Quotes About Tactics

Major, send a shell first over their heads and let them get in their holes before you open with all your guns.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.

In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.

Sweat more during peace: bleed less during war

Wars are to be won with swords and spears, not with rice and salt.

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy!

The profoundest truth of war is that the issue of battle is usually decided in the minds of the opposing commanders, not in the bodies of their men.

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

The Eastern front is like a house of cards. If the front is broken through at one point all the rest will collapse.

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

I treat policies like war. I hoodwink one flank so as to trounce the other. In my family we kneel only to God.

A battery of field artillery is worth a thousand muskets.

Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!

If you are strong, appear weak. But if you are weak, appear strong.

Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.

And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.

Quit thinking about what Bobby Lee's gonna do to us and start thinking about what we're going to do to him.

Generals who save troops for the next day are always beaten.

Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.

Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.

Everything changed in Bosnia, when General Wesley Clark proved that you could fight a war with high- level precision air strikes and a bare minimum of ground action.