Chapter 71: Defensive Tactics

The initiative is the fleet's freedom to act, and freedom of action is the fleet's lifeline.

Flexibility is a talent of commanders in properly handling situations, it is the expression of conscious initiative in combat, and superiority of strength is the foundation for seizing the initiative. Correct subjective guidance, flexible use of forces and changing tactics, are important conditions for seizing and maintaining the initiative to defeat the enemy.

In battle, one must take the offensive to place oneself in an active position; when in defense, one should strive with active offensive actions to shake off passivity and seize the initiative.

At the main direction and important moments, timely concentrate forces to form and maintain superiority over the enemy; moreover, the shipgirls' mobility is inherently stronger than the Sirens', so widely maneuver to establish a favorable situation, actively seek and create the enemy's weaknesses and mistakes, mobilize the enemy, and put them in a passive position.

According to mission, enemy situation, our situation, and sea area, cleverly deploy forces and adopt appropriate measures of action. Good at observing battlefield conditions, judging the timing, making a rapid response, flexibly maneuvering to counter changes in force and action methods, not striking the enemy when the timing is wrong.

When the situation undergoes major changes, or when contact with superiors is cut off, one should act decisively based on the superiors' overall intention and overall strategy, and flexibly and actively accomplish combat missions.

Unexpected actions can alter the relative advantage between the two sides, causing the enemy to lose its advantage and initiative, and achieve the greatest victory at minimal cost.

As Qin Ge's course progressed, the commanders in the front row occasionally nodded; having experienced battle, they clearly understood what Qin Ge meant by concentrating superior forces.

In large-scale naval battles, due to the very scattered distribution of personnel, it results in a situation where one wants to defend comprehensively but lacks sufficient strength, making the selection of targets very important.

However, such choices cause heavy losses in some places, forcing them after each Siren Tide or large-scale battle to spend large amounts of funds on reconstruction.

At this moment, a major-level commander in the front row raised his hand, and Qin Ge keenly caught his intention, thus making a gesturing invitation.

The major-level commander stood up and said to Qin Ge, 'Instructor, hello. I have a question I want to ask. We also usually adopt defensive tactics in naval battles, but we can only barely fend off the Sirens' attacks, and each time it also causes commanders to die in action, and some facilities on shore are also destroyed; how can we avoid this situation?'

Qin Ge nodded and said to the major-level commander, 'Please have a seat.'

Only after that major-level commander sat down did he begin to speak.

Here you have fallen into a vicious cycle, expanding in all directions and defending comprehensively against the Sirens' overall offensive; this is actually very deadly for the battlefield situation.

Because from the aspect of the Sirens' offensive, they attack in different fleets—some small, some medium, some large—so we come back to the problem we first mentioned: intelligence.

Only after grasping the concrete situation of the Sirens' offensive can we effectively utilize the shipgirls' mobility and timely adjust and deploy tactics.

The main content of defensive tactics includes the characteristics of defensive tactics, the principles of defensive tactics, and the application of defensive tactics, etc.

The coastal defense zones guarded by each of our grand fleets are relatively large, but the shipgirls each commander possesses are not necessarily of the same quantity; therefore timely allocation and adjustment of personnel are needed to conduct defense flexibly.

First, one must determine where the enemy's main offensive direction is; one cannot simply go to block wherever the Sirens appear, which is a grave misjudgment. Making such a judgment will disperse forces and make it easy for the Sirens to create encircling situations, and furthermore, some commanders of our own fleets with relatively weak strength will thus be killed.

We must focus on key resistance, emphasize the formation of overall strength, adopt a systematic approach to seek relative advantage, correctly handle the relationship between concentrating combat power and preserving defensive manpower, and organically concentrate our fighting strength on the main defensive direction.

Furthermore, not only during the preparation for defensive battles should we pre-select and establish the main defensive deployment and key defense areas, but also at different stages of the enemy's offensive we should timely adjust the defensive deployment, implement maneuvering of forces and firepower, promptly coordinate the main defensive forces and adjust the main defensive direction, achieving focused resistance throughout the entire defensive process.

While preemptively balancing defensive forces throughout the entire defensive depth, we must master strong mobility, maneuver as needed, and swiftly form an advantage in key directions and in practice.

After Qin Ge finished speaking, the major-level commander said, 'That is to say, when we deploy, we should allocate superior forces according to the Sirens' main attack direction and focus on resistance.'

And in other regions where the enemy's offensive intent is relatively weak, we should adopt mobile warfare tactics to swiftly annihilate the enemy and relieve the defensive pressure on that area?

Qin Ge nodded, 'Exactly. We must, while maintaining strict defense and tenacious resistance, seize every opportunity to undertake harassing, counter-charging, counterattacking and other active offensive actions, continually consuming and striking the enemy's offensive power, gradually depriving them of their offensive capability.'

Purely rigid defense is not the correct focus for facing the Sirens' offensive; one must properly grasp the measure of employing means, integrating offense into defense, making offense and defense one, and focusing on the stability of the overall defensive situation.

Combining strict defense, tenacious resistance, extensive harassment, and timely counter-charges and counterattacks, comprehensively employing the strengths of various types of shipgirls, with coordinated resistance actions, we can thwart the enemy's offensive.

Applause thundered again like rolling thunder, and the several commanders and vice commanders from the various grand fleets in the front row especially approved of Qin Ge's current explanation.

Often the points they had not considered, Qin Ge explained them to them in a concise theoretical manner. Moreover, in the following lessons, several people took turns asking questions continuously, and Qin Ge gave corresponding answers, all of which were pertinent to the actual key points of their grand fleets.

It inevitably gave several people a feeling that spending 500 units of supplies to attend such a tactical theory lesson was truly worthwhile.

Such a professional, systematic, and targeted strategy and tactics course, even if a single lesson cost 10,000 units of supplies, they would be willing to attend. Because absorbing each bit of knowledge means that thereafter they can achieve greater victories on the battlefield.

Such victories are not excessive to measure by any value.

They really made a killing!