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51-478: (Redirected from Night Attack ) Night attack may refer to: Night combat , combat that occurs during the hours of darkness Night attack formation , the arrangement of soldiers in advancing in night combat Night attack at Târgoviște , a battle in 1462 Night Attack (album) , a 1981 album by The Angels Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

102-688: A conflict with the Soviet Union, whose numbers of tanks, planes, and artillery were vastly superior, the Japanese developed a series of training manuals designed to counter these advantages. The "Red Books" (classified materials bound in red paper) emphasized the advantages of attacking at night, in the evening, and at dawn. These tactics later proved useful against the other Allies who were similarly better equipped. The Japanese used this advantage to win engagements where they were severely outnumbered in China and against

153-418: A cost of £122,000 paid out of his regular budget. This became the foundation of the permanent British Army. By 1685 it had grown to 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, and 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons. The Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 provided James II with a pretext to increase the size of the force to 20,000 men, and there were 37,000 in 1688, when England played a role in the closing stage of

204-617: A discharge bounty upon 25 years of honorable service; supplementing the legions were the auxilia , auxiliary forces composed of non-citizens in the provinces who typically earned citizenship as a reward for service. The first modern standing armies on European soil during the Middle Ages were the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire , which were formed in the 14th century under Sultan Murad I . The first Christian standing army since

255-557: A few notable examples. Ancient historian Diodorus claims that at the Battle of Thermopylae the Spartans attempted to assassinate Persian King Xerxes by infiltrating his camp at night. "They immediately seized their arms, and six hundred men rushed into the camp of five hundred thousand, making directly for the king's tent, and resolving either to die with him, or, if they should be overpowered, at least in his quarters. An alarm spread through

306-557: A large standing army, comparing it, mischievously, to a standing penis : "An excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure." After the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814, during the War of 1812 , in which the Maryland and Virginia militias were soundly defeated by the British Army, President James Madison commented, "I could never have believed so great

357-695: A standing army to Parliament, not the king. In his influential work The Wealth of Nations (1776), economist Adam Smith comments that standing armies are a sign of modernizing society, as modern warfare requires the increased skill and discipline of regularly trained standing armies. In the British Thirteen Colonies in America, there was a strong distrust of a standing army not under civilian control. The U.S. Constitution in ( Article 1, Section 8 ) limits federal appropriations to two years, and reserves financial control to Congress, instead of to

408-607: A standing army. Instead they drafted militias from around 150 city states. While the Eastern Zhao did not initially maintain a standing army, the state of Jin became the first to do so in 678 BCE. The first professional army in China was established by the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE, which ushered Imperial China. Under the Qin dynasty, wars were fought by trained vocational soldiers instead of relying on temporary soldiers. In Ancient India , warfare

459-415: A substitute is immediately supplied and the number again filled. Thousands of these 10,000 guardsmen composed the royal bodyguards in the palace, their insignia were golden apples or pomegranates at the butts of their spears (accordingly they are named “apple-bearers” by Heraclides Cumaeus ). In ancient Greece , the city-states' ( poleis ) armies were essentially drafted citizen militias. The exception

510-399: A tendency to overestimate enemy strength or be excessively pessimistic of the combat situation. In addition, without the aid of artificial illumination, a soldier's marksmanship is negatively affected in total darkness. According to a report by Jean L. Dyer, Seward Smith and Nancy R. McClure, Prior to the introduction of aided night vision devices, effective firing at night with a rifle

561-400: Is a permanent, often professional, army . It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts . It differs from army reserves , who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars or natural disasters , and temporary armies, which are raised from the civilian population only during a war or threat of war, and disbanded once the war or threat

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612-453: Is heightened audibility, as soldiers focus more on what they can hear. There are many instances of soldiers losing their bearings at night due to flashes from guns or enemy searchlights . The difficulties of perception lend themselves to fear of the unknown. Soldiers under fire can't tell where the fire originates and can't devise appropriate countermeasures. Such uncertainty is associated with feelings of loneliness and helplessness, and creates

663-588: Is over. Standing armies tend to be better equipped, better trained, and better prepared for emergencies, defensive deterrence, and particularly, wars. The term dates from approximately 1600, although the phenomenon it describes is much older. Sargon of Akkad , the founder of the  Akkadian Empire , is believed to have formed the first standing professional army. Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria (ruled 745–727 BC) created Assyria's first standing army. Tiglath-Pileser III disbanded militias and instead paid professional soldiers for their services. His army

