XIX Tactical Air Command And Ultra - Patton’s Force Enhancers In The 1944 Campaign In France

XIX Tactical Air Command And Ultra - Patton’s Force Enhancers In The 1944 Campaign In France
Author: Major Bradford J. “BJ” Shwedo USAF
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786254670

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. 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 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 those 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.

Air Commanders

Air Commanders
Author: John Andreas Olsen
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2013
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1612345786

This book combines short military biographies and operational analyses to reveal how the personalities, attitudes, and life experiences of twelve outstanding U.S. airmen shaped the central air campaigns in American history. These case studies illuminate the character of these airmen, the challenges they confronted in widely disparate armed conflicts, and the solutions that they crafted and implemented. Their achievements proved decisive not only in the campaigns they led, but also in shaping the U.S. Air Force and the dominant role of airpower in modern warfare.

Patton's War

Patton's War
Author: Kevin M. Hymel
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 490
Release: 2023-04-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0826274838

This second of three volumes of Patton’s War picks up where the first one left off, examining General George S. Patton’s leadership of the U.S. Third Army. The book follows Patton’s contributions to both the Normandy and Brittany campaigns—the closing of the Falaise Pocket in Normandy, and racing to the port cities in Brittany. It ends with Patton and his corps rescuing the besieged town of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge. As he did in the preceding volume, Hymel relies not only on Patton’s diaries and letters, but countless veteran interviews, surveys, and memoirs. He also provides a unique insight missed by previous Patton scholars. Instead of using Patton’s transcribed diaries, which were heavily edited and embellished, he consults Patton’s original, hand-written diaries to uncover previously unknown information about the general. This second volume of Hymel’s groundbreaking work shows Patton at the height of his generalship, successfully leading his army without the mistakes and caustic behavior that almost got him sent home earlier—even if we also see a Patton still guided at times by racism and antisemitism.

United States Air Force and Its Antecedents

United States Air Force and Its Antecedents
Author: James T. Controvich
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780810850101

This bibliography lists published and printed unit histories for the United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, including Air Divisions, Wings, Groups, Squadrons, Aviation Engineers, and the Women's Army Corps.

XIX Tactical Air Command and ULTRA

XIX Tactical Air Command and ULTRA
Author: Bradford J. Shwedo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

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 heavlly on declassffied 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.

A Companion to American Military History

A Companion to American Military History
Author: James C. Bradford
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1136
Release: 2009-11-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1444315110

With more than 60 essays, A Companion to American MilitaryHistory presents a comprehensive analysis of the historiographyof United States military history from the colonial era to thepresent. Covers the entire spectrum of US history from the Indian andimperial conflicts of the seventeenth century to the battles inAfghanistan and Iraq Features an unprecedented breadth of coverage from eminentmilitary historians and emerging scholars, including little studiedtopics such as the military and music, military ethics, care of thedead, and sports Surveys and evaluates the best scholarship on every importantera and topic Summarizes current debates and identifies areas whereconflicting interpretations are in need of further study

Forward with Patton

Forward with Patton
Author: Robert S. Allen
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2017-08-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0813169143

The WWII diary of a US soldier and Soviet spy who worked closely with General Patton is presented in this fully annotated edition. Robert S. Allen is one of the more controversial figures of the Second World War. After serving in France during World War I, he left the military to start a career as a syndicated columnist, eventually becoming the Washington, DC, bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor. In that time, he also developed a sideline as a paid informant for the KGB. When American entered World War II, Allen rejoined the army to serve as General Patton's chief of situation and executive officer for operations. He was considered such an authority on Patton after the war that Twentieth Century-Fox asked him to develop a film script about the general. In Forward with Patton, John Nelson Rickard presents a complete, annotated edition of Colonel Allen's World War II diary for 1944-1945. The entries reflect Allen's private thoughts on the Third Army and provide an invaluable perspective on Patton, whom Allen deeply admired.

Advance and Destroy

Advance and Destroy
Author: John Nelson Rickard
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2011-10-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 081314051X

In the winter of 1944--1945, Hitler sought to divide Allied forces in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Luxembourg and Belgium. He deployed more than 400,000 troops in one of the last major German offensives of the war, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge, in a desperate attempt to regain the strategic initiative in the West. Hitler's effort failed for a variety of reasons, but many historians assert that Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.'s Third Army was ultimately responsible for securing Allied victory. Although Patton has assumed a larger-than-life reputation for his leadership in the years since World War II, scholars have paid little attention to his generalship in the Ardennes following the relief of Bastogne. In Advance and Destroy, Captain John Nelson Rickard explores the commander's operational performance during the entire Ardennes campaign, through his "estimate of the situation," the U.S. Army's doctrinal approach to problem-solving. Patton's day-by-day situational understanding of the Battle of the Bulge, as revealed through ULTRA intelligence and the influence of the other Allied generals on his decision-making, gives readers an in-depth, critical analysis of Patton's overall effectiveness, measured in terms of mission accomplishment, his ability to gain and hold ground, and a cost-benefit analysis of his operations relative to the lives of his soldiers. The work not only debunks myths about one of America's most controversial generals but provides new insights into his renowned military skill and colorful personality.

Eagles Overhead

Eagles Overhead
Author: Matt Dietz
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2023-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1574418912

US Air Force Forward Air Controllers (FACs) bridge the gap between air and land power. They operate in the grey area of the battlefield, serving as an aircrew who flies above the battlefield, spots the enemy, and relays targeting information to control close air support attacks by other faster aircraft. When done well, Air Force FACs are the fulcrum for successful employment of air power in support of ground forces. Unfortunately, FACs in recent times have been shunned by both ground and air forces, their mission complicated by inherent difficulty and danger, as well as by the vicissitudes of defense budgets, technology, leadership, bureaucracy, and doctrine. Eagles Overhead is the first complete historical survey of the US Air Force FAC program from its origins in World War I to the modern battlefield. Matt Dietz examines their role, status, and performance in every US Air Force air campaign from the Marne in 1918, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and finally Mosul in 2017. With the remaking of the post-Vietnam US military, and the impact of those changes on FAC, the Air Force began a steady neglect of the FAC mission from Operation Desert Storm, through the force reductions after the Soviet Union’s collapse, and into the post 9-11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Eagles Overhead asks why FACs have not been heavily used on US battlefields since 2001, despite their warfighting importance. Dietz examines the Air Force FAC’s theoretical, doctrinal, institutional, and historical frameworks to assess if the nature of air warfare has changed so significantly that the concept and utility of the FAC has been left behind. From these examinations, Eagles Overhead draws conclusions about the potential future of Air Force FACs.

Mortain 1944

Mortain 1944
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2019-05-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1472832515

Following the successful landings in Normandy on D-Day and consolidation during Operation Cobra, the Wehrmacht was ordered to begin a counter-offensive named Operation Lüttich. The plan was to send a large Panzer force across the First US Army sector, cutting off its spearheads, and finally reach Avranches on the coast. Had this succeeded, it not only would have cut off the First US Army spearheads, but also Patton's newly deployed Third US Army operating in Brittany. However, thanks to an intercepted radio message, the Allies were well-prepared for the offensive and not only repelled the oncoming panzers, but went on a counter-attack that would lead to a whole German army becoming encircled in the Falaise Pocket. Fully illustrated with stunning full-colour artwork, this book tells the story of Operation Lüttich, the failed offensive which ended any prospect of Germany winning the battle of Normandy.