Pure tracking allows the enemy to continue to retreat, until he retreats to the point where he thinks he can start the battle again. Therefore, pure tracking can give full play to the advantages that have been obtained; in addition, it can also get everything that the loser cannot take away, such as the wounded, tired soldiers, luggage, and tanks. However, this pure pursuit cannot further disintegrate the enemy's army like the following two pursuits.
If we are not satisfied to force the enemy to the previous camp, or only occupy the area that the enemy has given up, but want to get more, it means that when the enemy's guard takes up the position, we let us be fully prepared The avant-garde attacked him, so that it could prompt the enemy to accelerate the retreat and eventually collapse. The enemy fled in panic in retreat, which eventually led to the collapse of the enemy. For the soldiers, hearing the sound of enemy guns when they were about to rest after the forced march was really the most distressing thing. For a period of time, if this situation is encountered every day, it may cause the soldiers to panic. Under such circumstances, the losers have to admit that they cannot resist the will of the other party, and they are already unable to resist. If you realize this, the spiritual power of the army will inevitably suffer a greater weakening. If the loser can be forced to march at night, then the pursuit will have the greatest effect. Because, in the evening the victors forced the losers to flee the camp they had chosen-no matter if the camp was used by the guards or the whole army-they could only carry out a night march, or continue to retreat to find another camp. The results are similar. But for the victor, he can spend the night in peace.
In the case of pressing pursuit, the deployment of the army and the selection of camps still need to be based on many other conditions, especially supplies, terrain obstacles, cities, etc. Therefore, only nerds will rigidly use geometry to explain: the pursuit is always The retreat can be manipulated at will, forcing him to march at night, but he can rest at night. Nevertheless, when the pursuit is deployed, the method of pressing the pursuit is not only feasible but also very correct, and it can also greatly improve the effect of the pursuit. If people actually rarely use this method of chasing, this is because it is much more difficult for a chasing army to choose a campsite and control time in such a chase than marching under normal circumstances. Depart early in the morning, arrive at the camp at noon, plan food for the rest of the time, and rest at night. This general rule is much simpler than the method of determining one's own actions based on the actions of the enemy. Because in the latter method, decisions about actions are always made in a very short time. Sometimes the departure will be in the early morning, sometimes the departure will be in the evening, and there is always more than half of the day in contact with the enemy. To conduct artillery battles, sporadic battles, or circuitous battles, to put it simply, all necessary tactical measures must be adopted. This burden is quite heavy for the army pursuing it, and in a war where the burden is already a lot, people always want to get rid of those burdens that are not absolutely necessary. The above investigation is correct. It applies to the entire army, including the powerful avant-garde. Therefore, the second type of pursuit, that is, the pursuit of the retreat, is very rare. Even in the battle against Russia in 1812, Napoleon rarely used this method. Obviously, this was because before the goal was achieved in this battle, his army had been tortured by tremendous hardships and was in danger of being wiped out. However, in other battles, the French played their perseverance brilliantly in pressing pursuit. The last method of pursuit is also the most effective method of pursuit. It is a parallel pursuit aimed at obstructing the enemy's retreat.
Of course, when any failed army retreats, there is always a destination that he wants to reach first, no matter how far it is from him. This destination may be a desolate road-it will be threatened if it continues to retreat without preempting it; or a major town, warehouse, etc.-it will be very important to get there first; or it may be a strong position, a meeting point for the same army, etc --When you get there, you can regain the power of resistance.
If you pursue this spot along a road parallel to the loser, then it is obvious that the loser must speed up the retreat, so that it will eventually become fleeing. In this case, the loser has only three ways to deal with it: The first is to intercept the enemy, use unexpected tactics, and achieve results. However, from the perspective of the loser's own situation, it is less likely to achieve such results. Obviously, this method is only suitable for commanders with decisive spirit and courage, and excellent troops that have been defeated but have not completely lost their courage to fight. Therefore, the chance of a loser choosing this method is very small.
The second method is to accelerate the retreat. But this fits exactly what the victor wants; and this retreat can easily lead to excessive fatigue of the troops, causing a large number of soldiers to fall behind, artillery and various vehicles will also be lost or damaged, resulting in huge losses.
