The Bulletin Board
FMFRP 12-17 Leadership for American Army Officers
In the 1980's, the Marine Corps created the Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication 12- Series, a line of publications derived from commercially published works of historic significance that were no longer in print. Among the many excellent titles in this group is FMFRP 12-17, Leadership For American Army Officers.
Written at the beginning of the United States' involvement in World War 2, this book was produced to help the Army develop large numbers of citizens to be effective wartime leaders of organizations and troops. The challenge was daunting, but the Army succeeded in equipping, manning, and training a force of 100 divisions. This book served a role in that remarkable achievement. A short and simple read, it is organized into 19 chapters and comes out to only 96 pages. Each chapter is focused on a certain theme, and in sum, they add up to a tome for a well-rounded leader. All in all, it is comparable to The Armed Forces Officer. Many of the young Americans who led troops in the world’s greatest war began learning effective leadership tenets from this book. These principles proved so timeless the Marine Corps reissued it in 1988 and still hosts the document online.
Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944
Anders Frankson and Niklas Zetterling shed light on an often-overlooked chapter from the Eastern Front in WWII: the Korsun Pocket. In Jan 1944, two German Corps found themselves surrounded by two Soviet Army Fronts around Korsun, USSR (now Ukraine). Like much of the Soviet-German war, the resulting drama was ruthlessly propagandized by both sides. The authors manage to cut through the haze, delivering an excellent history of this brutal and white-knuckled battle for survival/annihilation. They not only capture the decision making of leaders on both sides, including Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and Marshals of the Soviet Union Nikolai Vatutin and Ivan Konev, but their account is richly spliced with stories/lessons from junior officers and non-commissioned officers who fought through what would be called the “Korsun Meatgrinder.” Particularly valuable for infantry leaders, this book provides excellent insight into the planning and execution of encirclement operations while simultaneously affording an opposing case study in the survival of encircled units as well as the planning/execution of breakout operations. Keep your copy of MCWP 3-01 (Chapter 18) handy. Also worth noting, check out the verbal order in Chapter 14 issued by a German battalion commander as he executed a hasty armor attack against a defended village. We’re hoping one of our readers can turn this into a decision forcing case or TDG for us to share!
From the Feed
Marine Corps Operational Wargame System
Tabletop wargames can serve a valuable purpose as a tool for teaching. Teaching about one's own force structure/capabilities, a potential adversary's force structure/capabilities, the geography of a potential area of operations, and of course, the ability to make sound decisions in light of all the aforementioned factors, tabletop wargames offer players an immense opportunity to learn in a zero risk environment. In this regard, there is currently no wargame on the market as relevant as the Marine Corps Operational Wargame System. With game boards covering both European and Pacific theaters of operations and pieces simulating units and capabilities across every warfighting domain, this set of wargames does the Marine Corps, the joint force, and indeed the country a great service in the potential to educate America's warfighters about their most dangerous potential fights against peer adversaries.
According to their YouTube overview: "The Operational Wargame System focuses on hypothetical conflicts in the 2025 timeframe and is intended to help professional military students understand the relationship between operational time and distance factors, the rapid tempo of decision making, and the complexities of joint warfare in the future operating environment."
Designed by retired USMC Colonel Tim Barrick, the current director of wargaming at MCU, this is a serious war game that is currently being used by Education Command. Marines can wargame scenarios simulating a war in Europe against the Russian Federation or in the Pacific against the People's Republic of China. Players can fill the roles of the United States, NATO, Russia, or China. Whether the Baltic Sea, Suwalki Gap, Kaliningrad, South China Sea, or Taiwan, what might the fight look like in any of these potential flashpoints? This is an outstanding tool for teaching Marines what these prospects might look like.
Though designed to be less complicated than many other tabletop games, the rules are still complex but only because the game is so thorough. Any player will come away with a much greater understanding of the complexities of war in either of these scenarios. Units can coordinate with the Wargaming Center for assistance and even facilitation of this game.
Bottom Line: This is the most realistic threat based and terrain specific decision making tool for educating Marines about great power conflict in the future operating environment.
Learn more here and contact Mr. Barrick if interested in obtaining these resources for your unit.
Let your battle buddy know you are thinking about their lethality and send them this post.
Have an article, online resource, or book you want to share with the community? Have a reaction or response to one of our posts? Send your traffic and we’ll serve as your retrans site.