Fuller is a short man. 19 years old, he is only 1.63 m, 5 1 kg. Fortunately, the British army just revised the physical conditions of reserve officers, and he was able to enter the famous Royal British Military Academy Sandhurst with 1897. However, the mechanical courses offered in military schools are not to his taste, and he spends more time studying hard and reading extensively. His mother advised him to socialize more with his classmates. He replied, "Reading is the best social activity, otherwise people will be no different from screaming apes and turkeys." Even from today's perspective, Fuller's reading experience a century ago is amazing, involving philosophy, science, art, history and literature. This concern for the humanities is in sharp contrast with his classmates, so that when he was reading Early Greek Philosophers, one of his best classmates even went to the military doctor to report that Fuller was a little crazy.
1In August, 898, Fuller completed his studies at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst and served as a trainee officer of the infantry battalion. Although he was in a military camp, Fuller didn't devote himself to the study of tactical courses and regulations. His bookshelf is full of books by Darwin, Kant, Huxley and Austin. 1900, fuller's troops took part in the Boer war. During the war, Fuller showed his talent quickly. Outstanding performance in logistics support and intelligence reconnaissance, commended by superiors, promoted to lieutenant. 1June, 902, Fuller returned to Southampton with the troops. 1903 went to India with the army and was stationed in Simla. His time in India was the second important period of his self-study, and he read a lot of works on philosophy, religion and history. After studying, he began his creative career. Two literary reviews published by 1905 in periodicals and the western star published by 1907 on oriental mysticism are his first works.
It can be said that Fuller gradually turned to the military field from studying and studying humanities, and his philosophy and cultural accomplishment are rare among modern military thinkers. In fact, systematic logical thinking training and extensive humanistic knowledge have also made him adept in thinking and studying military theory and military history, which is unprecedented.
1April, 907, Fuller became the adjutant of the 2nd Reserve Battalion in South Africa, responsible for the training of the whole army, with the rank of captain. At this time, Britain was in the military "Renaissance era". Under the influence of the general environment, he began to think and study military issues, and became more and more interested, especially in clausewitz's On War. 1909, Delk 10 Seth battalion under his command won the first prize in the British shooting competition. 19 12 published the first military monograph "Suggestions on how to train local soldiers".
19 13, Fuller entered the British Army Staff College in Camberley. During his study, he published many papers. More importantly, he systematically read a lot of works about the Napoleonic Wars and was deeply impressed. Fuller began to build his own military thought building with systematic and profound philosophical thoughts as the skeleton and theories derived from Napoleon as the bricks.
19 14, Britain entered World War I ... Fuller hastily ended his study life and prepared to go to war. 1965438+In July 2005, at Fuller's strong request, he left his post in charge of logistics and transportation and joined the front line. 19 16 published "operational principles from the battle of1914-1915" in February, which lashed out at "rules of the field" and put forward its own deep breakthrough theory and eight operational principles. This article means that Fuller is no longer limited to the immediate affairs, but begins to explore the whole law of war and the future development direction of the army.
After being promoted to major as the staff officer of the 7th Army, he was appointed as the deputy chief of staff of the 37th Division. Later, he was inspired by Major General Lindenbel, the chief of staff of the 3rd Army, and went to teach at the Senior Officer Training School of the 3rd Army. This training course was very successful, and Fuller won a reputation among field officers.
1965438+Deputy Chief of Staff of the Third Army in July 2006. In the General Staff of the Third Army, Fuller met a large number of like-minded colleagues. With the development of the war, his breakthrough thought began to take root in people's hearts. The problem now is to find a weapon that can make such a major military change. On August 20th, Fuller saw Britain's new weapon-the tank, and he shouted excitedly: "The tank-that's it". Since then, he has formed an indissoluble bond with this tin monster.
19 16 The Battle of Verdun, which started in February, suffered heavy losses on both sides, so the British army decided to use the only trump card-tanks. The Battle of the Somme started, and Fuller rushed to the scene early to observe. The tank was successful at first, but due to the lack of tanks and tactical mistakes, the British army did not maintain its initial advantage. Nevertheless, Fuller, who witnessed the use of tanks in this battle, could not restrain his inner excitement. He comprehensively analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of using tanks in the war at the headquarters of the group army and studied the methods of using tanks. In his article, he repeatedly pointed out that the use of tanks must implement the principle of centralization, and a large number of tanks should be used in important areas and main directions. He believes that if tanks can be used intensively, the British army can completely defeat Germany in 2-3 years.
Fate favored Fuller, who shouted loudly, and the newly formed British tank unit elected him as the deputy chief of staff. After Fuller took office, he began to deeply understand various technical data and performance indicators of tanks, and studied tank tactics on the spot with staff officers every day. As the chief of staff, Fuller is thoughtful and unique. Brigadier General Ayers is also a pragmatic commander, who is both capable and good at handling superior relations. Fuller ushered in the most glorious day of his military career. 19 17 In February, he wrote and promulgated "Training Essentials 16", which formed a relatively systematic and complete theoretical system of tank combat. 1965438+In April 2007, Fuller was promoted to Chief of Staff of Lieutenant Colonel Tank Army. At this time, although Fuller still thinks that the main task of tanks is to support infantry operations, he has vaguely realized that tanks can completely attack the enemy in depth independently.
