Sound Military Decision Part 10

He appreciates the distinction between mere stubbornness, which would alienate his followers, and the necessary firmness which binds the bonds between the leader and the led. He realizes that comradeship, without presumptuous familiarity, is the firmest foundation for mutual loyalty (page 14). He knows that kindness and consideration, without suggestion of pampering, will not be mistaken for weakness by any subordinate worthy of the name.

Military subordination, which implies a proud obedience without trace of servility, is the essential basis for the development of the qualities of command. It is an old adage that, to know how to command, one must know how to obey. In the profession of arms, every man is at once a leader and a follower; the uncertainties of war may suddenly confront any individual, even on the lowest echelon, with the call to exercise command.

The requirements of sound discipline are thus the correct basis for all training. By proper training of his command, by instilling in it a spirit of resolute determination and by otherwise fostering its morale, and by weakening the morale of the enemy, a commander may increase his own fighting strength and reduce that of the opposition.

When a command is inured to the ill effects of fear, despondency, lack of confidence, and other weakening influences, it may more effectually employ measures calculated to upset the morale of the enemy.

In connection with these measures, surprise, when judiciously conceived and successfully employed, may be a most potent factor.

Surprise (see page 26) is the injection of the unexpected for the purpose of creating an unfavorable military situation for the enemy.

Its effect is particularly telling when it results in disruption of enemy plans, and thus promotes the execution of one's own.

The raid, an offensive measure swiftly executed, often by surprise, and followed by a withdrawal, may be a valuable operation when employed to attain objectives within its capacity. The collection of information, the destruction of important enemy equipment or supplies, the neutralization of enemy positions, the severing of physical means of communication and transport, and the like, are suitable objectives.

The attritional effect of repeated raids may be very great. Skillfully executed raids frequently produce panic among the populace and thus, by political pressure, cause a change in the existing apportionment of fighting strength to the extent of upsetting military plans in other theaters. This is particularly likely to occur when there is fear, justified or otherwise, of repet.i.tion (see page 69).

However, because a raid necessarily includes a withdrawal and cannot, therefore, accomplish the occupation of territory (see page 46), it can have only indirect bearing, however important, upon the final outcome of the hostilities against a strong and competent enemy. Like other forms of surprise, the raid, injudiciously employed, may serve only to disclose one's presence, and thus to betray more important future plans. If the raid fails to attain its objective, it may even strengthen enemy morale.

The form which surprise may take is not confined to the stratagem, the ruse, or the sudden appearance. Any unexpected display of novel methods or of fighting strength, moral, mental, or physical, the last-named sometimes a.s.suming the character of new and especially effective weapons or equipment, is included in the category of surprise. The potential value of such methods or weapons is, however, reduced or even completely vitiated by the leakage of advance information concerning them, not only as to their details, but as to the fact of their existence.

Other conditions remaining unchanged, an offensive surprise measure is therefore more likely to be effective when the opponent has not been given time to prepare a defense against it. On the other hand, where there is knowledge that an opponent or possible opponent is taking steps of a new or unusual nature and no adequate defense is prepared, the equivalent of surprise has been granted him.

Security measures are necessary in order to minimize or prevent surprise, or to defeat other efforts aimed at disruption of plans.

Protection brings security; its basic objective is the conservation of fighting strength for future employment. Primarily requiring the maintenance of secrecy and the exercise of vigilance and foresight, security may be furthered by efficient scouting, by appropriate dispositions and formations within the command, and by the use of protective detachments and of various types of works in the sphere of engineering. Previous discussion (pages 64 and 69), with respect to relative position and to the apportionment of fighting strength, has indicated how, through fortification and related measures, the commander may increase relative fighting strength and thereby promote his own freedom of action while restricting that of the enemy.

A commander will be hampered in maintaining his fighting strength at its maximum unless he has arranged for, and has at his disposal, adequate logistics support. Because of its intimate relationship to mobility and endurance, such support is an essential to freedom of action. Logistics support requires provision for procurement and replenishment of supplies, for evacuation, proper disposition, and replacement of ineffective personnel, and for material maintenance.

