BeondTheGrave Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) After a conversation with @John Kettler in another thread, I though it would be worthwhile to condense some of the various document exchange threads into one big post. That way we can all pop back over here to check a reference, rather than say "oh I think in that thread a month ago somebody post x." I think sharing these documents is a cool and fun way to connect to the time period, plus who knows maybe somebody will post something that will help the CMCW team develop a better game. And in as an entirely selfish reason, as a researcher in this exact period I appreciate a lot of the documents you all post. A lot of you find things I have never seen and which will definitely make it into my dissertation. So maybe this thread can become a sort of reference desk. [Mods: if the thread is inappropriate I can also delete it] Foundational documents: FM 100-5 (1976) aka Active Defense: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/972 FM 100-5 (1982) aka AirLand Battle: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/976 FM 100-5 (1986) aka We ran out of clever names: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/893u FM 71-2 (1977): the Tank and Mechanized Task Force: https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/FM71-2(77).pdf FM 100-2-1 (1984): Soviet Organization and Tactics: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf note: This is how the Soviets wanted to fight FM 100-2-2 (1984): [Soviet]Specialized Warfare and Rear Area Support: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-2.pdf FM 100-2-3 (1991): Soviet Troops Organization and Equipment: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-3.pdf note: This is what the Soviets would fight with. Check here for ToEs. Repositories: US Doctrinal Manuals (incomplete): http://bits.de/ Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library @ CGSC Digital Collections (CARL): https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/ note: one of the top repositories. Includes doctrinal manuals back 100 years, the Leavenworth Studies series of official histories, staff and CGSC term papers, links to old Army mags like Military Review, and more. Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC): https://discover.dtic.mil/products-services/ note: Mostly technical & scientific reports produced by research and acquisitions programs, but has lots of high quality reports which fall outside that purview as well. The Army Heritage Center's ARENA database: https://arena.usahec.org/web/arena note: Oral histories, official correspondence, reports, etc. from virtually every general whose ever served. CIA Electronic Reading Room: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/search/site note: Declassified CIA documents which span a multitude of National Security issues. National Archives and Record Administration:https://www.archives.gov/ note: Things not covered by the above, including USAREUR and the Army Material Command Interesting Reading: Victory Starts Here: https://www.tradoc.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Victory-Starts-Here-A-Short-45-Year-History-of-the-US-Army-Training-and-Doctrine-Command.pdf Balck and von Mellenthin on Tactics: Implications on NATO Tactics: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA097704.pdf Taped Conversation with Hermann Balck:https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA160703.pdf note: Balck was asked to come to the US to share his insights with the TRADOC team in 1979. He was asked to compare his WWII Eastern Front Experience with the gang, with an especial focus on his defense of the Chir River. Deciding What Has to be Done: General William E Depuy and the 1976 edition of FM 100-5, Operations: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/herbert.pdf From Active Defense to Air Land Battle: https://www.tradoc.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/From-Active-Defense-to-AirLand-Battle.pdf If anyone can think of any other essentials let me know and I'll add them to the list. Edited January 1, 2022 by BeondTheGrave 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn2002 Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Interview of Balck is interesting. Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeondTheGrave Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 2 minutes ago, Aragorn2002 said: Interview of Balck is interesting. Thank you. Im an idiot and linked the wrong document, check out this one too. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA097704.pdf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeondTheGrave Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) Here is a document I found today Presentation by MG Gorman, Armor Officer Advanced Course, Fort Knox, Kentucky, 23 April 1976: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16040coll10/id/16/ People in the general CM forum were reacting to a video on the T-34, posted I think by @JohnKettler. One of the discussions was that, regardless of what a piece of paper might say about the T-34's capabilities and how you would rate them, what the Russians actually fielded was almost always worse. Breakdowns, high maintenance, faulty shells, busted welds, the list goes on and on and on. Well in CMCW I think we tend to rate the US by the quality of the Army in the 1980s. This document here is a speech given by Paul Gorman. Now with anything by Gorman I think you need to ask yourself 'whats he trying to sell the audience.' And here its the REALTRAIN training program hes helped develop. Some interesting there about something which, I bet, will come back to influence the design of the NTC. But setting that part aside, the first half has some grizzly stats about the state of the US tank force in 1976. 