Quotes About Tactics

Battles are won by slaughter and manœuvre. The greater the general, the more he contributes in manœuvre, the less he demands in slaughter.

Nearly all the battles which are regarded as masterpieces of the military art, from which have been derived the foundation of states and the fame of commanders, have been battles of manœuvre in which very often the enemy has found himself defeated by some novel expedient or device, some queer, swift, unexpected thrust or stratagem. In many such battles the losses of the victors have been small.

if only the Generals had not been content to fight machine-gun bullets with the breasts of gallant men, and think that that was waging war.

La sorpresa, la rapidez y la intensidad del ataque están supeditadas al estado de preparación del enemigo en un momento dado. Todo movimiento emprendido por un bando puede ser anulado por un movimiento contrario del adversario. En una operación de esta clase, fuerza y tiempo vienen a ser magnitudes de valor equivalente y que pueden en gran medida expresarse en las mismas unidades: una semana perdida viene a equivaler a una división

Madness is however an affliction which in war carries with it the advantage of SURPRISE.

We are now somewhat readily accepting the proposition that high-explosive shells used in unprecedented and extraordinary quantities will achieve decisive results.

democracies are apt to think with their hearts rather than with their heads, and a general's business is, or should be, to use his head for planning.

la artillería conquista y la infantería ocupa»

no es que un general sea mejor que otro, es que un general es mejor que dos generales».

Any clever person can make plans for winning a war if he has no responsibility for carrying them out.

The machinery of a great party, and still more of a great conspiracy, needed careful and constant attention.

a letter of the great Duke of Marlborough, in which he said: "To remove a General in the midst of a campaign—that is the mortal stroke.

If an army is to win through to victory, it has to spend all its time helping itself or hurting its foe. Therefore, an army should never be idle.

your game is to attack on whichever flank you can best conceal your advance, or, still better, on both flanks simultaneously;

he should have the craft to appear absent when close at hand, and within striking distance when a long way off;

But over and beyond all that can be written on the subject—inventiveness is a personal matter, beyond all formulas—the true general must be able to take in, deceive, decoy, delude his adversary at every turn, as the particular occasion demands. In fact, there is no instrument of war more cunning than chicanery;

Here, too, is a maxim to engrave upon the memory: in charging a superior force, never to leave a difficult tract of ground in the rear of your attack, since there is all the difference in the world between a stumble in flight and a stumble in pursuit.

Reason comes to do battle for you. You are reassured. Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapons technology. But, to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low.

Anatoly Karpov, his by-the-book opponent, was too conservative to pressure Kasparov early in the game, so Kasparov put the pressure on himself with a Queen's Gambit—and won.

Wars are won in the mind before they can be won on the field.

There's more than one way to fuck someone over. Do it hard so they never forget or do it quietly so they never know you were there.

You are nothing. You are less than nothing. You are a child. That is how your opponents must see you. They will underestimate your skills because of your age and size. That is your advantage. But you must never see yourself that way. Draw them to attack. Feign weakness. Feign fear. And strike when they are close.

Admit nothing - that was his first rule. Appeal to logic - second rule. Delay the inevitable - third rule.

I guess you never think your enemy is as clever as you are.