Exhaustion (Military strategy)
Robert Bateman wrote:
| “ | A strategy which seeks the gradual erosion of an enemy nation's will or means to resist. Here, one is pursuing an indirect objective, using military power not against the enemy's armies or navies, but against the things that makes him capable of fighting at all. For example, one might not pursue a battle in the skies or on land, but if fighting an island nation, one might try to starve the population by waging Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (as the Germans did in two World Wars) and sinking all the cargo ships bringing supplies to and from the enemy's home-island. Alternately, U.S. Airpower ideas, from WWII right up through "Shock and Awe," focused on the same idea: not hitting the enemy's combat forces directly but making them irrelevant by destroying their industrial base, logistics, and Command and Control.[1] | ” |
Examples of the strategy of exhaustion in WWII
The Allied Oil Campaign of WWII and the Allied attacks on German transportation targets were both decisive factors in the defeat of the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.[2]
The History Learning Site indicates:
| “ | The Boeing B17 Flying Fortress was the main bomber used by the American Air Force in Europe during the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.
...the 8th Air Force turned its attention to Germany’s synthetic oil factories. Attacks on these factories started on May 12th. In just one month, the USAAF dropped 5000 tons of bombs on these factories. In August 1944, 26,000 tons were dropped and in November 1944, the attacks peaked at 35,000 tons. The attacks decimated the Germany military’s ability to move. The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s attempt to push back the advancing Allies in Europe, ended because of the lack of fuel to keep his tanks moving. Albert Speer, in his book “Inside the Third Reich” commented after the war that there were 300 King Tiger tanks at Munich rail station waiting to be moved to the front – but the Germans had neither the railways nor the fuel needed to move these tanks around; both targets of Allied bombing. However, the raids on the oil factories took their toll – 922 B17’s were lost in total with the loss of nearly 10,000 men killed, wounded or captured.[3] |
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Quote
- "The will to fight is at the nub of all defeat mechanisms … One should always look for a way to break the enemy’s will and capacity to resist."- Brig. Gen. Huba Wass de Czege [4]
