The multilingual contents of the site are the result of an automatic translation.
 

 
 
 
 
 
Français
English
Français
English
 
 
 
View
 
 
 
 
 
View
 
 

Other sources

 
Saut de ligne
Saut de ligne

The warrior spirit: renewing the social role of the army 1/3

BRENNUS 4.0
Operational commitment
Saut de ligne
Saut de ligne

«In existence one only succeeds if one is obsessed with an idea. Right now you have to obsessing over your re-entry into battle. But the moment you put the foot on French soil, be obsessed with the conviction that we won't get up with words or affirmations. We will need a gigantic effort".[1] It is in these terms that Marshal Leclerc was addressing the officers of the 2e armoured division gathered in his neighborhood General at Dalton Hall in England on June 21. 1944, a few weeks before their engagement.


This warrior spirit was the harbinger of the vic...tactical roofs of the Free French Forces which were going to allow France to find its place on the winning side. He slices, in the space of only a few years, with the astonishment that prevailed between the 13th and the 15th May 1940 in the fighting south of Sedan, as illustrated, for example, by the abortion of the against-attack of the second army.

This warrior spirit is an inner strength, both ultimate in the concrete confrontation with the death it implies and transcendent, because allowing one to reach out with one's whole being to the vic-toire. It only makes sense that collectively, the function of thewarrior serving by definition a com-munity. It is essential that these three aspects fighting spirit. Within the franIt's today's style, this chan-the intensity of the giant takes on an intensity that is even different from 1940 or 1944. In a "environment that challenges certainties and benchmarksfrom three decades" at the strategic level[2]he seems prudent to analyze this sinuous curve-the moral forces. The Army there pays special attention. It has thus identified several dimensions that are the hardening, the use of technology, honor and tradition. How are-theminto a coherent whole? Their scope is-it strictly tactical? How to generate it the expected effects?

In the current context where the hardening of the strategic relationship threatens peace, it appears extremely dangerous for the French Nationit's nice to lose sight of the warrior spirit. By the his continued commitment to the enemy, the army has this meadow at its disposal.the enemy, the army has this capital heaven, and in particular its mobile framework.ral. This conjuncture opens a new page the social role of the military, in the absence of which any tactical victory is likely to prove vain.

It seems unavoidable to observe first the concretefacts, i.e . to studytheevolution ofthefundamentals of the warrior spirit withintheArmy under the effect of the recent tactical engagement framework .This state of affairsthen calls fora perspective in the light of the military, sociological and national context .It outlines an originalsocial role for the army in the development, control and sharing of thisformidable power.

State of play: rereading Ardant du Picq over the three lastrecent decades

In the context of tactical and operational engagement...and operational engagement over the past decades, three factors have come to shape the warrior spirit of the arearth's sea of todaythe dilution of the the shock of the masses, the increased power of the technology and persistence of exposure at the fire of the subtactics.

Diluting the shock of the masses

Recent use of forces is the first internal factor structuring the warrior spirit. It is characterized by the dilution of the shock of the masses and induces a risk of conditioning to a too cyclical a form of combat.

The mechanism operates on two levels because any psychic dispositionchewing gum has an inherited component on the one hand, and a on the other hand, a component developed by India itself.emptied, based on his experience. Regarding the legacy of the war capital, the French armies have a strong military assets through the exercise of traditions, with references that transcend eras, as evidenced by the roots from 1er Regiment of Infantry dating back to 1479 and he perto claim the title of oldest regiment in the world. Nevertheless, the risk of weakening the fundamentals of therate should not be underestimated. Indeed, the rise in then-The Land Task Force 2015 session in the following the attacks has led to a perverse effect of rejuvenation...ment and under-framework, which is harmful to the transmission of warrior capital. But above all, the warrior spirit developed in by the generation currently serving in the armed forces has been shaped by the types of conflict it has faced. The final scenario, based on the decisive battle dear to Clausewitz[3] and the shock of the masses thus goes back to the operation... Daguet in 1991. Since then, commitments have been made in a trajectory of interposition, of counter-insurgency, and then from against-terrorism with a less direct relationship to the enemy. The one-The latter cascaded the conditions for victory, the fighting and the warrior spirit. The emergence of the pawn concept unsinkable[4] is a good illustration of this situation. This situation leaves less room for the expression of the absolute springs of the warrior that Ardant du Picq illustrates: «hold on for a few minutes, one more moment, and you're the winner."[5]. This change in the tactical and, above all, operational engagement framework does not constitute a absolutely not an isolated case. Nevertheless, several episodes call for vigilance . In 2006, the Israeli army, whose daily newspaper had focused on police and counter-terrorism operations in theoccupiedterritories ,thus encountered great difficulties inhigher intensityfightingagainst a militarised Hezbollah.[6]

Not to be subjected to technology

The second factor influencing the warrior spirit is the use-lisation of high technology. It certainly represents a a risk, but more importantly an opportunity.

