The Shock of Speed

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the mechanization of war, which began tentatively in the 19th century, has been its dominant feature in the 20th and how this mechanization is most obvious and most often thought of, in terms of weapons: machine-gun, aircraft, missiles. It evaluates three campaigns which trace the progress of their fluidity in 20th-century warfare. It looks at how the first, the Battle of France in 1940, tested the German fluid doctrine against the French static doctrine. The second, the Tet Offensive of 1968 in Vietnam, tested the American development of fluid warfare against a doctrine, designed for the special conditions of Vietnam, to move "below the radar" of the industrial warfare system. The third, the Persian Gulf War, tested against the industrial system a new, post-industrial development that accelerated movement to hyperspeed.

From the Paper:

"In Hue, "the urban landscape denied the [US and South Vietnamese] their two greatest weapons -- mobility and firepower" (Arnold, p. 78). Attacking with complete tactical surprise, the VC/NVA captured the ancient citadel within two hours. An American (MACV, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam) compound across from the city managed to organize a scratch defense with only five minutes' warning after an initial rocket barrage, and narrowly held out. Once a relief force for the MACV compound arrived, two months of desperate street-by-street fighting followed before the ruined city was retaken (Arnold, pp. 69-84). If in Hue itself the "urban landscape" restricted the tactical mobility of American forces, on a strategic level the effects of mobility were both decisive and all but invisible. No account seems to mention this factor, doubtless because it is so taken for granted as not to be noticed. In the initial hours of the nationwide offensive, with almost every strong point (even Tan Son Nhut airbase), each had to look to its own defense. But once any given strong point had weathered the initial storm, it could dispatch mobile forces to the support of others harder-pressed."

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