Napoleon not only believed that the conduct of war should abide by the laws and regulations of the art of war, but also realized that in military academics, old methods cannot be used to achieve new results. Therefore, in combat, pay attention to the situation. Different, changes due to the enemy.
He said: "The operational plan should take into account every possible action of the enemy and formulate necessary response strategies. The operational plan can be modified at any time based on the environment, the general's ability, the type and quality of the troops, and the battlefield terrain." . ("Napoleon's Military Quotations", Article 2) and emphasized: "Any outstanding war is a war that emphasizes methods." (Quoted from Tarlie's "The Biography of Napoleon", page 447)
Because Napoleon was good at being flexible and adaptable to changes in combat, he did not adhere to rules, was not bound by military rules, and was not limited to his original ideas. , so that its enemies are often at a loss. A captured old officer once lamented: "We are fighting with a young general. He is always in front of us, sometimes behind us, sometimes on both sides of us, and we simply cannot understand. When We don't know how to deploy our troops. This method of fighting is intolerable in war. It violates all conventions." (Quoted from "Selected Works of Napoleon", Volume 1, pp. 82-83)
The Battle of Jena in 1806 was a vivid example of Napoleon using a new battle formation to defeat the old battle formation. At that time, the Prussian army still adopted the traditional linear formation. During combat, the entire team was required to advance at the same time, move in unison, and fight rigidly regardless of the enemy's firepower. Napoleon adopted a new battle formation that combined skirmishers and columns. According to the mission and terrain, the troops could attack in lines and columns, repel the cavalry in a square, or deploy a formation with a certain depth configuration. It is not only convenient for fighting on open flat land, but also conducive to coordinated operations in rolling areas, forests and residential areas. It greatly improves the flexibility, elasticity and ability of the troops to carry out continuous assaults, resulting in the Prussian army being able to attack in a very short period of time. Almost all of them were wiped out in time. In this regard, Engels once spoke highly of: "The new method of warfare developed by Napoleon to its most perfect state is so superior to the old method that after the Battle of Jena, the old method suffered irreparable and complete bankruptcy. ". (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 20, Page 1693)
Each soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his backpack
In his war practice, Napoleon always regarded The issue of army building is placed in an important position, and efforts are made to build a powerful bourgeois army capable of fighting well.
His army-building thoughts are mainly reflected in the following aspects: First, he attaches great importance to the selection of generals. Napoleon had a famous saying: "A lion army led by reindeer can never be a lion army again." (Quoted from Fuller's "War Guidance", page 35) and thus regarded the selection of generals as a key to building a strong army. Important conditions. When it comes to how to select generals, Napoleon first focused on young and promising men. It is reported that most of the 18 marshals promoted by him in J805 were under the age of 40, and about 7 were under the age of 37, while Dawu was only 34 years old. Two years later, in the Battle of Oerstedt in 1806, Daou was not only able to command the battle independently, but also achieved brilliant results. In peacetime and in combat, Napoleon often awarded general certificates to young and promising officers, which effectively inspired the passion of junior officers to strive for advancement.
The second is to strive to be eclectic. When selecting generals, Napoleon completely broke away from the traditional concept of noble family background and focused on meritocracy. He once said: "Every soldier has a marshal's baton in his backpack." (Quoted from Tarlie: "The Biography of Napoleon", page 163) It is advocated that everyone strives to be a general and marshal. Among its marshals, the famous Marshal Ney was the son of a hotel owner, Marshal Lannes was the son of a soldier, and Marshal Lefebvre, who was famous for his bravery, was originally an illiterate soldier.
The third is to emphasize quality and ability. He said: "The most important condition for a commander is a cool head (Article 73 of "Napoleon's Military Quotation Machine"). His intelligence must be as clear as the lens of a telescope, and he must be able to understand the truth of the matter, and he must not be willing to give good news. or affected by bad news.
"A man who sees things through the eyes of others can never command an army rationally." (Quoted from Fuller's "War Guidance", page 35) He believed that the indispensable quality of a general is perseverance, decisiveness, and knowledge. What should be done in the situation at that time instead of being passive and hesitant. "The success of war depends on discernment and finding psychological opportunities in battle. In the Battle of Austerlitz, if I had launched the attack six hours in advance, I would have failed." Will, character and courage made me so Be me. "(Quoted from Fuller's "War Guidance", page 35) He also requires generals to always have combat plans and have them in mind. A commander should ask himself several times a day, if the enemy appears in front of me, to the left or to the right, what should I do? How should I deal with it and find ways to defeat the enemy? He advocated that generals should set an example. For example, in the Battle of the Bridge in Italy, he personally fought with the grenadiers and ordered the horses to be used in a military operation in Egypt. , vehicles were used to carry the sick and wounded, and he took the lead on foot. Under Napoleon's initiative, other generals could also take the lead, thus improving their prestige in the army and inspiring the fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers.
