Two gunners from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1 convoy security teams fire the rest of their rounds following the final protective fire scenario of the Battalion's field exercise at Camp Shelby. (June 27, 2007).
Final protective fire refers to a tactical plan for a military unit, set up in support of the infantry, to protect itself against overwhelming attack. Final protective fire ("FPF") is a request for artillery support (a "fire mission") generally reserved for a unit being overrun, and has absolute priority over any other kind of request.
Infantry is a military specialization that engages in military combat on foot, distinguished from cavalry, artillery, and tank forces. Also known as foot soldiers or infanteers, infantry traditionally relies on moving by foot between combats as well, but may also use mounts, military vehicles, or other transport. Infantry make up a large portion of all armed forces in most nations, and typically bear the largest brunt in warfare, as measured by casualties, deprivation, or physical and psychological stress.
A final protective fire is an immediately available preplanned barrier of direct and indirect fire designed to provide close protection to friendly positions and installations by impeding enemy movement into defensive areas.
The size of the FPF depends on the number and type of weapons firing (e.g., FPF size for one battery of 155mm howitzers is 300m × 50m). The supported maneuver commander designates the location of the FPF and it is adjusted into place by the forward observer. Normally, the FPF is within 200 to 400 meters of friendly positions (known as "danger close") and is integrated into the final protective line of the maneuver unit.
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles over relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent.
As the "final" in the name implies, it is the last resort in defensive plans, involving artillery integrated with small arms and heavy machine gunfire directed dangerously close to friendly defensive positions that are at risk of being overrun by the enemy.
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons built to launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry's small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the large share of an army's total firepower.
A heavy machine gun or HMG is a class of machine gun implying greater characteristics than general purpose or medium machine guns.
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition.
Final protective fire is also commonly incorporated into a defensive plan that incorporates a final protective line, which is a line that, once the enemy has crossed, prompts the FPF plan to be enacted.
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects. According to strategist William S. Lind, combined arms can be distinguished from the concept of "supporting arms" as follows:
Combined arms hits the enemy with two or more arms simultaneously in such a manner that the actions he must take to defend himself from one make him more vulnerable to another. In contrast, supporting arms is hitting the enemy with two or more arms in sequence, or if simultaneously, then in such combination that the actions the enemy must take to defend himself from one also defends himself from the other(s).
In military science, suppressive fire is "fire that degrades the performance of an enemy force below the level needed to fulfill its mission". Suppression is usually only effective for the duration of the fire. It is one of three types of fire support, which is defined by NATO as "the application of fire, coordinated with the maneuver of forces, to destroy, neutralize or suppress the enemy."
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.
A reverse slope defence is a military tactic where a defending force is positioned on the slope of an elevated terrain feature such as a hill, ridge, or mountain, on the side opposite from the attacking force. This tactic hinders both the attacker's ability to observe the defender's positions as well as reducing the effectiveness of the attacker's long-range weapons such as tanks and artillery.
Fire and movement, or fire and maneuver, is the basic modern military low-level unit tactic used to maneuver on the battlefield in the presence of the enemy, especially when under fire. It involves heavy use of all available cover, and highly-coordinated exchanges of rapid movement by some elements of the squad or platoon while other elements cover this movement with suppression fire. It is used both to advance on enemy positions as part of an attack, or withdrawal from current positions under attack by the enemy. The moving and supporting (suppressing) elements may be teams or individuals, and may quickly and continuously exchange roles until the entire unit completes the maneuver objective. Some members will specialize more in different roles within fire and movement as fits their range, equipment, terrain, and ability to maneuver. This is usually applied to standard infantry tactics, but forms of this are also used with armored fighting vehicles or when supported by artillery or airpower.
Hasty attack is a specific form of attack identified within United States and Canadian military doctrine, in which upon contact with the enemy that is unprepared a unit decides to conduct an attack with limited planning and coordination and with rapid preparation and execution to exploit the enemy's weakness. Though applicable to infantry operations historically and in modern times, hasty attacks are a hallmark of mechanized force operations. During the Civil War, the command for a hasty attack was "sally forth".
Small unit tactics is the application of US Army military doctrine for the combat deployment of platoons and smaller units in a particular strategic and logistic environment.
