Battalion Commanders At War

Author : Steven Thomas Barry
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700618996
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Battalion Commanders at War written by Steven Thomas Barry and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most histories of the U.S. Army in World War II view the Mediterranean Theater of Operations primarily as a deadly training ground for very green forces, where lessons learned on the beaches of Oran, in the hills of the Kasserine Pass area, and at the collapse of the Tunis bridgehead all contributed to later success in Western Europe. Steven Barry, however, contends that victory in the MTO would not have materialized without the leadership of battalion-level commanders. They operated at a high level, despite the lack of combat experience for themselves and their troops, ineffective leadership at higher levels, and deficiencies in equipment, organization, and mobilization. Barry portrays these officers as highly trained, adaptable, and courageous in their first combat experiences in North Africa and Sicily. Their leadership, he argues, brought discipline, maturity, experience, and the ability to translate common operational guidance into tactical reality, and thus contributed significantly to battlefield success in North Africa and Sicily in 1942-1943. To explain how this happened, he examines their prewar experiences, including professional military education and unit training exercises; personal factors such as calmness and physical resilience under fire; and the ability to draw upon doctrine, creatively apply the resources at their disposal, and clearly define and communicate mission goals and means. He also reveals how battalion leaders incorporated technological innovations into combined arms maneuvers by employing tank capabilities and close air support doctrine. As Barry's assessment shows, these battalion commanders were not the sole reason for the Allied triumph in North Africa and Sicily, but victory would not have been possible without the special brand of military leadership they exhibited throughout those campaigns. Under their leadership, even inexperienced units were able to deliver credible combat performance, and without the regular army battalion leaders, U.S. units could not have functioned tactically early in the war. One of the few studies to focus on tactical adaptation at the battalion level in conventional warfare, Barry's book attests to the pivotal value of professional military education-and makes an important contribution to today's "organizational learning" debate-while providing an in-depth view of adaptation of U.S. infantry and armored forces in 1942-1943.

Author : John H. Moellering
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Battalion Commanders Speak Out written by John H. Moellering and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of essays on the philosophy of battalion command by eight former battalion commanders representing a cross-section of experience--by branch, geographical location, function, and divisional affiliation. A range of management styles is also reflected. A chapter is also included by a former commander's wife. This volume does not reflect Army doctrine or even a concensus view on any of the issues discussed. It is designed to provide the prospective battalion commander with a variety of views on how to approach the problems of command--in short, a resource book. (Author).

Author : Garth Pratten
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107276322
Total Pages : 723 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War written by Garth Pratten and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 723 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War, Garth Pratten explores, for the first time, the background, role and conduct of the commanding officers of Australian infantry battalions in World War II. Despite their vital role as the lynchpins of the battlefield, uniting the senior officers with the soldiers who fought, the battalion commanders have previously received scant attention in contemporary military history. This book redresses the balance, providing a gripping, meticulously researched and insightful account that charts the development of Australia's infantry commanding officers from part-time, ill-prepared, amateurs to seasoned veterans who, although still not professional soldiers, deserved the title of professional men of war. Drawing on extensive and original archival material, Pratten recreates battle scenes and brings to light many diverse personalities. It is a story of men confronting the timeless challenges of military leadership – mastering their own fear and discomfort - in order to motivate and inspire their troops to endure the maelstrom of war.

Author : William Westerman (Writer on Australian Army)
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781108123167
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Soldiers and Gentlemen written by William Westerman (Writer on Australian Army) and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soldiers and Gentlemen: Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War, 1914?1918 is the first book to examine the background, role and conduct of Australian commanding officers during the First World War. Though they held positions of power, commanding officers inhabited a leadership no man's land - they exerted great influence over their units, but they were also largely excluded from the decision-making process and faced the same risks as junior officers on the battlefield. A soldier's well-being and success in battle was heavily dependent on a commanding officer's competence, but little is known about the men who filled these roles. In his groundbreaking book, William Westerman explores the stories of the vitally important, yet often forgotten, commanding officers. Theirs is a story of the timeless challenges of military leadership, and this book prevents them from slipping from the public memory to enhance our knowledge of the conflict.

Author : William Westerman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108121365
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Soldiers and Gentlemen written by William Westerman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soldiers and Gentlemen: Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War, 1914–1918 is the first book to examine the background, role and conduct of Australian commanding officers during the First World War. Though they held positions of power, commanding officers inhabited a leadership no man's land - they exerted great influence over their units, but they were also largely excluded from the decision-making process and faced the same risks as junior officers on the battlefield. A soldier's well-being and success in battle was heavily dependent on a commanding officer's competence, but little is known about the men who filled these roles. In his groundbreaking book, William Westerman explores the stories of the vitally important, yet often forgotten, commanding officers. Theirs is a story of the timeless challenges of military leadership, and this book prevents them from slipping from the public memory to enhance our knowledge of the conflict.

