Transfusing the Lifeblood of an Army: Combat Replacements and Effectiveness in the European Theater of Operations
Abstract
Casualties are an unpleasant fact of combat. For a fighting force to retain its effectiveness, casualties require replacements. Those two ideas are deceptively simple to understand. The notion that men will die or receive wounds on the battlefield and require replacements seems so obvious that it nearly precludes deep, deliberate thought on the processes involved in providing necessary replacements. Moreover, the number of replacements anticipated for a given action must be sufficient to sustain the effectiveness of the fielded unit. Failure to adequately prepare and provide combat replacements can have devastating results. Unfortunately, the concerns for adequately providing reinforcements to a force conducting sustained combat operations appear to be lessons learned, shelved, and only reconsidered after they are needed again. In the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II replacements proved to be the lifeblood of the fielded armies. The purpose of this paper is to highlight briefly a historiographical arc that demonstrates the combat effectiveness of U.S. forces in the ETO matched or exceeded the Wehrmacht, and that combat replacements proved to be a significant factor enabling United States performance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- AD1020166
Entities
People
- Jeffery P. Lucas
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College