Chapter 7- Maneuver
After planning and strategy comes tactical maneuvering which is very difficult as it includes devious attacks into direct ones and converting your misfortunes unto opportunities. For being deceptive, fast and compact place a huge role in winning a war. In order to win, we need to stay united which makes it difficult for the brave to move alone and for the weak to retreat alone. Thus there is a danger of the army in losing its spirit and the commander losing its presence of mind.
Chapter 8- The Nine Variables
There are five major faults which could affect a general: recklessness which leads to destruction; cowardice which leads to capture; quick-temper which is provoked by insults; heightened sense of honor which is sensitive to shame; over concern of his men can make him worried. The cause of the defeat of an army is always due to one of these five reasons.
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Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages which should be utilized accordingly. By observing the enemy and other factors such as animals, birds and trees; a wise person could figure out the enemy’s tactics. A leader should always have faith in his men who should be treated with humanity but controlled with iron discipline.
Chapter 10- Terrain
There are six types of terrain: accessible ground which should be freely traversed by both sides; entangled ground which cannot be reoccupied once abandoned; temporizing ground which can be inconvenient to both sides; narrow passage which should be occupied first so as to be ready for the enemy; precipitous heights which should be occupied first or not at all; great distance from the enemy with the armies matching its size, fighting would be to your disadvantage.
There are six calamities which a general should be responsible: flight, insubordination, collapse, ruin, disorganization and rout.
Chapter 11- The Nine Varieties of
The purpose of this paper is to perform a mission command analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg, honing in on Pickett’s Charge. The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1st through July 3rd in 1863 in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The belligerents were the Army of the Potomac, led by MG George G. Meade and the Army of Northern Virginia, led by GEN Robert E. Lee. The goal is to analyze the decisions of GEN Lee using the six mission command principles described in the Army Doctrine Publication 6-0 and then assess the outcome of those decisions.
It is far easier for us in the present than it was for those at Gettysburg, to look back and determine the path that the leaders should have taken. As students, studying battles such as this, we have the advantage of hindsight, knowing the outcome. Nonetheless, we can still learn valuable lessons from it. To do so, this analysis will explore some of the decisions of the leaders at Gettysburg, and how they were affected by the operational variables. This essay will scrutinize some of the leaders at Gettysburg, and the impact of their actions. The outcome of this analysis will show that what was true in 1863 is still true today. While many variables are vital to a successful army on the battlefield, none should be neglected. Each variable discussed in this examination will prove to be important, but the information battle will be paramount in the battle of Gettysburg.
FM 100-5 describes the following: Principles of Maneuver are to place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. The Principles of Offensive are to seize, retain and exploit the initiative. And the Principles of Surprise are strike the enemy at a time or place for which he is unprepared. It is not essential he be unaware, but that he become aware too late to react effectively.
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...
Throughout the battle, you see numerous Army Values and Warrior Ethos being used. “I will never leave a fallen comrade”, was the etho used the most, to reach the separated platoon. The battle also shows that not all tactical orders are effective, but as a leader you must never second guess yourself.
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.
After a battle is over the surrounding area is left in ruins, it is necessary to
The most meaningful part of the book for me, was the sit-ins, a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. The reason the sit-ins were so meaningful is that it really brought attention to how Americans were segregating the African Americas. Just as if you do nothing when a bully, whites, is picking on you, blacks, they will continue picking on you until you fight back. The sit-ins were a nonviolent way to show that they no longer will or have to take the abuse.
Keegan chooses the three well documented campaigns of Agincourt in 1415, Waterloo in 1815, and Somme in 1916 to answer the question of his thesis: To find out how men who are faced with the threat of single-missile and multiple-missile weapons control their fears, fix their wounds, and face their death. In his words he is seeking “to catch a glimpse of the face of battle.”
The Art of War is a treatise written in Ancient China that discusses the most and least effective military strategies for successful warfare according to Sun Tzu, a military general whose existence is still debated to this day. While not every military commander in the history of warfare has read it, the strategies provided can be used as a way to assess said commanders and the effectiveness of their campaigns. In Sun Tzu 's own words, “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!”1 This paper will discuss various iconic battles throughout history and how closely the leading commanders of each army followed the advice of Sun Tzu. Despite the fact that Sun Tzu lived hundreds of years before many of these battles took place, the
...eir homes) and erosion. In a cultural and political context there was a competition between kings and nobles as to who led the civilization through war and other events that required military forces.
The mannerisms, attitudes, and background of the American and British soldiers contrasted greatly. The values held by the individual soldiers of the two armies differed. American soldiers had a tendency to think on their own accord and often with liberty in mind (143). In contrast, the British soldiers held the values that their army held (144). American soldiers often fought with the same men from their town or village (142). The British soldiers, however, were pulled from society and isolated from it (144). During the time of the British soldiers’ isolation, they were tightly disciplined and rigorously trained (144). This too shows a contrast between the British and American soldiers. British soldiers underwent a stricter regimen of training while the training Americans had was more informal. The commanding men of the armies, the officers, were different as well. The British officers held themselves aloof from war and quite distant from their men (145). British officers were also much harsher on their men and trained them more effectively (136). The American officer sought to achieve the refinement of the British officers but often failed in achieving it. (145). The training American officers gave to their men was also not as cohesive like the
Field Marshal Montgomery applied mission command principles to defeat one of the greatest German generals and a master of tank warfare, Erwin Rommel at El Alamein. The aim of this essay is to analyze how Field Marshal Montgomery achieved success at El Alamein by applying four of the six principles of mission command. To accomplish this, I will examine Montgomery’s role in building cohesive teams through mutual trust, providing a clear commander’s intent, accepting prudent risk and creating shared understanding. Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was born in 1887, went to St. Paul’s School then underwent military training at Sandhurst.
Current military leadership should comprehend the nature of war in which they are engaged within a given political frame in order to develop plans that are coherent with the desired political end state. According to Clausewitz, war is an act of politics that forces an enemy to comply with certain conditions or to destroy him through the use of violence. A nation determines its vital interests, which drives national strategy to obtain or protect those interests. A country achieves those goals though the execution of one of the four elements of power, which are diplomatic, informational, military and economical means. The use of military force...
Samuel B. Griffith’s translation of “Sun Tzu: The Art of War” is an inside look at military practices of today. I did not find one technique that is not or would not be utilized in modern military maneuver, leadership, or training. The most astounding fact is that the Art of War was written well over two thousand years ago, even at the most conservative date. Although most of the techniques in this text are already in practice today, the value of “The Art of War” is a never-ending treasure chest of knowledge, and it deserves a place as a required reading for anyone seeking knowledge about war fighting or the history of war.