"The tempo of Operations" Topic

"The speed at which armies move around the landscape is a crucial factor in their supply demands and the methods that can be used to deliver those demands. Fast moving forces can draw supplies from the local area through which they pass without exhausting them, however in turn, this presents an obstacle to the setting up of formal supply routes with horse-drawn armies, as the replenishment convoys do not possess sufficient margin of speed to overtake them. The optimum solution for the use of supply transport is to accompany the army as a rolling magazine which can be replenished as the army passes magazines, depots or market towns. The tempo of operations, the speed at which armies march in the operational area, the number of sieges and number of skirmishes and major battles has an influence on the supply demand, the number of replacement soldiers, horses and equipment, the numbers of sick and wounded, the level of rations and supplies that need to be provided, either because it is stationary or moving too quickly for extended periods to forage effectively.

During the Thirty Years War armies lived by a combination of plunder and from supplies delivered by river, which both determined their routes of advance and forced them to keep moving from camp to camp as the local area became denuded of supplies. Although the armed forces of the countries involved were quite large upwards of 200,000 men, the individual armies were relatively small up to 35,000 men which allowed them to subsist from the local economy until was devastated by the soldiers…"

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Armand

Interesting and worth studying carefully. Thanks for posting, Armand.

A votre service mon ami…

Armand