The Allied Campaign in Western France - Operational Lessons

Abstract

This paper examines the operational level planning and execution of the Allied Campaign in Western France. The purpose of this paper is to examine this historical case and identify operational lessons that have implications for contemporary operational commanders. The paper specifically covers the Normandy Campaign (June 1944-August 1944) focusing on the lodgement battles and the breakout up to the battle of Falaise-Argentan. The paper traces the background to the development of the plan, describes the key aspects of the plan itself, and further describes the plan's execution. The plan and its execution are analyzed using key elements of the operational art. The elements are: the enemy's center of gravity and lines of operation; and the operational scheme - command and control, maneuver, fires, protection, deception, culminating points and logistics. Operational level lessons are derived from the analysis.... Operational lessons - command/control, Maneuver, Fires, Protection, Deception, Logistics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 17, 1993
Accession Number
ADA266682

Entities

People

  • Kevin T. Campbell

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Ammunition
  • Artillery
  • Battlefields
  • Center Of Gravity
  • Command And Control
  • Deception
  • Gravity
  • Guidance
  • Logistics
  • Maneuvers
  • Military History
  • New York
  • Resilience
  • Second World War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military Science

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control