18 - War planning

Summary

Strategic war planning involves two activities. The first is anticipating the requirements of war and preparing operations for its initial phases. The second task is intrawar planning, adjusting to the new circumstances that invariably develop, and drafting campaign plans to replace those rendered obsolete by events. By the late 1930s, the basic system for warning and command and control had been laid out, ready for the injection of a new technology, radar. The British were the first of the Western Allies to recognize the scale on which it would be necessary to build air forces. Before the Second World War, the main form of joint operations consisted of amphibious operations at the Dardanelles in 1915, the result was a notable and bloody debacle. The initial successes of the Germans and Japanese owed less to masterly planning than to the strength of their military organizations and tactical cultures, the excellence of their technology, and the sheer audacity of their operations.