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This article is about a military strategy involving land troops dispatched from naval ships. For the industrial music group featuring former Kittie guitarist, Fallon Bowman, see Amphibious Assault.Amphibious warfare is the utilization of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops unto non-contigious enemy held terrain.
Airborne operations have slowly eroded this primacy as larger and more capable air transports have been fielded. In this modern era amphibious warfare persists in the form of commando insertion by fast
patrol boats, zodiacs and
mini-submersibles. Debatably, states with modest airlift potential may view amphibious operations as a viable means of troop deployment.
In the modern era of warfare, an amphibious landing of infantry troops on a beachhead is the most complex of all military maneuvers. The undertaking requires an intricate coordination of numerous military specialties, including
air power,
naval gunfire, naval transport,
logistical planning, specialized equipment, land warfare,
tactics, and extensive training in the nuances of this maneuver for all personnel involved.
An amphibious landing is distinguished from an airborne landing in the following respects: an airborne landing can take place virtually anywhere, while an amphibious landing must occur on a suitable ocean-facing
beach; and an airborne landing in most cases must be supported almost exclusively from the air, while an amphibious landing can be supported by both air and naval shipping.
History
Recorded amphibious warfare predates the 18th century by a couple of millennia: the Sea Peoples that menanced the Egyptians from the reign of
Akhenaten as captured on the reliefs at Medinet Habu and
Karnak, the
Helenic city states whom routinely resorted to opposed assaults upon each others shore's which they reflected upon in their plays and other expressions of art, the landing at
Marathon by the ancient
Iranians on the 9th of Sept. 490 BC which history records as the largest amphibious operation for 2400 years until eclipsed by
Gallipoli. More current amphibious landings have been conducted by small commando forces of various states and non-state actors;
Israel,
Tamil Tigers etc. And there exists intense debate over mainland
China 's potential to conduct amphibious operations against
Taiwan . With the bulk of the world's population concentrated near the sea, chances are good that future conflict may entail the use of amphibious assets.
18th century
In 1759, during the siege of Quebec the British troops attempted on a number of occasions to cross the
Saint Lawrence River in force. An attempt to land some 4,000 troops in the face of resistance failed. Ultimately a landing was managed at a relatively undefended site and British troops gained a foothold allowing 5,000 to take part in the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham which led to the surrender of the city.
In 1776,
Samuel Nicholas and the Continental Marines, the "progenitor" of the
United States Marine Corps, made a first successful landing in the
Battle of Nassau.
In 1781, the Spanish field marshall, Bernardo de Gálvez, successfully captured British controlled Fort George by ampibious assault in the Battle of Pensacola. In 1782 captured the British naval base at
New Providence in the
Bahamas.
19th century
During the American Civil War, the United States made several amphibious assaults all along the Confederate coastline. Port Royal, South Carolina was the first of many attacks. Along with others on Roanoke Island, NC, Galveston, TX, Morris and James Islands, SC, Fort Sumter, SC, Norfolk, VA, and several others. The largest was at Fort Fisher, which was the largest and most powerful fort in the world at the time, protecting the entrance of Wilmington, North Carolina. The assaulting force of over 15,000 men and 70 warships comprising of over 600 guns, was the most powerful amphibious assault in world history and was not surpassed until D-Day 1944.
An early form of amphibious warfare was employed during the
War of the Pacific in 1879, and saw coordination of army, navy and specialized units.
The first amphibious assault of the war took place as 2,100
Chilean troops successfully took Pisagua from 1,200
Peruvian and
Bolivian defenders on 2 November 1879.
Chilean Navy ships bombarded Allied beach defenses for several hours at dawn, followed by open, oared boats landing Army infantry and sapper units into waist-deep water, under enemy fire. An outnumbered first landing wave fought at the beach; the second and third waves in the following hours were able to overcome resistance and move inland. By the end of the day, an expeditionary army of 10,000 had disembarked at the captured port.
