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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > Military tactics
Intelligence professionals are employees of the government working
in a business that some would consider unethical-the business of
spying. This book looks at the dilemmas that exist when one is
asked to perform a civil service that is in conflict with what that
individual believes to be "ethical." This is the first book to
offer the best essays, articles, and speeches on ethics and
intelligence that demonstrate the complex moral dilemmas in
intelligence collection, analysis, and operations that confront
government employees. Some are recently declassified and never
before published, and all are written by authors whose backgrounds
are as varied as their insights, including Robert M. Gates, former
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; John P. Langan, the
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Professor of Catholic Social Thought at
the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University; and Loch K.
Johnson, Regents Professor of Political Science at the University
of Georgia and recipient of the Owens Award for contributions to
the understanding of U.S. intelligence activities. To the
intelligence professional, this is a valuable collection of
literature for building an ethical code that is not dependent on
any specific agency, department, or country. Managers, supervisors,
and employees of all levels should read this book. Creating the
foundation for the study of ethics and intelligence by filling in
the gap between warfare and philosophy, Ethics of Spying makes the
statement that the intelligence professional has ethics.
Describes the operational challenges posed by the urban environment
and proposes several recommendations to surmount them. In every
operation, the functions of command, control, intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and communications are all
fundamental to success. But in cities, the dense population, many
manmade structures, and other challenges act to severely impede
these functions in several ways. This monograph contemplates the
nature of those challenges and proposes several recommendations to
surmount them in both the short and longer terms.
Ephraim Kam observes surprise attack through the eyes of its
victim in order to understand the causes of the victim's failure to
anticipate the coming of war. Emphasing the psychological aspect of
warfare, Kam traces the behavior of the victim at various
functional levels and from several points of view in order to
examine the difficulties and mistakes that permit a nation to be
taken by surprise. He argues that anticipation and prediction of a
coming war are more complicated than any other issue of strategic
estimation, involving such interdependent factors as analytical
contradictions, judgemental biases, organizational obstacles, and
political as well as military constraints.
Gives an overview of the formidable tasks facing US Army combat
service support (CSS) in urban operations and recommends ways for
the CSS community to prepare itself to meet them. The inevitability
of US armed forces future involvement in urban contingencies
worldwide demands that those responsible for arming, manning,
sustaining, and otherwise supporting these operations prepare for
the challenges inherent in such undertakings. This report gives an
overview of these formidable tasks and recommends ways for the US
Army combat service support (CSS) community to prepare itself to
meet them.
Using a case study based on the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat team,
the authors explore how the Army might improve its ability to
contribute to prompt global power projection, that is,
strategically responsive early-entry forces for time-critical
events.
Current U.S. forces have little experience with urban warfare. This
report identifies shortfalls in urban combat ground reconnaissance
and assists in the creation of urban reconnaissance tactics,
techniques, and procedures for the Marine Corps. The authors
discuss four challenges: the constant adaptation demanded by the
environment, the complexity of ground reconnaissance, the demands
of urban operations on military personnel, and the demands of these
operations on equipment and technology. The analysts' purpose is to
narrow the gap between these challenges and the solutions
immediately at hand.
In this concise and penetrating study, Roger Barnett illuminates
the effect of operational, organisational, legal, and moral
constraints on the ability of the U.S. to use military force. As
the tragic events of September 11 demonstrated, potential
adversaries can take advantage of these limitations, thus spawning
"asymmetrical warfare." Barnett defines asymmetrical warfare as not
simply a case of pitting one's strength against another's weakness
but rather of taking the calculated risk to exploit an adversary's
inability or unwillingness to prevent, or defend against, certain
actions. For instance, launching chemical, biological, or suicide
attacks; taking indiscriminate actions against critical
infrastructure; using hostages or human shields; deliberately
destroying the environment; and targeting non-combatants all
constitute possible asymmetrical warfare scenarios. Against these
acts, the U.S. has not prepared any response in kind. Indeed it
either cannot or will not undertake such responses, thus making
these attacks especially difficult to counter. This refusal to
retaliate in an "eye for an eye" fashion complicates the dilemma of
American policy makers who seek to wield power and influence on the
world stage while simultaneously projecting a peaceful and benign
image. Barnett concludes that the U.S. must create a formal system
of selectively eliminating the constraints that dictate their
response to certain situations or scenarios. Failure to make such
changes will only increase paralysis and, when the use of force is
required, contribute to the already heightened risks.
