Studying the Art of War - Article III

This is the third installment of my series called Studying the Art of War. This series is a study of the classic book The Art of War by Sun Tzu and then taking concepts from the book and applying them to modern day warfare.

It should be noted that I will be using the translation provided by Lionel Giles as I feel this is the closest English translation that is not diluted.

Note: Earth is the third of the five factors as outlined by Sun Tzu

"Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death"

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War Chapter 1 - Laying of plans, line 8.

Clearly this adage is timeless in its wisdom and important to keep in mind. After all we fight our wars on the surface of this planet and knowing the terrain is of extreme importance if one wishes to have any kind of success. As such it is important to keep in mind the relative distances of objectives and not fall into the trap where they ignore the relative distances of a campaign. Also one must continuously scout the terrain in order to determine the best avenues of attack, the best ambush sites, and the area's most suited for defense. Without proper knowledge of these key points one could quickly find themselves trapped in a land grown extremely hostile as the opposing forces crash upon one's army over and over again.

The examples that best illustrate the impact (good or bad) of the terrain on a campaign can be found in World War II and the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The first example is how by not properly respecting the relative distances involved in a vast terrain as found in Russia and its unavoidable impact on the equipment, supply train, and moral. Hitler basically ignored the lesson learned by Napoleon which was that Russia is a vast land and can easily swallow any army regardless of size. Due to this ignorance it could be said that the vast nature of the terrain "swallowed" up the vast army groups hurled by Germany and was the primary catalyst that led to their defeat.

It is odd that the second example is also of how the Germans reacted to the terrain in the East, but this time it is how they used it to their advantage. The majority of the really great tank commanders in the Germany military would personally go out and scout the terrain, looking for the best ways to address their final objective, how best to lay an ambush on the enemy, or the best means of defending their position. This talent was not limited to the tank commanders, but was also used extensively by the infantry since the alternative would quite literally cause their deaths.