September 2019 September The Magazine of the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy EAGLE TOUR 19 Special Edition #WEARENATO / 1 NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy Ubique Celere CONTENTS BATTLEFIELD TOUR/STAFF RIDE DIDACTIC VALUE: THE IMPORTANCE AND ROLE OF MILITARY HISTORY, BATTLEFIELD TOURS AND STAFF RIDES FOR MULTINATIONAL HEADQUARTERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY. /NRDCItaly Maj. Gen. (retd.) Scollo, Italian Army THE GOTHIC LINE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND @NRDCITA 1 Col. Cacciagrano, Italian Army JOINT FIRE PLAN NRDC ITA 2Col. Smith, British Army CONDUCT AN ARMORED ATTACK AGAINST A DEFENSIVE LINE NRDC-Italy 3Col. Cacciagrano, Italian Army MOUNTAIN WARFARE, TERRAIN EXPLOITATION AND LOGISTIC CONSTRAINTS 4Ltc. Sotlar, Slovenian Army, Ltc. Baessato, Italian Army Everywhere Rapidly is the authorized of- and Maj. Hoxhaj, Albanian Navy cial publication of the NATO Rapid De- ployable Corps, Italy. All editorial content EXPLOITATION OF SUCCESS AND RESERVE COMMITMENT of the Everywhere Rapidly is approved Maj. Snitko-Dottarelli, Lituanian Army by the NRDC-ITA Commander, at “ Ugo 5 Mara” barracks, via per Busto Arsizio, 20 - AIR AND NAVAL SUPPORT 21058 Solbiate Olona , Varese, Italy. TO OPERATIONS 6Col. Andreozzi, Italian Air Force Everywhere Rapidly is published by the Public Affairs Ofce. Contents of the and Commander Marzollo Italian Navy Everywhere Rapidly are not necessarily the ofcial views of, or endorsed by the HOW TO INTEGRATE COMBAT AND COMBAT SUPPORT UNITS North Atlantic Treaty Organization and IN DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENTS IN ORDER the Nations thereby represented. All 7 TO MAINTAIN TEMPO intellectual property rights, including Col. Cacciagrano, Italian Army copyright in the content displayed on the everywhere rapidly, belong to their INVOLVEMENT OF A NEUTRAL COUNTRY IN THE WAR respective owners. All material and in- formation, including comments, are go- Col. Greggersen, German Army, Col. Zouggari French Army and verned by the doctrine of fair use. The 8Col. Bauska, Latvian Army Publication and the content may only be used for lawful purposes. For this purpo- COMPARE THE CONDUCT OF THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, se alone one may print out, reproduce, or FOCUSED ON THE ARMY CORPS, WITH THE MULTI CORPS LCC photocopy as needed. The editor reserves 9Maj. Rodà, Italian Army the right to edit all submissions for style, brevity and clarity. ASSESS IF THE CURRENT FRAMEWORK OF THE OPERATIONS DEEP, CLOSE AND REAR IS APPLICABLE TO THE WWII EVENTS Printed by: Graca Olona 10IN THE GOTHIC LINE AND COMPARE THOSE EVENTS WWII WITH THE CURRENT DOCTRINE Col. Dario and the Sta of Friuli Division, Italian Army MILITARY HISTORY STUDY AND THE ART OF COMMAND 2 / #WEARENATO War is a complex endeavor composed of many variables including terrain, the composition and organization of forces, human aspects, and chance. The interdependency and dyna- mics among these variables leads to a certain degree of entropy that, under the umbrella of the principles of the art of war, the intellectual abilities and knowledge of commanders (at all levels) seek to clarify in order to understand the battle. The absence of major state conicts over the past 70 years and recent experiences in asymmetric conicts, have heavily contributed to a shift in interest and training of staff away from the basic principles of large scale conicts in a near-peer confrontation scenario. Even with the recent increase in the frequency of hybrid conicts, the re-alignment of staff’s mindset toward high intensity warghting is a valuable exercise for military leaders. The accurate and in-depth study of Military History remains useful to prepare both those in positions of authority and their supporting staff. To that end, staff rides and battleeld tours are natural and effective tools to illustrate the theoretical concepts learned by studying pre- vious conicts, experiences and lessons learned. Detailed preparatory studies, accurate maps, review of the impacts of the terrain, a critical approach and an open mindset are essential to facilitate quality staff rides/battleeld tours. Through highlighting the ‘so what’ from events of past conicts, they enhance the knowled- ge of staff which can be effectively applied to the real-world planning and execution of the Corps’ operations. NRDC-ITA, in its efforts to re-align to the Corps role, is proactively evolving its structure, procedures and training to enable it to operate in any contemporary environment. In this context, the senior staff of NRDC-ITA conducted a week-long Battleeld Tour, from 31 Mar- ch to 7 April 2019, focusing on the operations related to the breakthrough of the Gothic Line during the summer of 1944. The aim of this event was to increase the knowledge and the decision making skills for the senior ofcer attendees by exploring a multi-Corps high intensity conict. FOREWORD This special edition