Campaign Decisions - Perception and Analysis
Abstract
He never met his opponents. He neither sent nor received any written messages, electronic signals, or other formal communications with Admiral Anaya or General Menendez. Yet in his recently published memoir, Admiral Sir John Woodward, or Sandy Woodward, describes a method for rationalizing campaign decisions through an extended series of implicit negotiations between military commanders engaged in desperate combat against one another. Most instructive to the student of campaign strategy is Woodward's description of his process of analysis that resulted in the sequential series of tacit bargains that broke the enemy's will during the brief yet costly Falklands/Malvinas War. Woodward's recollections demonstrate his awareness of the direct relationship between his decisions and the options available to Anaya and Menendez and, accordingly, how those made by the Argentine sea and land campaign commanders formed Woodward's own analyses and subsequent decisions. That dynamic relationship forms the focus of this brief study, which attempts to examine four critical campaign decisions, analyze their development within the context of tacit bargaining, and evaluate their contribution to victory. This case provides an interesting example of a commander looking past his enemy's capabilities to "dealing with the enemy's intentions." The observations presented here may be applicable to other situations requiring strategic decisions absent communications with the enemy. Four campaign decisions in the Falklands War are used here for illustration and examination: the British approach to the battleground, the scheme of stationing the two British aircraft carriers, pursuit of direct engagement between the fleets, and the selection of the British landing site. in each of these cases, three options for each side are considered for analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 13, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA437223
Entities
People
- Kenneth G. Carlson
- Kevin P. Green
Organizations
- National War College