ATTACK BY FIRE (ORDER OF ATTACK)

Manias, panics, and unreasoned greed and fear.

Disciplined Emotions

"There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire among the enemy."

Suitability Of Strategies And Tactics To Situation

"In order to carry out an attack with fire, we must have means available; the material for raising fire should be kept in readiness."

Opportunistic Flexibility In Adapting Strategies And Tactics To Situation

"There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting a conflagration."

"In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments. When fire breaks out inside the enemy's camp, respond at once with an attack from without. If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy's soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack. When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if it is practicable; if not, stay where you are. If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favorable moment."

"In every army, the five developments connected with fire must be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for the proper days."

"The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead..."

Catastrophic Loss Avoidance

"When you start a fire, be to the windward side of it. Do not attack from the leeward. If the wind is in the east, begin burning to the east of the enemy, and follow up the attack yourself from that side. If you start the fire on the east side, and then attack from the west, you will suffer in the same way as your enemy."

Stay Focused On Achieving Strategic Objectives

"Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact."

Go to Chapter 13.

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