Comments on: Omaha Epiphany http://www.historynet.com/omaha-epiphany.htm From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher Thu, 23 May 2013 09:29:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Mike Ellis http://www.historynet.com/omaha-epiphany.htm#comment-97948 Mike Ellis Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:26:28 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13681251#comment-97948 It is not just theres too much to remember but also that a staff officer's job does not come with the decision making powers to go with their planning. So a staff officer might know that say the crack 352nd infantry is needed for a crack defense on the beach but someone higher up will say " hmm nope I want them here instead, lets move the polish conscript regiment over there" "We need more battleships for the bombardment and no a more intense air attack to keep the defenders head down while the troops land. Far better to blow them up utterly as any good artillery bombardment will do" Which sounds rather like a General officer in WWI It is not just theres too much to remember but also that a staff officer's job does not come with the decision making powers to go with their planning. So a staff officer might know that say the crack 352nd infantry is needed for a crack defense on the beach but someone higher up will say " hmm nope I want them here instead, lets move the polish conscript regiment over there"

"We need more battleships for the bombardment and no a more intense air attack to keep the defenders head down while the troops land. Far better to blow them up utterly as any good artillery bombardment will do" Which sounds rather like a General officer in WWI

]]> By: Robert M. Citino http://www.historynet.com/omaha-epiphany.htm#comment-97620 Robert M. Citino Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:27:47 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13681251#comment-97620 You got that right, Mike. But I also think it's just one of the hazards of a staff officer's very complex job. Not so much that they FORGET stuff, but that there 's so much (arguably too much) to REMEMBER. All it takes is one crucial omission, as you say. I teach that line in my classes all the time. It's from the great German commander Helmuth von Moltke the Elder: "No plan survives contact with the enemy's main body. You got that right, Mike. But I also think it's just one of the hazards of a staff officer's very complex job. Not so much that they FORGET stuff, but that there 's so much (arguably too much) to REMEMBER. All it takes is one crucial omission, as you say.

I teach that line in my classes all the time. It's from the great German commander Helmuth von Moltke the Elder: "No plan survives contact with the enemy's main body.

]]> By: Mike Halvorsen http://www.historynet.com/omaha-epiphany.htm#comment-97614 Mike Halvorsen Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:03:09 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13681251#comment-97614 Sadly, most staff-grade officers seem to forget the old axiom that is well known by the average Snuffy (AKA: dogface, doughboy, grunt, Poliu, Landser, Tommie, etc.): "No plan ever survived the first shot fired." Actually, all that is required for disaster is one crucial piece of incorrect information...like the reefs and tides at Tarawa, the misidentified unit at Omaha, originally ID'd as a second-line outfit of the old, the lame, young boys and Polish conscripts instead of the crack 352th Infantry...oops... Sadly, most staff-grade officers seem to forget the old axiom that is well known by the average Snuffy (AKA: dogface, doughboy, grunt, Poliu, Landser, Tommie, etc.): "No plan ever survived the first shot fired." Actually, all that is required for disaster is one crucial piece of incorrect information…like the reefs and tides at Tarawa, the misidentified unit at Omaha, originally ID'd as a second-line outfit of the old, the lame, young boys and Polish conscripts instead of the crack 352th Infantry…oops…

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