Sunday 28 April 2019

France’s War in Mali | Lessons for an Expeditionary Army

French troops parachute into Menaka, Mali.
"This report, France’s War in Mali: Lessons for an Expeditionary Armyby Michael Shurkin, presents key observations and an analysis of French Army operations in Mali in 2013 as a model for what an expeditionary, regionally aligned force might look like, one that meets a number of U.S. Army desiderata regarding tailorability, scalability at a level lower than a brigade, and light deployment and sustainment requirements."

Tuesday 9 April 2019

The Bear went over the Mountain

Soviet soldiers direct tank traffic outside Kabul on January 7, 1980.
Soviet Combat Tactics is an original Soviet publication (translated into English, of course!), that contains a compilation of lessons learned on conflicts involving Russian tactics, civil war, guerrilla forces, and rough terrain during the Soviet Afghan War. It contains lessons to help small unit leaders understand security, deception, patrols, discipline, caution, vigilance, and the ability to seize the initiative in unpredictable enemy actions and ambushes. "To capture the lessons their tactical leaders learned in Afghanistan and to explain the change in tactics that followed, the Frunze Military Academy compiled this book for their command and general staff combat arms officers. The lessons are valuable not just for Russian officers, but for the tactical training of platoon, company and battalion leaders of any nation likely to engage in conflicts involving civil war, guerrilla forces and rough terrain. This is a book dealing with the starkest features of the unforgiving landscape of tactical combat: casualties and death, adaptation, and survival."