Date of birth and death: 1878 September 1-1966 February 10.
Nationality: UK
Highest ranking: Major General
Main works: 19 19 plan, basis of war science, armored warfare, military history of the western world, art of commanding Alexander the Great, and war guidance.
Military theory: After experiencing World War I personally, Fuller launched a fierce attack on conservative military ideas and traditions in this war, and creatively put forward a set of theories on preparing for and conducting wars in the era of mechanical industry with the deep breakthrough of armored forces as the core, which profoundly influenced and acted on World War II. In addition, he made an in-depth study of military as the unity of art and science, which has a profound philosophical foundation and made epoch-making contributions to military history and military theory.
John Frederick Charles Fuller
War research
1September, 878 10, Fuller was born in chichester, England. A good family and parents' knowledge education are undoubtedly very helpful to his childhood growth.
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.