"Once the defender has gained an important advantage, defense as such has done its work. Now it is time for a sudden powerful transition to the offensive–the flashing sword of vengeance."

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Carl von Clausewitz

LAST MONTH
In our last article, we concluded our mini-series on retrograde operations by focusing on the delay. We hope you took away the following: 1) There are few, if any, more challenging operations to conduct than the delay. 2) The delay is all about trading space for time. The time gained will be utilized to plan and prepare for future operations. 3) The delay will never go as planned. There are simply too many variables. 4) You must make the enemy react to you. A combination of timely fires and well-orchestrated maneuver are keys to achieve this. 5) The cardinal sin during the execution of a delay is to get an element decisively engaged. Once this occurs, your ability to trade space for time is severely curtailed.

THIS MONTH
During the majority of battles, there are windows of opportunity that present themselves to a Commander. These windows of opportunity may enable a Commander to seize the initiative away from his opponent. Conversely, these windows of opportunity may provide the Commander the ability to simply get out of a bad situation. In both cases, it takes the wise Commander to first understand the window is open and then to act upon it. In this article, we will focus on these ‘transitions’.

To tackle this subject, we will answer these questions: 1) What is a culmination point? 2) How do you know when a unit has culminated? 3) How do you transition effectively from defense to offense? and 4) How do you transition effectively from offense to defense. 

What is a Culmination Point?
Within the business of transitions, there is no more critical concept than the culmination point. Certainly, in the everyday world we all have our own definitions of a culmination point. For me, it is usually task number three on my long weekend ‘to do’ list. I’m sure many of you can relate to this.

For you dedicated followers of the series, you know that everything involved with tactics has a distinct definition. The concept of the culmination point is no different. In doctrinal terms, a culmination point is defined as:

It is the point in time and space where a unit no longer has the capability to continue the operation they were executing. In the offense, it is that point in time and space where; 1) The attacker’s combat power no longer exceeds that of the defender. 2) Or the attacker has lost the momentum for the attack. 3) Or the attacker can no longer logistically sustain the continuation of the attack. Of course, all of these could very well happen around the same period to the unit.

In the defense, it is that point in time and space where: 1) The unit does not possess sufficient combat power to defend against an enemy attack. 2) Or cannot conduct a cohesive defense. 3) Or is in danger of being completely overrun. Again, all of these could occur near the same period.

Why is the Culmination Point so Critical?
To put this in perspective, let’s offer an example from outside the world of tactics. You are driving your car and you start hearing some strange noises under the hood. Despite the warning signals, you continue to drive the vehicle and not explore the source of the noise. A few days pass and you are driving on the interstate. Suddenly, your car just grinds to a halt. After some dangerous moments, you manage to get it to the side of the road. The tow truck arrives and carts you off to the shop. The mechanic gets to it after a few days and then gives you the news. After a very subtle smirk, he says “If you would have brought this in earlier we could have saved the engine. I think the repair bill will probably be more than what the car is worth”.

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