Ambush
An ambush is a military tactic in which a party ambushes and fights an opponent from the hiding place of a cover. Here, the plays surprise by camouflage an essential role. This combat act is often used in hunting combat on a moving enemy such as a transport column.
In the dictionary of the Brothers Grimm it is said that ambush is "the place where a militant force hides itself in order to attack the enemy from here or to stab him in the back". In military warfare, the ambush is often a way of winning a battle over a superior enemy. The success of the ambush is supported if the location is chosen in such a way that one's own position offers additional advantages in the form of cover, while the opponent stands in an open area and may have little room to move and no retreat. In contrast to the fire attack, the ambush then goes hand in hand with the assault on the forces in the ambush in order to finally destroy them.
The ambush is a tactic often used by irregular forces - guerrillas and partisans - in asymmetrical warfare .
Famous ambushes
- The numerically inferior conquistadors were able to win the " Battle of Cajamarca " against the Incas by ambushing them.
- According to reports of the Roman scribes, the Cheruscan Arminius lured the Roman legions into an ambush in the " Varus Battle " .
- The battle at Morgarten .
literature
- Bernd von Guseck (pseudonym Karl Gustav von Bernecks ): Elements of the tactics for all weapons within the provisions for the Officier-Examen of the Royal Prussian Army , § 6 hiding and ambush. Mittler, 1852, p. 167 / p. 168.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ambush. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 10 : H, I, J - (IV, 2nd division). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1877 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
- ↑ Ambush . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 9, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1907, p. 353 .
- ↑ Bernd von Guseck (pseudonym Karl Gustav von Bernecks ): Elements of tactics for all weapons within the provisions for the officier examination of the Royal Prussian Army , § 6 Hiding and Ambush , Mittler, 1852, p. 167 / p. 168.