Experimental Units: The Historical Record

Abstract

In the past, Experimental units have played a major role in extending combat capabilities and developing new concepts and doctrine for military organizations confronting seemingly insoluble challenges. Consequently, experiment units have become an essential part of the processes of successful and often revolutionary transformation and innovation. This paper focuses on experimental units in the first half of the twentieth century: the experimental units of the First World War (German Stormtroopers and the British tank corps) and the experimental units in the interwar years (the German panzer force, the British Experimental Tank Force, and the US Navy's carrier experiments). All faced the same types of problems, and any success in the field was based, in part, on their leaders' ability to challenge the traditions and culture of their services.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA412051

Entities

People

  • Williamson Murray

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Carriers
  • Aircrafts
  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military History
  • Military Organizations
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • New York
  • Organizational Structure
  • Second World War
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military Science
  • Theoretical Analysis.