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![handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0027 and id is 1 raw text is:
ARMY HISTORY
ThIE PROFESSIONAl I lULETIN OF ARMY UISTOR Y
P-20-93-4 (No. 27) Washingon, 11.11 Sumer 1993
The U.S. Army and Amphibious Warfare
During World War H1
John T. Greenwood
Th. artic is derM d from a p r I Gr
wood originally preparcd for the XiVIII lniernatinaid
Congress iof Military Illswory, Thrtn. /taly. Scpor
For ffty yeas hltsnants have written about Wordd
War I but the U S Army'sl .c inan ph uw rr
rnmains amuchelc hatein the histry othe w a
an loof heAmen n apaht jii ad cOmbind
warf are.
A subject so vast andcomnplex s tho :S. A my'-s
role in amphibious warl ait during Word War H dlies
shot and simphsic treatment Thus. this itile focuses
maily on the y fari on 1940 ) 1943 when the fonida-
norns were laid for later stasxm Thes wen: difficult
years of preparation, conflict, trial and experimentanon
lb the Ameican armed forces. In the idst ot a total
global wartheystr uglcd tomobir lb 0 ena ion'. humn
and industrial r-soNrCes, make critical stategic deci-
sions, hammer out pliEy and organitilonal compro-
mi .s and dvelop and intcgatc e w e nyad
dcines inaddiin they had tolcam to work wih 1 each
o hr an theirialies to builaviabl c mnd rere
[or the planning and conduct of sophisticak-d jrOin and
combined land, sea, and air operations.
In the months lollowing the American eny into the
war in December 1941 the Allied poliical and mailitary
ds conf an abysmal world wid] tr1gie siro-
anon. Only a beleaguered Geat Britain and a batered
Soviet U nion held out aginst Na4i Ger any in Euroe x.
ln NorthAfri a BRtih Cnd Commonw h s were
hard pressed. Thb Fap;1ner m d swifly tl11 across
the far East and westeiwm Prci, s pi ing Malaya, I3una,
the Netherlands East Indies. and the Philppines, while
threatening India and Autin1hL The Anglo-American
tr0 y was tna d e A N P en
by weakening their abity to wage war through trategic
air anack and naval lockade, defeaing ter armed
to rn ftIed, lEberung Iw neupaed tcmntones. and
Iinal cuvn Geirmay tavy, and Japan. Thdo ths,
1; Alt bd lers olobal strategy of coordi-
nated and complementary land, sea, and air campaigns in
geographic theaters. Al u 1ii h- outset th Ales
lacked the nmeans for serious up hious operations
anywhere, out of necessiy wela ojerations son ocu
Ied apreem;Aent phon in 1l enra epe Al en-1
plannng)
In stafT talks during 19441 British and Amencan
planners cided that Germany, tic prim m u
dangemrus Axis power, had to be defeated lrst. W tih no
1]ntl ally to provide ae s and ports as Frane had
In the h rt World War, the 1 1 and Briish A nics would
have to fight their way back onto the Continent Meore
tlhllu %0104: brgth e GemianA y d1 a
Remembering their horrible losses in World ar I
Bhi tsh plan1es favored nibbling operatons on the pe-
riphery while blockade and air nack we aa d Ih.
Germans. American plnners. however, emphasized that
the emans had to be confroa1 directly to be beaten.
The mo0rst dairectmyt ',io 6c.nany wasih crlp t ranc,
I i rayw t0 -h~l s,} l t l' to 1:-
w hich meant acoss-Channel am phibious insion on an
unprecedented scale agac ta ieavily dlnded orI
Agans Japan, mpibiu ,wrfare wa e ony
approach that could pe atn the far-lung del ensive
Tier that Japanese victorties had huilby early 190 to
protect the borne islands Weher in the Pacilac or
Eur ,. U S Army wodM h 'E to play a leadmg r1 .
in shajm n omie p eo bec e 'i ae
principal, trained, peace ]ime amphitous fo:e, the Ma
Ine Corps, was simply too al and could t Le qui ly
expanded to und t k such huge respnsibil s
Aithough the Any a long hstoy of itin
amphibious operations with the Navy, ius locus on land
o ruosii lie time for studying landing opera
Un dunn h intera year o Hw r, A Any !
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