Battle Of Argonne Forest Essay
The world saw for the first time the United States as a world power during World War I.
Before World War I, most U.S. intelligence activities were limited to espionage and relationships built with other countries. It was not until the declaration of war on Germany did the U.S. increase their intelligence capabilities. This paper will analyze how information superiority through intelligence could have affected the Battle of Argonne Forest. This will include how the introduction of signals intelligence (SIGINT) and aerial reconnaissance could have altered the outcome of the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought by American forces. The battle began northwest of Verdun, France near the Argonne Forest. The 1st Army of American Expeditionary Force (AEF), reinforced with elements of the French 4th Army, were matched up against the heavily entrenched 5th Army from Germany. The AEF was composed of 1.2 million troops to include French elements commanded by General John J Pershing. The German forces, commanded by General Georg von der Marwitz, estimated to have between four hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand troops. The battle began on 26 September 1918 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The Battle of Argonne Forest was part of the Grand Offensive planned by French Field Marshal …show more content…
The use of proper intelligence to gain information superiority could have resulted in less AEF casualties. Department of the Army Headquarters (2008) defines information superiority as “ the operational advantage derived from the ability to collect, process and disseminate an uninterrupted flow of information while exploiting or denying an adversary’s ability to do the same” (p. 7-1). Two options to gain information superiority not used in the Battle of Argonne Forest are observation planes and SIGINT capabilities at the tactical
Before World War I, most U.S. intelligence activities were limited to espionage and relationships built with other countries. It was not until the declaration of war on Germany did the U.S. increase their intelligence capabilities. This paper will analyze how information superiority through intelligence could have affected the Battle of Argonne Forest. This will include how the introduction of signals intelligence (SIGINT) and aerial reconnaissance could have altered the outcome of the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought by American forces. The battle began northwest of Verdun, France near the Argonne Forest. The 1st Army of American Expeditionary Force (AEF), reinforced with elements of the French 4th Army, were matched up against the heavily entrenched 5th Army from Germany. The AEF was composed of 1.2 million troops to include French elements commanded by General John J Pershing. The German forces, commanded by General Georg von der Marwitz, estimated to have between four hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand troops. The battle began on 26 September 1918 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The Battle of Argonne Forest was part of the Grand Offensive planned by French Field Marshal …show more content…
The use of proper intelligence to gain information superiority could have resulted in less AEF casualties. Department of the Army Headquarters (2008) defines information superiority as “ the operational advantage derived from the ability to collect, process and disseminate an uninterrupted flow of information while exploiting or denying an adversary’s ability to do the same” (p. 7-1). Two options to gain information superiority not used in the Battle of Argonne Forest are observation planes and SIGINT capabilities at the tactical