Entering a Continent: An Historical Review of Port and Beach Operations in the European Theater of Operations, World War II.

Abstract

Forty years ago planning was commenced for the greatest invasion force in human history. Almost all of the participants have left military service and the institutional memory has gone with them. This essay reviews the planning and execution phases of Operation Overload, to see what problems were confronted, if and how they were overcome, and what lessons learned are still applicable today. The conclusion is that although some of the technology employed in 1944-45 is still useful and in some cases the same equipment is now available in improved form, the assets in terms of people, equipment and funds needed to employ that technology are not available, and if we are required to repeat an OVERLOAD type operation on short notice we would be incapable of doing so given our current and projected force structure. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 12, 1983
Accession Number
ADA129791

Entities

People

  • John G. Larkins

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Engineering
  • Construction
  • Continents
  • Employment
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Explosive Charges
  • Land Transportation
  • Landing Craft
  • Logistics
  • Marine Transportation
  • Mechanics
  • Navy
  • Second World War
  • Transportation
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.