Slide 1: Course Of Action Development Offense Slide 2: Purpose of the Offense Slide 3: Characteristics of the Offense Surprise Concentration Tempo Audacity Slide 4: Forms of the Offense Slide 5: Movement to Contact Slide 6: Attack Slide 7: Exploitation Slide 8: Pursuit Slide 9: Forms of Maneuver Slide 10: Envelopment Slide 11: Turning Movement Slide 12: Infiltration Slide 13: Penetration Slide 14: Frontal Attack Slide 15: Operations in Depth Slide 16: Deep Operations Slide 17: Close Operations Slide 18: Rear Operations Slide 19: Control Measures Slide 20: Develop COA's

1. Introduction: a. Lesson Tie In: During the Command Estimate II block, we discussed Course of Action development for brigade defensive operations. Now we will look at Offensive Course of Action Development at the battalion task force level. b. Objective: As a result of this instruction, in a classroom environment, given a division and brigade operations order, the student will: Develop courses of action for a task force in the offense and, with references, achieve a 70% on a written examination. c. Safety: There are no specific safety considerations for this block of instruction. Risk Assessment: IV E-LOW d. Purpose: This class will provide you with an understanding of offensive operations and U.S. Army Offensive Doctrine. e. Procedure: This instructional conference will last two hours and will be followed by a PE using the Korean scenario. 2. The main purpose of the offense is to defeat, destroy, or neutralize the enemy force. Additionally, offensive operations are undertaken to secure decisive terrain, to deprive the enemy of resources, to gain information, to deceive and divert the enemy, to hold the enemy in position, to disrupt his attack, and to set up the conditions for future successful operations. 3. The main feature of an offensive battle is the outflanking or bypassing of the defender-that is, taking the initiative. The aim of the commander in an offensive battle is to expedite the decision. Surprise, concentration, tempo, and audacity characterize offensive operations and are components of initiative. Initiative, combined with maneuver, makes decisive offensive operations possible. a. Commanders achieve surprise by striking the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which it is not physically or mentally ready. Knowing the enemy commander's intent and denying his ability to conduct thorough and timely intelligence is crucial. By diminishing enemy combat power, surprise enables an attacker to succeed with fewer forces than he might otherwise require. b. While surprise may contribute to offensive success, concentration is the ability to mass effects without massing large formations and is therefore essential for achieving and exploiting success. Concentration of any size force is also a vulnerability. c. Tempo is the rate of speed of military action; controlling or altering that rate is essential for maintaining the initiative. As opposing forces battle one another, military operations alternate between actions and pauses. Properly exploited, tempo can confuse and immobilize the defender until the attack becomes unstoppable. d. Audacity is a key component of any successful offensive action. A simple plan, boldly executed, requires audacious leaders to negate the disadvantages of numerical inferiority. A difficult situation handled boldly often leads to dramatic success. The offensive is inherently a bold action and must be pursued with audacity. 4. The four general forms of the tactical offense are, movement to contact, attack, exploitation, and pursuit. While it is convenient to talk of them as different forms, in reality they flow readily from one to another. Operations are increasingly fluid. 5. Movement to contactis the offensive operation conducted to develop the situation and to establish or regain contact. It may also include preliminary diversionary actions and preparatory fires. Variations of the movement to contact include: a. Anapproach marchis a variant of the movement to contact. Commanders conduct an approach march when they are relatively certain of the enemy's location and are a considerable distance from the enemy. Commanders adjust their tempo appropriately as they anticipate closing with enemy forces. They decide where their forces can deploy into attack formations that facilitate the initial contact and still provide freedom of action for the bulk of their forces. b. Search and attackoperations are conducted by smaller, light maneuver units and air cavalry or air assault units in large areas. The purpose of this operation is to destroy enemy forces, protect the force, deny area to the enemy, or collect information. Commanders use search and attack when the enemy disperses in an area of close terrain that is unsuited for heavy forces, when they cannot find enemy weaknesses, or when they want to deny the enemy movement in an area. They also employ search