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1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A:Approved for public release ; DISTRIBUTION is unlimitedDEPARTMENT OF THE NAVYH eadquarters United States Marine CorpsWashington, 20380-177530 July 1997 FOREWORDThis publication is about winning in combat. Winning re-quires many things: excellence in techniques, an appreciationof the enemy, exemplary leadership, battlefield judgment, andfocused combat power. Yet these factors by themselves donot ensure success in battle. Many armies, both winners andlosers, have possessed many or all of these attributes. Whenwe examine closely the differences between victor and van-quished, we draw one conclusion.

2 Success went to the ar-mies whose leaders, senior and junior, could best focus theirefforts their skills and their resources toward a decisiveend. Their success arose not merely from excellence in tech-niques, procedures, and material but from their leaders' abili-ties to uniquely and effectively combine them. Winning incombat depends upon tactical leaders who can think crea-tively and act book pertains equally to all Marine leaders, whethertheir duties entail combat service support, combat support, orcombat arms. It applies to the Marine air-ground task forcecommander as well as the squadron commander and the fireteam leader.

3 All Marines face tactical decisions in battle re-gardless of their roles. Tactical leaders must develop andhone their warfighting skills through study and practice. Thispublication serves as a guide for that professional develop-ment. It addresses the theory of tactics and its application in achaotic and uncertain concepts and ideas within this publication are battle-tested. Throughout our history, one of the most important rea-Sons for the success of the United States Marine Corps hasbeen the military skill of our leaders at every level of com-mand. Through their tactical skill and battlefield judgment,our commanders achieved tactical and operational advantageat the decisive time and publication is a revision of Fleet Marine Force Man-ual 1-3, Tactics, of 1991 and supersedes it.

4 Marine CorpsDoctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1-3 fully retains the spirit,scope, and basic concepts of its predecessor. MCDP 1-3 fur-ther develops and refines some of those concepts; in particu-lar, a new chapter has been added on exploiting success andfinishing, and some of the original material has been reorgan-ized and is in consonance with MCDP 1, Warfighting, andthe other Marine warfighting publications. Presuming an un-derstanding of maneuver warfare, MCDP 1-3 applies it spe-cifically to the tactical level of war. Like MCDP 1, it is notprescriptive but descriptive, providing guidance in the formof concepts and ideas.

5 This publication establishes the MarineCorps' philosophy for waging and winning ofCorpsDISTRIBUTION: 142 000002 00 1997 United States Government as represented by the Sec-retary of the Navy. All rights 1-3 TacticsChapter TacticsAn Art and A Science The Environment HowWe View Combat and How We Fight MarineCorps Tactics ConclusionChapter a DecisionAnzio: A Model of Tactical Indecisiveness Cannae:A Clear Tactical Decision Achieved UnderstandingDecisiveness Military Judgment Understanding theSituation Acting Decisively ConclusionChapter AdvantageCombined Arms Maneuver Exploiting theEnvironment Terrain Weather Periods of Darknessor Reduced Visibility Complementary Forces Surprise Trapping the Enemy Developing an AmbushMentality Asymmetry ConclusionTacticsMCDP 1-3 Chapter FasterSpeed in Combat What is Speed?

6 Speed and Time Timing Relative Speed Continuing Speed Speedand Change Becoming Faster ConclusionChapter Improvisation Flexible Plans Decentralization ConclusionChapter in Combat-Cooperation Discipline-ConclusionChapter Success and FinishingBuilding on Advantage Consolidation, Exploitation,and Pursuit Finishing the Enemy Use of the Reserve inCombat-ConclusionChapter it HappenDoctrine Education Training Training andEducational Methods Professional Reading andHistorical Study Tactical Exercises Wargaming Terrain Walks Competition Critiques ConclusionNotesChapter 1 Understanding Tactics"In tactics, the most important thing is not whether you goleft or right, but why you go left or right.

7 A. M. Gray"There is only one principle of war and that's this. Hit theother fellow, as quick as you can, and as hard as you can,where it hurts him the most, when he am't looking. "2 SirWilliam SlimMCDP 1-3 Understanding TacticsThis book is about winning in combat. Winning requiresa thorough understanding and knowledge of tactics. Butwhat is tactics?AN ART AND A SCIENCET actics is "the art and science of winning engagements andbattles. It includes the use of firepower and maneuver, the in-tegration of different arms and the immediate exploitation ofsuccess to defeat the enemy,"3 as well as the sustainment offorces during combat.

8 It also "includes the technical applica-tion of combat power, which consists of those techniques andprocedures for accomplishing specific tasks within a tacticalaction."4 This description is from Marine Corps doctrine andreflects our approach to tactics. What does it tell us?Tactics refers to the concepts and methods we use to ac-complish a particular objective in either combat or militaryoperations other than war. In war, tactics is the application ofcombat power to defeat the enemy in engagements and bat-tles. Combat power is the total destructive force we can bringto bear against the enemy; it is a unique product of a varietyof physical, moral, and mental Tactics results in theactions and counteractions between opposing forces.

9 It in-cludes the use of maneuver, supported by the application andcoordination of fires, to gain advantage in order to defeat the3 TacticsMCDP 1-3enemy. In military operations other than war, tactics may bethe schemes and methods by which we perform other mis-sions, such as to control a crowd or to provide a secure envi-ronment for the delivery of food, medicine, or supplies to anation or people in stated in the definition, tactics is a combination of artand science to gain victory over the enemy. The art of tacticslies in how we creatively form and apply military force in agiven situation. It involves the creation, positioning, and ma-neuver of combat power.

10 When do we flank the enemy, andwhen do we ambush him? When do we attack, and when dowe infiltrate? How do we use speed and momentum toachieve a decisive advantage? This creativity is a developedcapacity, acquired through education, practice, and science of tactics lies in the technical application ofcombat power. It includes mastering the techniques and pro-cedures that contribute to the development of warfightingskills such as marksmanship, navigation, gunnery, and closeair support. The execution of these techniques and proceduresmust become second nature for us; this requires intensive andcontinuous training.