2. LESSONS
A. TOPIC. Consolidating Gains (A Historical Perspective) (2557)
Observation.
Civil Affairs forces provide a human geography-focused capability in stability
operations that enable commanders at echelon to gain intimate knowledge of the
operational environment, be sensitive to changes in stability over time, and
quickly execute operational branches and sequels to consolidate gains.
Discussion.
DoDI 3000.05, Stability Operations, 2009, defines stability operations as “an
overarching term encompassing various military missions, tasks, and activities
conducted outside the United States in coordination with other instruments of
national power to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure environment, provide
essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and
humanitarian relief.”
When U.S. forces prepared for Operation Torch in November 1942, little
preparation was made for the consolidation of gains in North Africa upon
achieving success against Nazi forces. Within three weeks of landing in Tunisia,
LTG Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to GEN George C. Marshall, “There is an acute
need for such a body [of civilian experts] because the success of future
operations from this base w ill depend very largely upon the speed with which the
economy of this country is rehabilitated, at least to the point of sustaining a
majority of the population above the starvation level.” Four days later, he wrote
GEN Marshal again: “The sooner I can get rid of all these questions that are
outside the military scope, the happier I will be! Sometimes I think I live ten years
each week, of which at least nine are absorbed in political and economic
matters.” (United States Army in World War II Special Studies, Civil Affairs:
Soldiers Become Governors, published by the Department of the Army's Office of
the Chief of Military History, 1964.)
By the time U.S. forces landed in Normandy in June1944, the Army had built an
extensive civil affairs capability that could provide commanders with a clear
understanding of the noncombatant situation in the operational environment and
organize local resources to address local issues so as to relieve commanders
from using military resources to meet statutory and operational obligations to
noncombatants.
In one example, a civil affairs detachment prepared exclusively for the eventual
occupation of Munich, Germany. From the time it formed in England a year
before entering Munich, the 52-man Military Government Detachment F-213
spent many days “poring over maps and air photos, consulting reference works,
Table of Contents | Quick Look | Contact PKSOI
Page 6 of 28