Shock attack

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Shock attack or shock tactics is an offensive maneuver in battle in which the attacking forces engage into close combat with extreme action and massive force. The shock attack is a fully committed attack designed a hammer blow against enemy and aimed to break his formation and rout his soldiers

Pre-modern

A shock attack was usually done by heavy cavalry but was also achieved by heavy infantry. The most famous shock tactic is the medeival cavarly charge. This shock attack was done by heavily armoured cavalry armed with couched lances galloping at full speed against enemy formation.

Modern

After the introduction of firearms the cavalry charged waned as common military tactic. Infantry charges armed with firearms became common. The culmination and downfall of the infantry charge was at World War I, when masses of soldiers made frontal attacks on each other. The machine gun made this tactic a futille one and only at the invention of the tank, shock tactic regained its efficiency.

At World War II the Germans adapted the shock attack to modern mechanized warfare. The Blitzkrieg was a shock attack based on tanks that gained considerable achievements during the war and was afterwards adopted by most modern armies.

The US tactic of Shock and Awe at the Second Gulf War is a shock attack based on a combination between land and aerial warfare.

Famous shock attacks

Pickett's Charge (July 3, 1863) at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War
Charge of the Light Brigade (October 25, 1854) at the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War
Charge of the 21st Lancers in the Battle of Omdurman, September 2, 1898: the last cavalry charge in battle by a British cavalry unit.
Battle of Beersheba (October 31, 1917) in World War I: the last successful cavalry charge in history.
Battle of Krojanty, a cavalry charge that gave birth to the myth of Polish cavalry charging German tanks

Pre-modern

Modern

Famous shock attacks

Shock units

Cavalry

Infantry

Motorized

See also