Cold-weather warfare

On 25 January a sudden thaw caused a bridge to collapse over the River Weaver, splitting Royalist cavalry forces at the Battle of Nantwich resulting in their defeat.

[4] The 1557 Siege of Katsurayama was fought between the forces of the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin as part of the Kawanakajima campaigns.

Katsurayama castle was a strategically vital Uesugi stronghold in the contested Shinano Province and, when it was isolated from reinforcements due to late snow in early 1557, the Takeda clan used this opportunity to seize it under Baba Nobuharu, shielded from view by heavy snowfall.

[6] During the Great Northern War, Swedish king Charles XII set off to invade Moscow, but was eventually defeated at the Battle of Poltava after being weakened by cold weather and scorched earth tactics.

[8] Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 resulted in retreat in the face of winter[9] with the majority of the French army succumbing to frostbite and starvation, rather than combat injuries.

Through a well coordinated offensive of both naval and land forces, hampered by snow and cold, the Japanese destroyed the forts on shore and sank much of the Chinese fleet.

[13] From June 1942 to August 1943, the United States and Canada fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in the Alaska Territory.

It failed to achieve its main goal to cut off and ultimately capture the key Soviet port at Murmansk through attacks from Finnish and Norwegian territory.

In the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese learned the importance of foot care, keeping feet dry and warm with replacement socks.

In World War I, doctors realized that trench foot was a prolonged exposure to cold, wet conditions on the feet, which were exacerbated by the use of tight puttees, bandage-like leg wrappings.

The small units arrived silently on skis or with light artillery pulled by reindeer over frozen, untracked terrain, using winter conditions as an advantage.

The scope of the manual is to train troops in the following areas:[41] Some highlights include addressing:[41] The Soviet Army learned from its 1939–40 Winter War experiences and the 1941 German advance on Moscow.

Analysis of previous experiences resulted in a series of manuals that covered flight, engineer, and combat arms operations in winter.

Issues covered included:[42] In his 1981 paper, Fighting the Russians in Winter: Three Case Studies, Chew draws on experiences from the Allied-Soviet War in Northern Russia during the Winter of 1918–19, the destruction of the Soviet 44th Motorized Rifle Division, and Nazi–Soviet Warfare during World War II to derive winter warfare factors pertaining to military tactics, materiel and personnel:[43] Operational factors encompass planning for the climate and weather in which military operations are required with snow, ice, mud and cold being the primary considerations.

[45] The manual also delineates the principal mountain ranges of the world, which lie along broad belts which encircle the Pacific basin and then lead westward across Eurasia into North Africa.

Each classification affects visibility and ground movement due to accumulation and is quoted below:[45] Snow and snowdrifts can create advantages on the battlefield by filling in ditches and vehicle tracks and flattening the terrain.

It also creates hollows on the downwind side of obstacles, such as trees, buildings, and bushes, which provide observation points or firing positions.

[42] Thawing conditions can impair mobility and put soldiers at risk of trench foot by turning soil to mud; it can also weaken and break up ice cover on bodies of water.

[47] The 1942 Taschenbuch für den Winterkrieg acknowledges that neither tracked nor wheeled vehicles can maneuver during conditions of thaw and that aircraft operations must be constrained to concrete runways.

It emphasizes how positions in frozen soil must be improved to avoid deterioration from thaw and the necessity of changing uniforms from ones for cold to those for wet conditions.

[42] The German Taschenbuch für den Winterkrieg emphasizes reconnaissance to ascertain the conditions and capacity of the roads to be used.

[41] Soviet Army doctrine emphasized the use of sleds for transporting machine guns and mortars over snow, towed in a train by tracked tractors.

[42] Finnish military doctrine calls for small-unit movements with Anti-tank guided missiles and multiple launch rocket systems to attack foreign forces that have entered the country.

[45] The German Taschenbuch describes preparation and conduct of marches and advocates maintaining slow, steady progress with brief stops to avoid exposure to the wind, and the provision of warm beverages by support vehicles along the way.

Its doctrine described the assessment and reinforcement of ice crossings and suggested the use of frozen lakes and rivers as expeditionary airfields, located close to the front to take advantage of short daylight hours in winter.

[45] Armies have made use of improvised and official snow camouflage uniforms and equipment since the First World War, such as in the fighting in the Dolomite Mountains between Austria-Hungary and Italy.

[55] Soviet Army doctrine emphasized the importance of camouflage over positions and the need to remove telltale signs of artillery actions, such as smoke stains or shell casings.

[41] Engineers provide roadways, landing zones, shelter, water supply and wastewater disposal, and electrical power to encampments.

If trench foot is treated properly, complete recovery is normal, though it is marked by severe short-term pain when feeling returns.

[61] The following nations report regular training programs in cold-weather warfare: Subfreezing conditions have significant implications for naval operations.