The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing

military formation Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a State (polity), state so as to offer such military capability as a military policy, national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary f ...

. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.

History

The vanguard derives from the traditional division of a

medieval In the history of Europe The history of Europe concerns itself with the discovery and collection, the study, organization and presentation and the interpretation of past events and affairs of the people of Europe since the beginning of ...

army into three '' battles'' or ''wards''; the Van, the Main (or Middle), and the Rear. The term Vanguard originates with the medieval French ''avant-garde'', i.e. "the advance guard". The vanguard would lead the line of march and would deploy first on the field of battle, either in front of the other wards or to the right if they stood in line. The makeup of the vanguard of a

15th century The 15th century was the which spans the years () to (). The term is often used to refer to the 1400s, the century between 1400 and 1499. In , the 15th century includes parts of the , the , and the . Many technological, social and cult ...

Burgundian

army is a typical example. This consisted of *a contingent of foreriders, from whom a forward detachment of scouts was drawn *the main body of the vanguard, in which there traveled civil officials and trumpeters to carry messages and summon the surrender of towns and castles, and *a body of workmen under the direction of the Master of Artillery whose job it was to clear obstacles which would obstruct the baggage and artillery travelling with the main army. In an English force of the period, the foreriders of the vanguard would be accompanied by the harbingers, whose job was to locate lodgings for the army for the following night.

Forward detachments

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war A world war is "a war War is an intense armed conflict between states State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literatur ...

, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army,) frequently shortened to Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR; rus, links= ...

began forming ''ad hoc'' vanguard formations called forward detachments ''(peredovye otriady)'', from army, corps and divisional units. Forward detachments brought together the mobile (motorized or mechanized) elements of the parent formation to play an exploitation role once a breakthrough of the German lines occurred. A rifle division, for example, might mount one or two battalions of infantry on trucks, with motorized antitank guns and motorized artillery in support.David M. Glantz, ''Colossus Reborn'', University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005, pp. 110, 119

References

{{Authority control Military tactics Military terminology

History

Forward detachments

See also

References