Battle of the Bulge: The Impact of Information Age Command and Control on Conflict

The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's desperate gamble to split the Allied forces attacking Germany from the west during the winter of 1945, is a classic in military history. It is written from the perspective of the Allied operational level of command. The decisions made at the operational level (...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hayes, Richard E, Sugarman, Kristi
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
BATTLES
BRIEFING CHARTS
COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
Command, Control and Communications Systems
CONFLICT
DECISION MAKING
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
LESSONS LEARNED
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics
NETWORK-CENTRIC
SECOND WORLD WAR
SYMPOSIA
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Summary:The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's desperate gamble to split the Allied forces attacking Germany from the west during the winter of 1945, is a classic in military history. It is written from the perspective of the Allied operational level of command. The decisions made at the operational level (theater and army) on the Allied side illustrate both (a) very effective Industrial Age decision making and (b) situations where the adoption of network-centric and Edge decision making (or perhaps better stated, sense making) would have made major differences. Understanding the Germans' decision making is also important in order to understand what happened because it was largely a reflection of one individual's idiosyncrasies as multiplied by a rigid, centralized, and hierarchical approach to command and control. To conclude, if greater information sharing had occurred, the German offensive might have been understood. This would have also caused the Allies to make a number of different decisions, such as greater emphasis on gathering intelligence in certain areas, and allowed for information to be distributed in a different method. Presented at the Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (CCRTS), held in San Diego, CA, on 20-22 Jun 2006. Published in the Proceedings of CCRTS, 2006. Document contains briefing charts in addition to text. The original document contains color images.