Shock troops
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Although the term shock troop became popular in the 20th century, the concept is not a new one, see for example the use by Napoleonic era armies of the Forlorn hope. The strategic concepts behind the use of the term shock troops are still at the forefront of contemporary military thinking, for example, although the soldiers and airmen who are involved in such an attack are no longer known as shock troopers, shock and awe is a modern strategic implementation of von Hutier's ideas.
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[edit] Before World War I
Grenadiers (French for "Grenademan") were originally specialized assault soldiers for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the mid to late 17th century. Grenadiers were soldiers who would throw grenades and storm breaches, leading the forefront of such a breakthrough. Even when the original blackpowder grenade was abandoned the grenadier companies and regiments were retained as specialist assault troops.
During the American Civil War, 1861-65, the elite Iron Brigade and Irish Brigade of the Union's Army of the Potomac, and the Texas Brigade, Stonewall Brigade and the Louisiana Tigers of the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia were considered to be shock troops.[citation needed]
-[edit] World War I
During World War I, in response to the deadlock of trench warfare faced by all combatants, the German army developed a new set of infantry tactics known as von Hutier tactics. The von Hutier tactics (infiltration tactics) called for special infantry assault units to be detached from the main lines and sent to infiltrate enemy lines, supported by shorter and sharper (than usual for WWI) artillery fire missions targeting both the enemy front and rear, bypassing and avoiding what enemy strongpoints they could, and engaging to their best advantage when and where they were forced to, leaving decisive engagement against bypassed units to following heavier infantry. The primary goal of these detached units was to infiltrate the enemy's lines and break his cohesiveness as much as possible. These formations became known as Stosstruppen, or shock troops, and the tactics which they pioneered would lay the basis of post-WWI infantry tactics, such as the development of fire teams.
According to Ward, the Australian and Canadian divisions deployed amongst British forces in France quickly came to be regarded as the best shock troops in the Allied ranks due to their ferocity in battle, and were employed accordingly.[2]
[edit] World War II
During World War II the Red Army of the Soviet Union deployed many formations which contained the word shock in the title. Many of the units which spearheaded the Soviet offensives on the Eastern Front from the Battle of Stalingrad to the Battle of Berlin were Shock Armies. Shock Armies had high proportions of infantry, engineers and field artillery, but with less emphasis on operational mobility and sustainability. Soviet assaults which were expected to lead to very high casualties were often lead by penal battalions. Soviet Shock Armies were characterized by a higher allocation of army-level artillery units to break German defense positions by weight of fire, and often had heavy tank regiments or heavy self-propelled gun regiments to add additional direct fire support. Once a breach in the enemy tactical position was made, more mobile units such as tank and mechanized corps would be inserted through the Shock Army's positions with the mission of penetrating deep into the enemy rear area. By the end of the war, though, Soviet Guards Armies typically enjoyed superior artillery support to that of the shock armies.
Well-known Shock Armies include the 2nd Shock Army, which spearheaded several offensives in the Leningrad area, and the 3rd Shock Army, which played a key role in the Battle of Berlin.
A Soviet ad hoc combat group was a mixed arms unit of about eighty men in assault groups of six to eight men, closely supported by field artillery. These were tactical units which were able to apply the tactics of house to house fighting that the Soviets had been forced to develop and refine at each Festung Stadt (fortress city) they had encountered from Stalingrad to Berlin.[3]
[edit] After World War II
The concept of shock troops has survived after WW2, as the SAS in Britain, Australia and New Zealand can be considered to perform this role.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
| This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
[edit] Further reading
- Grau, Lester W. Russian-Manufactured Armored Vehicle Vulnerability in Urban Combat: The Chechnya Experience — the article originally appeared in Red Thrust Star January 1997 (source not verified) "The Chechen lower-level combat group consists of 15 to 20 personnel subdivided into three or four-man fighting cells. ..."
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Although the German word Stoß is occasionally used to translate shock, as in Stoßwelle (shock wave), or to allude to a shock-like event, as in Erdstoß (seismic wave), in this case stoß derives directly from the verb stoßen (to push), referring to the original task of the Stoßtruppen, known in German as vorstoßen (roughly: to carry the attack forward).
- ^ Ward, R 1992, A Concise History of Australia, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, p235.
- ^ Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5 p. 239
es:fuerza de choque fr:Sturmtruppen nl:Regiment Stoottroepen Prins Bernhard
