Sound Military Decision Part 28

Naval directives in common use are: War Plans, Campaign Plans, Operation Plans, Operation Orders, Battle Plans, and Battle Orders.

Basic War Plans designate operating forces, a.s.sign broad strategical tasks to these forces, and, where required, delimit theaters of operations. These plans also a.s.sign duties to the supporting services such as naval communications, etc. Requirements as to logistics plans are also included. Accepted usage designates, as Contributory Plans, the subsidiary plans which are prepared in support of Basic War Plans.

Campaign Plans. A campaign, as initially visualized, is a clearly defined major stage of a war. A campaign, after it has pa.s.sed into history, sometimes bears the name of a leader, or a seasonal or geographical designation. It may consist of a single operation, or of successive or concurrent operations. The operations of a campaign have properly a definite objective, the attainment or abandonment of which marks the end of the campaign. (See also page 37, as to operations.)

A Campaign Plan indicates what might be called the "schedule of strategy" which the commander intends to employ to attain his ultimate objective for the campaign. Such a plan usually sets forth the stages into which he proposes to divide the campaign, shows their sequence, and outlines:

(a) The general plan for the entire campaign.

(b) The general plan involved in each stage and the order of accomplishment, so far as the commander has been able to project his action into the future, and usually,

(c) The forces to be made available for the first stage. The Campaign Plan is primarily for the guidance of the commander himself. When necessary for information or approval, it is forwarded to higher authority. To provide the necessary background, it may sometimes be furnished to the princ.i.p.al subordinates. In any case, the interests of secrecy demand that its distribution be extremely limited.

Operation Plans. An Operation Plan may cover projected operations, or may be contingent upon the occurrence of a particular event, or combination of events. It may be issued in advance of the event. It is placed in effect at a specified time or by special order, as prescribed in the body of the plan itself. It provides for either a single operation, or for a connected series of operations to be carried out simultaneously or in successive steps. It is prepared for dissemination to task-force commanders.

Usually, an Operation Plan covers more complex operations than does an Operation Order, and projects operations over a greater time and s.p.a.ce. It allows more lat.i.tude to subordinate commanders, and provides for less direct supervision by the issuing officer. It has typically the distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of including, in paragraph 1, the a.s.sumptions upon which the plan is based.

To provide for eventualities under varying sets of a.s.sumptions, the commander may formulate several alternative Operation Plans (see pages 155 and 156).

Operation Orders. An Operation Order deals with an actual situation, usually of limited scope, in which the commander considers that he possesses sufficient reliable information to warrant an expectation that certain specific operations can be initiated and carried through to completion as ordered. The Operation Order does not include a.s.sumptions and, unless it contains a proviso to the contrary, is effective upon receipt.

Under the conditions obtaining in modern warfare, there are few occasions where the Operation Plan will not accomplish the full purpose of the Operation Order. The use of the Operation Plan removes the undesirable feature of imposing possible restriction on the lat.i.tude allowed the subordinate without, in any degree, lessening the authority of the commander.

Battle Plans. A Battle Plan sets forth methods for the coordinated employment of forces during battle. If prepared in advance, it usually is based on certain a.s.sumptions which are clearly stated in the plan.

Battle Plans may merely include provisions for a particular combat, or they may include provisions for a connected series of separate or coordinate engagements, possibly culminating in a general action, and all directed toward the early attainment of a specified tactical objective. Such combats may range in scope from engagements between small forces to engagements between entire fleets.

Battle Orders are generally limited to the despatches required to place a Battle Plan in effect, and to direct such changes in plan, or to initiate such detailed operations, as may be necessary during the progress of battle.

CHAPTER IX

THE SUPERVISION OF THE PLANNED ACTION

(The Fourth Step)

The discussion in Chapter IX invites attention to the special considerations which influence the supervision of the planned action. The Running Estimate, which employs the procedure typical of the fourth step, is described in detail.

Nature of Discussion. As explained previously (Foreword, page 4), the vast and important subject of the execution of the plan is treated herein, as to details, chiefly from the standpoint of the mental effort.

