[Webstral]

Strategy and tactics depend on the terrain, the manpower and other assets available for defense, the enemy, and several other factors. The ideal defense is force projection, in which the fight is taken to the enemy. Provided the force projection involved is more of a raid than a conquest, we might call this active defense. When active defense isn’t practical, aggressive patrolling (as mentioned frequently above) is the next thing. Aggressive patrolling helps defenders identify enemy units away from the municipality being defended and ideally provides the information necessary to formulate an effective counteraction/reaction based on the available resources. We might call this a reactive defense, in which the enemy makes the first move but the defenders respond aggressively. Finally, a passive defense is one in which the defenders pretty much hunker down behind obstacles and other defensive works and wait for the enemy to enter their fields of fire.

In the real world, these methods overlap each other in space and time. For instance, a municipality with a very strong defense force might send a strong detachment outside the zone of control claimed by the defense force to raid a marauder stronghold (which might have been discovered purely by patrolling or by following up on a lead provided by intelligence gathering). The remaining elements of the defense force might assume a passive defensive posture until the return of the strike force.

Passive defense is the easiest way to defend a municipality in that it requires the fewest troops and lowest level of skill compared to reactive defense and active defense. By constructing fortifications, obstacles, and clear fields of fire the defense force of a municipality can turn labor into combat power. The defenders need to know how to shoot, but they don’t necessarily need to know how to patrol or mount and attack. The extent of passive defenses depends on how much labor the municipality is willing to commit to constructive defensive works over how much time, modified by the manpower under arms and what kind of weapons the troops have. Leadership is an important combat multiplier, but I’m going to leave that one out for the moment.

One advantage of a passive defense is that the defenders can make good use of raw troops. A new recruit in an earth-and-log bunker with a hunting rifle and a couple of companions can give a decent accounting of himself. If he can shoot straight, that’s even better. The chief drawback is that passive defense leaves the initiative to the enemy. Static defenses can be camouflaged, and frequent changes of location of important pieces of equipment can help confuse the enemy about some of the particulars of the defensive works; however, in the long run an enemy who is free to observe passive defenses and attack on his own terms probably will figure out how to penetrate the defenses.

Static defenses comprise a few types of structures. In combat engineering terms, these structures fall into the categories of counter-mobility and survivability. Counter-mobility structures are meant to constrain the enemy’s movement. There are several types of counter-mobility structures. I won’t go into the specifics other than to mention that when designing defensive works the engineers basically focus on either completely blocking the enemy’s movement (harder than you’d think) or getting him to try going around the obstacle. Ideally, by looking for a gap in your obstacles, the enemy moves into a deliberately prepared killing zone into which the defenders pour their fire. The combat arms call this a kill sack. You want the enemy to go into your kill sacks, not the other way around. Counter-mobility works include wire obstacles, ditches, minefields, walls, abatis (trees felled on the road), and others. Where possible, a shrewd combat engineer ties his counter-mobility works in with natural obstacles, such as water and steep gradients.

Survivability structures are places where troops and equipment can be sheltered from enemy fire. Survivability structures can be oriented towards protection, such as headquarters shelters, or combat, such as trenches and bunkers. Often, survivability structures are at least partially underground. Ideally, they are camouflaged. Fighting structures must combine protection against enemy fire with wide and clear fields of fire for the troops inside the fighting structure. A headquarters structure does not require clear fields of fire, though the commander might want one or more observation posts that might look like a bunker.

Counter-mobility and survivability works are complimentary. All counter-mobility structures should be covered by fire so that the enemy’s engineers don’t cut holes in the wire, clear the mines, fill the ditches, etc. In Twilight: 2000, marauders will develop engineer teams as counter-mobility defenses become more widespread. So if the defenders construct a set of wire obstacles surrounding their municipality, the entire perimeter should be a) under observation at all times and b) covered by fire from a fortified firing position. Depending on the length of the perimeter, this can mean a lot of manpower. The fields of fire from bunkers typically are overlapped so that one bunker can defend a significant length of the perimeter. How much depends on the effective range of the weapons of the defender, how much manpower is available, and so on.

Observation is also very important. You don’t want the enemy getting close to your perimeter before you can take him under fire. The simplest means of conducting observation is to get a guy with binoculars someplace high. You want to eliminate places where the enemy can move unobserved (or worse, under cover) as far out as possible—but out to the maximum effective range of the weapons in bunkers along your perimeter at the very least. This means cutting down all the trees 300-500 meters from the bunkers your troops will occupy to defend the municipality.

At the very least, every municipality should have passive defensive works that combine counter-mobility and survivability works. Defenses should be tied in with water, like a river or a lake, wherever possible. The entire perimeter should be under observation at all times. Fighting positions for two-man teams or larger should be placed so that the entire perimeter can be covered by fire.

Everything I’ve written is couched in general principle. I’ll leave it to one of my compatriots to talk about patrolling and raiding.