Generalship in War: The Principles of Operational Command

The recent interest in the operational level of war in American military circles has awakened a long dormant appreciation of the art of planning and conducting campaigns. Unfortunately, there has not been a thorough study of leadership at this level of command. The Army's Senior Leadership manual falls short of adequately discussing operational command. It does not address, for example, the differences between peacetime and combat command or the changing leadership requirements at higher levels of command. These are critically important topics as we prepare to fight the next war. We must be able to identify the right man to execute the first campaign of that war. Historically we have been able to do little more than guess at whom what might be. This paper is intended to be a first step toward rectifying that shortfall. It defines the attributes of the operational commander. In order to identify those attributes, this monograph begins with a review of theoretical comments on generalship from early philosophers through the 20th century. Next, modern views on the traits of senior warfighting generals are presented by examining the comments of German, Russian, British and American writers since the beginning of the World War II. These sections yield a taxonomy of the attributes of the operational commander. The paper then verifies these qualities by reviewing the performance of three senior American commanders of the Second World War. Lieutenant General James Doolittle, Admiral William Halsey and General George Patton are the subjects of this analysis which is intended to show that operational command is not limited to ground operations. The monograph concludes that the traits of the operational commander are not those of the tactical leader. Furthermore, the qualities that characterize the warfighting general are not the same as those of the successful peacetime commander. Finally, the realities of the situation and the general's personality may mean that the best ope

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