Introduction
In 1915 the Allied and German forces were both seeking a decisive victory to end the war. The German army decided that the location of this victory would be the city of Verdun. Verdun is located 150 miles from Paris, France were the French Army headquarters was located. General Falkenhayn believed that the French Army would never accept the loss of a major defensive city so close to the headquarters. Operation Judgment became the code name for this battle which was to bleed the French Army of Soldiers through the defense of Verdun. The result of this operation was the longest and most gruesome battle of World War 1.
History
General Falkenhayn replaced General Von Molke in 1914 because Von Molke’s offensive in France and Belgium had failed to produce results. "General Falkenhayn’s view was that it would be beyond German military possibilities to gain victory in an all-embracing, massive offensive.”1 The plan was to defeat the French through a battle of attrition at the city of Verdun. The German Army was to bombard the French positions with their superior artillery pieces in order to deplete the French Army causing minimal loss of German Soldiers. The hope was that such a crushing defeat would cause the surrender of the French. This would force the British back across the sea and force them to fight a sea war that the Germans were winning with their submarines.
The German Army began movements of vast numbers of supplies in preparation for the battle during the winter of 1915. It was reported that, “The firepower of 1,200 German guns was tremendous, an ammunition-supply, sufficient for six days was at hand near the guns to a total amount of 2,500,000, brought in by 1,300 ammunition-trains.”2 The Germans b...
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...on the attack. His strategy is to bleed the forts dry of Soldiers with artillery attacks and simply occupy the positions once the Soldiers can no longer defend. This technique was the original plan of the German command and proved highly effective.
Effective plans must include mission statement and support that mission. If multiple goals are to be accomplished they cannot contradict each other. Subordinate commanders must understand the commander’s intent to capitalize on opportunities without waiting for permission. Information about mistakes from both sides must be shared so they are not repeated. Pride has no place on the battlefield and honest assessments improve effectiveness. Do not hide failures or they may be repeated. Above all commanders must focus on the mission to be accomplished so they may assess when it is no longer possible to attain victory.
Mission Command as defined by the United States Army consists six distinct and critical principles. During World War II there were many examples of exemplary mission command that led to stunning victories for the Allies but also many examples of failure. The Battle for Arnhem or Operation Market-Garden was such a failure. Major General Robert Elliot Urquhart, the Commander of the 1st Airborne Division failed in not only in tactics but the ability to lead his division to victory. He did not completely misunderstand the principles of mission command, but four main areas in which he made critical mistakes were; Build a Cohesive Team Through Mutual Trust, Create a Shared Understanding, Accept Prudent Risk, and Exercise Disciplined Initiative.
Effective planning is impossible without first understanding the problem. Commanders rely on personal observations, experiences, and input from others to develop understanding. They also prioritize information requests and incorporate additional information as those requests are answered. A complete understanding of the problem and environment builds the foundation for the operational process and ...
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...
Commanders must be able to describe their operation visualization to staffs and subordinates. It fosters a working relationship and a shared understanding of the situation, mission and intent. Without description of mission command from the commander, a unit may not be able to accomplish their task or mission.
(1). The Battle of Arracourt took place in Arracourt, Lorraine Province, France. The Province of Lorraine was along the shortest route from Normandy to Germany through France. Arracourt was a small town located on the Mosselle River on the French and German border. The principle adversaries in the Battle of Arracourt were General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army led by the 4th Armored Division. The 3rd Army had more than 160,000 Soldier, 1,500 Artillery pieces, and 930 Sherman...
The First World War witnessed an appalling number of casualties. Due partly to this fact, some historians, developed the perception that commanders on both sides depended on only one disastrous approach to breaking the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no-man’s land only to be mowed down by enemy machineguns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious because both the German’s and Allies developed and used a variety of tactics during the war. The main reason for battlefield success and eventual victory by the Allies came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; nevertheless, moral played a major role by greatly affecting the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war.