of the ER magazine will illustrate the procedures used by NRDC-ITA to conduct staff rides/battleeld tours and share the lessons drawn from the study of a mul- ti-Corps campaign, based on the Allies’ breakthrough of the Gothic Line in World War II. #WEARENATO / 3 BATTLEFIELD TOUR/STAFF RIDE DIDACTIC VALUE: THE IMPORTANCE AND ROLE OF MILITARY HISTORY, BATTLEFIELD TOURS AND STAFF RIDES FOR MULTINA- TIONAL HEADQUARTERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Maj. Gen. (retd.) Scollo, Italian Army It is well known to all ocers of NATO armies that training of the ocer cadre is one of the most demanding issues that trainers have to face. It is not only training but, more appropriately, education of minds and personalities. Military leaders must be trained to analyse complex issues and situations in which the level of uncertainty is normally high, grasp quickly the core aspects of the situations and take sound and swift decisions to seize and maintain the initiative. It is universally recognized that the study of military history, campaigns and battles are an invaluable part of an ocer’s education. The study, however, should not be limited to re- than the norm. Attendees may express some con- searching only the accuracy of the position of units siderations about the military operation which is on the terrain, as this actually has little value. “Those being studied but no formal follow on activity is who believe that exactness is really important nev- expected. er have known war or must have forgotten it. For the issue of any operation of war is decided not The Staff Ride is something more professional and by what the situation actually is, but what the rival consists of a preliminary study of a selected mili- commanders think it is”1. Moreover, the study has to tary campaign, an extensive visit to the actual asso- be conducted to draw useful contemporary lessons ciated sites, and an opportunity to integrate the rel- and to develop officers’ ability to solve problems evant lessons from each. This is achieved through independently. To that aim three types of differ- an in-depth analysis of selected training objectives ent exercises have been developed: the Battlefield for each day in order to draw lessons applicable to Tour, the Staff Ride and the Tactical Exercise With- modern warfare. It is normally divided into prelim- out Troops (TEWT) (supported by maps). Though inary study, field study and follow-on integration in these terms are quite often interchanged, they have an after action review. different functions and describe a different type of exercise. TEWT is a further development of the Staff Ride which can be played both at operational and tacti- A Battlefield Tour is generally concerned at looking cal levels. In this activity, the historical events of the at past operations for general interest: systematic past are in the background while the terrain is the preparation for this activity is more the exception main training tool. A detailed study of the terrain 1 See B.H. Liddell Hart “ Sherman, Soldier, Realist, American” Da Capo Press, 1994 p. xiv. 4 / #WEARENATO is a preliminary step to conduct a MAPEX (map A key point of the diagram is that the Staff Ride exercise) with a fictitious scenario in which appears to be the best possible compromise that attendees should employ contemporary opera- matches the knowledge of military history with tional art, tactics, techniques and procedures to the study and application of current NATO doc- play an operation that may recall in broad terms trine to military operations. a campaign of the past. Apart from the terrain study and the preliminary recce, a TEWT can be Preparation of a Staff Ride requires an early played also on maps, even in garrison. conceptual engagement across the HQ: firstly it must be focused on the appropriate training The level of involvement of the Training Audi- phase of the HQ, secondly the historical period ence in the three activities is depicted in Dia- has to be carefully selected in order to consider gram 1 below. a battle in which all HQ Divisions and Branches may be conveniently trained2, then it has to be focused on certain fields of interest (e.g. Joint Diagram 1 Fires, Engineers, Air Operations and so forth), and lastly it has to take into account the need to involve relevant specialists of the HQ in the de- cision making process related to specific issues (LEGAD, POLAD, STRATCOM, Provost Marshal, just to name a few). Finally, a list of training ob- jectives and related discussion themes has to be drafted, to be matched with the main events of the campaign or the battle under consideration. In the Table below, we can see how different training events may match (generic) training ob- jectives. TRAINING EVENT TRAINING OBJECTIVE Battlefield Tour Staff Ride TEWT To demonstrate the principles of war and the links between strategy, operational art Less likely Very likely Likely and tactics. To study command, leadership, morale Yes Yes Less Likely and cohesion.