In pursuit of military excellence: the evolution of operational theory

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: London: Frank Cass, 1997Description: 398pISBN:
  • 0714642770 (pbk.):
Subject(s): Summary: Argues that Western military thought and much of its practice has been dominated by attritional concepts of destruction inherited from Clausewitz. This is said to be due to a failure to see an enemy army as a system of components which can be dismantled by deep, fast, simultaneous strikes designed to shock. The German blitzkrieg falls short of this approach as was shown by it's failure against Russian forces despite initial tank superiority. By contrast the Red Army used the Soviet Deep Operation theory developed during the 1920s and 30s. Not until the 1980s when the US military developed the Airland Battle concept were the ideas really developed in the West, ideas which subsequently proved so successful in Desert Storm.
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Book Mindef Library & Info Centre On-Shelf 355.020904 NAV (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 0004859

Argues that Western military thought and much of its practice has been dominated by attritional concepts of destruction inherited from Clausewitz. This is said to be due to a failure to see an enemy army as a system of components which can be dismantled by deep, fast, simultaneous strikes designed to shock. The German blitzkrieg falls short of this approach as was shown by it's failure against Russian forces despite initial tank superiority. By contrast the Red Army used the Soviet Deep Operation theory developed during the 1920s and 30s. Not until the 1980s when the US military developed the Airland Battle concept were the ideas really developed in the West, ideas which subsequently proved so successful in Desert Storm.

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