In March 2003, General Tommy Franks commanded the US invasion of Iraq, also known as Operation: Iraqi Freedom. The bulk of his battle plan was referred to as “shock and awe.”
A Switch from Persian Gulf War Strategy: Use of Lightening Warfare
“Shock and awe” was expected to be a rehash of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s battle plan during the Persian Gulf War. In short, his tactic was to attack Saddam’s forces from the front with a small portion of his own army while the rest swung around and struck the Iraqi flank. Many in the press expected Franks’ plan to closely resemble Schwarzkopf’s. A recent documentary Battle Plan: Flank Attack makes it clear Franks’ strategy did not even come close to that plan. Instead, Franks’ strategy involved a small, light, and fast-moving armada of tanks supported by Apache attack helicopters and other aircraft to aim straight for Baghdad, completely bypassing Iraqi opposition. As a result, Iraqi military commanders were “shocked” and “awed” as Franks’ convoy of tanks maneuvered around them to get to other targets.
Solving Logistical Problems: Fight with a Lighter Force of Abrams Battle Tanks
During the invasion, Franks was criticized in the press because he didn’t bring additional forces to bear in the assault, even though he could have done so. Battle Plan explains those pundits failed to realize tanks (particularly the M-1 Abrams and the M-2 Bradley) were such gasoline hogs (they require six gallons of fuel for every mile traveled) having them in large numbers would require long convoys of trucks to re-supply fuel. As a result, lengthy supply columns would become vulnerable to enemy fire and get bogged down in the assault. Therefore Franks’ strategy of rapid movement depended on having a much lighter force, and consequently fewer exposed supply units. The plan worked. Within a few weeks, US forces arrived at the doorstep of Baghdad. Although ferocious fighting occurred for control of the city, the outcome was never in doubt. Once Baghdad was in allied hands and Saddam Hussein removed from power, Iraqi resistance in the surrounding areas collapsed.
Use Battle Tanks in Concentrated Fashion to Defeat the Enemy
Like the United States Army in Iraqi Freedom, the German Army during the Second World War also perfected this “blitzkrieg” approach to warfare. Conventional wisdom prior to World War Two was battle tanks should be used to assist infantry in breaking through enemy lines at the front, as was done with limited success during the First World War. German commander Heinz Guderian believed otherwise. He argued in his book Achtung: Panzer, battle tanks were more effective weapon when used in concentrated fashion, rapidly spearheading an assault. Once they penetrated the enemy front line, they could proceed deeper into enemy territory and sever communications, supply lines, and capture critical choke-points. Adding weight to Guderian’s argument, technological breakthroughs made newer German tanks considerably faster than their WWI ancestors, making the fast-paced battle plan practical.
World War Two German Tank Strategy: Hit them Hard and Fast
This strategy of “strike fast, strike hard, strike deep” was first put to the test in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, and later when they invaded France in 1940. During the French invasion, the allies were taken completely by surprise when out of nowhere, German armored Panzers supported by Stuka dive-bombers and BF- 109 fighter-planes came crashing through the seemingly impassible (and virtually unguarded)Ardennes forest in Belgium to cut the allies off. The Germans then crossed into Northern France behind the allies and pushed to the beaches of Dunkirk. The German plan, like the allied Iraqi invasion plan more than 60 years later, was a major success.
Source:
The Military Channel: Battle Plan, Blitzkrieg. Copyright November 6, 2007. BCI, a Navarre Corporation Company.
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