and attack in rear areas against infiltrators or SOF. Finally, search and attack is also useful as an area security mission to clear assigned zones. c. Thereconnaissance in forceis a limited-objective operation by a considerable force to obtain information and locate and test enemy dispositions, strengths, and reactions. d. The desired result of the movement to contact is to find the enemy. When this happens, commanders fight a meeting engagement. To maintain their freedom of action once they make contact (essential to maintaining the initiative), commanders usually lead with a self-contained force that locates and fixes the enemy. The commanders hold the bulk of their force back so that when their lead forces make contact they can maneuver the majority of their force without becoming decisively engaged. 6. The purpose of the attackis to defeat, destroy, or neutralize the enemy. The same fundamentals apply to each type of attack. The differences between types of attacks lie in the amount of planning, coordination, and preparation before execution-in other words, how thoroughly commanders can apply the fundamentals. Force-oriented objectives allow greater freedom of action than terrain-oriented objectives and are therefore the preferred option. a. Thehasty attackis the most likely result of the meeting engagement. Commanders launch the hasty attack with the forces at hand and with minimum preparation to destroy the enemy before he is able either to concentrate or to establish a defense. The attacker may also employ such an attack to seize a fleeting opportunity or to regain the initiative quickly after a successful defense. b. In contrast to hasty attacks, deliberate attacks are fully synchronized operations that employ the effects of every available asset against the enemy defense. They arc often conducted from a defensive posture. Because such synchronization requires careful planning and extensive coordination, deliberate attacks take time to prepare. c. Commanders mount spoiling attacksfrom a defensive posture to disrupt an expected enemy attack. A spoiling attack attempts to strike the enemy while he is most vulnerable-during his preparations for attack in assembly areas and attack positions while he is on the move prior to crossing his line of departure. In most respects, commanders conduct spoiling attacks like any other attack. They may be either hasty (when time is short) or deliberate (when the command has obtained adequate forewarning). When the situation permits, however, commanders exploit a spoiling attack like any other attack. d. Commanders conduct counterattacks either with a reserve or with lightly committed forward elements. They counterattack after The enemy launches his attack, reveals his main effort, or creates an assailable flank. Although commanders conduct counterattacks much like other attacks, synchronizing them within the overall defensive effort requires careful timing. 7. Inexploitation, the attacker extends the destruction of the defending force by maintaining offensive pressure. Attacks that result in annihilating a defending enemy are rare. More often, the enemy will attempt to disengage, withdraw, and reconstitute an effective defense as rapidly as possible. In large-scale operations, the enemy may attempt to draw forces from less active areas or lifting forward previously uncommitted reserves. While exploitation following an attack is fundamental, it is especially important in a deliberate attack. Failure to exploit aggressively the success of the main effort may provide the enemy sufficient time to regain the initiative. Commanders consider exploitation and move rapidly to execute it when they see the opportunity. 8. A pursuitis an offensive operation against a retreating enemy force. It follows a successful attack or exploitation and is ordered when the enemy cannot conduct an organized defense and attempts to disengage. The object of the pursuit is destruction of the opposing force. 9. The forms of maneuver are envelopment, Turningmovement, infiltration, penetration, and frontal attack. Commanders use these forms of maneuver to orient on the enemy, not terrain. They determine what form of maneuver to use by their analysis of the factors of METT-T. However, this is art, not science, and more than one form of maneuver may apply. The forms of maneuver and the forms of tactical offensive operations complement one another and may apply to either linear or nonlinear battlefields. Further, a commander's statement of intent or concept of operations should articulate how fires will be used to support whatever form of maneuver he decides to use. 10. Envelopmentuses maneuver and fires to put greater relative combat power against the defender and strip him of his advantages. To use this form of maneuver, commanders must find or create an assailable flank, pitting their strength against the enemy's weakness. Sometimes the enemy exposes his flank by his own forward movement, unaware of his opponent's location. The attacker may develop the assailable flank by arriving from an unexpected direction. He may also fix the defender's attention forward through a combination of fires and supporting or diversionary attacks while he maneuvers his main effort to strike at the enemy's weak flanks and rear. The attacker needs to be agile enough to concentrate his forces and mass his combat power effects before the enemy can reorient his defense. 