Carrying the War to the Enemy: American Operational Art to 1945 (Volume 28) (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

Military commanders turn tactics into strategic victory by means of "operational art," the knowledge and creative imagination commanders and staff employ in designing, synchronizing, and conducting battles and major operations to achieve strategic goals. Until now, historians of military theory have generally agreed that modern operational art developed between the first and second world wars, not in the United States but in Germany and the Soviet Union. Michael R. Matheny believes previous studies have not appreciated the evolution of U.S. military thinking at the operational level. In his revealing account, Matheny shows that it was at the operational level, particularly in mounting joint and combined operations, that senior American commanders excelled—and laid a foundation for their country's victory in World War II.