Publisher's Synopsis
In 2007, three former brigade combat team commanders authored a white paper and sent it to the Army Chief of Staff entitled The King and I: The Impending Crisis in the Field Artillery's Ability to Provide Fire Support to Maneuver Commanders. The paper details the authors' concerns as maneuver commanders with the ability of the field artillery to support maneuver operations. This book examines Operation COBRA to determine how the corps commanders employed field artillery when conducting offensive operations and identifies key concepts that were used to ensure success. The three areas that were seen as crucial to the success of offensive operations were the ability to mass artillery fires, integrate close air support into the ground maneuver plan, and how logistics supported artillery units. For the future of the field artillery, those three areas must be maintained in order to prevail in the next major combat operation.