The third method is to avoid the enemy. Bypass the places where the opponent is easy to block, try to stay away from the enemy, and march more easily, so that you can avoid the disadvantages of rushing back. This is the bottom line of the three methods. It is like a new debt owed by a person who is unable to repay the debt. It will only cause a more embarrassing situation. But in some cases, this method is still effective, sometimes even the only feasible method, and there are also successful examples. But generally speaking, people use this method, in fact, not because they believe that this method can achieve their goals with confidence, but more because of other intolerable reasons, that is, fear of real battle with the enemy. How sad is the commander who is afraid of starting a real battle with the enemy! No matter how much the army’s mental power suffers, no matter how unfavorable the mental power of oneself is when encountering an enemy, being timid and avoiding fighting with the enemy can only be even more disadvantageous to oneself. If Napoleon avoided the Battle of Hanau in 1813 and chose to cross the Rhine at Mannheim or Koblenz, then he might not even be able to lead thirty or forty thousand people across the Rhine as he did after the Battle of Hanau. This shows that the loser can use favorable terrain for defense, carefully prepare and conduct small-scale battles carefully. Only through these battles can the mental strength of the army gradually rise up.
Here, even the smallest results can produce unbelievable beneficial effects. However, for most commanders, such an attempt can only be made if they overcome their doubts; but avoiding the enemy at first seems very easy, so people are often willing to avoid the enemy. However, when the loser avoids the enemy, it can prompt the winner to achieve his goal and make the loser lose even more. But it must be pointed out that we are here relative to the entire army. As for a truncated army, trying to bypass a detour to rendezvous with the army is another matter. Because the latter situation is different, and there are many successful examples.
To march towards the same target, this kind of speed race must have a condition, that is, behind the retreat must follow a group of pursuers, collect all the abandoned things, and always remind the retreat that the enemy is behind them. From Waterloo to Paris, during this period of pursuing the French army, Blücher did a very good job in other areas, but this was not done.
Of course, such pursuits will also weaken the pursuers themselves. If the loser is contained by another powerful army, or a very outstanding commander is leading it, and the pursuer is not ready to destroy the enemy at this time, then this method should not be used to pursue it. But if circumstances permit, this method can function like a big machine. Under such pursuit, as the number of wounded and fallen soldiers increases, the losses of the losers will also increase; and the morale of the soldiers will be low due to the fear of the soldiers, so that they can no longer carry out real resistance in the end. Every day there are thousands of captives who lose without fighting. At this very lucky moment, the victor does not need to be afraid of distributing his forces, but should try his best to throw his army into this vortex to attack the enemy's sporadic teams, capture the fortresses that the enemy has no time to defend, and occupy the enemy's main cities. Before a new situation emerges, the winner can do whatever he wants, and the more the winner dared to rush forward, the later the new situation will appear.
In the wars Napoleon experienced, there are many examples of brilliant victories and outstanding pursuits. We only have to remember the battle of Ironrou, the battle of Leipzig, the battle of Regensburg, and the battle of Jena.
Retreat after losing the battle
In a failed battle, the power of the army is destroyed, but the damage suffered by the spiritual force is much greater than the damage suffered by the material force. Reluctantly conducting a second battle before the emergence of a new favorable situation will surely lead to a more complete defeat and even annihilation of the entire army. This is an axiom in the military. In terms of its nature, the retreat should be carried out until the power is restored to the point where a balance of power appears. This recovery of power may be due to reinforcements, may be due to strong fortresses as cover, and may be due to the use of huge terrain obstacles. , It may also be because the enemy's forces are too scattered. The extent of the loss and the size of the failure determine the time for the balance of power to recover, but the most important thing depends on what kind of enemy it faces. Although the situation of the defeated army was not changed in the slightest after the war, are there few examples of the army being reorganized in places not far away? The emergence of such a situation may be because the victor has spiritual weakness, or it may be because the victor's advantage in the battle is not enough to launch a strong pursuit.
If you want to take advantage of the victor’s mistakes or weaknesses, if you want to stay outside the scope required by the situation, and the most important thing is to maintain your mental strength, you must retreat slowly and retreat. Once It is very important that the victor exceeds the limit of advantage when he pursues, and he should immediately launch a strong counterattack. When a great commander and an army that has experienced many wars and training retreat, it is like a wounded lion retreating. Obviously, this is the best theory of retreat.
In fact, when people get rid of a dangerous situation, they often do not immediately escape from the dangerous situation, but like to show some meaningless forms. This is simply a waste of time and it is very dangerous to do so. The trained commander believes that the most important thing is to get rid of danger quickly; however, after the defeat of the battle, the whole army retreats differently from the usual escape from danger. Whoever thinks that after a defeat in the battle, a few quick marches in the retreat will be able to get rid of the enemy and gain a firm foothold, who is seriously wrong. Under such circumstances, at the beginning, we must slow down the retreat as much as possible. Generally speaking, the most basic principle is not to be at the mercy of the enemy. To adhere to this principle, you must fight bloody battles with enemies who are pursuing you. The sacrifices made for this are worthwhile. Failure to comply with this principle can only speed up the speed of retreat, and it will soon become a retreat. In this case, the number of soldiers who fell behind may be more than the soldiers who died in the defender war, and eventually the remaining courage will disappear.