At first glance, the ease allowed by technology is opposed to the appropriation of the warrior spirit that comes through the ability to evolve outside of a comfort zone. Moreover, it inducesit an ever-growing distance between the fighter and his enemy. It thus dilutes the fear caused by exposure to the enemy. extreme violence on the battlefield, and reduces that fear. giving the individual the courage to move forward.read. Also, it cannot be without consequence on the strength qualitative morality of an army. This influence of techno-the concept of the "spirit" has been translated into the concept of "the of"revolution in military affairs»[7] that led to strong disillusionment on the part of Western armies, noin Afghanistan from 2001 and in Iraq from 2001. 2003[8]. Gotta-he concludes that there is an antinomy? Fucked up.milking, because "man does not fight for the fight, but for the fight... victory", still according to Ardant du Picq[9]. In this conHowever, realistically speaking, its duty is to create the necessary conditions of superiority. This requirement is met by the combetween rusticity and innovation, in a logic that is based on the of"unceasing search for perfection"dear to David Stir-ling, creator of SAS[10]. Nowadays, the warrior must not... not knowing what he can ask of an artificial intelligence, to space or cybernetic capabilities. Failing that, when the imminent confrontations with robots will materialize, it is the same feeling of inanity that is likely to prevail in like firepower in 1914.[11].

By the specificity of the land engagement, the Army has maintained in its subtactic echelons of the estuary deposits.taken recognized warrior. They are an asset to prepare for the future.

Indeed, the intensity of the combat and the paroxysm of violence ...have lost focus at the lowest levels. This finding can be explained by the specificities of the terrestrial environment, as illustrated by well operations Serval and Barkhane at MALI. If the report has never been questioned at the operational level, or tactical, it is sometimes at the platoon level, occasionally at theat the group level and always at the level of the trinomial, and of the individual in the final meters of the assault. The terrain chaotic, in the thalwegs and caves of the Amettetai, in the constructions in Kidal, or in the savannah of Burkina Faso. Fasso, isolate those little rungs. This phenomenon is reinforced by the presence of the population, which makes the role of man in the absolutely essential ground. Moreover, the fanaticism of the enemy, customary for suicide grenade explosions at this critical moment reinforces the danger[12]. Under these conditions, «the battles, more than ever today, are... battle of soldiers, of captains»[13]. In fact, the service record of some under-most decorated officers reflect an experience by more than four-Twenty assaults, the number of which is compa-with the most violent pages of the XXth century.e century. It results of all these parameters that it's first in his entourage immediate, internal to the regiment, that the soldier cultivates his spirit... warrior, that he continues to confront absolute violence, to the fear it induces, the trust it generates and the discipline she demands.

In synthesis, the warrior spirit of the Army is found largely conditioned by the framework of engagement of the three the last few decades. This evolution appears less significant at the subtactical levels, where the hard fundamentalcombat rates persist due to the characteristics of the terrestrial environment. This precious capital is-t-it adapted to the challenges what the next strategic cycle promises?

[1] General Jean COMPAGNON, LECLERC Marshal of France, Paris, Editions XXX, p. 363.

2] Délégation à l'Information et la Communication de Défense. (DICoD), Strategic Defence and Security Review, October 2017, p.6.

3] Carl von CLAUSEWITZ, From the warParis, Editions Perrin, coll."Tempus"», 2006.

4] It consists of generating a sufficiently robust force by volume and support to make the risk of loss of ascen-The collective cost is almost nil. It does not exclude losses.

5] Charles ARDANT DU PICQ, Combat studies. Combat antique and modern combatParis, Editions Ivrea, coll."Field Free"», 1999, p. 51.

6] Michel GOYA and Marc-Antoine BRILLANT, Israel vs. Hezbollah: Chronicle of an announced defeat 12 July - 14 August 2006Paris, Editions du Rocher, 2013.

[7] Or "Revolution in Military Affairs» concept used for the first time in 1993 by Andrew W. Marshall, President of l’Office of Net Assessment, after the end of the Gulf War, to define a major change in the nature of warfare... as a result of the application of new technologies.

8] Arnaud DE LA GRANGE and Jean-Marc BALENCIE, Wars bastards. How the West is losing the battles of the 21st century...e century, Paris, Editions Perrin, coll. "Tempus"», 2009.

9] Charles ARDANT DU PICQ, op. cit., p. 51.

10] Created in 1941, the Special Air Service was quickly parve-to combine the most advanced techniques, such as the use of the à land by parachute jumping and the rusticity imposed by the com-fighting behind enemy lines.

[11] «Tactically, the revelation of firepower makes it possible the doctrines in force are now obsolete. Moral-The illusions that we had been battling with are carried away.n a wink."in Charles DE GAULLE, The Thread of the Sword and others written, Paris, Editions Plon, 1994, pp. 478 - 479.

12] Read for example, "Special Forces in the Timetrine» in Jean-Christophe NOTIN, France's war in MaliPa-ris, Editions Tallandier, 2014, p. 448.

13] Charles ARDANT DU PICQ, op. cit., p. 57.

Séparateur
Title : The warrior spirit: renewing the social role of the army 1/3
Author (s) : le chef de bataillon Erwin BRUDER de l’Ecole de Guerre-Terre
Séparateur


Armée