should First MarDiv have taken Bagdad

[airwinger]

A new book by Bing West and Ray Smith who were on the ground with the division enroute to Bagdad plus the link below show that for 5 days the Division cooled it's heels while the 3rdID waited for resupply.
Let's stimulate some debate, should General Wallace(who I believe was overall ground commander) have switched his main effort to the Corps. And since he didn't anyone think this was an extension of Gen Scwarzkopf's using BOTH Marine Divisions in Desert Storm as a diversion. Or should I say attempting to use them as such.
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/grossman_itp_mattis.htm

Actually I think Mattis is too un-pc to make CMC, maybe Gen Conway??

 

[slasher]

Despite the fact the army cooled its heels for 5 days while it waited for resupply, it still managed to invade and subjugate a foreign country in record time with a record low number of casualties. I think they did a phenomenal job.

I'm not exactly a tactical genius, so I can't say if the Corps was under-utilized. However, given the outcome, I wouldn't change a thing in the strategy employed...well, except having the troops outrun their supply chain. Our forces are lighting fast and deadly, but unfortunately our supply corps isn't. Rectifying that should be a top priority for the Pentagon, much moreso than making sure no one feels left out.

This will be huge for future conflicts, especially when we're fighting forces employing 4th generation warfare tactics. Seems the military hasn't learned jack since Patton ran out of gas way back when. Rummy should take heed of this lesson before our boys pay the price for it.

 

[TNWhiskey]

And don't forget this...how about teaching the army supply units how to read a compass and navigate terrain...8 soldiers died because one driver in the lead vehicle took a wrong turn. Things happen in the fog of war, but rear echelon maintainence units should know where the hell they are going.

 

[airwinger]

I was talking to a westpointer and told him after that particular debacle, the Army would have to pay alot more attention to teaching combat skills to support troops. He demurred. Open last weeks MC Times and there is the Army Chief of Staff saying "every soldier should be a rifleman first". I'm sure I've heard that before.

Slasher, it's hard to argue with success, but as General Mattis points out, he felt really vulnerable letting his division sit still for 5 days hoping the Iraqis wouldn't launch attack(Arty or chem) Plus, he argues that with his LogLite system, they did not NEED to refuel or replenish. A measure of this planning is that the Marines had been told they would get two MRE's per day and they had better get used to it. The break was strictly a CENTCOM thing.
semper fi

 

[NeoCortex]

the question becomes did the Army just wait for Resupply, or was there political orders not to take Bagdad? Obviously we could have taken Bagdad, either the Army or the USMC, but we didn't. Begs the question as to the real reason we stopped. The whole operiation was a great example of the OODA loop in use.