This case study analysis of three recent urban operations is
intended to update the lessons learned from prior military
experience. The three cases examined - Panama in 1989, Somalia in
1992-1993, and Chechnya in 1994-1995 - all occurred within the last
ten years and capture the range of political constraints that
military forces must operate under in urban environments. The
author discusses how ongoing technological, social, and political
changes are increasing the significance of certain elements of
urban operations. These include the presence of the media; the
presence of noncombatants; rules of engagement; and
information-operation tools such as psychological operations,
public affairs, civil affairs, and political-military strategy.
This title examines how the urban physical, social, and political
environment constrains aerospace operations; identifies key
operational tasks that aerospace forces can help accomplish; and
discusses strategies and technologies that can improve success in
urban operations.
A startling omission from the extensive literature on the Pacific
events of World War II is an analysis of Allied psychological
operations. Allison B. Gilmore makes a strong case for the
importance of psychological warfare in this theater, countering the
usual view of fanatical resistance by Japanese units. Gilmore
marshals evidence that Japanese military indoctrination did not
produce soldiers who were invulnerable to demoralization and the
survival instinct.
Little Round Top, the Railroad Cut, Pickett’s Charge—these are
the turning points within the most important battle of the Civil
War. Even careful students of Gettysburg, however, can find
themselves disoriented when visiting the site itself. Here,
finally, is a convenient guide for serious student and casual
visitor alike that makes plain the sweep of events and the
geography of the battlefield. This invaluable guidebook was
created by scholars who have walked the battlegrounds, consulted
with local experts and park guides, and studied the testimony left
behind by the participants. Gettysburg will help you find all the
important locales and understand what the participants saw in 1863,
even if you have no prior knowledge of the battle. Designed to
enhance the experience of both first-time and returning visitors,
this guide can be used alone or as a supplement to a tour. Clearly
written and illustrated with maps and photographs, this is the book
to have when you explore Gettysburg.
The hard-fought and dramatic battles of Chickamauga (September
19-20, 1863) and Chattanooga (November 23-25, 1863) changed the
course of the Civil War. These battles sounded the death knell of
the Confederacy and put Ulysses S. Grant on the road to final
victory. For the first time in one convenient guide, Steven E.
Woodworth provides an overview of the battles and an on-site tour
to help both serious students and casual visitors get the most out
of a visit to Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The guide emphasizes how
the opposing armies used terrain and how that terrain shaped the
course of each battle. Easy-to-follow directions to specific
locations enable you to view the field from the historic
perspectives of the combatants. Whether used alone or as a
supplement to a tour, this guide will enhance your visit. Clearly
written and illustrated with maps and photographs, it is an
invaluable tool for both knowledgeable Civil War enthusiasts and
first-time visitors to Chickamauga and Chattanooga.
Describing the radical transformation in German Infantry tactics
that took place during World War I, this book presents the first
detailed account of the evolution of stormtroop tactics available
in English. It covers areas previously left unexplored: the German
Infantry's tactical heritage, the squad's evolution as a tactical
unit, the use of new weapons for close combat, the role of the
elite assault units in the development of new tactics, and detailed
descriptions of offensive battles that provided the inspiration and
testing ground for this new way of fighting. Both a historical
investigation and a standard of excellence in infantry tactics,
Stormtroop Tactics is required reading for professional military
officers and historians as well as enthusiasts. Contrary to
previous studies, Stormtroop Tactics proposes that the German
Infantry adaption to modern warfare was not a straightforward
process resulting from the "top down" intervention of reformers but
instead a "bottom up" phenomenon. It was an accumulation of
improvisations and ways of dealing with pressing situations that
were later sewn together to form what we now call "Blitzkrieg."
Focusing on action at the company, platoon, and squad level,
Stormtroop Tactics provides a detailed description of the evolution
of German defensive tactics during World War I--tactics that were
the direct forbears of those used in World War II.
In mid summer 1918 the First World War was still finely balanced. A
top secret mission, which has remained classified information for a
century, was set in motion to kill Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was felt
that by killing their head of state and commander in chief it would
serve as a mortal blow to the German forces and they would collapse
very quickly after the assassination. In 2002 one of the
participants on a battlefield tour sent a disc to Col. John Hughes-
Wilson. On it was an historical treasure trove containing a Royal
Flying Corps log book and photographs of service with 25 Squadron.