After the commander has issued a directive placing a plan in effect, it is his responsibility to supervise the execution of the planned action. Through the collection, a.n.a.lysis, evaluation, and interpretation of new information (page 161), he will be able to maintain a grasp of present progress and of future possibilities. He will correct deficiencies and errors in the plan and in its execution.

He will guide the direction of effort toward the attainment of the objective. He will ensure that his forces conform their movement in correct relation to the physical objectives and to each other. He will reapportion strength to meet new conditions, through comparison of his accrued losses with respect to those he has antic.i.p.ated. He will take appropriate measures for freedom of action.

If a new plan is needed, the commander will evolve one and adopt it.

If the old plan requires changes as to its larger aspects, he will make such changes. Otherwise, he will modify details of his plan as the situation may demand, always, however, endeavoring to retain the integrity of the larger aspects. He will issue additional directives as may be required from time to time.

Goal of Planning. The function of planning (Part II, preceding) is to afford a proper basis for effective execution. Effective action, therefore, is the goal of planning.

Otherwise, planning is aimless, except as a mental exercise. Such mental exercise, though it be with no thought of specific application in the realm of action, has nevertheless the same fundamental aim as if the planning were so intended. The aim of such mental exercise is the inculcation of habits of thought which will provide a sound basis for effective action.

Importance of Execution. Sound planning is, as explained in previous chapters, the best basis for consistently effective action. Yet, important as planning is, the effective outcome of plans depends upon their execution.

While an unsound plan affords no firm basis for successful action, recognition has long been accorded to the companion fact that a perfect plan, poorly executed, may not provide as firm a foundation for success as a reasonably good plan, carried out with resolution.

No plan, moreover, can be confidently expected to antic.i.p.ate all eventualities. Notwithstanding every effort to foresee all possibilities, unexpected changes are to be regarded as normal. This fact emphasizes the importance of effective supervision of the planned action.

The importance of such supervision reaches its maximum during actual hostilities; then (page 4) the necessity for alert supervision creates an accentuated demand for the intelligent application of mental power to the solution of military problems. Professional judgment then a.s.sumes supreme importance because vital issues may hinge upon the decisions reached during the development of the action.

Conditions in War. Standards of performance in peacetime exercises cannot be a conclusive guide as to what may be expected under the conditions of war. In the conduct of hostilities against a strong and determined enemy, men and materiel do not always function at their best. Commanders undergo extreme strains. Orders are often misinterpreted or go astray. Men, and the machines which they operate, frequently give less effective service than under the conditions of peace.

In war, mistakes are normal; errors are usual; information is seldom complete, often inaccurate, and frequently misleading. Success is won, not by personnel and materiel in prime condition, but by the debris of an organization worn by the strain of campaign and shaken by the shock of battle. The objective is attained, in war, under conditions which often impose extreme disadvantages. It is in the light of these facts that the commander expects to shape his course during the supervision of the planned action.

The Incentive. During the supervision of the action, problems calling for decision may derive their incentive, as already noted (page 79) either from a directive issued by superior authority, or by reason of a Decision which the commander himself has already made, or because of a recognition, by the commander concerned, of an incentive originating from the demands of the situation.

In the event that the incentive appears in the form of a new task a.s.signed by a higher echelon, the commander's problem may become, relatively, simple. In such a case he is relieved of the necessity of recognizing for himself that the time is ripe for a new decision. This fact, however, in no wise alters his fundamental responsibility for taking action, or for abstaining therefrom, in accordance with the actual demands of the situation (page 15) in the event that the a.s.signed task requires modification or alteration, or, further, in the event that circ.u.mstances even call for a departure from his instructions. Should modification, alteration, or departure be in order, the commander is responsible for recognition of the fact that the demands of the situation have introduced further problems.

Such recognition, therefore, irrespective of whether higher authority has issued instructions covering the new situation, const.i.tutes an incentive to take action. No commander is justified in taking wrong action, or in taking none, merely because no instructions have been received. The ability to recognize the fact that the situation presents a new problem is therefore a primary qualification for command.

