Mission Command Essay

On December 21, 1944 Alpha Battery 80th Airborne Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division played an intricate role in stopping SS-Oberfuhrer Whilem Mohke 1st SS Panzer Commander’s main effort. Mohke’s main effort was code-named operation Wacht Am Rhein, planning to break a wedge where two allied lines that meet in Trois-Ponts, Belgium. Alpha Battery was ordered to take a defensive position in Trois-Point preventing any Panzer from crossing the Salm River. Lieutenant Wertich was the main

“The battle [is also] known by different names. The Germans [called it] ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’, while the French [called] it ‘Battle of the Ardennes’. [American and Britain] called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive.” The main goal for the Germans for this offensive was to split the British and American forces in half and capture the port city of Antwerp. This would “cause an encirclement of four allied armies and [force] a peace negotiation” (Cirillo). The Germans almost had complete surprise when the offensive was launched on “December 16th, 1944, at 05:30” and the offensive start with “an artillery barrage of over 1,600 artillery pieces.” The assault took place across an “80 mile front [that] the 6th Panzer Army had to cover” (Quarrie 1). “The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division.” This was the lead unit for the 6th Panzer Army and was the lead division for the assault. The 26th Infantry was covering the part of the front where the push started. They were caught completely by surprise. “Equipped with only 32 M4 tanks, 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men” (MacDonald 1). The initial assault went well for the Germans and they break through the thinly defended American lines. Just “20 hours in [from the start of the assault] German forces are just 55 miles out from their objective”. By this time the casualty rate is below from what the

This was to be a joint operation between British, French and American forces. Though it was not the actual boundaries, the Meuse River and the Argonne Forrest restricted much of the U.S. 1st Army’s maneuverability between them. This area was comprised of a very dense and thick vegetation with few roads for heavy equipment and supplies to flow forth once the offensive began; therefore this was to be used to the Allied Powers advantage. The Germans would be attacked all along the front from British, French, and American forces simultaneously.

In late June 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through western Maryland and invaded Pennsylvania. General Lee believed that by invading the North, he could draw the Union Army of the Potomac away from their defenses and force them to come after him. He also assumed the people of the North would be so demoralized if the Union were to lose another major battle, especially if it was fought on Northern soil, that President Abraham Lincoln would be forced to negotiate a settlement of the Civil War. On 01 July 1863, then Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine received word to begin movement to

Hitler launched an attack on the Ardennes Forest. To counter this, the United States has to attack back. The 101st Airborne’s job was to hold and defend a road junction in Bastogne Belgium. This winter fought battle was known as the Battle of the Bulge. The 101st Airborne endured harsh winter with endless artillery strikes.

This involved getting British tanks across the Rhine River and into Germany so that the Allies could continue their push against the Germans (Ambrose 179). After only ten days in Holland, the operation had ultimately failed. The failure was attributed with the Allies being outmanned, fighting elite German troops, and bad coordination between American infantry and British tanks (Ambrose 213). The rest of their time in Holland was spent on the front line. Eventually, they got to return to France to rest, and after awhile, were sent into Bastogne, Belgium to help with a counterattack against the Germans, who had surrounded the Allies as a part of the Battle of the Bulge.

Conclusion: It is unlikely that the Germans will be able to compromise the landings via the air. Consideration should be made for how to best maximize this advantage.

During the attack on the morning of December 16th, there were approximately 80,000 United States Army Soldiers in the Ardennes Forest. The Allied Forces had fewer than 250 pieces of armor and nearly 400 artillery guns laid across the 75-mile front. German forces were comprised of a combination of battle-hardened veterans who had fought along the Eastern Front and units filled with inexperienced young men and Soldiers who would usually be considered too old for service. Approximately 250,000 German Soldiers advanced along a 50-mile-long front of Allied Forces with the support of 100,000 tanks and assault guns, including the new 70-ton Tiger II tanks and 1,900 artillery guns. Germany’s 2,000 aircrafts would remain ready for deployment when permitted by weather.

