When I was writing “Attack, Avoid, Survive” a friend asked
that it include a section on dealing with multiple attackers. “Crash Combat”
was written from a slightly different perspective so includes a section on the
use of teamwork in close combat. Such might be necessary in operations such as
crowd control.
This week I came
across some nice illustrations in the 1943 version of FM 23-25. While these
show bayonet attacks rather than riot control these nicely supplement the
suggestions in Crash Combat.
In the first few examples the exact sequence is decided by
the enemy under attack. His response determines which of the attackers engages
him frontally and which attacks his rear or flank.
In the second example three men attack two. Once again, the
responses of the two defenders determine what actually happens. The right
defender could have chosen to engage the central attacker, in which case the
rightmost attacker would have made a flank attack.
The next two illustrations show the tactics if the attacker
is in a minority. In this example the ends of the trio are engaged to prevent
the central fighter joining in. In Crash Combat I suggest the alternate
approach of concentrating the attackers’ strength at one end of a formation to
counter superior numbers.
The Books
