shock tacticsn.

1870 H. A. Ouvry tr. P. Bronsart von Schellendorff On Prussian Infantry 1869 i. 3 Instead of fire tactics, with them it was shock tactics.

1895 E. Wood Cavalry Waterloo Campaign (ed. 2) i. 2 The most successful ‘Nation in Arms’, believing thoroughly in the use of shock tactics, has adopted the lance, not only for ‘Medium’, but also for ‘Light’ Cavalry.

1942 Evening Tel. & Post (Dundee) 9 May 1/3 The Germans used every form of shock tactics in order to dislodge the Russians from the region.

2003 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 18 Dec. 100/4 It was also a clash of two technologies of war—the Danish or ‘bearded’ axe preferred, along with the packed shield wall, by the Anglo-Saxon army of Harold and the Norman shock tactic of light cavalry and couched lance.

2016 A. de la Garza Mughal Empire at War iii. 71 Those infantry that did use shock tactics relied on rapid mobility to get into contact with the enemy before they could respond.

1900 Athenæum 8 Dec. 757/2 On the whole, the eponymous story is the most complicated and perhaps the best; though for tragedy ‘The Dark House’, and for wild incident ‘Eve at the Wheel’, the story of female mutineers on an emigrant ship, are perhaps more effective in ‘shock tactics’.

1919 Manch. Guardian 4 Feb. 5/1 The motormen..came out on strike to-day. It was the ‘shock tactics’ of labour warfare.

1961 Encounter Apr. 56/2 This shock-tactic had by no means the same general appeal as his witch being burnt at the stake.

1990 Guardian 28 May 27/3 The impact of the play stems from its ability to absorb what would otherwise be shock tactics into a seamless, nightmarish whole.

1999 Times 15 June ii. 4/5 MPs in Britain and Europe are backing new shock tactics against smoking, including putting pictures of rotting teeth and blackened lungs on cigarette packets.