During World War II, the allied forces planned an invasion against the German army at the beaches of Normandy, France. With this assault still hours away, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division Paratroopers were already executing night drops behind enemy lines. An article published at www.warhistoryonline.com states, “the paratroopers were to disrupt the German defense lines and use the element of surprise while the main force landed the beaches” (Budanovic). Foggy weather made drop-zone accuracy difficult for the 82nd, but they adapted and did their best to complete their mission. This same determination resonates in the life of a more recent veteran of the 82nd Airborne, 1st LT. Mark Menis-Kyler. In a recent interview, he shared his story with

The D-Day invasion started with an unsafe assault by American paratroopers. Dropped behind four lines to mellow up the German troops and to secure focuses on, the paratroopers realized that if the strike via ocean fizzled, there would be no salvage. Leaving from Portland Bill on the English draft, the 101st, and 82nd U.S. Airborne Divisions were dropped on the Cherbourg promontory. Starting there, the 101st was to secure the western end behind UTAH and head off an eastern German advance. The 82nd, landing more remote inland, was to grab the extensions and prevent advance from the west. Substantial haze and German firearms brought about numerous difficulties. The pilots were not able to drop the paratroopers precisely as arranged. The 101st Division endured awesome misfortunes. One and only 6th of the men came to their destination focuses. The main regiment of the 82nd Division was better, however, the second endured substantial supply misfortunes. Still, both divisions figured out how to frame litter squads, and sorted out themselves to battle. By 4:30 am, the 82nd had caught the town of Ste-Mere- Eglise. By first light, Allied powers arrived on five shorelines vanquishing Germany 's strengths. The fourth Infantry Division was to take Utah Beach.

The initial assault began on 16 December 1944, at approximately 0530; Germany began the counteroffensive with a 90-minute artillery barrage using approximately 1,600 artillery pieces across an 80 mile front vital to the Allied forces. The Allied forces were caught by surprise and unable to leverage their air assets, due to heavy snow storms in the Ardennes. The storm front effectively hindered both forces. On the northern shoulder, Germany’s 6th Panzar division pushed forward attacking American positions on Elsenborn Ridge and Losheim Gap. Deitrichs men were committed to battle, having met heavy resistance from the United States 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. The smaller inferior Allied force was able to hold up the German advance,

Led by British General Baron Rawlinson with the plan of a ten-division attack against a 10-mile front. The key to Rawlinson’s plan was to avoid the German bombardment he knew would come from their past battles. General Rawlinson wanted no customary artillery bombardment before the they engaged the enemy, instead tanks and the “storm troopers” from Canada and Australia led the ground attack (although they were enacted later in the initial assault) but were impeded amongst the infantrymen from the Allied forces. Once the tanks found their targets the artillery would join in their assault simultaneously. The French joined in with the bombardment but their infantry did not engage the battlefield immediately they waited 45 minutes. General Rawlinson also had long periods of radio silence and fake messages transferred over the radio because he knew the Germans would be listening to steal

The specific contributions combat engineers made during this operation primarily came from within the 82nd Airborne Division. Under the leadership of Brigadier General (BG) James Gavin, his paratroopers were tasked with dropping in northeast Netherlands to secure bridges at the towns of Grave and Nijmegan. The 82nd Airborne Division’s primary target was securing the bridges at Nijmegan to facilitate the Allied Forces XXX Corps, who would be arriving through Nijmegan to a town called Arnhem. Arnhem was a town that laid on the German / Dutch border. Allied Intelligence determined that two SS Panzer Divisions of German forces occupied that town.

After the invasion of Normandy, France by the Allies in World War II, the Allies pushed the German Army back towards Germany. For the Allies, the war looked to conclude by Christmas of that year, 1944, and to do so required a major push across Europe to Berlin. Operation Market Garden would the largest airborne battle during the war and would be led under Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery who was in command of the 21st Army Group. What was thought to be the final push into Berlin, Germany by the Allies proved to be wrong during Operation Market Garden. The Allies ultimately lost the battle and were forced to delay movement into Germany. The Battle of Arnhem was the most famous battle during Operation Market Garden, known as “a bridge too far”, where the British 1st Airborne Division, led by Major General R.E. Urquhart, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were dropped in the Netherlands to secure the key bridges at Arnhem. Ultimately the mission failed for the British due to lack of resupply and reinforcements from the British XXX Corps on the ground. MG Urquhart did not demonstrate the steps in mission command, understand, visualize, lead and direct during the Battle of Arnhem, which also contributed to losing the battle.

12000 aircraft supported the land invasion force, the plan was to divide the German forces, to ease the landing on the beaches. The paratroops were suppose to be dropped off in a small aria between the city, which was occupied by Germans, and the swamp aria, which was purposely flooded by the Germans, and flank them. The movie did an amazing job in reproducing this event. Due to the bad weather the man got scattered all over the place, people fell into wells, landed in trees, fell through the roofs, and many had drowned in the swamp. One part of the movie shows an English solder landing in a courtyard full of German solders. He was immediately apprehended and taken to German