Murray, Williamson. "Germany’s Fatal Blunders." Military History 26.5 (2010): 28-35. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
In late November 2001 Task Force 58 launched from ships off the coast of Pakistan to conduct the longest ranged amphibious assault in history with 403 Marines and Sailors, 4 fast-attack vehicles, and a variety of supporting equipment,. General James N. Mattis successfully accomplished this in large part to the effective execution of mission command. Commanders can utilize mission command as a philosophy or a warfighting function. Mission command as a philosophy is the use of commander's intent and mission orders to empower agile and adaptive leaders. It enables commanders to counter the uncertainty of operations by reducing the amount of certainty required to act in a given situation. Commanders build cohesive teams, provide a clear commander's intent and guidance, encourage the use of disciplined initiative, and use mission orders through the operations process to effectively use mission command as a philosophy. Commanders drive this operations process using mission command through six steps. First, they must understand the operational environment and the problem. Second, a commander must visualize his desired end state and operational approach. Third, he must describe that visualization to subordinates using time, space, purpose, and resources. Fourth, commanders must direct forces throughout preparation and execution. Finally, through each of the first four steps, commanders need to lead through purpose and motivation and assess through continuous monitoring and evaluation. General Mattis successfully utilized mission command as a philosophy by understanding, visualizing, leading, describing, and assessing through the operations process as the commander of Naval Task Force 58.
Field, Frank. British and French Operations of the First World War. Cambridge (England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Professor Geoff Hayes, “4 August 1914: Slithering Over the Brink, The Origins of the Great War,” Lecture delivered 31 October, 2011, HIST 191, University of Waterloo
World War I had been fought primarily on French soil, and the military as well as the government never wanted that to happen again, therefore they wanted to reinforce their main border against any future German. Little did they know that only twenty-two years later they would be bested by German forces in a way that would shock the world.... ... middle of paper ... ... Situational awareness was almost non-existent, with many French commanders not even knowing where their own subordinate units were located.11
Successful leadership on a battlefield can be measured in different ways. It is possible for a good, successful leader to lose a battle. Conversely, it is possible for an ineffective leader to win a battle, given the right circumstances. What distinguishes a successful leader from an unsuccessful one is his/her ability to oversee an operation using effective mission command. In ADP 6-0, mission command as a philosophy is defined as “as the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations” (ADP, 1). William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, executed good mission command in the Battle of Tippecanoe because of his ability to effectively utilize the doctrinal tasks of “understand, visualize, describe, direct, and lead” operations.
The most effective commanders through their leadership build cohesive teams. Mutual trust, shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk serve as just a few principles for mission command. Mutual trust is the foundation of any successful professional relationship that a commander shares with his staff and subordinates. The shared understanding of an operational environment functions, as the basis for the commander to effectively accomplish the mission. While my advice for the commander on what prudent risks to take may create more opportunities rather than accepting defeat. Incorporating the principles of mission command by building cohesive teams through mutual trust, fostering an environment of shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk will make me an effective adviser to the commander, aid the staff during the operations process, and provide an example for Soldiers to emulate.
Readiness is of the utmost importance with training being the most significant aspect that contributes to Readiness. Each Soldier needs an individual training plan. The plan should take the Soldier from enlistment to discharge or retirement. It is each Soldiers responsibility to be proficient in their field craft. This includes being fit mentally and physically, and trained to win in a complex world. It is the responsibility of the NCO to train these Soldiers. Unit training plans will address the readiness and resilience of individual Soldiers to ensure their fitness to accomplish their mission. Units must conduct realistic training at the individual, squad, platoon and company levels focused on Mission Essential Tasks (METs) for their
In today’s operational environments, the U.S. Army is facing a range of problems and mission sets that are arguably more complex than previously encountered. Forces face an array of demands that encompass geo-political, social, cultural, and military factors that interact in unpredictable ways. The inherent complexity of today’s operations has underscored the need for the Army to expand beyond its traditional approach to operational planning. In March 2010 in FM 5-0: The Operations