The Tip of Alexander

[Divinus Arma]

Kind of. The echelon was used prior to Rome. It was a development of the phalanx formation, actually. If I remember correctly, Phillip I was one of the first to use it, Phillip the II used it to gain predominance in greece, and Alexander relied on it in his campaigns.

The echelon was a response to line-on-line fighting. Initially, the two lines of phalanx faced each other and each line shifted right during the battle. This occurred for two reasons: One, each man was protected by his neighbors shield. The closer he could get to the shield, the more protected he was. Thus, the guys on the left moved right for greater protection and this affected the whole formation. Secondly, the best troops would be placed on the right of line. Each army would attempt to destroy their opponent's left wing and wrap around.

The echelon was response to this. Instead of evenly distributing troops, one wing was given greater emphais with depth of men. Then the army would be slightly angled, so when first contact was made, the power of one flank could be brought to bare against the opponent's weaker flank. Meanwhile, the attacking army's weak flank had not even made contact yet!

I'll see if I can draw this here. I f I cannot, I will edit it and remove it:

Initially:

-----------

-----------


In Echelon:


-----------

..............--
...........---
.......----
....---
.--

The dots are substitues for spaces. Otherwise this would come out all funny.

This is a crude drawing, but it should make sense. This is why a stagnant defense is always weaker. An immobile defense can be shaped at the will of the attacker. Therefore, you should always attack. Even when defending, attack the enemy and seize the initiative to shape the battlefield.

[Divinus Arma]

Also, a little FYI: The echelon is still used in American Military tactics today.