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, or flanking manoeuvre is a movement of an armed force around a flank to achieve an advantageous position over an enemy. Flanking is useful because a force's offensive power is concentrated in its front. Therefore, to circumvent a force's front and attack a flank is to concentrate offense in the area where the enemy is least able to concentrate defense.
Brian Miles Thacker is a former United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.
Multiservice tactical brevity codes are codes used by various military forces. The codes' procedure words, a type of voice procedure, are designed to convey complex information with a few words.
The tank destroyer battalion was a type of unit used by the United States Army during World War II. The unit was organized in one of two different forms—a towed battalion equipped with anti-tank guns, or a mechanized battalion equipped with armored self-propelled guns. The tank destroyer units were formed in response to the German use of massed formations of armored vehicles units early in WWII. The tank destroyer concept envisioned the battalions acting as independent units that would respond at high speed to large enemy tank attacks. In this role, they would be attached in groups or brigades to corps or armies. In practice, they were usually individually attached to infantry divisions. Over one hundred battalions were formed, of which more than half saw combat service. The force was disbanded shortly after the end of the war when the concept had been shown to be militarily unsound.
In military usage, a barrage is massed sustained artillery fire aimed at a series of points along a line. As well as attacking any enemy in that line, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movement and actions through that line. The points along the line may be 20–30 yards (meters) apart, with the total line length anything from a few hundred to several thousand yards (meters) long. Barrages can consist of multiple such lines, usually about 100 yards (meters) apart, with the barrage shifting from one line to the next over time, or several lines may be targeted simultaneously. A barrage may involve a few or many artillery batteries, or even (rarely) a single gun. Typically each gun in a barrage, using indirect fire, will fire continuously at a steady rate at its assigned point for an assigned time before moving to the next point, following the barrage's detailed timetable. Barrages typically use high-explosive shells, but may be shrapnel, smoke, illumination, poison gas, or potentially other chemical agents. Barrages are in contrast with concentrated artillery fire, which has a single specific target such as a known enemy position or structure, and in contrast with direct fire which targets enemies in sight of the artillery.
The Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV) was a family of lighter and more transportable ground vehicles developed by BAE Systems Inc and General Dynamics as part of the United States Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The ground vehicles were to be based on a common tracked vehicle chassis. The MGV program was superseded by the Ground Combat Vehicle which has also been cancelled.
The Battle of Bồng Sơn was the second major battle for the US 1st Cavalry Division, an airmobile unit of divisional strength, during the Vietnam War. The battle was part of Operation Masher, also known as Operation Whitewing. A month earlier in 1965, in the Battle of the Ia Drang, the 1st Cavalry used all the division infantry, but one brigade at a time. One of the realizations that affected Bong Son was that with adequate helicopter lift, the traditional need to keep a strong reserve was less required—the least involved unit usually could break away and go where it was needed.
The Battle of Ap Gu occurred during 31 March and 1 April 1967 during Operation Junction City, a search and destroy mission by American military forces in Tay Ninh Province of South Vietnam, to the west of the capital Saigon. The battle near the border with Cambodia left 609 Viet Cong (VC) killed according to US sources, with 5 captured, and over 50 weapons of all types recovered, while the Americans lost 17 killed and 102 wounded.
The Battle of Suoi Tre occurred during the early morning of 21 March 1967 during Operation Junction City, a search and destroy mission by American military forces in Tay Ninh Province of South Vietnam, to the west of the capital Saigon. After being challenged heavily to begin with, the Americans gained the upper hand and completed a convincing victory over the Viet Cong (VC). They claimed to have found 647 bodies and captured seven prisoners, while recovering 65 crew-served and 94 individual weapons. The Americans losses were 36 dead and 190 wounded, a fatality ratio of more than twenty to one in their favour.
Direct fire refers to the launching of a projectile directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the firer. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, which means no objects or friendly units can be between it and the target. A weapon engaged in direct fire exposes itself to return fire from the target.
The United States armed forces classify reconnaissance missions as "close" or "short-range"; "distant" or "medium-range"; and "deep" or "long-range".
The Battle of Hwacheon was a battle fought between 22 and 26 April 1951 during the Korean War between United Nations Command (UN) and Chinese forces during the Chinese Spring Offensive. The US 1st Marine Division successfully defended their positions and then withdrew under fire to the No-Name Line.
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