Perhaps everyone will agree that military tricks in history occupy an important place. Often, it was a wise approach that allowed us to change the course of the battle or to win, practically without risk or without losing people. Moreover, this has been used at all times - both legends and completely documentary reports serve as sources telling about such cases. That is why every person who is interested in the history of a warrior will be interested in knowing about them.
What it is?
First of all, we will determine what a military trick is. In the history of wars, there are many cases when talented warriors - from ordinary soldiers to military commanders - won victories, inflicting enormous damage on the enemy and almost not doing it themselves.
This was achieved in a variety of ways. Someone used a new, hitherto unknown weapon. Others studied the terrain and used them as rationally as possible. However, the essence remained the same - the army won the war or at least gained some advantage, solely due to the wisdom, experience and prudence of the soldiers.
How trickery differs from treachery
Quite often, military cunning and treachery are called similar concepts. But this is not so. The definition of tricks used in wartime is given above. Treachery, although it pursues such a goal, usually has a slightly different mechanism. Most often it is based precisely on the deception of the enemy. Moreover, this is not a simple deception, but aimed precisely at the fact that the enemy does not doubt the honesty and nobility of the opponent.
For example, one side may offer the enemy to surrender the fortress and lay down their arms with the condition of preserving life. And after all the requirements are fulfilled, soldiers easily kill disarmed enemies. Of course, this can not be called a military cunning. This is pure perfidy. Alas, history knows many such cases. But most importantly, the reader understood that treachery and military cunning are not the same thing.
Now let's talk about several interesting cases that have taken place in the history of mankind.
The first use of chemical weapons
Officially, it is believed that chemical weapons were first used by German troops during the First World War. Indeed, on April 22, 1915, the Germans used chlorine near the city of Ypres. As a result, 10 years later, in 1925, the Geneva Convention put chemical weapons on the banned list.
However, history knows many earlier examples of the use of chemistry as a weapon. For example, one of them was the military trick of the Persians.
It happened in the third century AD near the walls of the Roman city of Dura Europos. He was attacked by the Persians, but the garrison, consisting of well-trained soldiers, knowing how the enemies act with the prisoners, was not at all going to give up.
When it was not possible to take the city by direct assault, the Persians used a dig. But this technique was quite famous, so the Romans were expecting it and immediately penetrated the undermining, ready to attack the enemy. However, the Persians foresaw such a turn. Therefore, sulfur crystals and pieces of bitumen, which were set on fire in time, were laid in advance in the undermining. As a result, about twenty Roman soldiers died, suffocating from toxic fumes.
It is not known how much chemical weapons helped the Persians, but they took the fortress, they killed all the soldiers, and the civilian population, including women and children, were driven into slavery.
Empty forts strategy
There are many legends about Chinese military tricks. It should be noted right away that they mainly worked only against other Asians - in clashes with Europeans, the Chinese regularly suffered defeats. Nevertheless, it will be useful to talk about interesting cases.
In 195 AD, China was torn by internecine wars. The military leaders tried to grab more power and went for any crimes for this. One day, fate brought together two generals - Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
The latter had an army of 10 thousand people. The first army had significantly more, but, as luck would have it, Cao Cao had to send most of the people to harvest rice - there were about a thousand soldiers in the fortress. And the commander obviously did not have time to pull off all his forces. Then he went on a trick - he removed all the soldiers from the walls, putting in their place unarmed women. Of course, the result of the collision is easy to predict. However, Liu Bei was stunned by this approach. He immediately realized that the matter was not clean. Therefore, I decided to wait, having camped a few kilometers from the walls of the fortress. The commander waited about a day. Realizing that there really were no men in the fortress, Liu Bei led his army into the attack. He did not know that Cao Cao achieved his goal - he won the whole day. During this time, the commander managed to pull off the troops, who took a place near the walls of the fortress. When the attacking force approached the fortifications, ambush troops rushed at them and won.
