31 times, counter-productive. He must be made to feel constantly off-balance by one or more of the means enumerated below: • Pre-emption. To pre-empt the enemy is to seize an opportunity, often fleeting, before he does, in order to deny him an advantageous course of action. Its success lies in the speed with which the situation is subsequently exploited. Pre-emptive operations rely on rapid decision-making and surprise rather than ponderous preparation. • Dislocation. To dislocate the enemy is to deny him the ability to bring to bear his strengths. Unlike pre-emption, dislocation is a deliberate act, and is critically dependent on sound intelligence rather than intuition. Its purpose is much wider than the frustration of the enemy’s plan; it is to render his strength irrelevant. It seeks to avoid fighting the enemy on his terms and can be achieved by either avoiding his strengths or by so fixing them that they cannot be used effectively. ‘Posturing,’ deep penetration thrusts and envelopment are classic forms of dislocation. • Disruption. To disrupt is to attack the enemy selectively, to break apart and throw into confusion the assets which are critical to the employment and coherence of his fighting power. Its purpose is to rupture the integrity of the enemy’s fighting potential and to reduce it to less than the sum total of its constituent parts. The enemy’s moral and physical cohesion can be shattered by manoeuvring in a manner which surprises him, using firepower selectively to attack targets that contribute to his cohesion and by imposing on him the effects of tempo and simultaneity. Command and Leadership 3.12 Command is the legal authority exercised by the commander over his troops to accomplish his mission. It carries with it the responsibility for planning, organising,

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