This book explains why logistical planning is studied by military professionals and uses case studies to bring home its importance.

Operational Logistics: The Art and Science of Sustaining Military Operations explores military logistics in terms of the theoretical foundations of operational logistics (OpLog) and its applications. The theoretical foundations are examined with regard to two dimensions. First, the artistic or qualitative aspects of contemporary logistics are looked at in the context of the operational level of war. These OpLog aspects include principles, imperatives and tenets, which are stated and analyzed. The second dimension relates to the scientific aspects of logistics. It is manifested by a formal network model that represents the structural and operational features of an OpLog system. Hence the book examines both artistic and scientific dimensions of military logistics and integrates the respective qualitative and quantitative aspects into a unified and definitive presentation of operational logistics. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to military logistics. Chapter 2 discusses the general structure and characteristics of logistics and describes its three levels - strategic, operational and tactical. Chapter 3 focuses on Operational Logistics (OpLog). Chapter 4 deals with the logistics planning process. Chapter 5 addresses the issue of logistics information. Chapter 6 deals with forecasting logistics demands. Chapter 7 introduces the first version of the logistics network model. Chapter 8 addresses an important property of an OpLog system - Flexibility. Chapter 9 discusses two major (and dual) issues in OpLog practice: force accumulation and medical treatment and evacuation. Chapter 10 presents an inter-temporal network optimization model that is designed to determine deployment and employment of the support chain in an OpLog system.

This book highlights recent advances in the development of effective modeling and solution approaches to enhance the performance of military logistics. It seeks to further research in global defense-related topics, including military operations, governmental operations and security, as well as nation support. Additionally its purpose is to promote the global exchange of information and ideas amongst developers and users of military operations research tools and techniques. Over the course of its nine chapters, this edited volume addresses significant issues in military logistics including: a) Restructuring processes via OR methods aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the military logistics, b) Sense-and-Respond logistics prediction and coordination techniques that provide competitive advantage, spanning the full range of military operations across the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war, c) Procurement and auctioning, d) Inventory and stock control theories and applications, e) Military transport and logistical equipment, and, f) Maintenance, repair and overhaul on operational capability in general and equipment availability. The book aims to bridge the gap between the abundant literature on commercial logistics and its scarce defense & combat counterpart. This collection of useful insights into new trends and research will offer an ideal reference for practitioners and army related personnel interested in integrating scientific rigor to improve logistics management within defense organizations & agencies. Ultimately this book should provide a relevant platform for the latest contributions of operations management, operations research, and computational intelligence towards the enhancement of military logistics.

You already know that logistics is hard, it should not be, but it just is. The key components to supply and movement consist of receive, store, issue, and move. It should be that simple. Bottom line: it just is not that simple. There are too many moveable parts where the synergy of the operation could provide a scenario where the combined requirements needed to sustain a theater are greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities. . This book outlines some of these logistical components and their doctrinal relationship to the operation, as well as provides some new ideas. . The chapters are formatted in a fashion that offer the reader the doctrinal concept that the operation or function is based on, and then presents new theories on how to better execute the logistical function or capability as it relates to the operation. . The goal is to discuss those hard logistical topics and their conception to improve the general knowledge and understanding on "why it happens", and "how we can improve the outcome".

Winner of the Eugene Feit Award in Civil War Studies by the New York Military Affairs Symposium During the Civil War, neither the Union nor the Confederate army could have operated without effective transportation systems. Moving men, supplies, and equipment required coordination on a massive scale, and Earl J. Hess’s Civil War Logistics offers the first comprehensive analysis of this vital process. Utilizing an enormous array of reports, dispatches, and personal accounts by quartermasters involved in transporting war materials, Hess reveals how each conveyance system operated as well as the degree to which both armies accomplished their logistical goals. In a society just realizing the benefits of modern travel technology, both sides of the conflict faced challenges in maintaining national and regional lines of transportation. Union and Confederate quartermasters used riverboats, steamers, coastal shipping, railroads, wagon trains, pack trains, cattle herds, and their soldiers in the long and complicated chain that supported the military operations of their forces. Soldiers in blue and gray alike tried to destroy the transportation facilities of their enemy, firing on river boats and dismantling rails to disrupt opposing supply lines while defending their own means of transport. According to Hess, Union logistical efforts proved far more successful than Confederate attempts to move and supply its fighting forces, due mainly to the North’s superior administrative management and willingness to seize transportation resources when needed. As the war went on, the Union’s protean system grew in complexity, size, and efficiency, while that of the Confederates steadily declined in size and effectiveness until it hardly met the needs of its army. Indeed, Hess concludes that in its use of all types of military transportation, the Federal government far surpassed its opponent and thus laid the foundation for Union victory in the Civil War.

Why did Napoleon succeed in 1805 but fail in 1812? Were the railways vital to Prussia's victory over France in 1870? Was the famous Schlieffen Plan militarily sound? Could the European half of World War II have been ended in 1944? These are only a few of the questions that form the subject-matter of this meticulously researched, lively book. Drawing on a very wide range of unpublished and previously unexploited sources, Martin van Creveld examines the 'nuts and bolts' of war: namely, those formidable problems of movement and supply, transportation and administration, so often mentioned - but rarely explored - by the vast majority of books on military history. In doing so he casts his net far and wide, from Gustavus Adolphus to Rommel, from Marlborough to Patton, subjecting the operations of each to a thorough analysis from a fresh and unusual point of view. The result is a fascinating book that has something new to say about virtually every one of the most important campaigns waged in Europe during the last two centuries.

Mariners made a major - but neglected - contribution to England's warfare in the middle ages. Here their role is examined anew, showing their importance. During the fourteenth century England was scarred by famine, plague and warfare. Through such disasters, however, emerged great feats of human endurance. Not only did the English population recover from starvation and disease butthousands of the kingdom's subjects went on to defeat the Scots and the French in several notable battles. Victories such as Halidon Hill, Neville's Cross, Crécy and Poitiers not only helped to recover the pride of the English chivalrous class but also secured the reputation of Edward III and the Black Prince. Yet what has been underemphasized in this historical narrative is the role played by men of more humble origins, none more so than the medievalmariner. This is unfortunate because during the fourteenth century the manpower and ships provided by the English merchant fleet underpinned every military expedition. The aim of this book is to address this gap. Its fresh approach to the sources allows the enormous contribution of the English merchant fleet to the wars conducted by Edward II and Edward III to be revealed; the author also explores the complex administrative process of raising a fleet andprovides career profiles for many mariners, examining the familial relationships that existed in port communities and the shipping resources of English ports. Craig L. Lambert is Research Assistant at the University ofHull.