Introduction

Most Marines have already heard or read something about maneuver warfare. General Gray established a Maneuver Warfare Board to help spread the concept throughout the division, and also carried out a series of maneuver warfare field exercises at Ft. Pickett, Virginia. The Junior Officers' Tactical Symposium in the first Marine Division has also worked to understand and develop maneuver warfare ideas. For a brief period, maneuver tactics were taught as doctrine at Amphibious Warfare School. Reflecting their parent second Marine Division's emphasis on maneuver warfare, they did not attempt to follow a rigid plan but rather adapted swiftly to circumstances as they changed. Despite all the attention, maneuver warfare remains a subject of much confusion. In the 1920s and 1930s, when the common wisdom said amphibious warfare was impossible under modern conditions, Marines responded with some uncommon wisdom. Maneuver warfare can be thought of as military judo.