Test Your Knowledge: Defensive Military Tactics

Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Test Your Knowledge: Defensive Military Tactics
Image: Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock

About This Quiz

War ain't easy and it's not for people who don't know what they're doing. Field commanders need a lot of smarts to figure out which military tactics to use and when. Perhaps you're familiar with some of the classical military maneuvers, such as the feint, flank, penetration and pincer.

Military strategy and tactics stretch back to the start of human warfare and the development of large governments and empires. Alexander the Great of Macedonia is one of the earlier military strategists, focusing his efforts on planning, communication and supply, security and the use of surprise. During the Middle Ages, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, the largest on Earth. The Mongol Empire covered more than 10 million square miles at one point, or about 20 percent of all of the land on the planet.

Napoleon I birthed the age of modern warfare, which included the creation of a rudimentary general staff. More recently, men like George S. Patton were hailed for their military smarts with Patton recognized for helping liberate Western Europe from the Nazis.

During all of this time, changes in weaponry and other technology necessitated constant changes in strategies and tactics. Just in the last century alone, there were debates as to whether air power alone could win wars, how best to use amphibious power, and how to strategically leverage the new and devastatingly powerful nuclear weaponry. Today, terrorism is a popular military tactic among smaller powers.

Ready to test your military tactic savviness? Then take the quiz!

If you use a so-called elastic defense, you try to slow down the enemy while giving up what?
Space
Weapons
Prisoners of war
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Give them a bit of land and slow them down any way you can; it saps morale and causes casualties.

What's one reason that an elastic defense often works well as a defensive tactic?
It gives attackers too much momentum.
It stretches the attacker's supply lines.
It makes it harder for attackers to pick a target.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The stretched supply lines can slow down attackers' momentum and wear them out, too.

What is the name for a unit that gives up its defensive position in an attempt to push through enemy lines?
Flanking
Breakout
Retreat
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

A breakout is often attempted when a defending force realizes it can't hold a position for a variety of reasons, such as a lack of supplies or inadequate terrain.

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If you want to eventually attack from a defensive position, what do you need to do first?
Stockpile extra weapons
Make sure you have a very strong and defensible position.
Be prepared for annihilation.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

You may have to hold out longer than you think, especially if you're surrounded.

How are most modern land mines triggered?
Magnetic trigger
A trip wire
Pressure
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It means they are effective against vehicles even if those vehicles don't pass directly above the mine.

If you are defending a high position, you have to be wary of what?
Making sure the slope is steep enough to slow attackers
Making sure you have enough supplies and water
Make sure your weapons can reach the bottom of the hill
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

If an attacker cuts your supply lines on the lower slopes, you lose the advantage of the high ground.

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What is a hedgehog defense?
A straight line of hardened defenses
An uneven line of defenders with numerous strong points
When defenders throw spiky hedgehogs at attackers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The uneven lines help push attackers toward areas where defenders can fire on them from multiple directions.

The hedgehog has historically been used many times against what kind of forces?
Armored vehicles
Infantry
Naval columns
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The attackers hit weak points first but then get sucked into fighting stronger points; in those areas they are vulnerable to fire from more than one direction.

Which tactic involves defending a second, higher slope as an attacker ascends a lower first slope?
Echelon defense
Flanking
Reverse slope defense
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Duke Wellington used this type of defense to defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

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Revetments were commonly used in what kind of defensive tactic?
Defense against cavalry
Trench warfare
Defense against tanks
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Revetments are essentially retaining walls on the side of a trench that provides protection and a place from which to fire a weapon.

What's one major advantage of the V-shaped formation called the Flying Wedge?
It lets defenders easily "leapfrog" each other to protect a large area.
It makes it difficult for an enemy to attack your flanks.
It makes the best use of hills.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It offers a wide field of fire and makes any attack more difficult.

Why would infantry soldiers construct a sangar?
They have a very limited field of fire.
They need protection from air attacks.
The ground is too rocky or hard for trenches.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sangars are fortifications made from rocks or sandbags, often in areas where trenches aren't possible.

