# Envelopment

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Envelopment
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Envelopment.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelopment
> Source revision: 1197898364
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Military tactic of multiple attacks}}
{{War}}
'''Envelopment''' is the [military tactic](/source/military_tactic) of seizing objectives in the enemy's [rear](/source/rear_(military)) with the goal of destroying specific enemy forces and denying them the ability to [withdraw](/source/withdrawal_(military)). Rather than attacking an enemy head-on, as in a [frontal assault](/source/frontal_assault), an envelopment seeks to exploit the enemy's [flanks](/source/flank_(military)), attacking them from multiple directions and avoiding where their defenses are strongest. A successful envelopment lessens the number of casualties suffered by the attacker while inducing a [psychological shock](/source/psychological_warfare) on the defender and improving the chances to destroy them.<ref name="FM390">US Army, ''FM 3-90 (Tactics)'', July 2001, 3-12</ref> An envelopment will consist of one or more ''enveloping forces'', which attacks the enemy's flank(s), and a ''fixing force'', which attacks the enemy's [front](/source/front_(military)) and "fixes" them in place so that they cannot withdraw or shift their focus on the enveloping forces.<ref>US Army, ''FM 3-90 (Tactics)'', July 2001, 3–13</ref> While a successful tactic, there are risks involved with performing an envelopment. The enveloping force can become overextended and cut off from friendly forces by an enemy [counterattack](/source/counterattack), or the enemy can counterattack against the fixing force.<ref>US Army, ''FM 3-90 (Tactics)'', July 2001, 3–15</ref>

According to the [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army) there exist four types of envelopment:<ref name="FM390" />
* A [flanking maneuver](/source/flanking_maneuver) or single envelopment consists of one enveloping force attacking one of the enemy's flanks. This is extremely effective if the holding forces are in a well defensible spot (e.g., Alexander the Great's hammer and anvil at the [Battle of Issus](/source/Battle_of_Issus)) or if there is a strong, hidden line behind a weak flank (e.g. [Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)](/source/Battle_of_Breitenfeld_(1631)) and [Battle of Rocroi](/source/Battle_of_Rocroi)).
* A [pincer movement](/source/pincer_movement) or double envelopment consists of two simultaneous flanking maneuvers. Hannibal devised this strategy in his tactical masterpiece, the [Battle of Cannae](/source/Battle_of_Cannae).  Later on, the [Rashidun Caliphate](/source/Rashidun_Caliphate) General [Khalid ibn al-Walid](/source/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid) applied the maneuver in a decisive battle against the [Sassanid Empire](/source/Sassanid_Empire) during the [Battle of Walaja](/source/Battle_of_Walaja). In 1940 and 1941, in [World War II](/source/World_War_II), the Germans repeatedly employed this tactic to encircle hundreds of thousands of enemy troops at once, namely in the [Battle of France](/source/Battle_of_France) and in [Operation Barbarossa](/source/Operation_Barbarossa) against the USSR.
* An [encirclement](/source/encirclement) whereby the enemy is surrounded and isolated in a [pocket](/source/pocket_(military)). The friendly forces can choose to attack the pocket or [invest](/source/investment_(military)) it (to stop resupplies and to prevent breakouts) and wait for a beleaguered enemy to surrender.
* A [vertical envelopment](/source/Vertical_Envelopment) is "a tactical maneuver in which troops, either air-dropped or air-landed, attack the rear and flanks of a force, in effect cutting off or encircling the force".<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-verticalenvelopment.html vertical envelopment], [encyclopedia.com](/source/encyclopedia.com), Retrieved 2009-12-03. Quotes ''The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military''.</ref>

A special type is the [cabbage tactics](/source/cabbage_tactics) that has been used by the Chinese Navy around disputed islands. Its goal is to create a layered envelopment of the target.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chan |first1=Eric |title=Escalating Clarity without Fighting: Countering Gray Zone Warfare against Taiwan (Part 2) |url=https://globaltaiwan.org/2021/06/vol-6-issue-11/ |website=globaltaiwan.org |publisher=The Global Taiwan Institute |access-date=21 June 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Platform envelopment](/source/Platform_envelopment)

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Military tactics
Category:Military strategy

{{military-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Envelopment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelopment) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelopment?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.