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Amphibious warfare
From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium
Amphibious warfare encompasses the set of techniques, equipment, specialized units, and methods of training needed to move troops across water, and deliver them to land, ready for immediate combat. The best-known examples are attacks from the sea, but crossing rivers and other inland bodies of water still is important.
Attacking from the sea was certainly nothing new, as in the legend of William the Conqueror:
William, in descending from his ship, missed his footing and fell full length upon the sand. Anticipating the effect of such an evil omen on his superstitious followers, he exclaimed, "By the splendour of God, I have taken seisin of England! -- I hold its earth in my hands!"[1]
As a specific doctrine, amphibious warfare largely was developed by the United States Marine Corps in the 1920s and 1930s.[2] [3]The iconic result of the early doctrine was having large numbers of landing craft, lowered from transports into the water and moving in waves toward the target. A reporter described the impression of a large landing operation, with every transport lowering tens or dozens of landing craft, as "all the cats in the world having kittens." Often while under fire, the landing craft would beach themselves, dropping a ramp for troops to rush ashore, while the landing craft retracted from the shore and going back for more loads.
Contents |
History
Specialized Units
Strategy
Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia
Battle of Inchon
Types of water crossing
Sea movement from distant points
Norman Conquest
Battle of Guadalcanal
Local movement using the sea
Dardanelles Campaign
River crossing
After crossing the Rhine, Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
as the history-minded Patton stepped off the last pontoon, he deliberately stumbled onto the soft ground in an imitation of William the Conqueror (who is supposed to have said as he fell flat on his face as he stepped out of his boat, "See, I have taken England with both hands") Patton, kneeling, steadied himself against the bank with both hands and, rising, opened his fingers to let two handfuls of earth fall, exclaiming: "Thus William the Conqueror!"[4]
Actions against defended landing areas
Avoiding frontal amphibious attack
Much WWII effort went into shore bombardment, to suppress the defenses, although with only moderate success. Indeed, later in the war, the Japanese doctrine was to let the assault force land unmolested, but then to trap them in preplanned killing zones.
Senior German leaders did not agree on the defensive approach to defense against amphibious operations, Marshal Erwin Rommel wanting to hit hard on the beaches, while Gerd von Rundstedt believed in letting the troops come ashore, but then to strike at them with armored divisions. The situation in Europe, however, was much different than the Pacific islands; Rommel believed, correctly in retrospect, that land-based Allied airpower would prevent the armored units from manuevering.
Nevertheless, amphibious specialists looked for alternatives to frontal beach assaults. The current doctrine is to isolate a landing area with helicopter-borne troops, then bring in heavier equipment with air cushion vehicles still of significant range, and then to use traditional landing craft only after a beachhead was secured.
The U.K. and U.S. also can have STOVL multirole fighters, such as the Harrier (U.S. designation AV-8 Harrier II) on their amphibious ships.
U.K. doctrine
U.S. doctrine
Logistics
Prepositioning ships
Logistics-over-the-shore
References
- ↑ Planché, J.R. (1874), William The Conqueror and His Companions. King Harold and Bosham., Tinsley Brothers
- ↑ Ellis, Earl H. (1921), Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia
- ↑ Corbett, Karen L. (1990), Marine Corps Amphibious Doctrine - The Gallipoli Connection
- ↑ "After The Battle: Crossing the Rhine: Patton's Hat-Trick", After The Battle (no. 16): 40, 1977
