To throw some more into the mix, I've just been reading Conan Doyle's history of the Boer War. After 1900, the Boer armies were unable to mount full-scale battles- instead they were reduced to the purely guerrilla warfare at which they excelled.
The British forces, even when added to by an ever-increasing number of South African colonists, could not field sufficient large armies to trap all the Boer Commandos, while simutaneously garrisoning all the vulnerable spots.
As a solution, the blockhouse system was introduced. Initially along the railway lines, then later along other line features, blockhouses were built- eventually only 600 yards apart. Each blockhouse was proof against anything short of artillery, and had a garrison of between 6 and 30 men. Once each line was built, it became nearly impossible for the scattered Commandos to link up, or even to cross from territory to territory- which made their preferred tactic of combining, then ambushing smaller British units and destroying them in detail, ever harder to achieve.
I can see the utility of the solution- neighbouring towns first fortifying themselves, then fortifying the roads linking them, and gradually removing the marauders' ability to move over large distances- but I cannot see how to cope with the ready availability of RPGs and other bunker-busting weapons.
As Raellus said, the burh method does require local militias to be part of the overall defensive team- possibly even to the point that there is no central RRF- even if the marauders can organise enough to cope with the nearest group of neighbouring burhs, eventually the arrival of more troops will overcome any marauder group.
Let's hope so, anyway!
|