Freedom of action is restricted beyond those limits to which logistics support can be extended. (See page 63.)

The initiative is of paramount importance in ensuring freedom of action. If the initiative is seized and maintained with adequate strength, the enemy can only conform; he cannot lead. If initiative is lost, freedom of action is restricted in like measure.

The offensive, properly employed, is a method of seizing the initiative, and of regaining it if lost. Even though there be an actual numerical superiority in fighting strength, an offensive will, however, seldom a.s.sume practical form unless founded on an offensive mental att.i.tude, which ever seeks the favorable and suitable opportunity to strike. Completely to abandon the offensive state of mind is to forswear victory.

Whether physically on the defensive or the offensive, the competent commander is always engaged in a mental and moral attack upon the will of the enemy commander (see page 8). By effective attack upon the hostile will, the commander disintegrates the enemy's plan, i.e., the enemy's reasoned decision, as well as the detailed procedure on which the enemy relies to carry this decision into effect.

It does not follow that offensive action is possible or even desirable under all circ.u.mstances. Even with superior strength the most skillful commander will scarcely be able, always, to apportion forces in such manner as everywhere to permit the a.s.sumption of the offensive.

Without adequately superior strength, it may be necessary to adopt the defensive for considerable periods. If the offensive mental att.i.tude is retained, together with fixed determination to take offensive measures as soon as appropriate to do so, the calculated and deliberate adoption of the defensive, for the proper length of time, may best promote the ultimate attainment of the objective. It is of the utmost importance, however, that a static defensive be not adopted as a settled procedure (see page 65) beyond the time necessary to prepare for an effective offensive.

Both the offensive and the defensive have their places in an operation whose broad character is primarily either defensive or offensive. In operations which involve movement over a considerable distance, a combination of the offensive and the defensive is usually found necessary (see also references to distant operations on pages 63 and 74). Though the movement itself be offensive, the ensurance of freedom of action may require both defensive measures and tactically offensive action. The enemy, primarily on the defensive, may be expected to seize every opportunity to employ the offensive.

Thus, a judicious combination of the offensive and the defensive has been found to be sound procedure (see also page 61), provided that the general defensive is always viewed as a basis for the inauguration, at the proper moment, of the offensive. The methods employed during the period of the defensive are best calculated to promote freedom of action if they are designed to facilitate a ready a.s.sumption of the offensive as soon as conditions favorable to the offensive have been created.

Familiarity with the physical characteristics of the actual and possible theaters of operations, and accurate intelligence of the strength, distribution, and activities of enemy forces likely to be encountered, are of primary importance in the promotion of freedom of action. Additions to this store of knowledge may be made by a continuous interpretation and dissemination of new information collected, a.n.a.lyzed, and evaluated by persistent effort. Of equal importance is the denial of information to the enemy.

In connection with counter-information measures (see page 127), the scrutiny of information of a military nature intended for popular consumption demands the exercise of sound professional judgment prior to publication. A resourceful enemy is ever alert to evaluate and turn to his own advantage all available information, including that ostensibly innocuous.

As to all of the foregoing considerations, a fund of professional knowledge, previously acquired through study, or experience, or both, and coupled with a sound concept of war, is the best basis for devising suitable, feasible, and acceptable measures for freedom of action.

With a given fighting strength, the ensurance of freedom of action, within the field of responsibility of a commander, requires consideration of such matters as:

(a) Efficient provisions for exercise of command, (b) Effective training, (c) A state of high and stable morale, founded on (d) sound discipline, (e) The offensive spirit, (f) The initiative, (g) Surprise, (h) Security, (i) Adequate logistics support, (j) Adequate intelligence and counter-intelligence.

A more detailed a.n.a.lysis of such factors is provided hereafter (Chapter VI, as to Section I-B of the Estimate Form). With proper provision made in these respects, the commander will be better able to deal with those restrictions on freedom of action imposed by the enemy and by adverse geographical conditions. With respect to restrictions that in a particular situation may be due to the latter cause, it will at once be appreciated how greatly freedom of action may depend on the selection of correct physical objectives, on utilization of advantageous relative positions, and on an effective apportionment of fighting strength.