Included among the effects of Lt A.R.Watts MC, of the newly formed
Royal Air Force, was the breath-taking claim that he had taken part
in a secret British mission to kill the Kaiser. This extraordinary
secret was confirmed by further research at the RAF museum and the
RAF Historical Branch. This startling but never before revealed
story was true. On 2nd June 1918, at the height of the final German
attack of WW1, the British RAF tried to assassinate the Kaiser when
he was visiting a chateau near the front. The facts are borne out
in never-before-published notebooks, maps and pilots' flying
records, kept secret for a hundred years. Copies of these records
are in the author's possession and are backed up by details tucked
away in 25 Squadron's records. But the implications of this secret
attack raise many new - and explosive - questions. Exactly who
ordered an attack to kill the Kaiser? Was it sanctioned by the
C-in-C, Sir Douglas Haig? By the War Office? Unlikely. Was the King
informed of the attempt to kill his royal cousin? Was Lloyd George,
the Prime Minister asked? We do not know; but someone in London
must have sanctioned the attack. The Official History makes no
mention of any attack, and public records say nothing. Even the RAF
Museum has no official record: but the attack really did take
place, of that there is no doubt. Other documents and various 25
Squadron log books prove it. So someone did give an order to kill
the Kaiser. But who? John Hughes-Wilson has woven an exciting and
well-paced historical novel to mark this centennial event from the
research on discovering this mission. The story, based on true
events, looks at this long hidden secret and puts it into the
context of the time. It explores areas rarely examined: secret
service operations in 1914-18; dirty, undercover intelligence work;
the very real political intrigues between Whitehall and the
generals and the heroics of the aircrew of the day, whose life
expectancy at one point in 1917 was only eleven days in action.
Winning World War II was about more than military force. It
required guile, and tremendous acts of bravery by Special Forces
and intelligence operatives who had the odds stacked against them.
Using hundreds of documents and images from The National Archives,
including some that have never been seen in print before, this book
reveals some of World War II's most audacious missions. These
include Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate SS General
Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942, Operation Chariot, the
attempt to damage the mighty German warship Tirpitz while she was
in dock in St-Nazaire in France; and Operation Mincemeat, a complex
plot whereby a corpse, replete with documentation designed to
mislead the enemy, was dropped in southern Spain to spread
misinformation.
Operation Torch, launched on 8 November 1942, landed Anglo-American forces in Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria to create a second front against the Axis forces in North Africa, catching Rommel's German and Italian forces in the claws of a giant pincer.
The US Army was powerfully well armoured and equipped, but fresh to war, and it showed. Organization suffered from a surfeit of peacetime theories and training was insufficient and ill-applied. Despite such failings the US GIs and their commanders learned very quickly, adapting to German tactics and the realities of mechanized warfare. The Axis forces in North Africa were seasoned by years of fighting against increasingly powerful British and Commonwealth forces, and were led by one of the Reich's most capable generals. The German doctrine of mechanized warfare had proved itself time and again, but ever-growing logistical and supply problems were blunting its effectiveness.
From Sidi Bou Zid to El Guettar, this fully illustrated study pits the US Army against the best that the Axis forces in Africa had to offer.
When the Civil War began, Northern soldiers and civilians alike
sought a framework to help make sense of the chaos that confronted
them. Many turned first to the classic European military texts from
the Napoleonic era, especially Antoine Henri Jomini's Summary of
the Art of War. As Carol Reardon shows, Jomini's work was only one
voice in what ultimately became a lively and contentious national
discourse about how the North should conduct war at a time when
warfare itself was rapidly changing. She argues that the absence of
a strong intellectual foundation for the conduct of war at its
start-or, indeed, any consensus on the need for such a
foundation-ultimately contributed to the length and cost of the
conflict. Reardon examines the great profusion of new or newly
translated military texts of the Civil War years, intended to fill
that intellectual void, and draws as well on the views of the
soldiers and civilians who turned to them in the search for a
winning strategy. In examining how debates over principles of
military thought entered into the question of qualifications of
officers entrusted to command the armies of Northern citizen
soldiers, she explores the limitations of nineteenth-century
military thought in dealing with the human elements of combat.
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