714-416: Is reduced visibility . This affects a soldier's ability to observe friendly troop movements, understand terrain , and especially affects perception of enemy movements and positions. Officers find that darkness hampers many aspects of command, including their ability to preserve control, execute movement, firing, maintenance of direction, reconnaissance, security, and mutual support. A U.S. Army report on

765-607: Is then held during the following day or to harass and demoralize the enemy before disengaging prior to sunrise. The latter case is considered a raid . Historically, night combat involves greater risk and reward compared to similar battles in the daytime. Victories can be crushing, with the defending side taken completely by surprise and hardly firing a shot in response to the attack. Alternatively, defeats can be disastrous, with huge casualties resulting from attacking armies floundering chaotically while they themselves are ambushed in pitch darkness. Standing army A standing army

816-458: The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest , over a period of 3 days, an alliance of Germanic tribes wore down and eventually annihilated 3 Roman legions (about 16,000 to 20,000 men). The Romans attempted several defensive night tactics. On the first night they managed to erect a fortified camp. On the second night, they marched at night in an attempt to break through the encircling Germanic forces, but

867-473: The Ottoman Empire . Vlad reportedly disguised himself as a Turk and walked freely throughout the Ottoman camp in an effort to find Mehmed's tent and learn about the organization of his army. One chronicle of the battle says that Mehmed disallowed his troops to exit their tents so as not to cause a panic in case of an attack. According to that chronicle, Vlad learned of this and planned his attack at night knowing that

918-656: The Songhai Empire under the Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) possessed a full-time corps of 40,000 professional warriors. Al-Sa'di, the chronicler who wrote the Tarikh al-Sudan , compared Askia Mohammad I's army to that of his predecessor; "he distinguished between the civilian and the army unlike Sunni Ali [1464–92] when everyone was a soldier." Askia Mohammad I is said to have possessed cynical attitudes towards kingdoms that lacked professional armies like his, notably in reference to

969-720: The Wehrmacht was making extensive use of tripflares in Italy, after their perimeters had been repeatedly infiltrated at night by U.S. Army Rangers . Tripflares helped foil an attack launched by the Fifth Army on January 20 at the Rapido River . In the First Battle of al-Faw in 1986, during the late stages of the Iran–Iraq War , one of the elements that contributed to the success of Iranians

1020-552: The history of Japanese warfare described an instance of this confusion: An example is recorded in the history of Japan when about 1180 a force [sic] of the Heike confronting a force of the Genji across the Fuji river ( Shizuoka Prefecture ) beat a hasty retreat one night due to mistaking the noise made by water fowl for an attacking Genji force. Indeed, a side effect of the reduced visibility

1071-484: The 16th century to the first half of the 17th century. Although other powers adopted the tercio formation, their armies fell short of the fearsome reputation of the Spanish, whose core of professional soldiers gave them an edge that was hard for other states to match. Prior to the influence of Oliver Cromwell , England lacked a standing army, instead relying on militia organized by local officials, private forces mobilized by

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1122-546: The Allies at sea. It wasn't until late in the war that early warning technologies of the Allies subverted their surprise attacks at night, reducing their effectiveness. These tactics completely broke down once the Japanese military replaced their well-trained troops with hastily trained recruits. Another type of illumination device was the tripflare , consisting of a pyrotechnic instrument activated by tripwire , planted near trails to provide early warning of enemy movement. By 1944,

1173-479: The Black Army had an arquebus , which was an unusual ratio at the time. The high price of medieval gunpowder prevented them from raising it any further. The main troops of the army were the infantry, artillery and light and heavy cavalry. The function of the heavy cavalry was to protect the light armoured infantry and artillery, while the other corps delivered sporadic, surprise assaults on the enemy. In West Africa,

1224-541: The Franco-Dutch War. In 1689, William III expanded the army to 74,000, and then to 94,000 in 1694. Nervous at the power such a large force afforded the king whilst under his personal command, Parliament reduced the cadre to 7,000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were de facto merged with the English force. The Bill of Rights 1689 officially reserved authority over

1275-630: The French army by forming standing infantry regiments to replace the militia structure. The first, the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne, were called Les Vieux Corps (The Old Corps). It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over to save costs. The Vieux Corps and the king's own household troops (the Maison militaire du roi de France ) were the only survivors. The Black Army , established in 1462 by Hungarian king, Matthias Hunyadi

