New Rules of War

[Firn]

I already posted before that I'm troubled by the very (very) broad use of the term swarming. Some tentative tries in the RAND study.

SOME DEFINITIONS

A definition of swarming is necessary before the proper historical
examples can be selected. For the purposes of this monograph, a
swarming case is any historical example in which the scheme of
maneuver involves the convergent attack of five (or more) semi-
autonomous (or autonomous) units on a targeted force in some par-
ticular place.3 “Convergent” implies an attack from most of the
points on the compass.

Admittedly, the phrase “convergent attack” could be stretched to
include every case in history in which an army or unit ended up sur-
rounded by the enemy and attacked from all sides during the course
of a battle. Encircling and surrounding an enemy has always been a
desirable goal: It cuts off the enemy’s supply lines and destroys his
morale by cutting off any possible retreat. The distinction is that
swarming implies a convergent attack by many units as the primary
maneuver from the start of the battle or campaign, not the conver-
gent attacks that result as a matter of course when some unit
becomes isolated and encircled because of some other maneuver.

So there it is. I will comment later on it, as I will try to toss CvC and some other observation into it.


Firn