Author : Michael Carver
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1844153088
Total Pages : 657 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Warlords written by Michael Carver and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2005-09-30 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In THE WAR LORDS, Field Marshal Lord Carver has assembled an engrossing series of short, detailed biographies of forty-three of the dominant military commanders of the twentieth century century, American, British, German and French: Field-Marshal the Earl Alexander, E.H.H. Allenby, Claude Auchinleck, Field-Marshal Sir, Omar N. Bradley, General of the Army, Andrew Browne Cunningham, Admiral of the Fleet the Viscount, Karl Doenitz, Admiral, Hugh C.T. Dowding, Air Chief Marshal, Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army, Ferdinand Foch, Bernard Freyberg, Lieutenant-General Lord, Heinz Guderian, General, Douglas Haig, William F. Halsey, Fleet Admiral, Ian Hamilton, Arthur Harris, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir, Paul von Hindenburg, John Rushworth Jellicoe, Joseph Joffre, Alphonse Juin, Marshal, Mustafa Kemal, Ivan Koniev, Marshal, Erich Ludendorff, Douglas C. MacArthur, General of the Army, John Monash, Bernard L. Montgomery, of Alamein, Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma, Chester W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, George S. Patton, General, John J. Pershing, Philippe Petain, Erwin Rommel, Field-Marshal, William Joseph Slim, Field-Marshal the Viscount, Carl A. Spaatz, General, Raymond A. Spruance, Admiral, Joseph W. Stilwell, General, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, Hugh Trenchard, Erich Von Falkenhayn, Erich Von Manstein, Field Marshal, Gerd Von Rundstedt, Field-Marshal, Archibald Wavell, Field Marshall Earl, Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral & Georgii Zhukov, Marshal.

Author : Peter E. Hodgkinson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131717190X
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book British Infantry Battalion Commanders in the First World War written by Peter E. Hodgkinson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent studies of the British Army during the First World War have fundamentally overturned historical understandings of its strategy and tactics, yet the chain of command that linked the upper echelons of GHQ to the soldiers in the trenches remains poorly understood. In order to reconnect the lines of communication between the General Staff and the front line, this book examines the British army’s commanders at battalion level, via four key questions: (i) How and where resources were found from the small officer corps of 1914 to cope with the requirement for commanding officers (COs) in the expanding army; (ii) What was the quality of the men who rose to command; (iii) Beyond simple overall quality, exactly what qualities were perceived as making an effective CO; and (iv) To what extent a meritocracy developed in the British army by the Armistice. Based upon a prosopographical analysis of a database over 4,000 officers who commanded infantry battalions during the war, the book tackles one of the central historiographical issues pertaining to the war: the qualities of the senior British officer. In so doing it challenges lingering popular conceptions of callous incompetence, as well more scholarly criticism that has derided the senior British officer, but has done so without a data-driven perspective. Through his thorough statistical analysis Dr Peter Hodgkinson adds a valuable new perspective to the historical debate underway regarding the nature of British officers during the extraordinary expansion of the Army between 1914 and 1918, and the remarkable, yet often forgotten, British victories of The Hundred Days.

Author : David Miller
Publisher : John Murray Pubs Limited
ISBN 13 : 9780719559891
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Commanding Officers written by David Miller and published by John Murray Pubs Limited. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book concentrates wholly on the all-important role of the commanding officer. There are many books which study the art of high command in war, and almost as many on individual acts of heroism. There are however few about the leadership required of the men (and in the future women) who are the most important people in the military chain of command: the commanding officers. These people - naval ship captains, army battalion commanders and air force squadron leaders - are the vital link in the chain, whose job is to ensure that higher command's orders and plans are carried out, and to react to events during the course of battle. It is on their shoulders that success or failure in the front line rests, as they make crucial decisions, frequently at very short notice, and sometimes involving major moral decisions, all amid shot, shell and confusion.;David Miller has built this book on a very large number of actual command dilemmas drawn from different countries, different periods of history, and all three arms of service. It is filled not only with analysis but also with action, often of a surprising sort. The reader finds himself, or herself, commanding a submarine, leading a bomber formation over Iraq, or dealing with ethnic hatred in the former Yugoslavia. The book has an immediacy and a realism that should absorb all readers of military history, whether they are serving officers or in command of no more than an armchair.

Author : Senior Lecturer in War Studies Garth Pratten
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781107278288
Total Pages : 457 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War written by Senior Lecturer in War Studies Garth Pratten and published by . This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the background, role and conduct of the commanding officers of Australian infantry battalions in World War II.

Author : Stephen Taaffe
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1682477096
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Commanding the Pacific written by Stephen Taaffe and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Marine Corps covered itself in glory in World War II with victories over the Japanese in hard-fought battles such as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. While these battles are well known, those who led the Marines into them have remained obscure until now. In Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, Stephen R. Taaffe analyzes the fifteen high-level Marine generals who led the Corps' six combat divisions and two corps in the conflict. He concludes that these leaders played an indispensable and unheralded role in organizing, training, and leading their men to victory. Taaffe insists there was nothing inevitable about the Marine Corps' success in World War II. The small pre-war size of the Corps meant that its commandant had to draw his combat leaders from a small pool of officers who often lacked the education of their Army and Navy counterparts. Indeed, there were fewer than one hundred Marine officers with the necessary rank, background, character, and skills for its high-level combat assignments. Moreover, the Army and Navy froze the Marines out of high-level strategic decisions and frequently impinged on Marine prerogatives. There were no Marines in the Joint Chiefs of Staff or at the head of the Pacific War's geographic theaters, so the Marines usually had little influence over the island targets selected for them. In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, constricted geography and vicious Japanese opposition limited opportunities for Marine generals to earn the kind of renown that Army and Navy commanders achieved elsewhere. In most of its battles on small Pacific War islands, Marine generals had neither the option nor inclination to engage in sophisticated tactics, but they instead relied in direct frontal assaults that resulted in heavy casualties. Such losses against targets of often questionable strategic value sometimes called into question the Marine Corps' doctrine, mission, and the quality of its combat generals. Despite these difficulties, Marine combat commanders repeatedly overcame challenges and fulfilled their missions. Their ability to do so does credit to the Corps and demonstrates that these generals deserve more attention from historians than they have so far received.