Operational Battle Command: The Doorway to Versatility.

The purpose of this monograph is to investigate the effects of battle command on a conventional corps fighting in an unconventional environment. Battle command is a new doctrinal term describing how a commander leads his unit into an operation. TRADOC Pam 525-200-I defines battle command as "the art of battle decision making, leading, and motivating soldiers and their organizations into action to accomplish missions at least cost to soldiers. It begins in the training a commander provides for his command and it ends with the successful redeployment and recovery of the command in preparation for its next operation." This particular topic is significant for investigation because a U.S. Corp could easily have similar challenges when conducting operations in places such as Bosnia or Cambodia. This monograph will use Viscount Slim's Burma campaign during World War II to investigate the research question. Slim took over a defeated army with low morale, formulated his vision of what actions had to take place for victory, and proceeded to execute his vision which led to his unit's eventual success. Using the model of battle command as a guide, the study investigates the actions of a successful commander overcoming a difficult situation to achieve success in an unfamiliar environment.