Supplying War

Supplying War
Author: Martin van Creveld
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1977
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521297936

Why did Napoleon succeed in 1805 but fail in 1812? Were the railways vital to Prussia's victory over France in 1870? Was the famous Schlieffen Plan militarily sound? Could the European half of World War II have been ended in 1944? These are only a few of the questions that form the subject-matter of this meticulously researched, lively book. Drawing on a very wide range of unpublished and previously unexploited sources, Martin van Creveld examines the 'nuts and bolts' of war: namely, those formidable problems of movement and supply, transportation and administration, so often mentioned - but rarely explored - by the vast majority of books on military history. In doing so he casts his net far and wide, from Gustavus Adolphus to Rommel, from Marlborough to Patton, subjecting the operations of each to a thorough analysis from a fresh and unusual point of view. The result is a fascinating book that has something new to say about virtually every one of the most important campaigns waged in Europe during the last two centuries.

Civil War Logistics

Civil War Logistics
Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807167525

Winner of the Eugene Feit Award in Civil War Studies by the New York Military Affairs Symposium During the Civil War, neither the Union nor the Confederate army could have operated without effective transportation systems. Moving men, supplies, and equipment required coordination on a massive scale, and Earl J. Hess’s Civil War Logistics offers the first comprehensive analysis of this vital process. Utilizing an enormous array of reports, dispatches, and personal accounts by quartermasters involved in transporting war materials, Hess reveals how each conveyance system operated as well as the degree to which both armies accomplished their logistical goals. In a society just realizing the benefits of modern travel technology, both sides of the conflict faced challenges in maintaining national and regional lines of transportation. Union and Confederate quartermasters used riverboats, steamers, coastal shipping, railroads, wagon trains, pack trains, cattle herds, and their soldiers in the long and complicated chain that supported the military operations of their forces. Soldiers in blue and gray alike tried to destroy the transportation facilities of their enemy, firing on river boats and dismantling rails to disrupt opposing supply lines while defending their own means of transport. According to Hess, Union logistical efforts proved far more successful than Confederate attempts to move and supply its fighting forces, due mainly to the North’s superior administrative management and willingness to seize transportation resources when needed. As the war went on, the Union’s protean system grew in complexity, size, and efficiency, while that of the Confederates steadily declined in size and effectiveness until it hardly met the needs of its army. Indeed, Hess concludes that in its use of all types of military transportation, the Federal government far surpassed its opponent and thus laid the foundation for Union victory in the Civil War.

Operational Logistics

Operational Logistics
Author: Moshe Kress
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1461510856

Operational Logistics: The Art and Science of Sustaining Military Operations explores military logistics in terms of the theoretical foundations of operational logistics (OpLog) and its applications. The theoretical foundations are examined with regard to two dimensions. First, the artistic or qualitative aspects of contemporary logistics are looked at in the context of the operational level of war. These OpLog aspects include principles, imperatives and tenets, which are stated and analyzed. The second dimension relates to the scientific aspects of logistics. It is manifested by a formal network model that represents the structural and operational features of an OpLog system. Hence the book examines both artistic and scientific dimensions of military logistics and integrates the respective qualitative and quantitative aspects into a unified and definitive presentation of operational logistics. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to military logistics. Chapter 2 discusses the general structure and characteristics of logistics and describes its three levels - strategic, operational and tactical. Chapter 3 focuses on Operational Logistics (OpLog). Chapter 4 deals with the logistics planning process. Chapter 5 addresses the issue of logistics information. Chapter 6 deals with forecasting logistics demands. Chapter 7 introduces the first version of the logistics network model. Chapter 8 addresses an important property of an OpLog system - Flexibility. Chapter 9 discusses two major (and dual) issues in OpLog practice: force accumulation and medical treatment and evacuation. Chapter 10 presents an inter-temporal network optimization model that is designed to determine deployment and employment of the support chain in an OpLog system.

War of Supply

War of Supply
Author: David D. Dworak
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2022-05-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813183804

The era of modern warfare introduced in World War II presented the Allied Powers with one of the more complicated logistical challenges of the century: how to develop an extensive support network that could supply and maintain a vast military force comprised of multiple services and many different nations thousands of miles away from their home ports. The need to keep tanks rolling, airplanes flying, and food and aid in continuous supply was paramount to defeating the Nazi regime. In this extensively researched book, David Dworak takes readers behind the scenes and breaks down the nuances of strategic operations for each of the great Mediterranean military campaigns between 1942 and the conclusion of World War II on May 8, 1945. Dworak gives readers a glimpse behind the curtain, to show how the vast administrative bureaucracy developed by the Allies waged a literal "war of matériel" that gave them a distinct, strategic advantage over the Axis powers. From North Africa to Southern France, their continued efforts and innovation developed the framework that helped create and maintain the theater of war and, ultimately, paved the path to victory.

Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army

Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army
Author: Donald W. Engels
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1978
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520034334

"The most important work on Alexander the Great to appear in a long time. Neither scholarship nor semi-fictional biography will ever be the same again. . . .Engels at last uses all the archaeological work done in Asia in the past generation and makes it accessible. ... Careful analyses of terrain, climate, and supply requirements are throughout combined in a masterly fashion to help account for Alexander's strategic decision in the light of the options open to him ... The chief merit of this splendid book is perhaps the way in which it brings an ancient army to life, as it really was and moved: the hours it took for simple operations of washing and cooking and feeding animals; the train of noncombatants moving with the army. ... this is a book that will set the reader thinking. There are not many books on Alexander the Great that do."--New York Review of Books.

Moving Mountains

Moving Mountains
Author: William G. Pagonis
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1992
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780875843605

A United States general describes his command of the deployment of U.S. troops and supplies to the Persian Gulf in the war with Iraq and recommends his methods of leadership and resource management for use in the business world.

The Logistics of the 101st Airborne Division in the First Gulf War

The Logistics of the 101st Airborne Division in the First Gulf War
Author: David M. Ogan
Publisher: David Ogan
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2009-12-15
Genre: History
ISBN:

The historiography of the First Gulf War does not examine logistics at the divisional level; rather, only high-echelon logistics, those at the Corps and Theater level, are covered. This leaves a significant gap in how the upper-echelon logistics affected the combat units of the coalition. This case study seeks to rectify this gap by examining historical logistics from World War II to the Gulf War and the logistics of the First Gulf War as a whole, and subsequently placing the specific logistics of the 101st in the correct context.

Logistics at War

Logistics at War
Author: Mark L Bradley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2025
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781959302100