I believe the answer was high maneuverability to circumvent them (the formation is slow to move in) and/or explosives/area of effect. Get a grenade, molotov or tear gas canister in that formation and they'll not have a good time.
I don’t know anything about the context of this photo; but I imagine it’s the hundreds of riot police surrounding a bunch of history nerds.
Good thing history also tells us how these formations were defeated and fell out of fashion
I'm not a time traveller or anything but could you tell me how
I believe the answer was high maneuverability to circumvent them (the formation is slow to move in) and/or explosives/area of effect.
Get a grenade, molotov or tear gas canister in that formation and they'll not have a good time.