Force Concentration - Lanchester's Laws

Lanchester's Laws

During the First World War Frederick W. Lanchester formulated Lanchester's laws that calculated that the combat power of a military force is the square of the number of members of that unit so that the advantage a larger force has is the difference of the squares of the two forces, i.e.

• If force A has say 2 units and force B has 3 units, then the advantage force B has is 3²-2² that is 5.

• If force A still has 2 units and force B has 4 units then the advantage force B has is 4²-2² or 12.

• If force A still has 2 units and force B has 5 units then the advantage force B has is 5²-2² or 21.

So a two to one advantage in units will quadruple the firepower and inflict four times the punishment, three times as many units will have nine times the combat ability and so on. Basically the greater the numerical superiority that one side has the greater the damage he can inflict on the other side and the smaller the cost to himself.