Alan Military Tactics

[Michael Kerr]

Magister Militum Flavius Aetius wrote:

Here is a passage from Ammianus on Hun tactics:

"enter battle drawn up in wedge-shaped masses, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected action, they purposely divide suddenly into scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter; and because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement . . . they fight from a distance with missiles . . . they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords."

A good description of “swarming tactics" from an ancient source. Below is a link to a paper from Rand Corporation describing swarming tactics & a description of some battles involving horse archers.

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pub....chap3.pdf

George Patton in his usual blunt manner put the same tactic simply to his troops.

“You guys grab the enemy by the nose & hang on while the rest of you go round behind him & kick him in the ass."

Also in regards to the drills & manoeuvres mentioned in Maurice. Oman mentions in his book that the Scythian drill/manoeuvre involves “feigned retreat." He was talking about Byzantine armies when he wrote.

They also loved to perform ambushes, including the “Scythian Ambush,” a direct copy of the mangudai technique of feigned with- drawal. See Oman, 1953, p. 53, and Maurice’s StrmGeorge T. Dennis, Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl- vania Press, 1984.

Regards
Michael Kerr