Shock troops

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Shock troops are group troops, typically infantry formations and their supporting units, intended to lead an attack. It is a translation of the German word Stoßtruppen. Shock troops are chosen because they are thought to have high enough morale to take heavy casualties during the opening engagements of an attack, or are considered willing to take large losses based on political, religious, or other special motivation, such as reclaiming their homes. These types of units are typically organized for mobility, with the intention that they will penetrate through enemy defenses and attack into the enemy's vulnerable rear areas. Often, the definition of what units are considered shock troops is a social one; for instance, while the majority of soldiers in ancient Greek armies consisted of pikemen, we could define the hoplites and other elite units as shock troops.

Shock troops have been used in one form or another for centuries. The first simple armies always had a core of elite troops which were used to secure a leader's position in very large armies. These troops often became experts in defeating the average soldier of the day, and had the economic backing to do so due to their importance to the governing body. As a result, they advanced military training and equipment as far as it could go. However these troops were the leader's personal bodyguard, and were usually not expected to scale a wall or charge home. Instead, troops trained and equipped to emulate the skills and arms of the military elite were used, and if any survived they usually joined the elite. This could be considered the broad social layout for shock troops even if elite soldiers are not part of the social elite, as many veterans go on to become instructors.

Sometimes this emulation can organise itself into many tiers. For instance, knights during the reign of Charlemagne were the elite with professional soldiers emulating them, but slowly they declined in social standing, and by 1066 could be defined as shock troops themselves with the professional soldiery taking up the roles that dark age part time spear men would have found themselves in.

In technological terms shock troops can be more difficult to identify. Generally, shock troops aim to kill as quickly as possible with weapons that can be carried by hand and exist to either attempt to break down defenses regulars cannot, to take full advantage of holes in enemy defenses or to deal with any problems that may arise after the battle has commenced.

With the advent of gunpowder shock troops would have to face cannons loaded with devastating grapeshot and muskets with a lethal range of up to 150 metres, as well as pikes, halberds and various palisades and defenses that could stop a cavalry charge. This restricted shock troops to light cavalry in flanking roles. Snipers, Grenadiers and sappers emerged and to a certain extent acted as shock troops.

During WWI, in response to the deadlock of trench warfare faced by all combatants, the German army developed a new set of infantry tactics known as von Hutier tactics. The von Huitier tactics called for special infantry assault units to be detached from the main lines and sent to infiltrate enemy lines, supported by shorter and sharper (than usual for WWI) artillery fire missions targeting both the enemy front and rear, bypassing and avoiding what enemy strongpoints they could, and engaging to their best advantage when and where they were forced to, leaving decisive engagement against bypassed units to following heavier infantry. The primary goal of these detached units was to infiltrate the enemy's lines and break his cohesiveness as much as possible. These formations became known as Stosstruppen, or shock troops, and the tactics which they pioneered would lay the basis of post-WWI infantry tactics, such as the development of fire teams. These tactics would also presage further German tactical innovations during WWII, such as the blitzkrieg.

Shock troops

See also