This ringbound book provides a reproduction of an important document from the U.S. Marine Corps, Breaching – MCWP 3-17.3. Maneuver warfare is the warfighting philosophy of the Marine Corps. This philosophy seeks to shatter the enemy’s cohesion through a series of rapid, violent, and unexpected actions. Speed, surprise, and the selective use of firepower are key elements. Maneuver warfare depends on freedom of movement and seeks to focus efforts on enemy weaknesses and avoid enemy strengths whenever possible. Mobility is inherent to maneuver warfare. Typically, enemy forces will use obstacles to deny access along selected routes or terrain, hold or force friendly forces to mass within range of enemy weapons systems, or as an economy of force measure in order to free forces for employment elsewhere. The enemy will attempt to use firepower, terrain, vegetation, and manmade obstacles to deny our freedom to maneuver. Because obstacles are relatively inexpensive to construct, quick to emplace, and very effective in delaying, disrupting, and channelizing forward movement, Marine Corps forces can expect to encounter their employment more in the future. Obstacle breaching allows a force to have continued freedom of movement and restores the capability to wage maneuver warfare. Marine Corps forces will first attempt to bypass enemy emplaced obstacles and collapse the enemy by attacking critical vulnerabilities in his rear. However, bypass may not always be an option. Obstacles that limit maneuver, whether at sea or ashore, must be overcome. In such cases, breaching operations enable further maneuver. Overcoming Obstacles An obstacle is any obstruction designed or employed to disrupt, fix, turn, or block the movement of an opposing force, and to impose additional losses in personnel, time, and equipment on the opposition. Obstacles can exist naturally, be manmade, or be a combination of both. Obstacles can include abatis, antitank ditches, blown bridges, built-up areas, rubble from a destroyed building, minefields, rivers, road craters, terrain, and wire. Manmade obstacles can be either tactical or protective. Tactical obstacles limit the attacker’s ability to maneuver, particularly mechanized forces, and may or may not be within small arms range. The effectiveness of an obstacle is enhanced considerably when covered by observation and fire. Friendly forces may be exposed to direct or indirect fire as they bypass or breach obstacles. Tactical obstacles are integrated into the defense’s scheme of maneuver and fire support plan. Protective obstacles provide close-in protection and are usually placed just outside of hand grenade range. Mines will typically be employed with other manmade obstacles, such as wire and tank ditches, to create complex obstacles. Complex obstacles, those functionally related obstructions composed of multiple parts which together create a mobility dilemma, are often used to reinforce a natural obstacle feature such as a river, dry gap, swamp, or surf zone. * Progressive Management has been a leader in military publishing for nearly a decade. Our news and educational titles are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents – they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work and educational tool.
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