Five bonfires per warrior
There are many legends about the military tricks of Genghis Khan. Perhaps today they may seem very primitive, but at one time they allowed us to achieve our goals.
For example, shortly before the battle with the naimans, Genghis Khan had a relatively small army - just one battle was enough to lose. Then the Shaker of the universe gave the order - at night every warrior who wanted to warm himself had to light five bonfires. Seeing a field dotted with bonfires all the way to the horizon, scouts of the Naimans reported to Khan Tayan: "Genghis Khan has more soldiers than stars in the sky!" No wonder - usually around five to eight people gathered near one bonfire. Thus, the Mongol conqueror visually increased his army by 25-40 times. As a result, the Naimans chose to retreat, giving the enemy the opportunity to accumulate strength for victory.
Also, many historians attribute the habit of Genghis Khan to use merchants as scouts for military tricks. However, this is rather a treachery - merchants and traders have always been people who were not involved in the armies, so no one suspected them of espionage.
How Golitsyn Swedes outwitted
Now let's talk about Russian military tricks. It was she, in combination with courage, stamina, physical strength and excellent preparation, that often allowed to win even in the most incredible fights.
A striking example is one of the episodes of the Northern War, when the Russian Empire fought with Sweden - a very powerful enemy.
The battle took place near the Finnish village of Nappo. Russian troops were commanded by Mikhail Golitsyn, and General Armfeld became his opponent. The forces were approximately equal - 10 thousand people on each side.
But ours had an advantage - they were on the defensive. And the Swedes launched a decisive attack, which was repelled. While the enemy was retreating in a hurry, the officers persuaded Golitsyn to pursue them in order to finish off the enemy. However, the wise strategist refused. Soon, the Swedes again went on the attack and were again thrown back. But Golitsyn still did not pursue the running enemy. And only during the third wave, the Russian troops not only repelled the enemy’s attack, but also launched a counterattack. As a result, we lost about 500 people, and the enemy - killed and captured - six times more.
When the surprised subordinates asked the prince what he was waiting for, he answered simply - he waited until the Swedes tamped the snow. Indeed, to go on the attack, falling down knee-deep, or even waist-deep in snow, is not an easy task. It is much easier to pursue the enemy on a rammed platform, on which an army of ten thousand people has already passed six times in a row.
Capture of Simbirsk
An unpleasant spot in the history of the Russian army is the Civil War. A father killing a son, a brother shooting a brother is a really scary event. Therefore, tricks were used less often - often both sides knew the terrain the same way, did not have secret weapons, and they thought the same way. But still, you can recall certain military tricks of the white movement - for example, when taking Simbirsk.
Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich was a talented commander. His goal was to capture the city of Simbirsk. But here a problem arose - he was defended by a detachment of two thousand people under the command of G. D. Guy. And Kappel himself had only 350 fighters. He waited several weeks until the large forces of the Czechoslovak corps began to rafting along the Volga. Of course, Guy expected that they would attack, so he prepared for the defense. Kappel attacked from the rear, which the enemy did not expect at all. Thus he managed to capture the city, defended by significantly superior forces.
How to stop tanks without firing?
The WWII knows even more about military tricks. Here, a lot of people showed a certain ingenuity, and it’s simply impossible to list even a small part of the feats accomplished thanks to them - I would have to write a multi-volume book. Therefore, we will talk about this from them.
In 1941, our troops, alas, were forced to retreat from the well-trained, rolled-in German troops in Europe. Every effort was made to at least slightly delay an experienced and skilled enemy.
The next offensive was expected in the area of Krivoy Rog. Intelligence reported that several tanks would be deployed here with the support of the infantry. There were no tanks and anti-tank artillery in this direction, and it was vitally important to detain the enemy - the success of the evacuation of the remaining forces depended on this. Therefore, the task was set for a company of motorized rifles. Armed with, in addition to conventional weapons, anti-tank grenades, the soldiers were left on the track under the command of a young commander.
