Essay The Results of Operation Judgement

On the 1 January 2015, Dwight Eisenhower was made commander of the Operation Overlord. He tried to trick the Germans into thinking that the main target was Pas-de-Calais rather than Normandy. Fake equipment was set up so that it looked like they were attacking Pas-de-Calais. The commander had chosen the 5th of June, but bad weather had them move it by 24 hours. The general gave a speech before the war. (Source G). The reason for this was that if the Americans had Normandy they would land more troops.

The German command decided to launch their only offensive of 1915 at Ypres to not only hide the fact that they were diverting many of their forces to fight the Russians, but to try and gain the high ground which Ypres provided. Ypres was the last major Belgian town still held by the Allies and also was important for its location close to French ports which provided France with supplies and troops from Allied nations. Opposing the Germans would be an army comprised of French, British, Canadians, and Algerians.

General Pershing, in command of the U.S. 1st Army, set the rail line near Sedan, France as the main objective. This was a vital supply route for German forces (Stewart, 2005), and the direction of attack to the north of the front line through the Argonne Forest would expose the flank of German forces being attacked by the French from the west. Support for the American forces consisted of over 800 aircraft, nearly 190 tanks, and approximately 2,700 pieces of artillery, and over 600,000 men (Stewart, 2005).

     Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Curries was not pleased at the prospect of going to Passchendaele. Currie, like many Canadian soldiers, had grim memories of the Ypres salient, and grim memories to he Ypres salient, and admitted that his “experience in the salient in 1915 and in 1916 were such that I never wanted to see the place again.” Unfortunately, on 3 October, Currie was warned that the Corps might be sent north, to take part in the offensive in Flanders. Currie could make no sense of Passchendaele, and he was furious. “Passchendaele!” he raged in front of his staff. “What’s the good of it? Let the Germans have it--keep it--rot in it! Rot in the mud! There’s a mistake somewhere. it must be a mistake! It isn’t worth a drop of blood.” Although Currie was not at all happy that the Canadians had been told to take Passchendaele. One of Currie’s first moves was to assign intelligence officers to the various headquarters with which the Canadian Corps would be associated: Second Army, II Anzac Corps, which was responsible for the sector the Canadians would be taking over, and its front-line divisions, the New Zealand and 3rd Australian. These officers, and the general staff were to acquire

Source one is a primary source with interviews elucidating the strategies undertaken at the Battle of Verdun and the soldier’s perplexing encounters of war. The perspective of this source varies with differing speakers with the first is that of the narrator, describing the history of of the German armies, with mention of Allied responses, giving it the main perspective that of a German history. Due to the first perspective not having a name identified, it therefore reduces the reliability. German solider Ernst Weckerling is that of the second perspective, reiterating his duties and events during his time in Verdun. The final perspective is that of Marcel Batreau, and is analogous to Weckerling’s perspective, with Batreau, a French soldier, telling his version of events during the battle.

The First Battle of the Marne was the first major battle of World War I. Fought in September of 1914, the battle marked the end of the German advance toward Paris and the beginning of trench warfare. The battle exhibited a number of firsts in the history of warfare, motorized movement of troops and interception of radio communications. It indicated that the war would not be a quick victory for Germany (Klein, 2014). Joseph Joffre, the French Commander in Chief, exhibited ingenuity and leadership to yield a significant victory while the Helmuth von Moltke the younger, the German chief of staff, demonstrated a failure of mission command resulting in defeat.

Good morning/afternoon class. Today I will be talking to you about the Battle of Verdun. The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle during WW1 fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916, fought on the Western Front. The Western Front was one of the main battle grounds in WW1 located in France. The battle was fought between the German and French armies and caused over 700,00 casualties.

This mission command analysis evaluates the battle of Team Desobry at the town of Noville, Belgium. These events took place 18-19 December 1944, and later impacted the battle fought at Bastogne during World War II. It is the goal of this review to discuss and analyze three mission command principles displayed during this battle: Create shared understanding, exercise disciplined initiative, and the acceptance of prudent risk. One of the main characters that took part in this story was the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion, 10th Armored Division. The commanding officer of this element was Major William R. Desobry. During the events of World War II, the German forces were trying to gain control of the Ardennes to cut off the allies’ supply lines in order to isolate British forces from the American troops. A pivotal task for German forces to attain this goal was to gain access and take control of the Belgian town of Bastogne. However, an important strategic stepping stone to get there was Noville, which is just seven kilometers northeast of Bastogne. Two main reasons made Noville such a critical location for the Germans: First, it had a junction of roads that were important for displacement of German forces to the West. Second, it provided an alternative road to access Bastogne from the north.1

The post D-Day Allied assault that swept through France was halted by Hitler’s unexpected counter-attack through the Ardennes, resulting in a confrontation named the Battle of the Bulge.

In 1916 witnessed the commencement of the battle of the Somme. Through the course of that one battle, a million British men were slaughtered compared to the combined number of American casualties in both the first and Second World War. The Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French and British operation, approved by Haig. However, the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 turned the Somme offensive into a large-scale British attack. Haig accepted responsibility for the action and with the help of Rawlinson who devised his own plan of

The Allies rallied an offensive for the liberation of France in late September 1915. This resulted in a stalemate between the powers, inflicting heavy casualties on the Allied and Central Powers. This fierce battling with no progression continued into late 1916, when the Germans became concerned at the amount of the allied forces on the western front and the invention of the tank - technology that Germany

Men who retreated were even mowed down by their own machine gun fire. General Nivelle, of the 2nd Army that was defending Verdun issued the order: ‘No surrender; no retreat, not even an inch: die where you stand.' Imagine being in a battle where the only way you might survive is by running forward into machine gun fire because you know if you run back you'll for surely be killed. Some may consider this to be barbaric and a violation of rights and freedoms but think what may have resulted if it was not done. Perhaps during WWII Stalingrad would have fallen to the Germans and which eventually might have led to the entire eastern front to be taken and German occupation of soviet territory. This would have allowed them to re-concentrate their armies to the western front and perhaps led to a defeat of the allies. The same goes for Verdun. If the Germans had succeeded in taking Verdun the French would have completely lost their spirit. Since France was also an important British ally if the French were to lose morale and essentially give up, it may have led to different outcomes in the battle of the Somme and other important battles that may have changed the course of history.

Germany did not have a numerically superior force on the western front, but bold strategy, careful planning and blitzkrieg tactics set the foundation for the French defeat. In June 1940 Hitler invaded Paris, eight days later the French surrendered. After the French surrender, Hitler attempted to end the war with Britain. Speaking to the Reichstag in June, he said, “I can see no reason why the war need go on.” But Hitler was already had his sights set on invading Russia. He now aimed to end the war in the west so he could concentrate on attacking communist Russia in the east. Hitler knew that invading Britain would be difficult, but still he informed his military to leaders to prepare for the operation, Operation Sea Lion, and proceeded in planning a landing operation against Britain.

Joseph Joffre who is the French Chief of the general staff begun the second largest Allied offensive on the West Front, after that known as the Battle of Champagne. The plan was for the French Fourth Army under Fernand de Langle de Cary to go and attack the German 3rd Army under Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht. While

On the Western Front, the Germans quickly invaded Belgium and moved efficiently to put the Scheiffen Plan into effect. The Scheiffen Plan was created so that the German army would not have to fight on two- fronts. By mid September, the plan had failed for a number of reasons. Because Belgians were able to hold up the Germans at their forts, the British Expeditionary Force was able to then mobilize and began to arrive in France by August 15. The French then had plenty of time to move north to confront the German