General Eisenhower was the consummate critical thinker and applied this application to strategic decisions while serving in command of the Mediterranean Theater and subsequently as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. This will be confirmed as strategic decisions are recognized for each command and Eisenhower’s critical thinking skills are correlated to Gerras’ Critical Thinking Model using two separate components for each decision. Analysis will discuss the linkage between the strategic decisions that originate from Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life and Gerras’ model and conclude with evidence that affirms this stance. As commander of the Mediterranean Theater, Eisenhower made the decision to invade Sicily and evidence shows that if he had the capability in May 1943, Eisenhower would have favored a quick strike. “I am convinced that if I could undertake Husky today with only two divisions,” he wrote to Marshall, …show more content…
He pointedly noted that “when a battle needs the last ounce of available force, the commander must not be in the position of depending upon request and negotiation to get it…I stated unequivocally that so long as I was in command I would accept no other solution.” Eisenhower EVALUATED the INFORMATION as they “finalized the most massive and complex military plan ever conceived.” Air forces organized a committee that began drafting a systematic bombing campaign to knock out the French railway transportation system prior to Overlord called the Transportation Plan. Eisenhower looked at the IMPLICATIONS and the reciprocal components of Gerras’ model for 2nd and 3rd order effects of his decision and reevaluated his assumptions. Eisenhower was able to minimize his egocentric tendencies and evaluate his decisions. He was persuaded the plan represented the most promising means of wrecking the German army’s communications with
Strategy depends on numerous analytical factors and some of these present challenges to planners. This essay will identify some of these challenges that strategists encountered during WWII. Moreover, it will present strategy as a fluid process requiring refinement throughout.
In 1942, the Allies decided to help out the Soviet Union and opened up another front to the war in Western Europe. The United States and Britain did not have a large enough military to mount an invasion at the time but they had drawn up plans to prepare for an invasion in case Germany’s western front weakened or the Soviet Union was put into dire straits. In August of 1942 the Canadians attempted an invasion of the French port city of Dieppe. It was a poorly planned and coordinated invasion that was meant to be a test the defense that Germany had established that ended in disaster, nearly 5,000 troops were either killed, wounded, or captured. In July 1943, British, American, and Canadian troops invaded Sicily as the western front expanded from Africa into Europe. The valuable experience from the amphibious landings in southern Europe would be used to launch to launch the largest invasion force in the world to crack open the solid ...
Eisenhower used risk management at a high level to plan the operation. At the same time, Eisenhower was an empathetic leader who understood the emotional impact this operation could have on soldiers. He visited every division involved in the operation due to his sense of responsibility (Ambrose, 1983). The D-Day invasion is well known for its successes given the almost impossible situation.
Germany knew that an allied invasion of France was imminent. For months, allied spies and intelligence sought to leverage the knowledge gained through the invasion of Sicily and against weaknesses in the German defense of France. General Eisenhower knew that an attack on the coast would not be sufficient to invade because Germany had reserve troops and escape routes. The 101st Airborne division’s task was to seize four causeway exits because it was expected that VII Corps would have difficulty moving inland. The 101st and the 82nd were to jump in 5 hours before the landings on Omaha and Utah beach. The Pathfinders mission was crafted thr...
...ver a period of over two years and although the obtaining of a foothold in Germany was necessary, the leaders could have taken many more precautions to save many American lives. Operation Overlord illustrates bad planning through the conflicts of the leadership control, through lack of preparation for treacherous tides, and the unsuccessful aerial attacks.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, was close to not achieving commander status. If this had happened, a different person would have taken control over Operations Torch, Avalanche, and Overlord. Eisenhower, in fact, was the key component in the victory for the Allies. Had he not been assigned by George Marshall to a planning officer in Washington D.C., President Harry Truman might not have saw Eisenhower’s potential. Eisenhower’s past 30 years of military experience, his strong mental and social stature, and his ideas and tactics were all key factors for his triumphant victory in World War II.