1326-686: The Germans had already built a wall in their way, and when combat resumed the following day, the Romans were defeated. The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains saw exceptional chaos caused by nightfall. The night before the battle proper, one of the Roman allied forces stumbled on a band of Hunnic troops and in the resulting skirmish, as many as 30,000 (unverified) men were killed. Later in the battle, Thorismund , son of king Theodoric , accidentally walked into Attila

1377-491: The Hun 's encampment while attempting to return to his own forces at night. He was wounded in the ensuing mêlée before his followers could rescue him and withdraw. That same night, the Roman commander Flavius Aëtius became separated from his men and, believing that disaster had befallen them, had to stay the night with his Germanic allies. The Night Attack of Târgoviște pitted Vlad The Impaler of Wallachia against Mehmed II of

1428-513: The President. The President, however, retains command of the armed forces when they are raised, as commander-in-chief . The Framers' suspicion of a standing army is reflected in the constitutional requirement that the appointment and promotion of high-ranking military officers (like civil officers) be confirmed by the Senate . At the 1787 Constitutional Convention , Elbridge Gerry argued against

1479-438: The ability to carry out night operations. These projectiles were fired from howitzers and field guns in the direction their light was required. The first illumination rounds (also called starshell ) were modified shrapnel shells which ejected magnesium pellets. These were somewhat ineffective, and were soon replaced by improved designs that had greater candle power, and a parachute to prolong the descent to ground. Tracer ammunition

1530-462: The core of the French gendarmes that dominated European battlefields in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. They were stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies when needed. Provisions were also made for franc-archers and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but those units were disbanded at the end of the Hundred Years' War . The bulk of the infantry for warfare

1581-489: The course of time. The empire's great armies were, like the empire itself, very diverse. Its standing army was composed of Persians (the bravest people of empire according to Herodotus) and Medes. This standing army, which may have been reviewed every year by the king or his representative, is called kāra in the inscriptions. At the heart of this army was its elite guard, The 10,000 Immortals . Herodotus describes that if any of these guardsmen drops out owing to death or disease,

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1632-521: The enemy soldiers would have to remain in their tents. Accounts of the battle and its casualties are mixed, but in the end it was a Wallachian victory, with around 5000 Wallachian casualties compared to around 15,000 for the Ottomans. The Ashanti army sometimes, although seldom, fought at night. The Ashanti engaged in a night attack at Dodowa in 1826. The army was led by torch-carrying scouts . The adoption of illumination rounds led to an improvement in

1683-508: The fall of the Western Roman Empire to be paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established by King Charles VII of France in the 1430s while the Hundred Years' War was still raging. As he realized that France needed professional reliable troops for ongoing and future conflicts, units were raised by issuing "ordonnances" to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These compagnies d'ordonnance formed

1734-529: The first true professional Hellenic army, with soldiers and cavalrymen paid for their service year-round, rather than a militia of men who mostly farmed the land for subsistence and occasionally mustered for campaigns. The Western Zhou maintained a standing army, enabling them to effectively control other city states and spread their influence. Unlike the Western Zhou, the Eastern Zhou initially did not have

1785-464: The high-ranking officers and the low-level squad and unit leaders. The decision to engage at night or continue an engagement at night is usually made by the attacking force. Combat continued at night is aimed at exploiting an advantage gained from an attack during the day or similarly denying the defending force the opportunity to regroup or reinforce. Combat initiated at night can either be aimed to gain an advantage (such as territory or prisoners) which

1836-401: The neighboring kingdoms in the land of Borgu . The Majapahit thalassocracy was recorded by a Chinese observer as having 30,000 full-time professional troops, whose soldiers and commanders were paid in gold. This shows the existence of a standing army, an achievement that only a handful of Southeast Asian empires could hope to achieve. In addition to these professional soldiers, Majapahit

1887-616: The nobility and hired mercenaries from Europe. This changed during the English Civil War , when Cromwell formed his New Model Army of 50,000 men. This professional body of soldiers proved more effective than untrained militia, and enabled him to exert control over the country. The army was disbanded by Parliament following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, and the Cromwellian model

1938-491: The title Night attack . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_attack&oldid=1213762464 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Night combat The most obvious effect of darkness