1 in 4 tank commanders hadn't been to Fort Knox for AIT. 1 in 10 commanders werent MOS 11E, the tanker MOS. 53% of TCs were E5s on their first tour, despite the fact that regs said TCs should be E6s with previous tank crew experience. Despite CONUS having trained 120% of the Army's yearly need for 11Es in 1975, in 1976 USAREUR reported a shortage of ~25% for 11Es, some units were as low as 60% of their tankers being enlisted and trained as 11Es. The shortage was probably caused because ~45% of TCs and 65% of other crew wanted to change MOS away from 11E if they reenlisted. Added up, this meant that only 75% of crews at the time of the speech had ever fired Table VIII, in other words the final in a series of seasonal training and firing exercises. And of the crews that had fired T-VIII, 25% would be changed within a month of completing their first firing exercise, and ~50% would be changed within 3mo. The document gives some reasoning for this, some deeper reading on the period helps to highlight the broader issues the Army had with manpower at this time. But I think this document helps to highlight that even in 1979 these problems wouldn't have been magically fixed, and in USAREUR there would be more unevenness in training and skill then IMO people assume. You would have some units who had enjoyed lots of stability and were well trained, they might go into their first combat at a 'veteran' or even 'crack' level, in CM parlance, whereas others (maybe even in the same unit) were green grass. It is often the case that what you see on paper isn't always what troops in the field had to deal with. edit: in another related document, I just read that ~50% of USAREUR tanks crews had personnel turnovers every 3mo. The Army's training season for tankers was something like 4mo. IIRC, and Soviet crews stayed together a minimum of 12mo. Edited January 10, 2022 by BeondTheGrave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeondTheGrave Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) Should have been in the first post but I forgot it, now I cant edit that post. Shame. Implications of the Middle Eastern War On US Army Tactics, Doctrine, and Systems (Starts on pg 94) If there is one single foundational document to the kind of war the Army was fighting in the CMCW timeframe, this is it. Edited January 11, 2022 by BeondTheGrave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simcoe Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 On 1/1/2022 at 12:10 PM, BeondTheGrave said: After a conversation with @John Kettler in another thread, I though it would be worthwhile to condense some of the various document exchange threads into one big post. That way we can all pop back over here to check a reference, rather than say "oh I think in that thread a month ago somebody post x." I think sharing these documents is a cool and fun way to connect to the time period, plus who knows maybe somebody will post something that will help the CMCW team develop a better game. And in as an entirely selfish reason, as a researcher in this exact period I appreciate a lot of the documents you all post. A lot of you find things I have never seen and which will definitely make it into my dissertation. So maybe this thread can become a sort of reference desk. [Mods: if the thread is inappropriate I can also delete it] Foundational documents: FM 100-5 (1976) aka Active Defense: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/972 FM 100-5 (1982) aka AirLand Battle: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/976 FM 100-5 (1986) aka We ran out of clever names: https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4013coll9/id/893u FM 71-2 (1977): the Tank and Mechanized Task Force: https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/FM71-2(77).pdf FM 100-2-1 (1984): Soviet Organization and Tactics: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf note: This is how the Soviets wanted to fight FM 100-2-2 (1984): [Soviet]Specialized Warfare and Rear Area Support: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-2.pdf FM 100-2-3 (1991): Soviet Troops Organization and Equipment: https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm100-2-3.pdf note: This is what the Soviets would fight with. Check here for ToEs. Repositories: US Doctrinal Manuals (incomplete): http://bits.de/ Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library @ CGSC Digital Collections (CARL): https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/ note: one of the top repositories. Includes doctrinal manuals back 100 years, the Leavenworth Studies series of official histories, staff and CGSC term papers, links to old Army mags like Military Review, and more. Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC): https://discover.dtic.mil/products-services/ note: Mostly technical & scientific reports produced by research and acquisitions programs, but has lots of high quality reports which fall outside that purview as well. The Army Heritage Center's ARENA database: https://arena.usahec.org/web/arena note: Oral histories, official correspondence, reports, etc. from virtually every general whose ever served. CIA Electronic Reading Room: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/search/site note: Declassified CIA documents which span a multitude of National Security issues. National Archives and Record Administration:https://www.archives.gov/ note: Things not covered by the above, including USAREUR and the Army Material Command Interesting Reading: Victory Starts Here: https://www.tradoc.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Victory-Starts-Here-A-Short-45-Year-History-of-the-US-Army-Training-and-Doctrine-Command.pdf Balck and von Mellenthin on Tactics: Implications on NATO Tactics: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA097704.pdf Taped Conversation with Hermann Balck:https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA160703.pdf note: Balck was asked to come to the US to share his insights with the TRADOC team in 1979. He was asked to compare his WWII Eastern Front Experience with the gang, with an especial focus on his defense of the Chir River. Deciding What Has to be Done: General William E Depuy and the 1976 edition of FM 100-5, Operations: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/herbert.pdf From Active Defense to Air Land Battle: https://www.tradoc.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/From-Active-Defense-to-AirLand-Battle.pdf If anyone can think of any other essentials let me know and I'll add them to the list. Wow great thread! Thank you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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