Art of War and present day Warfare
There is no argument about the antiquity of the Classical "Art of War" by Sun Tzu the Chinese genius on warfare. The book was written around two thousand years ago. Let us check how Sun Tzu's concepts stood the test of time.
Let us take the Core Concept of the book: "All warfare is based on Deception". Is that true? Have this concept stood the test of time? The answer is to some extent true.... Let us take two examples.
Battle of Troy & Battle of Krukshetra:
Though both are fictitious works of Homer and Vyasa respectively, the use of a wooden horse as a cover and deceiving the opponent forces of a brutal defeat made the victory of Achilles and team possible. In the case of Mahabharat, the killing of Jeyadhratha by Arjuna is an example of deception, though in a mysterious way. Here Lord Krishna, using his special weapon "Sudarshan" to cover the sun, so that Jeyadhratha was deceived to believed that the Sun was set and he can come out and expose himself to Arjuna's Arrow.... In both instances, more than the talent of Arjuna and Achilles, the deception paved the way for the victory.
World War II:
There are so many events out there in WW II that shows the success of deception.Yet the greatest deception of WWII is done by the British to achieve some excellent results. It was the "Imitation Game" played by the British on Germany. Even though the British cracked the Enigma Codes much earlier in the war, the British kept silent about the breakthrough, not even told to the allies that the Enigma was broken. This was to ensure to deceive the Germans to believe that Enigma was unbreakable and to make them continued to use it. The result is highly yielding. By predicting every move by the Nazis, The Imitation Game proved to be a great tool in minimizing damages due to German attack and helped to devise counter plans to German attacks. In short the deception of British by means of Imitation Game cut short the war by at least two years thereby minimizing loss of precious lives and resources.
Another theme of "Art of War" is the use of geographical features in warfare. In the first chapter itself, Sun Tzu insists that Climate and Terrain are among the five factors to be considered for predicting the outcome of a war. Using climate and Terrain as prime weapons of war had been done since time immemorial. Yet we see two cases of India and Russia that shows the excellent use of enemy conditions, terrain usage and climate as tools to achieve major victory in a battle or inflicting severe damage to the enemy.
Russian Retreat in Napoleonic Invasion 1812:
Any one studying the contemporary world history cannot but wonder the use of terrain and climate as a key weapon of war by the Russians. In the 1812 invasion by Napoleon, instead of fighting with the combat hardened French forces, the Russians simply retreated deep inside their territory which was too vast. Added with the famous "Scorched Earth Policy", the retreat was the most effective tool used by the Russians. Just by burning everything including houses and cattle and then retreating, the Russians ensured that once the French forces were deep inside their territory they will be starved to death and cannot have any shelter. Now comes the biggest friend of Russia "The Cold". All of the Napoleonic forces were exposed to the severe cold of winter Russia and the extreme Russian cold took its own toll. After the return of French forces from the Russian territory, it was observed that most of the French soldiers died not in combat with the Russians, but due to cold and starvation. The later were the result of the Russians using the Climate and Terrain cleverly to their advantage.... Sun Tzu stands tall even after 2000 years....
Battle of Asal Uttar:
The single largest Tank Battle after World War II happened here in 1965. Bolstered by the possession of the most advanced Main Battle Tanks, the US made Patton Tanks in its possession, Pakistan had a sinister plan. It wanted to penetrate deep inside the Indian side in the Punjab Plains and capture certain towns. Use that as a negotiating chip, they want to take over Kashmir.
At first sight, the plan was flawless, since with the heavily armored and long range Patton Tanks, they can over run Indian formations in the Punjab Plains easily. India was facing an imminent beating at the hands of its warring sibling.
Now terrain came to the rescue of Indian Army. The Punjab Plains was full of grown Sugarcane. This gave the Indian artillery and tanks to hide safely. One more crucial thing Pakistan had not noticed is the porous nature of Punjabi soil.
Now all the Indian Army did was a deceptively simple task. They just flooded the entire plains with the water available in the nearby canals. Beas river just supplied enough water to flood the plains and the sugarcane fields. Now the heavy Armour of the Patton tanks made it very difficult to move in the mud. Most of the tanks when driven sank up to turret level in the mud. Now all the tanks were sitting ducks to light-weighted Indian artillery guns and tanks.
And the rest is history.
The Battle of Asal Uttar ensured a decisive victory of Indians over the highly weaponised Pakistan just by using the Terrain... Sun Tzu rocks....