By the summer of 1943 the Allied Powers had finished their campaigns in North Africa. Their next objective was to move into Sicily and invade Italy to cause the Germans to move northwest from the coast. This came to be known as “Operation Husky which was designed to open the shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, eliminate it as an Axis base, and to aid in the fall of Mussolini’s government” (Hickman n.d.). In July 8th, 1943 Mowat, now an intelligence officer was ordered to head to Sicily to participate in Operation Husky. They left the night of the 8th and encountered terribly rough seas due to the sirocco. The sirocco is an intense wind that comes off of the Sahara. It looked as though Operation Husky would be cancelled. Fortunately, later that night the wind slowed and the platoons were able to continue with the operation. The invasion commenced on the night of July 9th, landing on the west side of the Pachi...
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...
Our five senses –sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch help the ways in which we perceive the world around us. And while they seem to work independently at time they can effect each other and the way we comprehend something. Seeing something pretty, touching something soft, eating something cold and smelling something rotten are the sense we use to connect with the world around us and will all effect how we move forward in that situation. When you look at the top picture say the color of the word not the word itself. It is harder than it seems and takes a little practice to do it efficiently. It is because we see the spelling we were taught not the color it was written in. It is hard to process it the other way, but not impossible. Take the bottom picture for another example is this a
Critical thinking and decision-making are related in more ways than people think. This paper will define critical thinking and decision-making according to the book Whatever It Takes. It will also present a personal definition of critical thinking and decision-making from the author of this paper. The relationship between the two will be explained as well as the benefits of being a critical thinker. The author of this paper will also show how critical thinking is present in his organization and how he implements critical thinking techniques on a daily basis.
As a member of the United States Coast Guard, I've had multiple opportunities and situations present themselves where critical thinking was crucial. Sometimes no matter how much you train for an event you never know how you'll respond to the situation, with ten years at sea I've seen great things and terrible things, some of the most impactful decisions stick with me even to this day. In 2005 while serving on board USCGC SPENCER (WMEC 905) we were enjoying a port call in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when the Commanding Officer came across the announcing system and informed us that we were being diverted to New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina had just struck with unparalleled strength. None of us new the destruction that had taken place until
The Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 was a success.1 Codenamed Operation HUSKY, it was the largest amphibious operation of World War II.2 Although successful, if further evaluated by today’s modern joint doctrine, Operation HUSKY accentuates the breakdown and weakness of the Allies’ operational integration of the six current joint functions, and its costly affects that likely prolonged the war. Lessons learned from Operation HUSKY accentuate the importance of all six modern joint functions. However, breakdown in command and control by Allied leadership and its’ mission command tenant are two notable functions. This breakdown in command and control further obstructed Allied mission command attributes: commander’s intent, mutual trust,
Life is full of decisions. Some decisions are trivial. Should I choose paper or plastic at the grocery store? Which of the 31 flavors of ice cream should I pick? Other decisions are vital. Should I get married to her or should I take this new job? Your decisions may affect many people or only yourself. In this paper I will present a decision-making model. I will describe a decision that I made at work using this model and how critical thinking impacted that decision.
Critical thinking is the usage of knowledge and data to effectively solve problems and make decisions in life. Thinking critically allows us to distinguish nonsense information, promotes thorough thinking and communication skills, and the revelation of long-term consequences. There are six types of thinking as stated by psychologist Benjamin Bloom: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. These are ranked from the lower to higher levels of thinking. It’s said that all levels of thinking are important but the lower levels are constrained more (finding one “right” answer) whereas the higher levels you get the freedom to express your own solution/find several answers. To move from one type of thinking to the next,
In his essay Critical Thinking: What Is It Good For? (In Fact, What Is It), Howard Gabennesch explains the importance of critical thinking by drawing attention to how its absence is responsible for societies many ills including, but not limited to, the calamity in Vietnam. Yet, at the end of his essay, Gabennesch also mentions that, despite “the societal benefits of critical thinking, at the individual level, uncritical thinking offers social and psychological rewards of its own. ”(14).