Rifle Squad Tactics Flashcards
Define Offensive Operations
Operations which aim at destroying or defeating an enemy. Their purpose is to impose US will on the enemy and achieve decisive victory (MCRP 5-12A).
Purposes of the Offense are to:
- Destroy enemy forces, equipment, and resources.
- Deceive and divert the enemy.
- Deprive the enemy of resources.
- Gain information on the enemy.
- Fix the enemy in place.
- Seize key terrain.
- Produce a reaction from the enemy.
- Disrupt enemy actions or preparations
What are the four types of offensive operations
- Movement to Contact
- Attack
- Exploitation
- Pursuit
Offensive operation that seeks to gain or regain contact and develop the situation in relation to an enemy whose general location is known, but exact location is unknown is known as
Movement to contact
Offensive operation characterized by coordinated movement, supported by fire, conducted to defeat, destroy, neutralize, or capture the enemy is
Attack
Offensive operation that follows a successful attack and is designed to disorganize the enemy in depth.
Exploitation
Offensive operation designed to catch or cut off a hostile force attempting to escape, with the aim of destroying it is known as
Pursuit
An attack in which preparation time is traded for speed to exploit opportunity is knonw as
Hasty Attack
Offensive action characterized by pre-planned coordinated employment of firepower and maneuver to close with and destroy the enemy is known as
Deliberate Attack
What are the 3 Phases of the Attack
- Preparation.
- Conduct.
- Consolidation / Exploitation
What are six forms of maneuver
- Frontal Attack
- Flanking Attack
- Envelopment
- Turning Movement
- Infiltration
- Penetration
A surprise attack by fire from concealed positions on a moving or temporarily halted enemy is
Ambush
Fires (direct or indirect) to destroy the enemy from a distance, normally used when the mission does not require or support occupation of the objective.
Attack by Fire
To deny the enemy access to a given area or to prevent enemy advance in a given direction or an avenue of approach. It may be for a specified time is
Block
To break through or secure a passage through a natural or enemy obstacle is
Breach
To maneuver around an obstacle, position, or enemy force to maintain the momentum of an advance is
Bypass
The use of existing or reinforcing obstacles or fires to restrict enemy operations to a narrow zone is
Canalize
To stop, hold, or surround enemy forces or to keep the enemy in a given area and prevent his withdrawing any part of his forces for use elsewhere is known as
Contain
To disrupt or nullify the enemy commander’s plan and overcome his will to fight, thus making him unwilling or unable to pursue his adopted course of action is known as
Defeat
Physically rendering an enemy force combat-ineffective unless it is reconstituted is
Destroy
To integrate fires and obstacles to break apart an enemy’s formation and tempo, interrupt his time table, or cause premature commitment or piecemealing of his forces is
Disrupt
Take full advantage of success in battle and follow up initial gains; offensive actions that usually follow successful attack and are designed to disorganize the enemy in depth is
Exploit
An offensive action involving contact with the enemy to deceive him about the location or time of the actual main offensive action is
Feint
To prevent the enemy from moving any part of his forces either from a specific location or for a specific period of time by holding or surrounding them to prevent their withdrawal for use elsewhere.
Fix
An action to divert, disrupt, delay or destroy the enemy’s surface military potential before it can be used effectively against friendly forces
Interdict
To render the enemy or his resources ineffective or unusable is
Neutralize
To break through the enemy’s defense and disrupt his defensive system is
Penetrate
To obtain visual observation or other methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or potential enemyis
Reconnoiter
To create a gap in enemy defensive positions quickly is
Rupture
Where a force engages the enemy by direct fire to support a maneuvering force using overwatch or by establishing a base of fire is known
Support By Fire
A tactical mission task that results in the temporary degradation of
the performance of a force or weapon system below the level needed to accomplish its mission is
Suppress
The mission of the rifle squad is
Locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy’s assault by fire and close combat.
Crucial to the development of the plan is the identification of the
Main Effort (Mass) and the Supporting Efforts (Economy of Force). The Commander MUST designate the bid for success.
