force with more troops than are absolutely necessary. In this connection, compare the conduct of the 1st Army at Königgrätz and of the Prussian Vth Army Corps at Wörth with the vacillating action of the Russian IIIrd and Ist Armies at Sandepu.[1] So long as the enemy is not firmly held in front, he will be able to evade an envelopment by withdrawing. The combats of the Boers in the Orange Free State furnish numerous examples of this fact. The Austrian regulations have very properly coined the term "attack on two fronts", which better indicates the task of both parts of an attacking force.
Whether the decisive blow is directed against the front or a flank, depends upon the result of the fire. The advantages offered by an enveloping movement must not lead to holding the enemy once and for all in front, while the main attack is directed against his flank. A frontal attack made in conjunction with a threatening demonstration against the hostile flank frequently offers far greater prospects of success.[2] If a superiority is to be employed to advantage, an envelopment must be made; all objections advanced against the "enveloping craze" are disposed of by this statement.[3] "A condition precedent to an envelopment is that the enemy be held in front. For this purpose a determined demonstration is most effective." (Par. 392 German I. D. R.).
The risks involved in an envelopment must not be overlooked—overextension and dispersion of the troops;[4] the possibility that the troops fighting in front and those fighting on the flank, separated from each other, may be defeated in detail, whether this be brought about by the defender assuming the offensive, or by the force holding the enemy in front allowing itself to be enticed into making a premature advance and suffering a defeat before the envelopment has a chance to become effective.
- ↑ Taktik. V. p. 42.
- ↑ The attack on Flanville, on September 1st, 1870, is an instructive example. Kunz, Noisseville, p. 87. Gen. St. W., II. p. 1407.
- ↑ v. d. Goltz, Das Volk in Waffen, pp. 328 and 332. Blume, Strategie, p. 170. Meckel, Truppenführung, p. 221.
- ↑ The attack made by François' Brigade during the battle of Spicheren. Gen. St. W., I. p. 318. Between 12 and 1 o'clock, this brigade covered a front of 4000 m. See p. 262, supra.
