(This is Part 15 of a series. Go back to Part 14.)
The ninth sub-principle of concentrating strength against weakness is to:
9. Attack the enemy from the rear.
Lawrence of Arabia (yes, that Lawrence) had a problem. The Arab Revolt, which Lawrence was guiding during World War I, was attempting to break Turkish domination of Palestine and the Arabian peninsula.
Lawrence saw that the key to the matter was to avoid directly confronting the Turks, who could easily defeat the outgunned Arabs, and instead cut the Hejaj Railway, which ran from Damascus down to Medina and was the Turks' sole supply line for their armies in the region.
And Lawrence perceived that the key to cutting the railway, in turn, was the capture of the port of Aquaba on the Red Sea, which would simultaneously set up a short supply line for his Arab fighters and allow him to cut the railway at both its upper and lower reaches.
Nobody had considered this before because Aquaba was considered militarily impregnable. The Turks had set up huge guns that faced out to sea and were capable of obliterating any attack from that direction.
And on land, Aquaba was surrounded by the huge and fiery Negev Desert, considered to be impassible. Camels, it was said, could not hold enough water to make it across the Negev and would die before reaching the other side. For this reason the Turks had not bothered to set up any defenses in Aquaba's rear.
Lawrence took a great strategic risk and calculated that the camels—and their Arab riders—could just barely make it across the Negev if they traveled only at night and did not move during the day.
After an extremely perilous journey across hundreds of miles of open desert, Lawrence and his Arabs emerged at the back of Aquaba on July 6, 1917 and quickly seized it from the startled Turks. This daring attack from the rear eventually led to the fall of Palestine.
Actually, it's not uncommon for a great general to go to extraordinary lengths to overcome some natural obstacle if that will allow his army to emerge behind the enemy—so great is the advantage of an attack from the rear.
Alexander the Great understood this at the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC.
He had a challenge. He was on the north bank of the Hydaspes River (at Haranpur, India) and was facing King Porus and an army of 35,000 dug in on the other side of the river. And Porus had elephants.
Alexander knew that if he tried to cross the river directly that the elephants would panic his horses and the horses and troops would drown. In addition, he knew that to attempt a direct frontal attack on a well-defended Porus would invite disaster.
Alexander's solution to this challenge was to make "demonstrations" up and down the river for several days. His troops would appear to be getting ready to attack across the river at some point, and each time Porus would move his elephants to that point. Alexander would then appear to have second thoughts and call off the attack.
This went on for several days until Porus became a bit complacent about responding. The monsoon season had begun and huge rainstorms were besieging the soldiers. Porus relaxed because he knew that no-one would try to cross the Hydaspes in the middle of a monsoon.
Of course, that is exactly when Alexander did cross it, not only in the middle of a monsoon but at night. Leaving General Craterus in charge of his army at Haranpur, Alexander secretly went 17 miles upstream with 15,000 troops and managed to get them all across the river in the rain-deluged darkness.
This action is still considered by historians to be one of the most impressive feats of logistics ever attempted by a military commander.
By dawn the next morning Alexander had 15,000 troops ready to attack Porus' rear flank. This put Porus in an impossible tactical position. He had to turn his army to face Alexander's attack, but as he did so Craterus and the troops at Haranpur crossed the river and attacked Porus from the rear, shattering his army.
But King Porus, a very courageous man, would not give up. Though weakened by thirst and exhaustion, and though his army had been decimated, Porus fought on. Finally Alexander, overcome with admiration, sent a special messenger to Porus to implore him not to throw away his life in vain.
Afterwards, Alexander asked Porus what he should do with him. "Treat me like a king," Porus replied. And Alexander did so. He not only gave Porus his kingdom back, but enlarged it.
But that is the power of attacks on the rear.
(This is the end of Part 15. Go to Part 16.)
—jim sloman, 8.27.03 for 7.11.04
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