Mountain Warfare

MOUNTAIN WARFARE. The difficulties attending the prosecution of a campaign in mountains arise primarily from the physical features of the theatre of operations ; and secondly, in a marked degree, from the effect those features have in moulding the character of the inhabitants.

Lack of Communications.

A mountainous district is, as a rule, undeveloped; and the means of communications, where any exist, are indifferent or bad. An invader is tied to certain existing roads or tracks as the only method of advance, and has little scope for effecting surprise by means of alternative routes. The obser vation which the defender can obtain from the hill tops is as good as, and in some ways better than, can be obtained by the invader from aeroplanes. As a result, the invader's intentions can be grasped almost from the start and the uncertainty common to war in normal theatres is largely discounted. The country is usually barren, and all supplies and stores for the invading force have to be carried into the country. Since communications usually consist of mere tracks, or of some boulder-strewn dry river bed, "pack" is the only possible means of transport. Consequently the invading commander is burdened with the guarding of long lines of slow-moving pack animals, and, owing to the fact that they have to convey their own and their drivers' food, they are able only to carry a relatively small useful load.

The climatic conditions in mountains tend to extremes of heat and cold. Changes in weather conditions are also sudden. The melting of snows or the bursting of a thunderstorm in the moun tains may mean the flooding of the valley forming the route of advance, and the washing away of the line of communications "road," which has often been cut out with great labour.

Characteristics of the Inhabitants.—The nature of their surroundings reacts, as elsewhere, on the characteristics of the in habitants. Their life consists of a struggle with nature. The ease and luxury of the plains is absent. They live scattered in small hamlets close to such patches of ground as will yield to cultivation. Industries are based on the village system, and the local weavers, potters, carpenters and so on supply the needs of the small community. There is no centralised life as in the plains. The inhabitants of a given area (probably emanating from a common stock) usually own a tribal allegiance to each other, but are often again sharply divided into sub-tribes, the boundaries of which are the valleys which they inhabit. Life is hard, and

only the physically fit survive early childhood. As a result the characteristics of mountaineers are exceptionally sound physique, bravery, great powers of endurance and ability to thrive on the bare necessities of life. They are, moreover, usually intensely patriotic (for it is a curious and almost universal fact that the wilder a man's country the more attached he is to it). Finally, they fight in mountains in their own element, on ground to which they are accustomed, and which confers on them a mobility twice as great as that of the invading plainsmen.

The above are valuable military attributes. But they are to some extent offset by others. The highly individualistic life in the mountains, whilst leading to an admirable independence, also leads to a lack of centralised purpose and interest. Whilst patri otism for the clan is great, patriotism for the sub-tribe is some times greater. There is consequently a tendency toward absence of cohesive effort if the operations be going adversely. This lack of cohesion renders them peculiarly averse to night operations, the success of which against mountaineers is noteworthy throughout history, though it must be added only when most carefully or ganised and prepared. Nevertheless, mountaineers have always been difficult opponents to overcome.

Operations of Two Kinds.—The consideration of operations in a mountain theatre falls naturally under two heads. First are operations in an area such as the Austro-Italian frontier. There, though the mountains exist, the area has been considerably opened up. Communications are relatively good; heavy stores can be brought up. The forces on both sides are possessed of all the appliances of war. Better theatres for operations exist on the flanks of the mountains, and it is there that the real struggle will be fought out. Neither attacker nor defender is in reality a true mountain race, for national armies are taking part. As a re sult, the operations tend more and more to take the colour of normal operations in the plains, modified, no doubt, but lacking most of the characteristics of campaigns against true mountain eers. Second are operations in an undeveloped mountain theatre against semi-civilised inhabitants. In describing them the theatre of the North West Frontier of India is taken as an instance.