XIX Tactical Air Command and Ultra: Patton's Force Enhancers in the 1944 Campaign in France - Couverture souple

Shwedo, Bradford J

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1288308507 ISBN 13 : 9781288308507

Editeur : BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2012

Synopsis

During World War II, General George S. Patton Jr. was one of the most successful and feared commanders in the European Theater. Clearly, his August-September 1944 rapid drive across France can be considered one of Patton's greatest campaigns. Early histories detailing Patton's campaigns frequently attributed his successes to his outstanding tank corps and interesting stories of his "sixth sense." The declassification of ULTRA intelligence, XIX Tactical Air Command reports, and post-war German interrogations provide additional contributing factors to his victories. These documents support a more plausible justification for Patton's apparent omniscience and the rationale behind many of his decisions. Students of history, who stood in awe of Patton's "sixth sense" or wondered in amazement of his ignorance/disregard of logistics and flanks, or marveled at his ambitious offensive drives, may find this study thought-provoking. This paper shows that Patton's "chances" and "risks" may have been a little less "sixth sense" or "ignorance and disregard" and a little more ULTRA intelligence and tactical airpower.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Gen. George S. Patton. Jr. remains one of the most storied commanders of World War II. Patton’s spectacularly successful drive across France in August-September 1944 as commander of the US Third Army was perhaps his greatest campaign. Many biographers have attributed Patton’s achievements almost exclusively to his masterful employment of armor and to an innate sixth sense that enabled him to anticipate the moves of his opponents. Drawing heavily on declassified ULTRA intelligence reports, the records of XIX Tactical Air Command, and postwar interrogations of German commanders, Maj. Bradford J. Shwedo’s “XIX Tactical Air Command and ULTRA: Patton’s Force Enhancers in the 1944 Campaign in France” sheds new light on Patton’s generalship and suggests that Patton’s penchant for risk and audacity may have been less the product of a sixth sense than of his confidence in ULTRA and tactical airpower. Timely and highly accurate ULTRA intelligence afforded Patton knowledge of German capabilities and enabled him to shape his operations to exploit mounting German weakness. Airpower provided top cover, punched through German concentrations, guarded Patton’s right flank, and furnished crucial airlift support while disrupting enemy lines of communication. Whatever Patton’s personal intuitive gifts, he deserves full marks for skillfully integrating the ground scheme of maneuver, airpower, and intelligence into the overall strategy of the Third Army. Major Shwedo shows in some detail how Patton used both ULTRA and conventional operational intelligence to identify German vulnerabilities and then coordinated ground maneuver forces and airpower to exploit those vulnerabilities and create new ones. The synergy between courageous leadership and airpower, highly mobile ground forces, and superb intelligence – each creating opportunities for the other – took the Third Army and XIX TAC from Normandy to within 50 miles of the German border in less than 45 days. General Patton’s masterful employment of armor, airpower, and intelligence in a campaign fought more than 50 years ago is a textbook example of the sophisticated fusion of airpower, ground power, and information in the planning and execution of a fast-moving military operation. It is also a case study in flexibility, innovation, and boldness at the operational level of war. For all these reasons, Patton’s campaign in France merits the attention of latter-day air and ground warriors who must meet the security challenges of the twenty-first century.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: BiblioBazaar, LLC
• Date d'édition: 2012
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1288308507
• ISBN 13: 9781288308507
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 140
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne