He said: "The battle plan should consider every possible action of the enemy and formulate the necessary coping strategies. The battle plan can be modified at any time because of the environment, the general's ability, the type and quality of the troops and the terrain of the battlefield. " (Napoleon's Military Quotations, article 2) and stressed: "Any excellent war is a war of methods". (Quoted from Taller's Biography of Napoleon, p. 447)
Napoleon's enemies were often at a loss because he was flexible, resourceful, unconventional, not bound by military rules and regulations, and not rigidly bound by original ideas. An old captured officer once lamented: "It is a young general who is at war with us. He is always in front of us, behind us and around us, which we can't understand at all. We don't know how to deploy our troops at any time. This way of fighting is intolerable in the war. This goes against all conventions. " (Quoted from Selected Works of Napoleon 1 Vol. 82-83)
1806 the battle of jena is a vivid example of Napoleon's adoption of a new battle formation to defeat the old one. At that time, Pu Jun still adopted the traditional linear formation. In the battle, the whole team is required to move forward at the same time, and the actions are neat and consistent, regardless of the enemy's firepower. On the other hand, Napoleon adopted a new battle formation, combining skirmishers with columns. Depending on the task and terrain, troops can attack with lines and columns, repel cavalry with squares, or deploy formations with a certain depth. It is not only convenient to fight in the open ground, but also beneficial to cooperate in the ups and downs, forests and residential areas, which greatly improves the flexibility, resilience and ability of continuous assault, resulting in the annihilation of the Prussian army in almost a very short time. In this regard, Engels once spoke highly of it: "The new combat method developed from Napoleon to the most perfect level is much superior to the old method, so that after the Battle of Jena, the old method went bankrupt irretrievably." (Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 20, p. 1693)
Every ten soldiers have a marshal's baton in their rucksacks.
In the practice of war, Napoleon always put the issue of army-building in an important position, and strived to build a powerful bourgeois army capable of fighting well.
His thought of building the army is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, he attaches importance to the selection of generals. Napoleon famously said, "The lion army under the command of reindeer can never be a lion army again." (Quoted from page 35 of fuller's Guide to War) Therefore, selecting generals is an important condition for building a strong army. On the question of how to select generals, Napoleon first paid attention to being young and promising. It is reported that most of the 18 marshals he promoted in J805 are under 40, about 7 are under 37, and Dawu is only 34. But two years later, in the battle of Oer-Stedt in 1806, Dawu was not only able to command the operation independently, but also achieved brilliant results. In peacetime and in battle, Napoleon often awarded certificates of generals to young and promising officers, which strongly inspired the passion of junior officers to make progress.
The second is to strive for eclecticism. When selecting generals, Napoleon completely broke away from the traditional concept of attaching importance to aristocratic origins and paid attention to meritocracy. He once said, "Every soldier has a marshal's baton in his backpack". (Quoted from Taller: The Biography of Napoleon, page 163) advocates that everyone should be a general and a marshal. Among its marshals, the famous Marshal Ney is the son of a restaurant owner, Marshal Rana is the son of a soldier, and Marshal Le faivre, who is 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-in-chief is a cool head (Article 73 of Napoleon's Military Quotations). His information should be as clear as the lens of a telescope, and he should be able to know the truth of the matter. He must not be casually influenced by good news or bad news. " A person who sees things from other people's eyes can never command an army reasonably. "(Quoted from page 35 of fuller's Guide to War) He believes that the indispensable qualities of a general are perseverance and determination, knowing what to do under the circumstances at that time, not passivity and hesitation." The success of war depends on eyesight and psychological opportunity in battle. In the battle of Austerlitz, if I attack six hours earlier, I will fail. "Will, character and courage made me." (Quoted from page 35 of Fuller's Guide to War) He also asked the generals to always have a battle plan in mind. A commander has to ask himself several times a day what to do if the enemy appears in front of me, left or right, and seek ways to defeat the enemy. He advocated that generals should set an example. For example, he personally fought the grenadiers in the bridge battle in Lottie, Italy. In a military operation in Egypt, he ordered horses and vehicles to transport the sick and wounded, and he took the lead in walking. Under Napoleon's advocacy, other generals can also take the lead, thus enhancing their prestige in the army and inspiring the fighting spirit of officers and men.
Second, pay attention to boosting morale. From the beginning of the Italian war, Napoleon deeply realized that it was mainly spiritual strength, not quantity, that decided the outcome of the war. "It is not the number of people who bring strength to the army, but loyalty and heroism that add fighting spirit to the army." (Quoted from Fuller: Guide to War, page 36)
In order to boost morale, Napoleon first tried to arouse the sense of honor of officers and men. He believes that courage can't be bought by money, and should do everything possible to encourage officers and men to sacrifice their lives for reasons they don't usually understand. If a person values his life above the honor of the nation and the country, he should not be a member of the French army at all. In Italy, we are usually one to three, but people have confidence in me. Sometimes the stimulating effect of language is often unexpected. For example, "in the war, I rode to the front of the team and shouted: Raise the flag! This moment has finally arrived! " As long as such a shout, French soldiers will act immediately. "(from fuller's guide to war, pp. 35-36)
Secondly, I will not hesitate to offer a reward. Although Napoleon said that money can't buy grandiloquence, in order to boost morale, he still spent a lot of looted gold and silver as material rewards. For example, after conquering Prussia and defeating Russia, Marshal Davao was rewarded with 1 10,000 gold francs, Marshal Bertil received 500,000 gold francs and Marshal Ney received nearly 300,000 gold francs. Other generals, including officers who actually took part in the battle, were also rewarded. The number of injured people is twice that of uninjured people, and many people have also received generous annuities.
In addition, we should be familiar with officers and men and care about their health. He believes that personal contact between officers and men is the secret of successful leadership. He wrote in the daily order that a battalion commander can rest only if he is familiar with all the details; It also wrote that disease is more dangerous than the enemy. It is better to fight to the end than to put the troops in an unsanitary place.
Third, pay attention to education and training. Napoleon put education and training in an important position in building the army, and thought that good education and training were important conditions for building a good army. An untrained army will only cause trouble.
In political education, the army is required to have a sense of patriotism and national honor, and it is strictly forbidden to defect and treason, and it is strictly forbidden to dedicate defense zones to outsiders. Surrender is regarded as a traitor and sentenced to death. Advocate the management mode of replacing whip with honor. Inspire the sense of honor by establishing an "honorary officer corps", and reward outstanding officers and men with official prices, money, medals, and general orders. Abolish the corporal punishment system, use military courts to try criminal acts, establish so-called "gay trials", and use soldiers and the masses to maintain discipline.
In military training, Napoleon believed that the art of military command was first manifested in being good at quickly arming, training and building a huge army. He trained officers in military schools and in middle schools. After graduation, students pass the exam and enter higher professional military schools. In order to strengthen the training of troops, specially set up training barracks, such as the famous Bulun Barracks, which are the bases for centralized formal training. Training should proceed from actual combat and oppose formalism and rigid training. In order to meet the urgent needs of the war, the form of training new recruits with the camp was adopted. After the recruits joined the army, they trained in the supplementary team in the first month, set out for March in the second month, and went into battle in the third month. Each new barracks is equipped with a group of experienced officers and noncommissioned officers, and each new company is equipped with some veterans. Veterans and recruits are woven together in the battle. It plays a key role in the training of new recruits. As a result of the above measures, Napoleon lost 600,000 troops on the Russian battlefield in 18 12, and soon he was able to arm, train and build an army with hundreds of thousands of people, and he was able to quickly take them to the battlefield to fight against the French army.
Fourth, emphasize the cooperation of arms. Napoleon always paid attention to promoting the coordinated development of infantry, artillery and cavalry to adapt to the operational characteristics and new methods at that time. Infantry is the most important unit in Napoleon's army, accounting for 4/5 of his army establishment. Among them, 1805, Napoleon had nearly 400,000 infantry.
While fully affirming the role of infantry, he also emphasized the role of artillery and cavalry. It was from Napoleon that the artillery really decided the fate of the army and the people. It is believed that the battle depends on artillery, not hand-to-hand combat, and artillery is the protagonist in both siege and field battles. Even put forward that "the artillery made the war", which shows that we attach great importance to it.
Napoleon particularly emphasized the organic cooperation among infantry, artillery and cavalry, and pointed out: "Infantry, cavalry and artillery are interdependent and need to cooperate with each other." (Napoleon's military quotations, article 47) and clearly distinguish the responsibilities and tasks of these three arms in combat, which not only fully affirms the main role of infantry, but also attaches great importance to the special role of artillery and cavalry. It is wrong to mix cavalry with artillery and infantry without following tactical principles, and it is also inappropriate to mix infantry platoon with cavalry platoon. In some cases, without the strong cover of infantry, cavalry will inevitably be unlucky. And stressed that the three arms must not be separated. Obviously, Napoleon has initially seen the significance of the joint operation of infantry, artillery and cavalry, and summed up the experience of this joint operation to some extent.
As a generation of famous soldiers, Napoleon strategized, jumped into the battlefield and fought many battles. His combat experience is very rich. His command art was praised by many military strategists, and his military thought also occupied an important position in the history of bourgeois military thought, and was highly praised by Marx and Engels.
As Engels pointed out: "Napoleon's outstanding reform in military science cannot be regarded as a miracle;" The new military science is the inevitable result of the new social relationship, just as the revolution and the military science founded by Napoleon are the inevitable result of the new relationship produced by the revolution. " (Collected Military Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1 p. 184) It shows us that Napoleon, commander-in-chief of the bourgeoisie, is by no means a natural general, and his military achievements are by no means a wonderful myth. As a concrete historical figure, he grew up under the special conditions of the French Revolution, matured on the basis of accepting and developing the military heritage of his predecessors, and cultivated his outstanding military talents through diligent study and rich war practice.