1965438+In April 2007, Fuller took part in the Battle of Arras under the command of tank troops. He suggested that tanks should be concentrated in front of the Fifth Army, where the terrain was relatively favorable, but no one agreed. The scattered tanks hardly played a role, but the 1 1 tank belonging to the Fifth Army was pushed to a predetermined depth under Fuller's plan, which further strengthened his belief in concentrating on using a large number of tanks for decisive assault. He wrote The Application of Tank Tactics 19 18, which emphasized this theory.
After the scattered use of tanks and repeated defeats, the British finally tried Fuller's theory, and Fuller also ushered in the highest point of his military career-19117 Cambre campaign. In this campaign, under the command of Fuller, the British army concentrated on 38 1 tanks and suddenly attacked, breaking through the anti-tank trenches laid by the Germans and achieving a major breakthrough on the front. But this victory was completely unexpected by Marshal Haig, the British expeditionary force, so that he did not prepare enough reserves to expand this achievement. Even so, the British army wiped out a large number of Germans with less than 4000 casualties, with only 4000 prisoners. After the battle, the bells of all churches in London, England, rang to celebrate this great victory, which was the only time in World War I. Hindenburg, the German commander, wrote in his summary: "The British attack at the Battle of Cambre revealed the possibility of a large-scale surprise attack with tanks for the first time." Fuller also established his position as an authority on tank operations because of this battle.
1965438+In August 2008, Fuller completed the plan 19 19. In the plan, he proposed to use 1 1500 tanks to attack at the front of 160 km in three ways: left, middle and right. The battle is divided into two stages. The first stage: first attack in the middle of the road, use heavy tanks to open the gap to attract the enemy's reserve forces, and then make the left and right medium tanks attack quickly, break into the depth of 20-30 miles in 2-3 hours, cut off the enemy's nerve center, and cooperate with the troops in the middle of the road to encircle the enemy who can't take care of both ends and tear a big hole in the enemy's defense system; In the second stage, the 1200 medium-sized tank stored in the rear was used to quickly attack the strategic depth of the German army through the opened gap, paralyzing its command system, completely destroying the enemy's defense system and directly rushing to Germany. At the same time, Fuller also described the concept of coordinated operation between tanks and aircraft for the first time, emphasizing that aircraft should attack ground targets in coordination while maintaining air superiority.
This plan accurately foresees the characteristics of future wars, systematically describes new combat forms, and marks the formation of Fuller's military thought and the basic maturity of mechanized warfare theory. Many of Fuller's works after World War I can be regarded as the enrichment and perfection of "19 19 plan". After World War II, western military strategists unanimously recognized "19 19 Plan" as "a classic document in the history of war". Unfortunately, this plan was not adopted by the British high command. On the contrary, guderian, a student of Fuller, was caught off guard at 1940.
19 18 In the battle of Amiens, which started on August 8th, tanks once again played an important role, and the British army won a total victory. After this war, Fuller realized that it would be difficult to make full use of the effect of campaign breakthrough and achieve the operational goal of destroying the enemy's defense system without establishing a powerful campaign reserve force with tanks and motorized troops as the core. He further combined the idea of attacking the enemy's brain and nerves, paralyzing the enemy's fighting body and using tank forces to carry out deep assault, forming a complete military theory of "strategic paralysis"
After World War I, Fuller declined the appointment of a brigade commander, which meant the rank of major general and took the initiative to serve as an officer of the General Staff in charge of tanks and a colonel. But his work is not smooth. After World War I, the voices against the mass production and equipment of tanks dominated the government and the military, and the tanks faced a crisis of survival. Tanks are once again regarded as an accessory of infantry, and only undertake vigilance, reconnaissance and cover work. In the conflict with Haig's "cavalry cabinet" and other forces, Fuller's words were fierce and offended quite a few officials at all levels. However, after all, speaking lightly can only make his situation in the General Staff worse and worse. However, in this post, he met liddell hart at 1920 and became a best friend, which was also an unexpected gain.
1923 65438+ 10, Fuller became the chief lecturer of Camberley Staff College. With the support of the dean, he rectified the school spirit of the staff and workers' university, opposed the mechanical education model, and advocated compound education with expanding knowledge as the core. He said: "To understand war, we must first understand peace, people's psychology, nature, geography, industry, commerce, politics and finance." Fuller's work in Staff College has achieved great success in both teaching and personal creation. His thoughts spread to all levels of the army through students, and he also completed and published seven monographs, one of which was regarded as a masterpiece by him. However, some of the sharp words also made the Ministry of National Defense very dissatisfied and even refused to approve the publication. After barely publishing, they were also attacked and received a lot of bad comments.
