"Last use of a Square? " Topic

I was thinking about the infantry square and wondering when it was last used in action…

The last use I can think of in British history was Omdurman – not a 'classic' square, of course, but the same sort of principle. If we do not think Omdurman should count as a square, then do we go back to Abu Klea?

Do the great minds of TMP agree that would be the last British use of one? Or was there a later one?

Was the tactic used by other powers later than that?

The French used the fighting/moving square during their pacification of Sud Oranis and Morocco, that was 1900 – 1913.

The last recorded use I`ve read was in November 1914 at Kenifra, where French columns were isolated and destroyed by a determined enemy when their ammunition ran low and the squares cohesion collapsed.

Possibly the Italian Army using squares against tribal levies when they tried to carve out colonial possessions in the 1920's and early 30's.

I remember reading in a Ballantine book on the early North African Campaign in WW2 of one instance which saw armoured cars, possibly MkIV light tanks and A9/A10 cruisers coming across Italian infantry squares, artillery at the corners and L33 tankettes in the centre. Total disaster of course.

Hmmm, now where did I put that book?

I suppose it depends how tightly you define the definition of a 'square'.

Any position organised for all round defence with no obvious flanks might be considered a 'square' – so British Brigade Boxes in the desert, Firebases in Vietnam, FOBs in Afghanistan…

I suspect that last proper use is when close order infantry formations became redundant, so pre WW1.

Rumor has it an infantry square was broken by cavalry during the RCW.

The British used one against the Italians in the desert c. 1940/'41, IIRC.

I'm separated from my library this week, but pretty sure I read recently about Italians forming square in Libya in 1911 or 1912. Probably in "With the Turks in Thrace".

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
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The last British use of a square I'm aware of was at Gumburu, british Somaliland in 1903, during the Mad Mullah's Rebellion – which incidentally was a defeat for the Imperial forces, with the square broken and scattered.

The French formed mobile squares as a matter of course when operating in open country during their campaigns in Morocco in the first two decades of the 20th century.

I think the last use of this formation in battle occurred during the Russo-Polish war, when Polish infantry battalions formed square against Red Army cavalry charges.

I had the sides backwards – it was the Italians against the British.

"As Combe closed in he saw something which beggared description, for the Italians had reverted to the tactics of the past by forming square with their infantry in the open plain, their tanks in the centre and their guns at the corners; tactics designed, in the past, for tribal warfare, of which this Italian Army had much experience."

Beda Fomm: The Classic Victory, referring to the Battle at Ghirba, near Capuzzo, June 16, 1940, when the Italians formed square against elements of the 11th and 7th Hussars, and J Battery RHA.

Ah, well… the WW2 shaped hole in my military historical knowledge has let me down again.