Extracting the Beaten Expeditionary Force: The Margin Between Defeat and Catastrophe

By Michael D. Burke

This paper examines theater evacuations conducted over significant bodies of water. Extricating any defeated force is difficult; withdrawing the force across a major water body is the special challenge of maritime powers with distant commitments, such as the United States. The monograph focuses on combat force evacuation and does not discuss Non-combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO), a separate and important component of many of today's war plans. This paper is structured around five withdrawals arranged chronologically. They are: 1) Dunkirk. 2) Norway, 3) Greece and Crete, 4) Guadalcanal, and 5) Hungnam, Korea. These five were selected because air power affected them, and because they illustrate a range of differing theater circumstances. Each operation is examined for its salient features, and the major lessons from each are identified. Other retreats conducted by the Germans from the Crimea and Sicily in 1943 or the Nationalist Chinese in 1949 are omitted for brevity. Following the historical section, the paper synthesizes some of the salient characteristics of the various operations into three major operational points. They are 1) the necessity of making a timely evacuation decision, 2) the need to synchronize components for the evacuation, and 3) the reversal of the defender's advantage as discussed by Clausewitz. The paper concludes by examining implications for future planners of large scale combat evacuations. It considers the effects of modern weapons, air transport, and the evolution or power projection. The minimum requirement to examine evacuation requirements within a theater is emphasized.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1288253001
• ISBN13: 9781288253005
• Release Date: November 2012
• Publisher: Biblioscholar
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.1" x 9.2"