After heavy defeats in Normandy in July and August 1944, the remnants of the German troops were retreating from France through Benelux to German borders. In German lines was spreading desertion. Units disintegrated in the fight were escaping in all direction from the front back to Germany. Fast progressing of western Allies caused difficulties in supply, as the fighting was getting away from beaches. The whole Allied troops were supplied through the Normandy beaches and harbor Cherbourg. The Germans knew about the Allies problems and tried to keep ports as long as possible. The Allied Forces had trouble delivering supplies from the port to the advancing troops; they were progressing faster than the supplies could be delivered. They created so called “Red Ball Express” -supply system supported by 5,900 trucks. However, its mistake was that it consumed a lot of fuel. It began to emerge the differences in tactics. The question was whether to continue so far the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Forces Europe, General Eisenhower’s tactics attacking on a broad front, or due to problems of supply to take just one mighty blow. In that period Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery developed a new operation plan, which would include the use of 1st Airborne Army (Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton), actually 1st Airborne Corps (Lieutenant General Frederick Browning). The Corps comprised of 82nd US Airborne Division (Brigadier General James M. Gavin), 101st US Airborne Division (Major General Maxwell D. Taylor), and 1st British Airborne Division (Major General Robert “Roy” E. Urquhart) supported with, under his command, 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade (Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski). These units should be dropped along the roa... ... middle of paper ... ...portance of positioning a commander so that he can best influence the fight. The largest airborne operation ever organized, Market-Garden cost the Allies between 15,130 and 17,200 killed, wounded, and captured. The bulk of these occurred in the British 1st Airborne Division which began the battle with 10,600 men and saw 1,485 killed and 6,414 captured. German losses numbered between 7,500 and 10,000. Having failed to capture the bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, the operation was deemed a failure as the subsequent offensive into Germany could not proceed. The failure of Market-Garden has been attributed to a multitude of factors ranging from intelligence failures, overly optimistic planning, poor weather, and the lack of tactical initiative on the part of commanders. Despite its failure, Montgomery remained an advocate of the plan calling it "90% successful."
Unfortunately for the entire army group, Operation Market Garden was to be planned in 7 days. Major General Urquhart’s report on Operation Market states that there was adequate time for the planning of the mission but that due to the necessary risk of multiple airlifts over three days led to the divisions fighting strength to be that of a brigade. In his planning of this Operation, Major General Urquhart had requested more Allied gliders and planes, but seemed content enough to go ahead with the
The prelude to the Battle of the Bulge began on a winter day in mid-December of 1944. Three powerful German divisions, were the last German offensives in the west at that time during World War II. They began after the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Allied had forces swept rapidly through France but became stalled along the German border earlier that year in September. On December 16, 1944 taking advantage of the weather, which kept the Allied aircraft on the ground, the Germans launched a counteroffensive through the semi-mountainous and heavily-forested Ardennes region in Germany, and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and northern Luxembourg near the Meuse River. Their goal was to trap four allied armies, divide the Americans and the British to force negotiated peace along the western front, and retake the vital seaport of Antwerp in Belgium. Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot for a German offensive, American staff commander chose to keep the thin line, so that manpower might concentrate on offensives north and south of the Ardennes known as the "bulge" in the Allied lines. These American lines were thinly held by three divisions in the Allied Army and part of a forth division, while fifth division was making a local attack and the sixth division was in reserve. Division sectors were more than double the width of normal defensive fronts, therefore there were more men scattered along a larger area. The German advance was halted near the Meuse River in late December. Even though the German Offensive achieved total surprise, nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight. Within three days, the determined American stand and the arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that the ambitious German goal was far beyond reach. In snow and sub-freezing temperatures the Germans fell short of their interim objective- to reach the rambling Meuse River on the edge of the Ardennes. But they managed to avoid being cut off by an Allied Pincer movement.
The award-winning novel by Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, discusses one of the greatest examples of mission command in the form of 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters and his role in the Brecourt Manor Assault. This battle is a textbook example of how to fight against a superior enemy force that outnumbered the unit by four times as much. Facing overwhelming odds with just 16 paratroopers against over 60 German Soldiers, 1LT Winters nevertheless prevails and succeeds in achieving his objective while minimizing casualties to just three Soldiers lost. Looking back further into the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill on the American side is one of the earliest examples of Mission Command under the command of COL William Prescott.
With careful planning, co-operation, good leadership and courage, Currie managed to bring out the characteristics of a well thought out success at Vimy Ridge in April of 1917 (Dancocks, 1985). Sir Arthur Currie’s responsibility was to command the 1st Canadian Division (Hyatt, 1987). He pushed his troops to undergo rigorous training and to prepare themselves by using a life-size course, with every trench marked by tape and a flag (Dancocks, 1985). Currie designed very accurate maps and he had a small-scale plasticine model built so that it could be studied by all soldiers. Arthur Currie insisted that his division’s knowledge of the enemy was excellent (Dancocks, 1985).
