six-hundred" for "6 AM"?
- 📝 What led to the first fight in the American Civil War?
- 📝 Who, if anyone, was the first astronaut to return to earth in a different vessel?
- 📝 What was the first solar eclipse that was demonstrably predicted in advance?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 Were the first sonic booms predicted?
- 📝 Which religion was the first monotheistic one?
- 📝 How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
- 📝 Why weren't army snipers used at the Munich massacre?
- 📝 Who was the first female ruler to be given the suffix, "the great"?
- 📝 During the Great Depression, did the US Army do a study involving paying people to dig a hole and fill it back up?
- 📝 Were Soviets invited to the Marshall Islands to observe the first hydrogen bomb detonations?
- 📝 What's the advantage of the infantry column formation in the Napoleonic Wars?
- 📝 What was the first battle in history fought by vast-majority-% "distance-shooting" non-mechanized force?
- 📝 Who discovered first that the Moon does not have its own light?
- 📝 What / When was the first use of concentration camps in history?
- 📝 What was the planned line of succession for the Nazi Party in the event that Hitler died?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?