There is no argument about the antiquity of the Classical "Art of War" by Sun Tzu the Chinese genius on warfare. The book was written around two thousand years ago. Let us check how Sun Tzu's concepts stood the test of time.
Let us take the Core Concept of the book: "All warfare is based on Deception". Is that true? Have this concept stood the test of time? The answer is to some extent true.... Let us take two examples.
Battle of Troy & Battle of Krukshetra:
Though both are fictitious works of Homer and Vyasa respectively, the use of a wooden horse as a cover and deceiving the opponent forces of a brutal defeat made the victory of Achilles and team possible. In the case of Mahabharat, the killing of Jeyadhratha by Arjuna is an example of deception, though in a mysterious way. Here Lord Krishna, using his special weapon "Sudarshan" to cover the sun, so that Jeyadhratha was deceived to believed that the Sun was set and he can come out and expose himself to Arjuna's Arrow.... In both instances, more than the talent of Arjuna and Achilles, the deception paved the way for the victory.
World War II:
There are so many events out there in WW II that shows the success of deception.Yet the greatest deception of WWII is done by the British to achieve some excellent results. It was the "Imitation Game" played by the British on Germany. Even though the British cracked the Enigma Codes much earlier in the war, the British kept silent about the breakthrough, not even told to the allies that the Enigma was broken. This was to ensure to deceive the Germans to believe that Enigma was unbreakable and to make them continued to use it. The result is highly yielding. By predicting every move by the Nazis, The Imitation Game proved to be a great tool in minimizing damages due to German attack and helped to devise counter plans to German attacks. In short the deception of British by means of Imitation Game cut short the war by at least two years thereby minimizing loss of precious lives and resources.
Another theme of "Art of War" is the use of geographical features in warfare. In the first chapter itself, Sun Tzu insists that Climate and Terrain are among the five factors to be considered for predicting the outcome of a war. Using climate and Terrain as prime weapons of war had been done since time immemorial. Yet we see two cases of India and Russia that shows the excellent use of enemy conditions, terrain usage and climate as tools to achieve major victory in a battle or inflicting severe damage to the enemy.
Russian Retreat in Napoleonic Invasion 1812:
Any one studying the contemporary world history cannot but wonder the use of terrain and climate as a key weapon of war by the Russians. In the 1812 invasion by Napoleon, instead of fighting with the combat hardened French forces, the Russians simply retreated deep inside their territory which was too vast. Added with the famous "Scorched Earth Policy", the retreat was the most effective tool used by the Russians. Just by burning everything including houses and cattle and then retreating, the Russians ensured that once the French forces were deep inside their territory they will be starved to death and cannot have any shelter. Now comes the biggest friend of Russia "The Cold". All of the Napoleonic forces were exposed to the severe cold of winter Russia and the extreme Russian cold took its own toll. After the return of French forces from the Russian territory, it was observed that most of the French soldiers died not in combat with the Russians, but due to cold and starvation. The later were the result of the Russians using the Climate and Terrain cleverly to their advantage.... Sun Tzu stands tall even after 2000 years....
Battle of Asal Uttar:
The single largest Tank Battle after World War II happened here in 1965. Bolstered by the possession of the most advanced Main Battle Tanks, the US made Patton Tanks in its possession, Pakistan had a sinister plan. It wanted to penetrate deep inside the Indian side in the Punjab Plains and capture certain towns. Use that as a negotiating chip, they want to take over Kashmir.
At first sight, the plan was flawless, since with the heavily armored and long range Patton Tanks, they can over run Indian formations in the Punjab Plains easily. India was facing an imminent beating at the hands of its warring sibling.
Now terrain came to the rescue of Indian Army. The Punjab Plains was full of grown Sugarcane. This gave the Indian artillery and tanks to hide safely. One more crucial thing Pakistan had not noticed is the porous nature of Punjabi soil.
Now all the Indian Army did was a deceptively simple task. They just flooded the entire plains with the water available in the nearby canals. Beas river just supplied enough water to flood the plains and the sugarcane fields. Now the heavy Armour of the Patton tanks made it very difficult to move in the mud. Most of the tanks when driven sank up to turret level in the mud. Now all the tanks were sitting ducks to light-weighted Indian artillery guns and tanks.
And the rest is history.
The Battle of Asal Uttar ensured a decisive victory of Indians over the highly weaponised Pakistan just by using the Terrain... Sun Tzu rocks....
