Russell Volckmann Chapter Summary

On December 8, 1941 the Japanese Fourteenth Army, under the command of General Tomiyuki Yamashita conducted an assault on American forces stationed in the Philippines The Japanese Army had attacked Pearl Harbor and caught the entire Pacific Fleet off guard, not they had set their sights on the Philippines in a need to secure an outpost closer to the United States. During this attack and for three years after the Japanese has seized the island, CPT Russell Volckmann was forced into situations that required his leadership style and techniques to be dynamic in nature. By all accounts Russell Volckmann was considered an average infantry officer within his unit. Yet during his three years behind Japanese lines Russell Volckmann’s use of situational leadership allowed him to evaded a well supplied and reinforced army, united tribal leaders in northern Philippines, organized an effective guerrilla force, and conducted guerrilla operations that enabled the United States forces to seize the Philippines and ultimately denying the Japanese access to the island.
This book provides relevant leadership information and lesson learned when dealing with a volatile environment. It provides insight into how Volckmann approached each challenge and the
Volckmann assessed that raids on the Japanese supply lines between camps would start to incite fear in the occupying forces while slowly leaving them isolated and vulnerable to larger guerrilla raids. This required him to adjust his leadership style again, in both vision and behavior. Volckmann was able to to change his style to adapt to each problem set. Volckmanns situation required him to assess each contributing factor of his problem and move from one style of leadership to another. Additionally, this had to be projected to the men in his maneuver elements, and often with a language barrier to complete