Sabiendo que soy un apasionado y conocedor de la historia militar, un amigo se acercó con toda la confianza y me comentó que de todas las formaciones has seen, he likes is the famous Delta formation, also known as the Wedge.
however, said that although he liked, was not a real practical use to use in battle. With all the world like I took the time to explain everything to him from his doubts and now I'll share with you.
First, the formation name "Delta" comes precisely from the shaping of the unit and get that name in reference to the Greek letter "Delta" (Δ) which is basically a triangle, here are some pictures of Alexander the Great Partners in training and "Delta"
Training "Wedge" is basically the same but on a large scale, ie several units that are just a line in a "W":
That is in terms of training, now let's turn to use. The essence of this training is going into battle in front and making use of its triangular shape, a wedge between the enemy line and IRLA getting bigger and expands as it moves backward, which is where the wider training:
Delta has several training obvious advantages and disadvantages. As for the advantages, the form in a triangular manner, the unit has a strength and shock load much higher as opposed to square or rectangle formation in the depth of which is usually 4 to 6 lines, DEPTH Delta formation at several tens of lines, each with a momentum of its own load. At the same time, this becomes a disadvantage when they go into combat and open the gap in the enemy line, they will be attacked by both sides, leaving it very vulnerable. Second, since the end of training there is only one man behind the two, then three and so on, can that if are facing heavy infantry or very well protected, may not reach to infiltrate enemy lines to open the gap and then most likely be slaughtered as they try to enter the line.
Apparently, the formation has more disadvantages than advantages, but this is where creativity comes, which is the skill that differentiates the military genius of others. In the above description, training Delta faced a compact unit and tried to break through the line through the impact force, using its triangular shape, but what if instead of launching into a compact front is launched on a gap and made, for how small?:
What happens is that it disappears completely the possibility that the tip of the training does not reach to penetrate, since you only need a gap of about 3m. for the first 3 lines to infiltrate an the gap and as they come forward, the rear lines - wider - will be responsible for opening the gap without any problem:
As you see in the picture above, the Partners in Delta formation crossed enemy lines using the small gap separating the two enemy units, and not only that, but clearly left a gap 5 times larger than the original, so finally we will see how to take that gap:
As you see in the image, the Macedonian Companions reopened the gap between the two enemy units, but this time, are supported by Hispaspistas , very effective lancers who are exploiting the gap left by the cavalry to attack the flanks of each of the units in the middle. If you look carefully at the image, the Persian troops (green) outnumber the Hispaspistas, so if you execute the maneuver to attack the gap left by the cavalry, they could easily encircle and cut off a Macedonian infantry, but is just this moment when comes the highlight of this strategy: the hammer. As you see in the image, red arrow pointed to a motion that the cavalry will follow immediately after passing through the gap. The Fellows will be reformed into a rectangle and Persian infantry attack from the rear while Hispaspistas do the front, at which point, the Persians are lost:
As you see in the image, Persians were victims of the famous "hammer and anvil" tactic used in the military history and was put to maximum use by Alexander the Great, is so effective that among the greatest generals of history, Alexander was the only one who died undefeated in battle.
In conclusion, the Delta training is very risky and requires clean and precise maneuvering to run well, but if done correctly, imaparable.