1989-483: The whole Persian army. The Spartans being unable to find the king, marched uncontrolled through the whole camp, killing and overthrowing all that stood in their way, like men who knew that they fought, not with the hope of victory, but to avenge their own deaths. The contest was protracted from the beginning of the night through the greater part of the following day. At last, not conquered, but exhausted with conquering, they fell amidst vast heaps of slaughtered enemies." At

2040-573: Was also introduced during World War I. Tracers made marksmanship at night easier for soldiers because they could observe the trajectory of their shots and correct their aim accordingly. Nighttime continued to have a significant impact on combat during World War II . Particularly in the Pacific Theater , the Japanese military was proficient in night warfare, as acknowledged by the Allies . In anticipation of

2091-451: Was composed largely of Assyrian soldiers but was supplemented with foreign mercenaries and vassal states. The standing army he created was the most sophisticated administrative and economic institution of its time, and was the engine of Assyrian economy which capitalized on warfare. Cyrus the Great formed the first professional army of Persia. The composition of the army varied and developed in

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2142-561: Was created in Maghada by the ruler Bimbisara . Under the reign of Augustus , the first Roman emperor , a standing professional army of the Roman Empire was gradually instituted, with regularized pay. This professional force of legionaries was expensive to maintain, but supported the authority of the empire, not only as combat troops but also as provincial police forces, engineers , and guards. Legionaries were citizen volunteers entitled to

2193-675: Was first attested during the Vedic period. However, warfare was primarily waged between various clans and kingdoms solely by the kshatriya class during times of conflict. True standing armies in India developed under the Mahajanapadas , which relied on paid professional soldiers year round. The most prominent of the Mahajanapadas was the Kingdom of Magadha . It is accepted that the first standing army of India

2244-514: Was in ancient Sparta , which had a standing army that trained year-round (and not only in summertime). Through the 5th century, they comprised the only professional soldiers in ancient Greece, aside from hired mercenaries. However, the Spartan army commonly consisted of helots (serfs), who considerably outnumbered the Spartiates , as well as numerous allies of Sparta. Philip II of Macedon instituted

2295-472: Was initially considered a failure due to various logistical and political problems with the force. The Militia Act 1661 prohibited local authorities from assembling militia without the approval of the king, to prevent such a force being used to oppress local opponents. This weakened the incentive for local officials to draw up their own fighting forces, and King Charles II subsequently assembled four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at

2346-452: Was limited to very close distances, typically within 50 meters. The ability to hit targets was dependent upon a soldier's ability to acquire targets in their sights, which in turn, depended greatly upon the amount of natural and artificial illumination. Night operations have been subject to vast shifts in effectiveness and frequency throughout history, as tactics and technology became more sophisticated. Night fighting between standing armies

2397-533: Was rare in ancient times. Night logistics were mostly limited to the carrying of torches or navigation by what little light was provided by the stars or moon. However, circumstances occasionally necessitated fighting at night. Usually due to the massive nature of the battles, they could not be resolved in one day, and combat could not be cleanly disengaged as darkness fell, or prevented as armies camped near each other overnight. Sieges which lasted for weeks, months or, even years were often fought day and night. Below are

2448-427: Was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in the 1480s, Swiss instructors were recruited and some of the 'bandes' (militia) were combined to form temporary 'legions' of up to 9,000 men. The men would be paid and contracted and would receive training. Henry II further regularised

2499-561: Was strengthened by troops from subordinate countries and regional leaders. As was common in Southeast Asia, Majapahit also used a levy system, in fact, the majority of the Majapahit troops were a levy. The Spanish Empire tercios were the first Spanish standing units composed of professional soldiers. Their pike and shot composition assured predominance in the European battlefields from

2550-420: Was the first Central/Eastern European standing army. However, while the Black Army was certainly the first standing field army in that part of Europe, Hungary in fact had maintained a permanent army in the form of garrisons of border fortresses since the 1420s. Matthias recognized the importance and key role of early firearms in the infantry, which greatly contributed to his victories. Every fourth soldier in

2601-462: Was their use of dug-in infantry which would move only at night and during poor weather. This reduced the Iraqis' advantage in armor. The Iranian forces had been trained in night warfare prior to the battle. Perhaps the most important deciding factor in a battle at night is preparation. This includes training , reconnaissance , and planning . As with any military operation, leadership is important in both

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