Second, pay attention to boosting morale. From the beginning of the Italian War, Napoleon deeply realized that it is spiritual strength, not quantity, that determines the outcome of a war. "It is not the number of troops that brings strength to the army, but loyalty and heroism." The army increased its fighting spirit. "(Quoted from Fuller: "War Guidance", page 36)
In order to boost morale, Napoleon first tried to inspire the officers and soldiers' sense of honor. He believed that bravery cannot be bought by money, and should be done in every possible way Inspire officers and soldiers to sacrifice their lives for reasons that are generally incomprehensible. If a person values ??his life above the honor of his nation and country, he should not be a member of the French Army at all. In Italy, We're usually one-on-three, but people have confidence in me and sometimes it's surprising how inspiring words can be. For example, "In the midst of the battle, I rode up to the team and shouted: Lift you up." The military flag! The moment has finally arrived! "As long as such a call is made, the French soldiers will immediately take action." (Quoted from Fuller's "War Guidance", pages 35-36)
Secondly, he did not hesitate to use heavy sums of money to implement rewards. Although Napoleon said that money cannot buy bravery, in order to boost morale, he still did not hesitate to spend a large amount of gold and silver looted as material rewards. For example, after conquering Prussia and defeating Tsarist Russia, Marshal Daou was rewarded with 1 million gold francs, Marshal Berthier with 500,000 gold francs, and Marshal Ney with nearly 300,000 gold francs. Other generals, including officers who actually participated in the battle, also received rewards. , the number of injured people was twice as high as that of uninjured people, and many people even received generous annuities.
In addition, be familiar with the officers and soldiers and care about their health. He believed that personal contact between officers and soldiers was one of the secrets of successful leadership. He wrote in one of his daily orders that a battalion commander should rest only after he had become familiar with all the details; he also wrote that disease was more dangerous than the enemy. It would be better to fight a bloody battle than to place the troops in an unsanitary place.
Third, pay attention to education and training. Napoleon placed education and training in an important position in building an army. He believed that good education and training were an important condition for building a good army. Untrained troops would only cause trouble.
In terms of political education, the army is required to have patriotic sentiments and a sense of national glory, and it is strictly forbidden to defect to the country and dedicate the defense area to outsiders. Those who surrendered were considered treason and were punished with death. He also advocated management without whips but with honor. Stimulate a sense of honor by establishing the "Honorary Officer Corps" and reward outstanding officers and soldiers with official prices, money, medals and general commendations. Abolish the system of corporal punishment, use military courts to try criminal acts, establish so-called "comrade trials", and use the masses of soldiers to maintain discipline.
In terms of military training, Napoleon believed that the art of military command is first manifested in being good at quickly arming, training and building a large army. He trained officers through military schools and trained officers in secondary schools. After graduation, students passed the examination and entered higher specialized military schools. In order to strengthen the training of troops, special training barracks were set up, such as the famous Bren Barracks, which is a base for centralized formal training.
The training insists on starting from actual combat and opposes formalistic pomp and rigid training. In order to meet the urgent needs of the war, the new recruits were trained with the battalion. After the recruits joined the army, they were trained in the supplementary team in the first month, set off for the army in the second month, and went into battle in the third month. Each recruit battalion is equipped with a group of experienced officers and sergeants, and each recruit company is equipped with some veterans, and veterans and recruits are organized together during combat. The training of new recruits attaches great importance to the old guiding the new and playing a backbone role. Due to the above measures, Napoleon was able to quickly arm, train and build an army of hundreds of thousands of troops after losing 600,000 troops on the Russian battlefield in 1812, and quickly bring them to the battlefield to fight against the French. Army combat.
Fourth, emphasize the coordination of arms. Napoleon had always focused on promoting the coordinated development of infantry, artillery and cavalry to adapt to the combat characteristics and new combat methods of the time. Infantry was the most important branch of Napoleon's army, accounting for 4/5 of his army establishment. Among them, in 1805, Napoleon had nearly 400,000 infantry.
While fully affirming the role of infantry, he also placed great emphasis on the role of artillery and cavalry. It was from Napoleon onwards that artillery really determined the fate of armies and people. He also believes that battles are determined by artillery fire, not hand-to-hand combat. Whether in siege warfare or in field battles, artillery plays the leading role. It was even proposed that "artillery is what creates war", which shows how much attention it takes.
Napoleon particularly emphasized the organic cooperation of the three arms of infantry, artillery and cavalry, pointing out: "Infantry, cavalry and artillery are dependent on each other and need to cooperate with each other." ("Napoleon's Military Sayings", Article 47) and clearly differentiated the responsibilities and tasks of these three arms in combat. It not only fully affirmed the main role of infantry, but also attached great importance to the special functions of artillery and cavalry. It is believed that it is wrong to randomly deploy cavalry, artillery, and infantry together without following tactical principles, and it is also inappropriate to mix infantry and cavalry platoons. In some cases, without strong infantry cover, the cavalry will inevitably suffer misfortune. He also emphasized that the three arms must not be separated and disconnected. Obviously, Napoleon had initially seen the significance of the joint operations of the three arms of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, and to a certain extent summed up the experience of this joint operation.
As a famous general of the generation, Napoleon strategized, leaped on the battlefield, and experienced hundreds of battles. His combat experience was very rich. His commanding art was praised by many military strategists. His military thoughts were also in the history of bourgeois military thought. Occupying an important position, it was highly praised by Marx and Engels.
As Engels pointed out: "Napoleon's outstanding reforms in military science cannot be regarded as a miracle; new military science is the inevitable product of new social relations, just like the military science created by the revolution and Napoleon Science is the inevitable result of the new relations produced by the revolution. "("Marx and Engels' Military Works" Volume 1, page 184) It shows us that Napoleon, the bourgeois commander, was by no means a natural general. achievements are by no means a wonderful myth. As a specific historical figure, he grew up under the special conditions of the French Revolution. He matured on the basis of accepting and developing the military legacy of his predecessors. It was his personal diligent study and rich war practice training that created him. Excellent military talent.