The hallmark of the twentieth-century battlefield was the increasingly effective practice of "combined arms" warfare-the combining of various "combat arms" (infantry, cavalry, armor, artillery) to accomplish the mission. In the vanguard of this development was the use of artillery to support the mission of infantry on the battlefield. Although artillery bombardment was responsible for most deaths on the battlefield, armies rarely paired infantry and artillery in the assault. Between the two world wars the U.S. Army concluded that field artillery had an important role to play in its evolving combined arms doctrine. The new doctrine emphasized mobile, mechanized warfare and the crucial importance of artillery firepower in support of infantry. The most satisfactory arrangement for providing close artillery support was to locate artillery observers in the air over the battlefield and on the ground to accompany maneuvering infantry. The pairing of American infantry and artillery reached fruition in the European and Pacific Theaters of the Second World War. What is missing from the historical literature on combined arms, however, is the study of how that togetherness evolved. This dissertation will argue that the establishment of forward observer teams at the battle's front line that provided the vital link between infantrymen and the artillery batteries supporting them. To assess these developments in the union of combined arms theory and practice, this dissertation will be organized in three parts. The first will trace the inception of indirect fire and the evolution of field artillery tactical doctrine through 1941. The second section, which will be the heart of the study, will follow the experiences of forward observer personnel from tow U.S. Army Divisions in the Second World War. The 87th Infantry Division in Europe and the 37th Infantry Division [Ohio National Guard] in the Pacific will be examined as case studies. By studying one division from both theaters of the war, a more balanced evaluation of the forward observer's contribution to achieving combined arms effectiveness can be made. The last section will consist of a brief discussion of forward observation has changed since World War II and a "Conclusion" assessing the findings of this research project in its entirety. National Archives records will provide the core of the primary materials used for this study. To reconstruct forward observer experiences within the 87th and 37th Divisions, select military records will be used, most importantly those of the divisional field artillery battalions that include: Intelligence Reports, Journal and File Reports, S-3 (Operations Sections) Reports, (monthly) Unit Reports. Also a series of Division Artillery Records for each of the two units provides additional important information. In addition, this study will utilize Record Group 177: Records of the Chief of Arms, and the divisional records of the Secretary of War, Special Reports File, 1940-1945 which holds material about the evolution of mobilization policies and their effect on Field Artillery. Other key repositories include the Morris Swett Technical Library at Fort Sill, OK, the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, PA, the Combined Arms Research Library at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the University of Florida World War II veterans' oral history collection.

After the end of World War II, General George Patton declared that artillery had won the war. Yet howitzers did not achieve victory on their own. Crucial to the success of these big guns were forward observers, artillerymen on the front lines who directed the artillery fire. Until now, the vital role of forward observers in ground combat has received little scholarly attention. In Bracketing the Enemy, John R. Walker remedies this oversight by offering the first full-length history of forward observer teams during World War II. As early as the U.S. Civil War, artillery fire could reach as far as two miles, but without an “FO” (forward observer) to report where the first shot had landed in relation to the target, and to direct subsequent fire by outlining or “bracketing” the targeted range, many of the advantages of longer-range fire were wasted. During World War II, FOs accompanied infantrymen on the front lines. Now, for the first time, gun crews could bring deadly accurate fire on enemy positions immediately as advancing riflemen encountered these enemy strongpoints. According to Walker, this transition from direct to indirect fire was one of the most important innovations to have occurred in ground combat in centuries. Using the 37th Division in the Pacific Theater and the 87th in Europe as case studies, Walker presents a vivid picture of the dangers involved in FO duty and shows how vitally important forward observers were to the success of ground operations in a variety of scenarios. FO personnel not only performed a vital support function as artillerymen but often transcended their combat role by fighting as infantrymen, sometimes even leading soldiers into battle. And yet, although forward observers lived, fought, and bled with the infantry, they were ineligible to wear the Combat Infantryman’s Badge awarded to the riflemen they supported. Forward observers are thus among the unsung heroes of World War II. Bracketing the Enemy signals a long-overdue recognition of their distinguished service.

Techniques, technologies, and applications - the arts and sciences of interrogating criminal suspects, their victims, and the witnesses to their crimes. Sounds exciting, don’t it? ad–ver–saŕ–ial!“Oooooh,†kindâ€a gets you all tingly. Wow! And doesn’t it just set you to thinking about gladiators locked in the deadly dance of hand-to-hand combat? Secrets takes you through the entire process of interrogation from start to finish; BUT, if you were expecting â€waterboarding†and other inefficient methods of torture – FORGET IT! The Adversarial Interview not only works but it’s legal!

“The difficult fighting in the Colmar Pocket is brought to vivid life” in this WWII chronicle of the Allied 6th Army Group (WWII History). By the fall of 1944, the Western Allied forces appeared to be unstoppable. The summer’s Normandy invasion had driven the Germans out of northern France and most of the Low Countries. In September, they liberated France’s southern coast with little opposition. Then, Allied divisions began lining up along the Rhine. While the Americans met a nasty surprise in the Ardennes, the Germans also held on to the province of Alsace, maintaining a hard pocket around the city of Colmar. On New Year’s Eve, they launched Operation Northwind, a counteroffensive that nearly put Allied forces back on their heels. On January 12, 1945, Eisenhower could only tell George Marshall that Colmar was “a very bad thorn in our side today.” This is the story of the Sixth Army Group, a unit that combined US and French forces, and its unexpectedly bloody and protracted battle for the Colmar Pocket. Amidst a horrific winter and rough terrain, interspersed by demolished towns, the Allied Army Group traded blows with the German 19th in a ferocious campaign. This book informs us fully of the tremendous and costly struggle waged in an often-neglected sector of World War II’s European Theater.