11. Theturning movement, like the envelopment, uses freedom of maneuver to create a decisive point where the enemy is unprepared. The attacker secures key terrain deep in the enemy's rear and along its LOCs by maneuvering around the enemy. Deep fires become relatively more important in this type of maneuver to protect the maneuver force and attack the enemy, especially when unaccompanied by artillery. 12. Infiltrationuses covert movement of forces through enemy lines to attack positions in the enemy rear. Light infantry units are especially valuable for infiltration operations. Commanders may use infiltration to attack lightly defended positions or stronger positions from flank and rear, to secure key terrain in support of the main effort, or to disrupt enemy rear operations. 13. Commanders use penetrationwhen enemy flanks are not assailable. They mass sufficient combat power at the point of penetration to overwhelm the enemy and gain the advantage. They mass effects from fires of all available means at the point of penetration to make the breach, hold open the shoulder, and cripple any enemy counterattacks. Other attacking forces minimize losses by employing feints and demonstrations, fixing the defender with the intensity of their fires along the front, or catching the defender by surprise with rapid and violent execution. 14. The frontal attack strikes the enemy across a wide front and over the most direct approaches. it is normally used when commanders possess overwhelming combat power and the enemy is at a clear disadvantage. Commanders mass the effects of direct and indirect fires on enemy positions, shifting indirect and aerial fires just before the assault. For deliberate attacks, the frontal attack may be the most costly form of maneuver since it exposes the attacker to the concentrated fires of the defender while limiting the effectiveness of the attacker's own fires. As the most direct form of maneuver, however, the frontal attack is useful for overwhelming light defenses, covering forces, or disorganized enemy forces. It is often the best form of maneuver for a hasty attack or meeting engagement in which speed and simplicity are paramount to maintaining battle tempo and, ultimately, the initiative. The frontal attack is an appropriate form of maneuver to be used by a fixing force as a supporting attack to an envelopment. The frontal attack may also be used during exploitation or pursuit and by subordinate elements of a large formation conducting an envelopment or penetration. 15. Tactical commanders conduct offensive operations simultaneously throughout the depth of the battlefield. The payoff is high-tempo operations that present the enemy with one continuous operation. Commanding forces in depth requires an understanding of the relationship of friendly forces to enemy forces in time, space, and purpose. Commanders determine the arrangement of battlefield activities within the width, depth, and height of the battlefield over time. Three closely related activities occur in well-synchronized operations: deep, close, and rear operations. 16. Commanders design operations in depth to secure advantages in later engagements and to protect the force. The preferred method is to simultaneously engage enemy forces throughout the depth of the battle area and achieve decisive results rapidly. The purpose of these operations is to deny the enemy freedom of action and to disrupt or destroy the coherence and tempo of his operations. Attack of enemy formations at depth destroys, delays, disrupts, or diverts enemy combat capability. These attacks also aim at enemy functions such as command, logistics, or air defense, thus exposing or creating a vulnerability that friendly forces can exploit. 17. Close operations are when soldiers close with and destroy the enemy. Close combat is normally required for decisive and lasting effects on the battlefield. It is also the type of combat that places soldiers at greatest risk. Close operations are the activities of the main and supporting efforts around or through enemy defenses to occupy objectives that permit the defeat of defending forces. 18. Rear operations ensure freedom of action of committed and uncommitted forces and protect the means necessary to sustain combat operations and support the force. 