By the end of this lecture students should be able to understand: the relationship between maneuver and firepower key Maneuver Warfare concepts that flexibility is necessary in their interpretation and application

1. The Maneuverist Approach
Professor Joel Hayward

2. By the end of this lecture students should be able to understand:
the relationship between maneuver and firepower
key Maneuver Warfare concepts
that flexibility is necessary in their interpretation and application

3. Combat involves three basic activities:
• Find
• Fix
• Strike
Maneuver
Firepower
Maneuver is the movement of forces and assets in relation to those
of the enemy

4. Combat involves three basic activities:
• Find
• Fix
• Strike
Maneuver
Firepower
Maneuver is the movement of forces and assets in relation to those
of the enemy

5. Combat involves three basic activities:
• Find
• Fix
• Strike
Maneuver
Firepower
Maneuver is the movement of forces and assets in relation to those
of the enemy
• in order to gain positional advantage
• so as to bring effective, decisive firepower to bear

6. What has firepower traditionally accomplished?
• Inflicted upon decision-makers the horror of their troops’ deaths
• Inflicted upon them the threat of the horror of their deaths
• Exhausted their financial, industrial and recuperative resources
• Exhausted their tenacity and patience

7. “Attrition”
• Is it really the worst form of military activity?
• Unnecessary if maneuver is skilful?
• The absence of strategy
or operational art?

8. “Battles are won by manoeuvre and slaughter. The greater the general, the
more he contributes in manoeuvre, the less he demands in slaughter.”
― Winston Churchill

9. Maneuver Warfare
“A warfighting philosophy that seeks to shatter the enemy’s cohesion
through a variety of rapid, focused and unexpected actions which
create a turbulent and rapidly deteriorating situation with which the
enemy cannot cope.”

10. Questions?
• What is cohesion?
• Is cohesion truly decisive?
• Can states / forces continue without cohesion?
• Does history not reveal that the human ability to “cope” is almost
unbeatable?

11. The Ingredients of Maneuver Warfare:
• Emphasis on collapsing the enemy’s cohesion and psychology
• Reconnaissance Pull
• The application of strength against weakness
• Decentralised Command
• Maneuver
• Tempo

12. Emphasis on collapsing the enemy’s cohesion and morale
The Logic:
• A force will fight without focus or even capitulate if placed under
excessive stress
• Reduces the emphasis on close battle
Pros:
• Killing people – even combatants – is unpalatable
• Avoiding close battle will minimise own casualties
• The horrors of war may be minimised

13. Emphasis on collapsing the enemy’s cohesion and morale
Cons?
• No emphasis on the physical destruction of forces
• Untested and unproven
• Poorly reinforced by critical historical analysis

15. Reconnaissance Pull
• The Logic:
• Battle should move in directions identified by forward reconnaissance
• Commanders in the rear have less complete pictures
• Force should follow the pull of forward troops and exploit gaps and
weaknesses with minimal delay
• Pros:
• Historically, forward troops HAVE possessed more useful battlefield
awareness
• Historically, communication from front to rear and back again was slow

16. Reconnaissance Pull
• Cons?
• Reconnaissance is very casualty high
• Nowadays commanders can know more than those at the front
• ROE and LOAC minimise spontaneous exploitation of opportunities
• Smart enemies will create false gaps and weaknesses as traps

17. The application of strength against weakness
• The Logic:
• All enemies have weaknesses / critical vulnerabilities
• Breaking them will make strength-on-strength attack unnecessary
• Pros:
• Minimising casualties is always desirable
• The morale boost from skilful successes is immeasurable

18. The application of strength against weakness
• Cons?
• In non-lineal warfare the enemy’s weakness won’t be easy to identify
• While the enemy’s weakness is attacked his strength remains free
• Fixing the strength will involve close battle

19. Decentralised Command
• The Logic:
• Commanders should teach staff mastery of their jobs so that – in their
absence – they can then trust them to employ initiative and creativity
• Appropriate decision-making should be delegated downwards to the
lowest reasonable levels so long as the commander’s intent is known

20. Decentralised Command
• The Logic:
• Commanders should teach staff mastery of their jobs so that – in their
absence – they can then trust them to employ initiative and creativity
• Appropriate decision-making should be delegated downwards to the
lowest reasonable levels so long as the commander’s intent is known
• Spontaneous decisions can then be made to exploit opportunities

21. Decentralised Command
• Pros:
• Speeds up decision-making
• Allows the exploitation of opportunities
• Empowerment raises confidence

22. “Never tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will
surprise you with their ingenuity”
― General George Smith Patton

23. “I leave entirely to your judgment the
timing and manner of your
compliance with my desires”
― Horatio Lord Nelson

24. Decentralised Command
• Cons?
• Commanders are now seldom out of communication with troops
• Political scrutiny and the “CNN Effect” make true delegation difficult
• ROE and LOAC reduce opportunities for initiative

25. Maneuver
• The Logic:
• Like ocean waves against a headland, forces should sweep around
points of strength
• The enemy’s C2 should then be devastated
• Pros:
• Avoids attrition-heavy close battle
• Has the potential to break the cohesion of a force

26. Maneuver
• Cons?
• Maneuver works best against linear, centralised and less mobile forces
• Enemy will not stay passive as we maneuver against him or around him
• To get past strong points it is not always possible to go around
• It is very difficult to maneuver this way against guerrilla forces

27. Tempo
• The Logic:
• Thinking and acting faster than the enemy will cause him to react
defensively and without time or freedom to advance his own plans
• Pros:
• Out-pacing the enemy’s ability to respond in time will allow increased
freedom of maneuver

28. Tempo
• Cons?
• Confusing tempo with speed can cause rushing and carelessness
• The chance of tripping grows as the speed increases
• Prolonged speed will bring rapid exhaustion
• It is better to see tempo as the sequential retention of initiative with
each step or successive action

29. Concluding Thoughts
• The “Maneuverist Approach” contains highly innovative ideas
• It has the potential to make warfighting less barbaric and unpalatable
• Many of its ideas are unproven. All involve judgment in application
• Smart commanders will not seek to apply this style to every context

30. Thank you