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How Did Mg Roy Urquhart's Acquisition Of Mission Command

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The Battle of Arnhem in September of 1944 was a seminal event in the development of mission command within the ranks of the British Army. It also serves as a unique learning point for leaders of all Armies today in how mission command must be dynamic and commanders must adapt their leadership styles for each new challenge. This paper will explore the shortcomings of MG Roy Urquhart, the British 1st Airborne Division commander, during the battle. Specifically it will address the failure to build a cohesive team through mutual trust, provide a clear commander’s intent, exercise disciplined initiative and create a shared understanding. To understand why Arnhem developed like it did, we must first look at the lead up and situation on the western front at the time. Arnhem came three months after the Allied invasion on D-Day during Operation Overlord. During this time, the allies had vast success in the breakout from Normandy. They swiftly moved across France in a massive frontal assault and liberated Paris in just two months. As the allies reached the German border, the assault stalled as they encountered one final, …show more content…

During this time, the other two brigades continued attempts at achieving their objectives of establishing a defensive perimeter around the city. They never understood that one battalion had found a route to their objective and were too rigid to understand that the bridge must be captured first for the defensive perimeter to matter. Without the commanding general there to help overcome this lack of shared understand and without him providing a clear commanders intent prior to the assault, the bridge was never given priority and thus was never captured. The Germans subsequently used it over the coming days to significantly reinforce their counter

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Analyzing the mission command principles and the commanding officer’s actions will also be discussed. Specifically, as it relates to building a cohesive team through mutual trust, providing a clear commander’s intent, and accepting prudent risk. While the battle of Fort Riviere and the resulting occupation of Haiti occurred over a century ago, it provides us with an example of American foreign policy during this period and bares resemblance to future American military

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On July 30, 2008, a bloody battle involving Coalition forces took place in the mountainous eastern Afghan province of Nuristan. This was the Battle of Wanat and the devastating amount of Coalition casualties began a vigorous investigation by the United States Army. The village of Wanat, defended by Second Platoon, Chosen Company, Second Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team would fall victim to numerous bad decision made by higher command. Although the men of Chosen Company fought hard, they ended up surrounded, vastly outnumbered, and without any Battalion assets. This paper will argue the reasons for the disastrous outcome of the Battle of Wanat; examining the effective company leadership exploiting effective

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Have you ever read a book and expected the movie to be amazing, then when you finally see the movie it isn’t even like the book? Well that’s what I felt like when I read The Devil’s Arithmetic. Both, the book and the movie, had similarities and differences. The book begins with Hannah complaining about how she doesn’t want to go to the seder dinner with her and that she doesn’t want to remember any more.

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Hitler’s first goal was to split the allied lines in half just like they had done three times previously in the war. The allies had totally miscalculated this attack and left their divisions that were on the front lines were battered and beaten up from months of intense fighting. The battle of the bulge name came from the giant bulge in the American lines because of the German attack. The attack took place December 16, 1944 at 5:30 a.m. and lasted till January 16th 1945.

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MacDonald detailed several instances throughout Company Commander where he internally second-guessed himself after giving a particular order. Personal turmoil pepper his account of the campaign, and provide a glimpse into the mindset of a young, inexperienced officer during a tumultuous time. Part of being an effective leader is recognizing the inadequacies not only within yourself, but within your

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Leaders at all levels of the Army are faced with difficult decisions every day, decisions that can affect the lives of everyone around them. The thought processes used by individual leaders to make decisions can be as far reaching as their imagination; however, it is every leader’s responsibility to make these decisions using the tenants of mission command. Mission command is not an easy skill to master, however great leaders understand it and the proper use of it when planning a mission. Mission command is broken down into six major principles: Build cohesive teams through trust, create a shared understanding, provide a clear commanders’ intent, exercise-disciplined initiative, use mission orders and accept prudent risk . General Douglas

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Returning to the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) to assume command as the brigade commander brings me much joy to be reunited with great Non-Commission Officers and Officers that I have previously served with. Unfortunately, this brigade is no longer the brigade I remember when I commanded a battalion within the 4th ABCT not so long ago. In the last 30 days, I have had the opportunity to observe the ABCT and review a multitude of historical documents to assess the state of the brigade. During my observation, I believe the critical leadership problem in the 4th ABCT’s is the lack of vision for the brigade. Therefore, this critical problem has led to other challenging issues within the brigade.

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The losses of lives and ships had dented the plan but the Allies pushed on. The inland conditions were horrific. The Allied troops had to break through roots of trees which had created barriers. Narrow roads obstructed the troops from traveling quickly through the land. The German troops had all been moved towards southern England as they had been informed that that is where the invasion was going to commence.

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It was the opening phrase of the Allied offensive later acknowledged as the Hundred Day Offensive that gradually led to the end of WWI. The Allied forces on that day were a mass of assembled, including Australians, launched an offensive to push through the German front lines to victory. The 1st French and 4th British armies were also involved, but were led by combined Australian and Canadian forces. Lieutenant General Sir John Monash was again the mastermind of this battle, he commanded the Australian army, sending 102,000 diggers out on an outstandingly planned attack at Amiens, 120 kilometres north of Paris, which delivered a knock-out blow from which the enemy never recovered. On August the 8th, the Allied forces gained over 11 kilometres, the Germans lost more ground on this day than on any other day on the Western Front.

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By definition, “mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations,” according to ADRP 5-0. Mission command is about knowing when to change the task to fit the purpose. This paper is intended to analyze the mission command of one side of the battle, focusing on the commander’s role in the operations process. The Battle of Bunker Hill was the most important battle of the American Revolution because of Colonel Prescott’s superior command and control.

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Cutting off all escape routes while more troops went into the valley to capture, kill, and force a retreat was the desired outcome. The assets used were light infantry, air assault, a few aerial assets, SOF units, and allied ground forces. It would have been possible to achieve this objective on the initial push if all assets had been placed at the disposal of the US Tactical Commander, MG Franklin Hagenbeck. The capabilities, size, and location of the enemy force where underestimated causing the initial plan to fail drastically with little course of action for a new plan. During the initial planning of the operation the unit commanders should have raised more concern about the lack of a backup plan if something should fail, the lack of known intelligence about the valley and its occupants, and the lack of equipment and resources.

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General Patton, in the Battle of the Bulge exercised the principles of mission command to the fullest and they yielded significantly great results for the Allied forces. General Patton employed each of the principles in different ways in order to ensure that the German surprise attack did not significantly set back the Allied forces in the war. The exercise of mission command allows a commander to conduct military operations and missions through dispersed execution. According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-0, Mission Command, the definition of mission command is “the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations”. General Patton exhibited four of the mission command principles extremely well during the Battle of the Bulge.

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If the operation was initiated as planned on mid-May, the invading German forces could have already been much closer to their objectives when the early rainy season came. So while the muddy terrain of Russia affects movement of forces and logistics, the critical 5-weeks delay could have served as buffer if only the operation started as planned. The advance was further slowed down by the inaction during the month August, and subsequent diversion of troops in the month of September. The time wasted means further deterioration of the ground condition which secured time for the defending forces to re-organize and consolidate, and unduly exhausted the German forces and equipment. This two-month delay directly sealed the failure of the offensive due to the coming of Russian winter which froze and rendered the German weapons and equipment useless, and accounted for more than a hundred thousand German troop casualties due to frostbites.

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