Battle Tactics Quotes

A tactical retreat is not a bad response to a surprise assault, you know. First you survive. Then you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack.

Retreat Hell! We're just attacking in another direction.

The Spartans do not inquire how many the enemy are, but where they are.

Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans, the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field, and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.

I have always had a keen interest in defence and military history and read more on this subject than anything else.

One cannot think that blind bravery gives victory over the enemy.

The implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing.

No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.

As not infrequently happens in the affairs of war, it is easier to point out mistakes after they are committed, than to see and avoid them amid the difficulties and dangers by which the military commander is at the moment surrounded.

In warfare, first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured.

Every soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.

Great battles are won with artillery.

Generals make plans. Plans go wrong. And soldiers die.

A handful of men, inured to war, proceed to certain victory, while on the contrary, numerous armies of raw and undisciplined troops are but multitudes of men dragged to the slaughter.

Not since Crassus and the campaign against the Parthaginians was there such an incompetent a general as Shafter….

No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.

The English are terribly lazy about fighting. They like to get it over and done with and then set up a game of cricket.

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?

Normally, as long as I'm telling him what to do, he wins in a fight.

I did this film with Russell Crowe called 'The Water Diviner,' which took place just after WWI. It was fascinating because the weapons between WWI and WII were very different. I had to learn how to ride horses in a battle setting. It was important that we rode a certain way.

In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.

I felt blessed by the existence of Horace Porter's 'Campaigning With Grant.'