Beheading

Disciplines > Warfare > Tactics > Beheading

Action | Analysis | Example | Analogy | See also

Action

Beheading means killing, capturing or isolating your enemies leaders.

Set snipers in high places along the routes where your enemies travel.

Send a wedge into the heart of the enemy with the express goal of killing its leaders.

Send assassins to the land of your enemies. Perhaps they might even be able to gain a trusted position in the leader's household and kill the leader at a critical moment.

Bomb the enemy's headquarters and command posts.

In general battle seek out the enemy leaders and kill or capture them.

Analysis

Beheading the enemy takes away its source of command and throws the main troops into confusion as decisions are not made or are made in uncoordinated ways by leaders lower down the tree.

To lose one's leaders is also highly demoralizing and can lead to capitulating or widespread panic.

Thus when leaders are taken out, this should be done as publicly as possible.

A wise enemy protects or conceals its leaders. Thus the leader may be surrounded by crack troops or look-alike decoys may be used. Leaders are also trained at all levels so sub-units are not paralyzed when their commanders are lost.

Example

Analogy

In argument, leaders can be verbally attacked and discredited, for example where politicians are tripped up in debate or the skeletons in their closet are exposed.