Invasion (military)

An invasion (from Latin invadere - dt. To go in , to penetrate ) stands for the hostile advancement of the military into foreign territory or national territory . Accordingly, an attacking war party is called an invader .

Allied landing companies in Europe during World War II

As examples: after the Second World War it was customary to briefly refer to the Normandy landing as an invasion. In the process, other Allied landing companies (ship operations) in Europe during the Second World War are out of focus, for which the term invasion can or is also used, in this sense of a comprehensive ship and landing operation in an opposing territory:

Map showing the operational area in Normandy in 1944

• August 19, 1942: Operation Jubilee , test landing in Dieppe
• November 1942: Operation Torch , landing in North Africa
• July 1943: Operation Husky , invasion of Sicily
• from June 6, 1944: Operation Overlord , landing near Cherbourg in Normandy
  • the actual landing, a sub-operation of this plan: Operation Neptune
• August 1944: Operation Dragoon , invasion of southern France

In the case of the operations mentioned, the accompanying operations of the air forces are of great military importance ( air superiority in the affected area).

Criticism of the term invasion

Carl von Clausewitz criticizes the term in his main work Vom Krieg as useless from a military perspective:

“What we have to say about it consists almost entirely of the word explanation. We find the term used very often in the more recent writers and even with the pretension of denoting something peculiar by it - guerre d'invasion occurs incessantly with the French . You use it to designate any attack that goes far into the hostile country and at best would like to set it up as a contrast and from a methodical one , ie one that only gnaws at the border . But this is an unphilosophical jumble of language. Whether an attack should stay on the border, penetrate deep into the enemy country, whether it should primarily concern itself with taking the permanent positions or seek out the core of enemy power and pursue it incessantly, does not depend on one manner, but is a consequence of it Circumstances, at least theory can't admit otherwise. In certain cases the far advance can be more methodical and even more careful than staying at the border, but in most cases it is nothing more than the happy success of an attack undertaken with force and consequently no different from it. "

Web links

Wiktionary: Invasion  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Invasion on Duden Online.
2. ↑ Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15 1945 , 1945. ( Map images made for George C. Marshall , the Chief of Staff of the US Army, with the front line every 14 days, originated immediately after the war)
3. ↑ Carl von Clausewitz: Vom Kriege , 7th book, 21st chapter "Invasion". Published in 1832 and later.
4. ^ Carl von Clausewitz: About the war in the Google book search