Recognition of New Problems. The supervision of the planned action, as the fourth step (see Chapter V) of the exercise of mental effort in the solution of military problems, therefore const.i.tutes in itself a problem, in that it involves fundamentally the ability to recognize the existence of new situations which present new problems for solution. To recognize such new problems requires a constant, close observation of the unfolding of the original situation.

Only an alert commander can invariably determine whether the situation is unfolding along the lines which he desires and as promulgated in the directives formulated in the third step (see Chapter V and Chapter VIII). In effect, the commander, after action has begun, considers the changing situation as a variable in the problem presented by the original situation. With the march of events he is, therefore, constantly critical to detect whether variations in the original situation are in accordance with his design or whether these variations demand a departure from his plan.

Nature of Readjustments Required. If variations in the original situation are in accordance with his design, the commander has the a.s.surance that all goes well, and that the unfolding of the situation is following his intent. However, if this is not the case, changed circ.u.mstances may demand recognition of the fact that a new problem has presented itself. In this event a new incentive, arising from the demands of the situation, calls for the solution of the new problem by the procedure distinctive of the first step (Chapter VI).

Should directives of higher authority introduce a new incentive, the commander solves such a new problem, also, by employing the procedure distinctive of the first step.

On the other hand, the commander may find that the changed situation motivates merely a modification of his previously determined operations and of his directives already in force. In other words, while his basic problem (Chapters V and VI) may remain the same, need may arise for certain deviations from the decisions arrived at in the first and second steps of its solution. Should this be the case, each such problem will require solution by a return to the procedures described (Chapter VII) with reference to the second step.

In the event of a demonstrated need, not for any change of plan, but for a clarification of directives, the procedure involved is that distinctive of the third step (Chapter VIII).

The commander may not safely view the succession of events with complacency, even though the situation appears to be unfolding according to plan. Perhaps the enemy may be purposely lessening his opposition, in order to prepare for the launching of an offensive elsewhere. As the situation unfolds, everything is viewed with intelligent suspicion.

It is also possible that, during the progress of an operation, an unforeseen opportunity may present itself to take advantage of a new situation and to strike the enemy a more serious blow than that originally intended.

Unwise caution is to be avoided no less than undue temerity. Where a change appears, after proper consideration, to be indicated, no hesitancy is justified in abandoning the original plan. Blind adherence to plan is to be condemned no less than unwarranted departures from predetermined procedure. Obstinate insistence on the use of a certain method, to the exclusion of others calculated to attain the same effect, may jeopardize the success of the effort.

Undue emphasis on the particular means to be used, and on the manner of their employment, may exact a penalty by obscuring the objective.

On the other hand, undesirable departures from plan involve a corresponding penalty, because changes, unless duly justified by the situation, increase the possibility of failure. Frequency of such changes, to the point of vacillation, is a sure indication of a lack of apt.i.tude for the exercise of command.

Importance of the Will of the Commander. It is accordingly clear that qualification for the exercise of command requires the mental capacity to recognize the need for changes in plan, or for no change. No less essential, however, are the moral qualities required to carry justified changes into effect, or to resist the pressure of events in favor of changes not justified by the situation. (See also pages 8, 9, and 72.)

Hence the universal importance accorded, by the profession of arms, to the will of the commander. This is the quality which, together with the mental ability to understand what is needed, enables the commander to bend events in conformity with his plan (page 47), or, where such shaping of circ.u.mstances is infeasible, to ensure for his command every possible advantage which can be obtained.

A recognized defect of certain forms of theoretical problems lies in the fact that they indicate, themselves, the time when a Decision is needed. In other words, they fail to vest the commander with responsibility for the decision that the time has come for a Decision to be made. Hence the great importance, from the viewpoint of timing, of those problems and exercises which partake more fully of the reality of war. The successful conduct of war, notwithstanding its demand for utmost mental power, is founded predominantly on those moral qualities (see pages 9 and 72) which spring less from the intellect than from the will.