At daybreak, August 19th, 1942, the Allies began their raid on the French coastal city of Dieppe occupied by Germany. The raid has extreme Canadian significance, as it pertains to 5000 Canadians involved in the campaign, 3,350 of which became casualties and 916 died on the bloodstained beach at Dieppe. The Dieppe raid is widely considered a failure on every level and has left a dreadful mark in Canadian military history because of how poorly it panned out. Operation Jubilee remains one of the most hotly debated Allied aspects of the war. Tactically, it was a complete failure as little to no objectives were attained. This essay will explain that Dieppe failed because of the tactical errors on the part of the Allies, in conjunction with the fact the entire operation was very poorly planned out. It will do so by discussing 4 major points: poor allied planning, how Dieppe was a difficult place to attack, that the assault was launched for political rather than military reasons and finally, how it failed to upgrade morale.
The fight on Hamburger Hill took place during Operation Apache Snow, the second part of a three-phased campaign intended to annihilate North Vietnamese Army (NVA) bases in the treacherous A Shau Valley. Five infantry battalions were leading the attack under Major General Melvin Zais, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. Three units were American (the 1/506th, 2/501st, and 3/187th Infantry) and two came from the 1st Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Division (the 2/1st and 4/1st ARVN). Colonel Joseph Conmy, Commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne, controlled and lead the main effort of the attack. His plan called for each of the five battalions to "air assault" into the valley by helicopter on 10 May 1969 and to search its assigned sector for enemy troops and...
Brigade General Scales, Robert H. JR. Certain Victory. The U.S. Army in the Gulf War.
In order to receive a victory in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton used Mission Command Analysis in order to understand how he can be successful for this mission. The first thing of understanding t...
To understand the Lorraine Campaign of 1944, one must look back a few months to June 1944. Here on June 6, 1944 the western Allies conducted the opposed landings of Operation Overlord in Normandy. From that time till late July, the Allies were unable...
Although Operation Overlord was a successful invasion, the leaders did a poor job in planning and losses were heavier than they needed to be. In the combining of strong American, British, and Canadian armies, the control of leadership became a problem at D-Day and affected the major decisions made for battles. One of the reasons for so many fatalities of Americans during D-Day was due to the lack of preparations and planning while using new boats and tanks in the treacherous waters. Another problem occurred during the use of the airplane bombings, and the affects that it has on the rest of the battle. The execution of Operation Overlord demonstrates poor planning through the struggles of the leadership control, through lack of preparation for the tides of the seas, and the allied forces’ poorly planned aerial attacks.
Antill, P. (2001 April 6). Operation Jubilee: The Disaster at Dieppe – Part 1: 19 August 1942. Retrieved from http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_dieppe1.html
The 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
The Battle of Normandy was a turning point in World War II. Canada, America, and Great Britain arrived at the beaches of Normandy and their main objective was to push the Nazi’s out of France. The Invasion at Normandy by the Allied Powers winning this battle lead to the liberation of France and Western Europe. Most importantly Hitler’s was being attacked from both the eastern and western front, and caused him to lose power. If the Allied Powers did not succeed in D-Day Hitler would’ve taken over all of Europe.In a document written by General Dwight Eisenhower he persuades the allied powers to invade Normandy. Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890. Eisenhower became the 34th president of the United States. He served as the president from January 20, 1953 through January 20, 1961. Before his presidency Dwight participated in World War I and was moved up to captain. Dwight would then take part in World War II and work his way up to becoming a General.
Patton was hoping to lead the Allied invasion of Normandy, but he instead was given command of the fictitious force that is supposed to invade Pas de Calais, France, as a distraction for the Normandy invasion (George S. Patton).Once the Normandy Invasion happened, Patton was given the command of the Third army and led them in the late stages of Operation Cobra (Jones, Taylor). Operation Cobra consisted of the Third army simultaneously attacking West, South, East toward Seine, and North (Jones, Taylor). Patton also took a play, out of the Germans own playbook, the blitzkrieg tactic, and exploited Germans weaknesses and dashed across Europe (Jones, Taylor). With Patton moving across Europe so rapidly his army literally ran out of gas, because the supply lines couldn’t keep up with him, and the army also ran out of fuel next to the Mossele River, outside of Metz, France (Jones, Taylor). From October to November, there is a full on battle between the Germans and the Third Army, with heavy losses on both sides (Jones, Taylor). Finally, the town of Metz fell on November 23, to the American...
To begin, food drops were perhaps the most important part of the liberation. The Canadian forces realized that a vast amount of dutch people were starving, and that they had to do something. They realized that they might be able to institute a ceasefire with the commander, and get permission to ship in food for the starving people. Thus, they treated in secret. This was largely because berlin would veto it, but both the German commander, and the Canadian commander kept it secret. After a ceasefire had been called, Allied (mostly Canadian) planes dropp...