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If you deploy your defenders in a line that's diagonal to the attacker's forces, you're using which defense?
Pakfront
Echelon
Breakout
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It's one of the most common defenses used in conflict.

Why do some armies resort to "scorched earth" tactics during a withdrawal?
It's fun to set things on fire.
It helps to defeat the enemy psychologically.
It prevents useful materials, buildings or people from falling into enemy hands.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Geneva Convention banned the destruction of civilian water and food supplies to prevent massive civilian casualties.

Compared to forested areas, how much more effort does it take to camouflage units in a desert environment?
Three times as much effort
Five times as much effort
10 times as much effort
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The lack of foliage and the hard desert soil means defensive preparation takes much more time and effort.

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How many miles of railroad did Maj. Gen. William Sherman destroy as part of the scorched earth policy in the American Civil War?
More than 30 miles
More than 300 miles
More than 3,000 miles
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sherman's troops marched from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. His tactics were controversial but helped the Union defeat the Confederacy.

Which defensive cover was the precursor to the fox hole?
Grenade sump
Slit trench
Shell scrape
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

They were so shallow they were vulnerable to bullets or attacking forces could just run over defenders using trucks and tanks.

The first land mines didn't explode. What did they do?
Caused soldiers to fall into huge trenches where they could be fired upon
Collapsed the land on which the enemy was standing
Caused fortifications to sink, making counterattacks easier
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

They were sometimes called killing tunnels.

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World War I was the first to see the widespread use of which defensive tactic?
Sangars
Counter-battery fire
Trench warfare
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The trenches contributed heavily to a bogged-down stalemate, particularly on the Western Front.

The Pakfront defense was used in World War II to interrupt what kind of attack?
Warplane attack
Infantry attack
Tank attack
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It used surprise anti-tank gun attacks to quickly disable multiple tanks before they could unleash their huge firepower.

Roman soldiers took which defensive position only if they were surrounded by enemy forces?
Vegetius
The wedge
The orb
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Think of soldiers standing back-to-back in a circle trying desperately to survive.

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Which defensive position protects forces from having exposed flanks?
Echelon defense
All round defense
Phalanx defense
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In this defense, defenders can see and attack the ground all around them.

How do you minimize casualties in an all round defense?
Use more artillery from afar.
Provide long range weapons.
Spread out your defenders.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Also, you have to hope that your attackers can't completely surround and then destroy you.

Why was trench warfare so effective in the WWI era?
Better digging technologies meant much more secure and livable trenches.
Mines were suddenly much more powerful.
Firepower had evolved but mobile tactics had not.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Thus, defenders were in a much better situation than attackers.

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Which technology finally helped attackers develop ways to break through trenches?
Larger artillery shells with improved accuracy
Tanks
Guided bombs
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Tanks could push through barbed wire and through all sorts of defensive positions.

Why are land mines a controversial form of defense?
They have become far more powerful in recent years.
They maim too many soldiers.
They hurt people indiscriminately.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Civilians suffer from mines even decades after a conflict has ended.

Why did Roman armies always try to fight with a strong wind at their backs?
To make it harder for enemies to advance large weapons like catapults
To help projectiles fly farther
To overwhelm the enemy with the stench of their unwashed bodies
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Plus, the swirling dust helped to blind the downwind enemies.

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What does counter-battery fire accomplish?
It attacks your enemy's indirect fire elements.
It cuts down charging infantry.
It slows tanks as they approach your defensive positions.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It helps you use your weapons to destroy hidden guns of your attackers such as concealed artillery.

Which tactic did the Romans use to prevent an enemy from breaking through their lines?
The wedge
The orb
The saw
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The saw used a unit just behind the front lines that shifted to areas weakened by attackers; viewed from an aerial perspective it would look like a sawing motion.

Counter-battery fire is also often called what?
Counter-bombardment
Counter-attack
Aggressive defense
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This kind of counter-artillery attack came into vogue during World War I.

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