One of German General Carl Von Clausewitz's key concepts is culmination. His primary work On War describes culmination for the attacker as the point beyond which he can no longer continue his attack and risks destruction from a counterattack. For...
Air/Land Battle doctrine stresses the need for Army units to fight successfully out-numbered. This dictum implies the conduct of defensive operations at the beginning of a war. The shift to offensive operations, the counterattack, can be the key to...
As the U.S. Army embraces AirLand Battle doctrine, the tactical counterattack becomes increasingly significant as a key component of a defensive-offensive. This study examines the theoretical relevance of the counterattack by Carl von Clausewitz,...
Department of Military Art and Engineering, United States Military Academy
This account of the operations in Eastern Europe details the German invasion of Russia, the Stalingrad campaigns, the campaigns in Western Russia, and the liberation of Eastern Europe.
This study examines current river crossing doctrine to determine its compatibility with current force structure and the AirLand Battle concept of the modern battlefield. Using the historical example of the 80th Infantry Division's assault crossing...
A key theoretical proposition offered by Clausewitz in On War was that the defense was the stronger form of war over the offense. Members of the military, theorists, and historians have intermittently grappled with this proposition and have tended...
Perhaps one of the most controversial theories proposed by the l9th century military theorist and historian, Carl von Clausewitz, was the proposition that the defense, not the offense, was the stronger form of war. This is the second of two...
This paper provides an excellent survey of the intricacies of employing defensive tactics against a powerful opponent. Using after-action reports, unit war diaries, and other primary materials, the author analyzes the doctrine and tactics that the...
This study examines the evolution of the German Army's defensive doctrine on the Russian Front from 1941 to 1945. It begins by reviewing prewar doctrine as expressed in German field manuals and professional journals. German defensive techniques are...
The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: How should U.S. Army doctrine for the “follow and support” mission be clarified? This is done by focusing on the evolution of the “follow and support” concept in the Army's capstone...
Recent historical events such as the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and Operation Desert Storm indicate that we are entering a new era of geo-political struggle. The world is no longer dominated by a bipolar struggle between the United States and the...
This study is a General Staff analysis and record of the most important operational details of the XIX Corps' successful attack on and penetration through the "Siegfried Line". Topics include a description of the Siegfried Line, plans and...
This monograph examines the historic attack by Adolph Hitler's Germany against the Soviet defenses in 1941. It examines actions of both armed forces to analyze what went wrong and what went right for each side. It focuses on Soviet defenses to...
"In coast defense, the general mission of the armed forces is to prevent or repeal a landing by hostile forces on United States soil or in any theater of operations designated by the President."
This study examines the principal combatants in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, (simply referred to as the October War), from a historical perspective to determine if political factors played a significant role in decision making on the battlefield....
This study tests the hypothesis that, at the operational level, there are essential elements of operational transition that the commander may use as a guide to determine the actions that must be taken to pursue the positive aim, the...