Battle of the Bulge: The Impact of Information Age Command and Control on Conflict
Abstract
The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's desperate gamble to split the Allied forces attacking Germany from the west during the winter of 1945, is a classic in military history. It is written from the perspective of the Allied operational level of command. The decisions made at the operational level (theater and army) on the Allied side illustrate both (a) very effective Industrial Age decision making and (b) situations where the adoption of network-centric and Edge decision making (or perhaps better stated, sense making) would have made major differences. Understanding the Germans' decision making is also important in order to understand what happened because it was largely a reflection of one individual's idiosyncrasies as multiplied by a rigid, centralized, and hierarchical approach to command and control. To conclude, if greater information sharing had occurred, the German offensive might have been understood. This would have also caused the Allies to make a number of different decisions, such as greater emphasis on gathering intelligence in certain areas, and allowed for information to be distributed in a different method.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA463383
Entities
People
- Kristi Sugarman
- Richard E. Hayes