Strategic offensive

A Strategic Offensive is a Campaign as part of a general, usually national military strategy during a conflict in a given theatre of war. Because military strategy is considered the highest level of military art, a strategic offensive is the highest expression of strategic decision making, notably by military leaders.

A strategic offensive is the aggressive expression of war planning and use of strategic forces as a whole, combining all resources available for achieving defined and definitive goals that would fundamentally alter the balance of power between belligerents. [p.8, Glantz (1991)] However, the planning and execution of strategic offensives are always based on theoretical considerations because it is impractical, uneconomic and difficult to hide a full scale rehearsal of large scale operations.

A strategic offensive consists of simultaneous, tandem or phased operational offensives that seek to achieve specific operational objectives that eventually lead to the achievement of a strategic goal, usually a complete defeat of the opposition, but also destruction of a significant enemy force or occupation of strategically significant territory.

Any given strategic offensive is a derivative of a combination of factors such as national military doctrine, past military experience, and analysis of socio-political, economic and military circumstances. [p.8, Glantz (1991)]

Strategic offensives can be undertaken by a single Service of the armed forces such as a naval or air strategic offensive, or be a combined Services operation that seeks to provide strategic planners with greater flexibility in solving specific strategic problems posed by the conflict. One such strategic offensive, was the Allied counter-offensive in the Pacific ocean. The strategic offensives are often multi-national, involving participation of allied contingents within a larger strategic command structure of the primary belligerents, the best example of this being the Grande Armée’s strategic campaign during the French invasion of Russia.

For example the Operation Barbarossa was a Theatre strategic offensive composed of three distinct and inter-related strategic offensives also called campaigns in the Southern, Central and Northern parts of USSR territory. Soviet strategic offensive operations during World War II often involved multi-front coordinated operations. Along with the Wehrmacht operations on the Eastern Front of World War II, these were the largest military operations of the twentieth century.

The more difficult to execute strategic offensives are those that require coordination of multiple types of armed Services of allied contingents and Combat Arms undertaking unconventional warfare.

ee Also

Strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II provides a listing of large scale Soviet operations on the Eastern Front.

Citations and notes

References

Glantz, David M., "Soviet military operational art: in pursuit of deep battle", Frank Cass, London, 1991 ISBN 0-7146-4077-8