In warfare, obtaining information about enemies plays a central role in enabling commanders to set out combat determination and effectively exercise command. Hence, studying and developing the method of reconnaissance to grasp enemies’ situation when they launch offensives on the ground in military region-level defensive operations to meet the requirements set by modern warfare represent a matter of urgency.

Military region-level defensive operations are conducted at a high level of synergy, with the participation of many components and forces, and take place from the beginning to the end of the war for the Homeland defence (if occurred). When enemies mount offensives on the ground, depending on specific situations, military regions would organise defensive, offensive, counter-attack operations at tactical or campaign levels with a view to restraining and destroying enemies, safeguarding the areas and central targets, and facilitating higher echelons’ operations. In spite of the fact that within the people’s warfare, our defensive zones and reconnaissance forces are increasingly modernised, our objects of struggle are superior to us in terms of weapons and equipment; moreover, they will be proactive in space, timing, and place and capable of focusing their strength and means on main directions and targets to quickly change their offensives and the balance of power on battlefields, while cooperating with hostile forces in provoking riots and conversions to realise their plots both internally and externally. Furthermore, their widespread electronic warfare capacity and modern reconnaissance equipment allow them to rapidly detect targets and cause us a lot of difficulties in grasping the situation. Thus, military regions should maintain close, uniformed, flexible, and comprehensive coordination in force, operation, and posture to bring into play our strong points and reduce enemies’ strength as the basis for commanders to set out combat determination correctly and successfully command operations. This is the art of creating the synergy in operations in general, in reconnaissance in particular, which is expressed as follows.

Force coordination

A part from several main units of the Ministry of National Defence, military regions’ armed forces play a core role in fighting enemies when they carry out attacks on military regions’ areas. Operations are based on local defensive zones and campaign-level key positions within the postures of all-people national defence, people’s security, and people’s war established in peacetime. Each of those components has their own reconnaissance force in which reconnaissance offices of military regions’ main forces and intelligence-reconnaissance units of provincial level defensive zones’ armed forces play a core role. Grounded on functions, tasks and strengths of each force, commanders and intelligence-reconnaissance offices of military regions should develop and closely, uniformly direct reconnaissance plans for each combat task and phase. Prior to enemies’ attacks, military regions should use a section of infantry, special, and technical reconnaissance troops in cooperation with higher echelons’ reconnaissance units to grasp enemies’ situation from afar and quickly detect their intention, particularly their components, means, manoeuvre directions and methods of operations. A combination of those forces will enable us to grasp enemies’ situation and gather sufficient, accurate information about them, which will help commanders of military regions to adjust the postures and direct units to proactively fight enemies right at their starting points, reduce their strength, and restrict their offensive capacity as the basis for other operations.

When enemies stage offensives, military regions should organise defensive, manoeuvre, and offensive operations in various scales. To grasp enemies’ situation, it is necessary to employ reconnaissance units at all levels and combine external reconnaissance with internal reconnaissance. External reconnaissance forces should ensure coordination to master enemies’ changes and adjustments as well as anticipate assistance and intervention from the outside. Meanwhile, internal reconnaissance forces should flexible use components, particularly reconnaissance offices of military regions’ main forces and intelligence-reconnaissance units of provincial-level defensive zones’ armed forces. To be more specific, reconnaissance teams and groups of military regions’ main forces should promote the advantages of intelligence-reconnaissance units within defensive zones where military regions organise concentrated operations, while cooperating with those units in grasping and investigating enemies’ force deployment, means, headquarters, and firepower, logistics and technical bases. During the coordination process, it is important to assign specific task to each component, formulate regulations on coordination, ensure the secrecy of reconnaissance to avoid missing targets, and establish an extensive, multi-layer, and solid reconnaissance posture. Reconnaissance from military regions and defensive zones should be combined with other forces’ reconnaissance and the people’s information to grasp the “peaceful evolution” strategy and the plots of riot, conversion, and secession by reactionary forces in the areas and anticipate enemies’ moves to command forces’ operations.