19. Control Options Open to the Commander: a. Attack in Zone b. Attack in Axis c. Direction of Attack 20. Just as in COA development for the defense, we will follow a four step process for offensive operations. These steps are: a. Analyze relative combat power. (1) Compute the relative figures. Count all enemy we will encounter in our zone of attack or axis of advance from the LD/LC up through the Objective. Compare forces appropriate to the level of your planning headquarters. (2) Evaluate the results. Make conclusions about friendly and enemy's capabilities and limitations in either offensive or defensive situations. b. Array Initial Forces. "Determines the forces necessary to accomplish the mission and provides a basis for the scheme of maneuver." (1) Consider the mission and the commander's guidance. (2) Consider the avenues of approach. (3) Consider enemy courses of action starting with the most likely/dangerous. Consider as many as time permits. (4) Determine the size of unit to be arrayed. (5) Determine/Validate a LD/LC (offense). (6) Make initial array of friendly forces. Begins at LD/LC through the LOA. The array of ground forces is done two levels down. Allocating forces to all mobility corridors/avenues of approach. Forces are arrayed to achieve a rough 3:1 ratio or better (3 platoons to one enemy platoon). c. Develop the Scheme of Maneuver. " The scheme of maneuver provides the HOW of a course of action." (1) Reevaluating the terrain and enemy. What maneuver does the terrain allow? Is it better for tanks or infantry? What type of enemy do we face? Where can we mass forces? (2) Evaluating force ratios. WARGAMING. Box Method Belt Method Avenue Method (3) COMMITTED FORCES. Battalion considers as committed enemy 1st and 2d echelon PLTs (of 1st echelon COs, of 1st echelon BNs). Count enemy Recon and Anti-tank in accordance with how they appear on the SITMAP. Take into account units that will be in range and able to initiate contact. Do not count Attack Helicopter. (4) Determining the defeat mechanism. A defeat mechanism has four components: Attack Means: Direct and indirect fires identified with specific units. Location: A place where the attack will occur; an engagement area, counterattack objective, artillery target, objective. Time: When the attack will occur. HPT: An HVT that has been selected for attack now becomes an HPT (High Payoff Target). It is the target of the attack and our means to defeating the enemy. Determining the location of objectives and counterattack objectives. Determining the location of the main effort and supportingeffort(s). The Planner must address all maneuver forces and combat multipliers by: - Arraying Additional Forces. - Consider Fire Support and other support. - Converting Generic Forces. d. Determine command and control means and maneuver control measures. (1) Basic decisions revolve around whether to have subordinates attack in zone, in axis of advance or on direction of attack. (2) Phase lines are used to control the speed of movment and to halt suborinates at various points, for instance to change the form of maneuver or shift the main effort or to act as a trigger mechanism. (3) Objectives are used to define enemy elements subordinates must attack or terrain they must hold or pass through. e. Course of action statement(s) and sketch(es). (1) Decision graphics show the composition of the MSCs. (2) Show the MSC's direction of attack. Terminology for the Offense: FOLLOW: Not a mission. This is an instruction as to where to be in relation to another unit. FOLLOW AND SUPPORT: A committed force which follows a force conducting an offensive operation...not a reserve but is committed to accomplish any or all of these tasks: -Destroy bypassed units -Relieve in place any direct pressure or encircling force which has halted to contain the enemy -Block movement of reinforcements. -Secure lines of communications -Guard prisoners or key areas -Secure key terrain and control refugees. FOLLOW AND ASSUME: A force not yet committed. May be a reserve. Follows another unit and on order, assumes the other unit's mission, i.e., becomes the main or supporting attack. SEIZE: To clear a designated area and obtain control of it. A unit assigned to SEIZE AN OBJECTIVE, must clear the objective as opposed to the entire zone. Used to control terrain for a limited period of time. SECURE: To gain possession of a position or terrain feature, with or without force and to deploy in a manner which prevents its destruction or loss to the enemy. A unit told to secure an objective may or may not physically occupy it; it will be on terrain that dominates or controls the objective. A hasty defense is usually implied. CLEAR enemy in zone: A requirement to eliminate organized resistance in an assigned zone by destroying, capturing or forcing the withdrawal of enemy forces that could interfere with the unit's ability to accomplish its mission. FIX: Actions taken to prevent the enemy from moving any part of his forces from a specific location and/or for a specific period of time.