1926 In February, under the recommendation of basire Henry liddell hart, Fuller became the military assistant of General Milne, the chief of staff. But soon, due to his relationship with the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff and the attack of conservative forces, he did not stay in this position that might play an important role for too long. In June, 1926, 1 1 was transferred to the new commander of the mechanized experimental force. However, he soon clashed with his superiors because of his views on the status of mechanized troops and offered to resign.
1927 in may, fuller became the chief of staff of the 2nd division. 1July, 929, served as brigade commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade. 1September, 930, he was promoted to major general in the post of brigade commander. 1933 12, 55-year-old Fuller retired from active service because of the prejudice of the new chief of staff, General Masinbold.
In the meantime, Fuller no longer had any hope for his career. Fuller devoted himself to the study of military theory and history. In the six years after 1927, he published nine books successively, among which 1932 published Dragon Teeth-A Study of War and Peace and Lecture 3 on Battlefield Order are particularly important. The former made a more in-depth analysis of the nature of war and the relationship between war and peace, economy, geographical environment and other factors, and formed its own systematic view of war, with many unique insights and novel understandings, which are refreshing. The latter is actually the famous armored warfare.
Armored warfare is the first book in the world that systematically studies the combat of mechanized troops. In the book, Fuller analyzes and studies the main problems from the strategic and tactical levels, which is rich in content, unique and profound, and forms a complete combat theory of mechanized troops. After the publication of this book 10 years ago, the western military circles commented on it, "If he is asked today to make a thorough revision of this' lecture note' based on the experience gained in the past 10 years, there will be no major or significant revision. As long as you make some textual changes and add some comments, you can meet the current needs. " You know, the time to make this evaluation-1942-is two years after the German Blitzkrieg swept across the European continent. In fact, after the publication of this book, almost no one cares about it in the British army, while Germany has translated this book into German, and almost all armored officers have one. 1936, when guderian commanded the 2nd Armored Division to practice the thought of armored warfare on the exercise ground, he made a special trip to take the retired Fuller as a guest. It is conceivable that the father of tank warfare must have mixed feelings at that time.
After retiring, Fuller had nothing to lose and more time to write. Besides writing, he is mainly a columnist for Daily Mail and Mirror. Perhaps retiring from the army no longer poses a threat, or perhaps his personality is more suitable for the profession of journalists. Fuller's career as a journalist on military issues was much smoother. His attacks on British defense policy and military bureaucracy have been praised, and his influence is increasing day by day.
1World War II, which started in September, 939, won Fuller a high reputation. Facing the invincible German tank cluster, everyone now understands the correctness of Fuller's thought. Fuller, who has retired, has published a large number of articles in various newspapers and magazines with a pen as a sword, and made a detailed analysis and prediction of the war. According to the continuous development of the war and the practical application experience of armored forces, Fuller also constantly revised and improved his own understanding, which made him make a fairly accurate prediction on the process and development of the Second World War. His constant comments and columns have been widely read by the British people and even the military, and have had a great influence all over the world.
The reality of war made the new army he advocated become a reality, and Fuller devoted more energy to the study of war theory. He also achieved great success in this respect, which enabled him to surpass Mahan and Du Hei and keep pace with clausewitz and others.
To study war, we must first start with military history. 1954- 1956, fuller revised and reprinted the three-volume "decisive battle" and renamed it "military history of the western world". The publication of this book marks Fuller's entry into the ranks of outstanding military historians. The Times commented: "Experts may frown at Fuller's book in their own fields, but in such a wide range of research fields, almost no one can compete with Fuller."
1959, fuller began to write the book "War Guidance", which was published in19611. This book can be regarded as a concise and concentrated research result of Fuller's lifelong military theory. Even liddell hart, Fuller's good friend and another great military thinker, thinks this is Fuller's best book. This is a comprehensive research paper on war, which carefully studies the influence of social, economic, political and technical factors on war guidance.
In the book, Fuller carefully analyzes the purpose of war, pointing out that the purpose of war is not victory but peace, and thinks that clausewitz didn't understand this. At the same time, he also made a unique analysis of the relationship between war and peace, and pointed out three different views on this issue. In addition, on the basis of summing up the history of war, he revised and improved the war principles he put forward in 1923, and obtained the following nine principles: objectivity, aggression, mobility, security, suddenness, coordination, centralization, saving troops and decisiveness. As long as we compare the nine military principles of the United States, it is not difficult to find that they are strikingly similar. From this, we can see the extensive and significant influence of Fuller's military thought.
1926, Fuller wrote in a letter to liddell hart: "The best way to enjoy life is to be a wanderer of knowledge." February 1966, 10, after finishing his 45th monograph "Julius Caesar-Men, Soldiers, Dictators", the great tramp left this world.