Land warfare, sometimes also called ground combat, is the term used to describe military operations eventuating in
combat that take place predominantly on the land surface of the
planet.
Land warfare is categorised by the use of large numbers of combat personnel employing a diverse set of combat skills, methods and a wide variety of weapon systems and equipment, conducted in diverse
terrains and
weather environments. Land warfare, by the virtue of being conducted in
defence of urban and rural population areas, dominates the study of
war, and is a focus for most
national defence policy planning and financial considerations.
Land warfare in history has undergone several distinct transitions in conduct from large concentration of largely untrained and irregularly armed populace used in
frontal assaults to current employment of
combined arms concepts with highly trained regular troops using a wide variety of organisational, weapon and information systems, and employing a variety of strategic,
operational and tactical doctrines.
Although the land combat in the past was conducted by the
Combat Arms of the
armed forces, since the
Second World War it has largely involved three distinct types of combat units:
Infantry,
Armour and
Artillery. These arms, since the
Age of Sail, have used
amphibious warfare concepts and methods to project power from the
seas and
oceans, and since the wide introduction of
military transport aircraft and
helicopters have used
airborne forces and
vertical envelopment to the variety of
doctrines used to prosecute warfare on land.
Land forces
Land forces include
personnel,
weapons platforms,
vehicles, and support elements operating on land to accomplish assigned missions and tasks.
Infantry
Infantry are
soldiers who fight primarily on foot with
small arms in organized
military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by
horses,
ships,
automobiles,
skis, or other means.
Armour
Armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military
vehicle, equipped with protection against hostile attacks and often mounted
weapons. Most AFVs are equipped for driving in rugged
terrain.
Examples of armoured vehicles (a common type of AFV) include:
Tanks and
Armoured personnel carriers (APC's).
Artillery
Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. The term also describes ground-based troops with the primary function of manning such weapons. Sometimes known as "The King of Battle" or "the GOD of war" as called by Stalin. The word is derived from the Old French verb attilier, meaning "to equip".
This term includes coastal artillery which traditionally defended coastal areas against seaborne attack and controlled the passage of ships using their ability to deny access through the threat of coastal fire. It also includes land-based field artillery. With the advent of powered flight at the start of the 20th Century, artillery also included ground-based anti-aircraft batteries.
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to
warfare which seeks to integrate different arms of a
military to achieve mutually complementary effects, such as,
self-propelled artillery,
mechanized infantry and so forth.
See also
