OBSTACLE PLANNING – “A WAY”

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… the defense has the advantage of being able to choose its own ground, and often, where there is plenty of room at its disposal, of even prescribing the time when its adversary must attack. The defense waits upon attacker. Its object is to conserve resources and to break down the attack of the opponent. If it wishes to avoid a decision, it moves away from the enemy, as far as time and space permit; it will drag the action out. As an attack proceeds, the attacker’s resources diminish; he becomes weaker and wears himself out.

COL R. Ernest Depuy and COL Trevor N. Depuy

LAST MONTH
In our last article, we focused on some concepts critical in understanding the art and science of obstacle emplacement. The most important concept we addressed was the necessity for a Commander to articulate to his staff the specific effects he wants obstacles to achieve for him. We emphasized this effect must be understood so the ‘experts’ can properly utilize a unit’s assets to construct an obstacle system accomplishing the effect. This in turn, sets the conditions to greatly increase the lethality of a unit’s indirect and direct fire systems. This increased lethality truly improves a unit’s ability to accomplish their assigned purpose and task. It seems so simple on paper! However, we know it is far more complex on the ground.

THIS MONTH
We will build on last month, by providing “A Way” on actually planning obstacles. Key to remember in this process is that it is not conducted in a vacuum. Obstacle planning is done in conjunction with the planning you conduct to develop your defense. Within a unit (depending on the size), you will likely have available an engineer planner to assist in this endeavor. However, the majority of the ACG Commanders will not have that luxury when you plan on your battlefield. So take heed and hopefully the following process assists you when planning your next defense.

“A WAY”
The process we will discuss is not a lock-step. In other words, you do not have to complete step 2 before you move to step 3. Several of the steps can and should be done concurrently.

Step 1 – Mission Analysis
As we have said numerous times; it all starts with mission analysis. You must understand yourself, your enemy, and the terrain to enable you to develop a plan that can be effective if executed efficiently.

See Tactics 101: 002. The Importance of Mission Analysis in Planning » ArmchairGeneral.com

Within mission analysis, there are certainly critical pieces of information that must be analyzed in order to develop a relative obstacle plan. Below we will highlight the questions (and why it is important in relation to developing your obstacle plan) that must be addressed during mission analysis as they pertain to developing an obstacle plan. We will divide them by understanding yourself, the enemy, and the terrain.

UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF

Understanding your capabilities is a necessity! Click on chart to enlarge.

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