Additional amphibious assaults would be carried out thorough the war. By early 1881, Chilean commanders were using purpose-built, flat-bottomed landing craft that would deliver troops in shallow water closer to the beach.
Landing tactics and operations were closely observed by neutral parties during the war: two
Royal Navy ships monitored the Battle of Pisagua;
U.S. Navy observer Lt. Theodorus B.M. Mason included an account on his report
The War on the Pacific Coast of South America.
World War I
During World War I, amphibious warfare was still in its infancy: tactics and equipment were rudimentary and required much improvisation.
During this period, British
Royal Marine Light Infantry were used primarily as naval parties onboard
Royal Navy warships to maintain discipline and man ships' guns. The RMLI joined a new
Royal Navy division - the
Royal Naval Division - formed in 1914 to fight on land; however, throughout the conflict, army units were depended upon to provide the bulk - if not all - of troops used in amphibious landings.
The first amphibious assault of the war ended in disaster in 1914. A large British Indian Army force was directed to launch an amphibious assault on
Tanga,
German East Africa. British actions prior to the assault, however, alerted the Germans to prepare to repel an invasion. The Indian forces suffered heavy casualties when they
advanced on the city, forcing them to withdraw back to their boats, leaving much of their equipment behind.
The Allied invasion against the
Ottoman Empire at the
Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 proved even more disastrous than Tanga, in part due to incompetence at the high command.
Soldiers were landed via open, oared
whaleboats and tugs at
Anzac Cove and
Helles. At V Beach, Helles, the landing troops - inexperienced at amphibious landings - were effectively slaughtered by the Ottoman defenders, most not even making it out of their landing craft. The
Royal Dublin Fusiliers, for example, lost almost all their officers including their commander and suffered over 500 casualties.
In a second landing at
Suvla in August, the forerunner of modern landing craft - the armoured 'Beetle' - was first used by the British.
World War II
By the Second World War tactics and equipment had moved on. Purpose built
landing craft were used at the evacuation from
Dunkirk and an amphibious operation was tried out at Dieppe in 1942. The operation proved a failure but the lessons hard learned were used later.
Arguably the most famous amphibious assault was the
Normandy landings on 6 June, 1944, in which British, Canadian, French and US forces were landed at
Utah,
Omaha,
Gold,
Juno and
Sword Beaches. The organizational planning of the landing itself was in the hands of Admiral
Bertram Ramsay. It covered the landing of the troops and their re-supply.
Other large amphibious actions in the
European Theatre in WWII include:
In the
Pacific Theatre, almost every campaign involved "
island hopping" assaults from the sea. Some of the famous ones are mentioned:
Post-World War II
During the
Korean War the
U.S. Marine Corps landed at Inchon. Conceived of and commanded by
US General Douglas MacArthur, this landing is considered by many military historians to have been a tactical jewel, one of the most brilliant amphibious maneuvers in history. The success of this battle eventually resulted in intervention by
Chinese forces on behalf of
North Korea.
The Royal Marines made their first post-WWII amphibious assault during the
Suez War of 1956 when they successfully landed at Suez on 6 November. In the
Falklands War, the Royal Marines' 3 Commando Brigade, landed at Port San Carlos on 21 May 1982.
During the Second Persian
Gulf War, a large amphibious assault force, composed of
US Marines and naval support, was positioned off the coast of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This force was composed of 40 amphibious assault ships, the largest such force to be assembled since the Battle of Inchon. The object was to fix the six Iraqi divisions deployed along the Kuwaiti coast. Due to early misadventure, the mission for this amphibious force turned into a feint. Nevertheless, the operation was extremely successful in keeping more than 41,000 Iraqi forces from repositioning to the main battlefield. As a result, the Marines maneuvered through the Iraq defense of southern Kuwait and outflanked the Iraqi coastal defense forces.
The most recent amphibious assault has been carried out by the Royal Marines when they landed at the
Al-Faw Peninsula on 20 March, 2003 during the
Iraqi War.
See also
References