Each measure, or each operation, for freedom of action, if it is to meet the requirements of suitability, feasibility, and acceptability, will be planned on the basis of the foregoing considerations and will take account, also, of the inherent requirements of that measure, or operation, for freedom of action for itself.

On occasion, higher authority may request the recommendations of the commander (see page 42, as to opinions) with reference to provision for freedom of action. Such recommendations will properly be based on the elements considered in the preceding discussion.

IV. SUMMARY

All these considerations involve the proper evaluation of the factors applicable (page 25) to the particular problem. Each objective, prior to its selection, and each operation, prior to its adoption, will require examination of its suitability with regard to the appropriate effect desired; of its feasibility with respect to the action contemplated as to physical objectives, relative positions, the concurrent apportionment of fighting strength, and freedom of action; and, finally, of its acceptability with reference to consequences as to costs.

CHAPTER V

THE FOUR STEPS IN THE SOLUTION OF A MILITARY PROBLEM

Chapter V discusses the four steps in the application of mental effort to the successful attainment of a military objective. Emphasis is placed on such matters as: the Estimate of the Situation in basic problems, together with certain details as to tasks, the mission, courses of action, and the Decision; the formulation of detailed plans, including subsidiary plans; directives; the Running Estimate of the Situation; and the use of Forms in the solution of problems.

In Chapter II it has been brought to notice that every problem, regardless of its type and scope, has its source in a perplexity created by an apparent difficulty inherent in a situation. Where there is a sufficient incentive to change or maintain the situation, the problem is one which requires solution. (See page 20.)

A situation may be actual or a.s.sumed. In broad outline, an actual military situation is always likely to present a picture of opposing organizations of human beings, each possessed of fighting strength and disposed in a locality or localities which const.i.tute relative positions with reference to each other.

This picture may be expected to a.s.sume various aspects as action progresses (see page 38). The concern of the commander is to control the unfolding of the original situation, to the end that he may attain the effect he desires (page 72). (See also Chapter IX.)

The incentive to solve a problem is provided by a realization, on the part of the individual concerned, of a need to make provision for the attainment of an objective. In the ease of a military problem, such incentive may result (1) from a directive issued by higher authority, usually in the form of an a.s.signed task, or (2) from the fact that a decision already reached by the commander has introduced further problems, or (3) from a recognition of the demands of the situation.

(See page 44.)

An objective is best attained by the successful application of properly directed effort. There is thus an essential and continuing relationship between the incentive to solve a problem, and the task which a.s.signs the objective (or objectives) and thus motivates the procedure necessary for the attainment of the objective(s) so a.s.signed (page 50).

Such a task may, therefore, be referred to as the motivating task.

The natural mental processes which normal human beings employ in solving their problems of business, public affairs, or even personal matters, have been previously described as the natural processes for employment in the solution of military problems (see Chapter II). In adapting these natural processes to military requirements (page 43), the only difference imposed is that of studied insistence that the factors peculiar to the conduct of war, as recognized in the Fundamental Military Principle (page 41), receive thorough a.n.a.lytical treatment from the professional viewpoint.

The same observations apply when the field of military operations is restricted to that which primarily concerns the naval branch of the military profession. No fundamental difference in the solution of problems is introduced thereby. The only variations in the application of the Fundamental Military Principle are those due to the fact that the sea provides the theater of naval operations with distinctive characteristics (see page 62).

The Approach to the Solution

Studies of the subject indicate that the successful attainment of an a.s.signed military objective involves the application of mental effort in four distinct steps (see page 3), in fixed sequence, as follows:

(1) The selection, by the commander, of a correct objective (or objectives) by achieving which he may attain his a.s.signed objective(s). Such selection includes the determination, in proper detail, of the action required.

(2) The resolution of the required action into detailed military operations.

(3) The formulation of a directive, or directives, with the intention of immediately inaugurating planned action.

(4) The supervision of the planned action.