A raid is a military tactic whereby a sudden attack is effected by a small group behind enemy lines. A raiding group may comprise of personnel specially trained in this tactic (such as commandos or guerilla fighters), regular soldiers, or any organized group of combatants. Raids have a specific purpose and are not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being able to respond in a co-ordinated manner or formulate a counterattack. The purposes of a raid may include:
- to demoralize, confuse, or exhaust an enemy
- to ransack or pillage a location
- to obtain property or capture people
- to destroy goods or other things with an economic value
- to free POWs
- to kill or capture specific people
- to gather intelligence.
The Royal Air Force first used the term "raid" in the Second World War when referring to an air attack. It included those by one aircraft or many squadrons, against all manner of targets on the ground and the targets defending aircraft. "Raid" was different than "battle", which was used for land, sea, or amphibious conflict. An aircraft "raid" was always planned ahead of time. Aircraft patrols (against U-Boats) and defensive launches of carrier aircraft (against recently detected enemy ships) were not referred to as raids.