The attack that is directed against the front of an enemy force & goal is to break through the enemy defense and disrupt the defensive system, achieving a penetration is known as
Frontal attack
A frontal attack may be appropriate for
- For overrunning a weak or disorganized enemy.
- During a pursuit.
- For fixing an enemy in place.
- When a commander possesses overwhelming combat power and the enemy is at a clear disadvantage.
An attack that is an offensive maneuver directed at the flank of an enemy and seeks to strike the enemy from an unexpected direction — achieving a degree of surprise and avoiding the enemy’s principal orientation of his main weapons systems is known as
Flanking attack
The conduct phase of the attack begins when the squad crosses the
Line of departure
When Movement to ASLT POS Specific control measures or formations will be dictated by:
- Enemy situation.
- Speed.
- Visibility.
- Terrain/Vegetation
Actions at the Assault Position, the last recognizable covered and concealed position before the objective include:
Deployment into final assault formation.
The purpose of the base unit is to allow:
- The squad leader to control his unit when verbal commands cannot be heard.
- Ease of control when visibility restrictions do not allow team leaders to see the squad leader.
- Extend the flexibility of small unit direction changes down to the fire team leader, enabling him to maximize the use of micro-terrain
The fighter/leader concept allows squad leaders to
establish direction and speed of unit movement by their own individual movements and positioning near the base fire team
The Buddy Team/Pair is the
smallest Maneuver unit in the Marine Corps.
Within the buddy pair
one Marine is in the “fore” position while one Marine is in the “aft” position
The 300 Mil Rule is
specific guidance not to engage downrange when a Marine comes within the 300 mil buffer in order to limit the risk of fratricide. approximate 300 Mils by fully extending both the thumb and pinky and positioning the hand to the right and left of the front sight post of the weapon.
Some indvidual Movement Under Fire / Actions in the Assault are
- Use high crawl to gain ground and to be able to access weapon if needed, especially when under sporadic fire or when negotiating low obstacles
- Use low craw when under intense fire or for negotiating low obstacles
- Execute rushes in short intervals to covered and concealed positions
The squad leader uses the base unit fire team to control the squad’s:
- Direction.
- Orientation
- Speed
ADDRAC is
ADDRAC (Alert, Direction, Target Description, Range, Target Assignment, and Fire Control
The technique of advance in which one element (the maneuver element) moves while being supported by another element (the support by fire element).
Fire and Maneuver
The technique of advance in which elements and individuals provide their own suppression and move by bounds and Elements and individuals alternate the firing and moving so that movement is always covered by fire, and the assault’s momentum is retained is known as
Fire and Movement
The phase that commences with the capture of the assigned objective and may involve the exploitation of momentum and success achieved during the attack through physical pursuit of the enemy is known as
Consolidation/Exploitation Phase
what does Consolidation also facilitate?
rapid reorganization of a hasty defense to permit the attacking unit to hold the objective just seized in the event of an enemy counter attack
Why do we consolidate and reorganize?
- Preparation for the enemy’s counter attack.
- Reestablish Command and Control within the unit.
- Reestablish communications with higher.
- Address casualties/ammo.
- Preparation to resume the attack/pursue the enemy
The acronym that describes the priority of work during the initial phase of establishing a hasty defense, takes place during consolidation is known as
Security, Automatic Weapons, Fields of Fire, Entrenchment S.A.F.E.
The acronym used to receive the report from your subordinates Immediately following the attack is called
A.C.E. (Ammo, Casualties, and Equipment)
When the assault through the objective is completed, the squad fires upon the withdrawing enemy forces until they are no longer visible or are beyond effective range of the squad’s weapon systems is known as
Pursuit by Fire
The purpose of continuing the attack to maintain pressure on the enemy and exploit success and destroy his combat power is known as
Continuation of the Attack
A defined area which is required to be covered by the fire of individual or crew-served weapons or the weapons of a unit is called
Sectors of fire
Skirmisher trench is a hasty position that is
long and wide enough to lay horizontally and roughly 18 inches deep
The area which a weapon or a group of weapons may cover effectively with fire from a given position is called
Fields of Fire
