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
- 📝 Where did Wilson state that the US would have to force access to markets with violence?
- 📝 How do vetoes affect re-votes in US Congress?
- 📝 Did Josephus question the date of the destruction of the First or Second Temple?
- 📝 Why were blackletter typefaces abolished in Germany?
- 📝 Were taxes from senatorial provinces and imperial provinces sent to their respective treasuries in the Roman Empire? (Under the rule of Augustus)
- 📝 French revolution: the source of the conflict in the meeting of the Estates General
- 📝 Who captured Kaifeng from the Jin during the war between Jin and the Sung Mongol alliance?
- 📝 What is the earliest known book / novel trilogy in literature?
- 📝 How did this 900AD key work?
- 📝 How Many German Born American Citizens served for the U.S. in World War II?
- 📝 Why was the Greek alphabet not adopted by other languages, given the Greek influence?
- 📝 Civilians in Napoleon's Grand Army when he invaded Russia
- 📝 How likely would it have been for a rural Bohemian to encounter someone with darker skin?
- 📝 Did the avenue of the Gods exist?
- 📝 Did medieval armies cultivate resources during their campaigns?
- 📝 What factors made success a possibility for the South in the American Civil War?
- 📝 Have truces for the duration of Ramadan ever been customary/mandatory?
- 📝 Why did Danish people not "connect" with neighbor nations until Viking Age?
- 📝 Were the NKVD hated by the regular army like the SS was?
- 📝 Is it true that many great ancient warriors were vegan?
- 📝 Did Roman women wear underwear? How did it look?
- 📝 What kind of evidence (if any) could be used to identify a large conquest in the time before writing?
- 📝 Were Israel-Iran relations better in the 80s? What changed?
- 📝 What is the location of August Ferdinand Möbius' grave?
- 📝 What was Asir's role in the Arab Revolt?
- 📝 How successful was Bismarck in winning support for his domestic policies in the years 1878 to 1890?
- 📝 What were common reasons people attended executions in mid 1930s.?
- 📝 Did the first emperor of China die of mercury poisoning?
- 📝 Why was John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry treason?
- 📝 What is known about early history of Judaism?
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?