Posture coordination

Military regions’ reconnaissance posture represents the method of organising and deploying reconnaissance forces under a uniformed plan; it also includes the reconnaissance postures by higher echelons, friendly units, military regions’ main forces, and provincial-level defensive zones’ armed forces. Once being combined with one another, they will form a complete, comprehensive, in-depth, extensive reconnaissance posture all over military regions and relevant areas. When performing their task, main forces’ reconnaissance offices should take advantage of higher echelons’ widespread reconnaissance posture, friendly units’ reconnaissance posture especially in the contiguous areas, and defensive zones’ secret, extensive, alternating reconnaissance posture. A combination of those postures will help shorten the duration for preparing and building the reconnaissance springboard, grasping enemies’ situation even during their movements, and employ methods of reconnaissance quickly, secretly, and effectively. Intelligence-reconnaissance units of provincial-level defensive zones’ armed forces should conduct reconnaissance from afar, while collecting information about military regions’ central targets to proactively form and consolidate an extensive, solid reconnaissance posture. Due to constant changes on battlefields, reconnaissance offices of main forces and intelligence-reconnaissance units of provincial armed forces should take enemies’ situation, areas and specific tasks into consideration, while cooperating with each other to grasp enemies’ situation and facilitate posture transformation and adjustment relevant to other forces’ developments in fighting enemies.

Operational coordination

To ensure secrecy and effectiveness, reconnaissance forces must flexibly employ various measures to grasp enemies’ situation. Each force has their own ability, strength, advantages, and difficulties in implementing measures for reconnaissance. Reconnaissance offices of main forces will adopt both human and technical measures. They are capable of mastering phenomena and external forms as well as anticipating the nature of incidents and phenomena. Meanwhile, reconnaissance units of provincial-level defensive zones’ armed forces are able to operate in both secret and public and employ different reconnaissance measures to grasp enemies’ situation. Therefore, a combination of various measures will help exploit the strengths of each reconnaissance force and measure, create diversity and express the comprehensiveness, vastness and solidity in grasping enemies’ situation. To combine measures of reconnaissance with one another, commanders and intelligence-reconnaissance offices of military regions should direct reconnaissance forces to master reconnaissance forms and tactics, establish fixed and mobile observation posts, conduct investigations, adopt disguises, get information from prisoners of war, make films and take photos. Additionally, reconnaissance offices of military regions’ main forces should actively, proactively stick to enemies’ formation, particularly in the main direction and cooperate with intelligence-reconnaissance units of provincial defensive zones’ armed forces in grasping enemies’ situation via operations of local armed forces in defensive zones and gathering information from locals and people’s intelligence establishments. Besides, commanders and intelligence-reconnaissance offices of military regions and localities should give verdicts on enemies and verify the accuracy of information about enemies to avoid being deceived by them.

Logistics support coordination

Reconnaissance is conducted in a long time and wide area under enemies’ fierce attacks. Meanwhile, logistics support for reconnaissance is demanding and reconnaissance forces often operate in an independent and scattered manner, far from higher echelons’ direction. Logistics support faces a lot of difficulties especially when reconnaissance forces must manoeuvre to grasp enemies’ situation in the areas temporarily controlled by enemies. Thus, commanders and intelligence-reconnaissance units at all levels should have plans on logistics support for reconnaissance forces, with a focus on anticipating possible situations and remedial measures. More importantly, within the people’s war posture, reconnaissance offices of main forces must rely on the people and local armed forces and reconnaissance forces, particularly on defensive zones’ combat, logistics and technical bases to opportunely, sufficiently provide communications, food, and medications for soldiers and ensure constant, secret, and effective reconnaissance.

Reconnaissance coordination during enemies’ offensives on the ground in military region-level defensive combat is a matter of principle and it helps promote the synergy of forces so as to fulfil the preset goals and targets. This is not a new issue but there should be more theoretical and practical researches into it to meet the combat requirements in the new situation.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN VAN THANH, PhD, Deputy Commandant of the Infantry Officer College No.1