Before the enemy’s approach was about a day. And that means that the soldiers had only 24 hours to live. The primary task in such conditions is to dig in. However, the commander made a strange statement, they say, the Germans from Germany are going, and here the road is bad. It is necessary to fill up the pits, and indeed even the surface. As a result, he ordered to release the duffel bags and carry slag onto the road from a pile that was nearby - the matter was near the Kryvyi Rih metallurgical plant, which by that time had been successfully evacuated from the Urals.
The soldiers quite rightly doubted the commander's sanity, but did not discuss the order. In a few hours, all the bags were torn on the angular pieces of slag. But the road was covered with a thick layer for two kilometers.
The next day, tanks appeared on the horizon. Eight vehicles accompanied by infantry - a sure sentence for inexperienced soldiers without the support of artillery.
But the commander was calm and watched the movement of the enemy. Having traveled only a few hundred meters along a road covered with slag, one of the tanks stopped - a caterpillar broke. A few minutes later the same fate befell the rest of the car. Trying to remove them from the road, the Germans damaged the tracks on the tow truck. Without technical support, the infantry chose not to continue the offensive.
And the commander sent a message to his superiors - the tanks were stopped without a single shot, after which he received an order to wait for the night and retreat.
The secret lay in the characteristics of the slag - nickel slags formed during the production of high alloy steel, in close contact with the metal tracks quickly damaged them. And the commander had a higher education - a technician for cold processing of metals - and knew about it. So, applying knowledge in practice, he not only completed the combat mission, delaying the advance of the enemy for several days, but also did not lose a single soldier.
Why Germans were afraid of our infantry
Certain training also has the right to be called a military cunning. By 1941, the Germans, having captured almost all the countries of Europe, had huge combat experience, unlike Soviet soldiers. And at the same time they firmly learned - the times of hand-to-hand fights have long receded into the past. Now everything was decided by rifles and machine guns, which means accuracy and rate of fire.
However, when they visited the USSR, they had to quickly change tactics. The fact is that in the Red Army great attention was paid to hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers were taught to use anything as a weapon — a helmet, belt, rifle butt, bayonet, and, of course, a sapper blade.
Even in manuals about the offensive it was clearly written - to cease fire at a distance of 50 meters to the enemy’s defense line, rapidly reducing the distance. At a distance of 25 meters throw grenades, and then run forward with all legs to be in the trenches immediately after the explosion and finish off a discouraged, and sometimes wounded or shell-shocked enemy.
The Germans were not ready for this and almost always lost in hand-to-hand fights. The only exceptions were the green SS divisions, as well as the rangers. Well, the USSR had a worthy answer, and for them, the paratroopers beat with confidence the elite units of the Wehrmacht. This is how attention to physical training of fighters, training in hand-to-hand combat made it possible to win many battles with an experienced, strong and, without a doubt, courageous opponent, who decided that ordinary fights were long gone and were irrelevant in the middle of the twentieth century.
Screw cutters in Chechnya
Of course, military tricks were also used in Chechnya, one of the last conflicts where Russian troops took part.
An unpleasant surprise for many experienced fighters was Vintoreza - BCC (special sniper rifle). They are perfect for use in large cities. With a relatively short battle range (about 200 meters), the rifles were completely invisible - the survivors of the sniper shot did not see the flash and did not hear the shot. Such a formidable weapon not only allowed two or three snipers to destroy dozens of enemies in a matter of minutes, but also sowed fear in the hearts of the enemy. Which is not surprising - snipers were always afraid. And invisible and unrecognizable, they generally became real ghosts of war that could not be resisted.
Conclusion
On this our article comes to an end. In it, we tried to consider various historical aspects of military cunning. They also brought some of the most striking examples from different countries and eras so that every reader understands that sometimes it is wisdom and ability to correctly assess the situation that are more valuable factors than the number and training of soldiers.