UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Military

LESSON 4
PRACTICE EXERCISE

Instructions The following items will test your understanding of the material covered in this lesson. There is only one correct answer for each item. When you have completed the exercise, check your answers with the answer key that follows. If you answer any item incorrectly, review that part of the lesson which contains the portion involved.

Situation:    You have deployed to a desert area of North Africa. It is vital that you know how to identify and select the fundamentals of attacks and defenses used in desert operations.

1. Your combat service support finds existing roads unusable due to refugees fleeing from a nearby city. Therefore,

A. you keep your combat service support well to the rear because a maneuvering force must push out actively and aggressively.
B. your offensive operation must be slow and measured with non-violent maneuver to avoid endangering refugees.
C. you can safely disregard negative reports of enemy sightings.
D. you send out extensive reconnaissance patrols on main highways as a deceptive measure.
2. Desert warfare means maneuvering over large distances. Your offense is experiencing more casualties from accidents and friendly fire. A correct course of action is to

A. conduct movement at night or in conditions of limited visibility whenever possible to avoid detection.
B. disregard and bypass some enemy long-range antitank capability.
C.quickly maneuver around obstacles to avoid deploying breaching equipment.
D. never tip off the enemy by reconnoitering your leaders and marking routes.
3. Which significant factor must you take into consideration while on the offense in the desert?

A. If a sandstorm blowing from the enemy, catches one of your advancing units, it is best to press on through the crest of the storm.
B. A moving force has more of an advantage in comparison with a stationary unit.
C. In conditions of restricted trafficability you must conduct a frontal attack.
D. When on the offensive, use every opportunity for resupply.
4. You reach a meeting engagement, at which point a commander must seize the initiative by

A. cutting off further intelligence input activities for time to formulate plans.
B. making a rapid estimate of the situation and issuing fragos.
C. maintaining units in a disciplined march column.
D. concentrating field artillery in formation for direct-fire shock effect.
5. You must come up with a plan of attack that takes full advantage of the mobility and speed of track vehicles in the desert. In outlining your plan to the commander, you point out one advantage.

A. You organize your main attack to orient on the enemy's greatest vulnerability-his rear-area combat service support.
B. The major threat to the success of your plan is if the enemy retrogrades so he can't be tied down and destroyed.
C. You plan your attack on a wide front to increase your chances of punching through a weak point.
D. You hold your reserves behind a major terrain obstacle as a deception tactic.
6. Your task force proceeds over a large expanse of barren terrain. Up ahead is a mountain range where airborne observers have reported a network of strong points. You successfully attack using which fundamental of desert warfare?

A. The synchronized employment of combined arms.
B. The stealthy breaching by engineer teams.
C. The mass deployment of flanking armored vehicles making maximum use of shock effect.
D. The sunrise frontal hasty attack.
7. It may be some time before you are ready to take on the strongpoints. Therefore, you must defend a lodgement area awaiting reinforcements. Since you are outnumbered, your best defense is to

A. stand your ground and take advantage of cover and concealment.
B. identify enemy avenues of approach early in the battle.
C. maintain a narrow but solid perimeter line.
D. defend an intermediate position and delay expending your resources as long as possible.
8. You maximize your defense because you understand the enemy and see the battlefield. A key factor you exploit is

A. procedures for counterbattery fire because of enemy weaknesses like towed field artillery or tanks having to expose hulls for firing.
B. quick reaction to every enemy movement based on his long-term objectives and supported by scout security.
C. maximum firepower in all directions over 24 hours to take advantage of the enemy's general poor health and boosted rate of accidental casualties through sleep deprivation.
D. engineer effort disseminated throughout every level of defense for as many tangle-foot booby traps as possible all around the perimeter.
9. Your knowledge of desert warfare leads you to conclude the enemy attack

A. will attempt to dazzle the defender with the sun low and behind him.
B. will be delayed as long as you keep the lodgement area well-maintained with active light sources.
C. will be met most effectively by pre-positioning combat vehicles early in any anticipated movement to contact.
D. is best defeated by deploying mechanized infantry at limited long-range avenues of approach effectively peppered with obstacles and indirect fire.
Answer Key and Feedback