|
Ancient and Classical Era and the Middle
Ages |
|
Operation |
Outcome |
Comment |
|
In 490 B.C., the Persians launched an
amphibious assault against the Greeks at Marathon |
Unsuccessful. |
Poorly coordinated |
|
Joint amphibious warfare at Salamis, 480 B.C. |
Athens defeated the Persians |
|
|
Joint amphibious warfare at Pylos in 425 BC
during the Peloponnesian War |
Athens defeated Sparta |
|
|
Joint amphibious warfare at Syracuse in 415
B.C. |
Athens was defeated by Syracuse and Sparta |
This was the turning point in the Peloponnesian
War. Athens was finally destroyed as a naval power at the Battle of
Aegospotami (405 BC) |
|
Roman amphibious landings in Britain 55 and 54
B.C. and in 43 A.D. |
After initial successes, the Romans (under
Caesar) pulled back in 55 BC and 54 BC. Claudius returned in 43 AD
resulting in Roman colonial rule over Britain for 500 years. |
|
|
8th-11th century |
The Vikings launched multiple joint amphibious
operations eventually establishing Norman colonies all over Europe |
In that era, the Vikings were the masters of
Joint warfare. |
|
In 1066, William the Conqueror crossed the
channel |
Britain was conquered |
|
|
In 1274 and 1291, the Mongols attempted
sea-borne landings in Japan. |
Unsuccessful. |
Poorly coordinated |
|
In 1592, Japanese launched an amphibious
assault across the Strait of Tsushima |
Korea was defeated and conquered |
|
|
In 1745, England launched the Cartagena
expedition |
Unsuccessful |
Failed mainly because of Army Navy rivalry |
|
In 1759, British
amphibious landing at Quebec
|
Quebec captured from the French |
Succeeded notably because of inter-service
cooperation between General Wolfe and Admiral Saunders |
|
Ancestors of British Royal
Marine regiment founded in 1739 during the “War of Jenkins’ Ear” |
Successful |
|
|
In 1799, a British force
of 10,000 men under Sir Ralph Abercromby, later reinforced by
Russians, landed in Holland. |
Initially successful, it eventually failed due
to lack of follow-through. |
|
|
In 1801, British
amphibious assault landing at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, under Sir Ralph
Abercromby |
Successful |
|
|
In 1815, the British
attacked American positions in New Orleans |
Unsuccessful. Attack was repelled by US Maj.
Gen. Andrew Jackson |
Failed mainly because of British Army Navy
rivalry |
|
Colonial Wars of Conquest in Nigeria |
|
In 1897, an amphibious
British Army-Navy assault under Rear Admiral Rawson and Lt. Col.
Hamilton, supported by local “armed Hausa constabulary”, was
launched against the Benin Kingdom under the pretext of a punitive
expedition. |
Successful. |
Benin fell on February 18, 1897, and became a
British colony, later subsumed under modern Nigeria. (capital of Edo
State) |
|
World War 1 (Western Europe) |
|
As far back as 1911 (prior
to WWI), bombs were dropped on enemy positions using Military
balloons.
However, the use of
aircraft for tactical, retribution and strategic purposes in war
began with the bombing raid, on August 14, 1914, of
German Zeppelin hangers at
Metz-Frascat by the French "Voisin" biplane. Other nations, namely,
the Germans, Russians, English, and Italians soon followed suit.
After entering the war,
the US conducted numerous US combined arms (Army-Marine) operations.
|
Successful evolution of combined arms tactics.
However, there were some major disasters. The Gallipoli campaign of
1915 is a classic study in the failure of jointness. |
Advent of “close air support” and “battle field
air interdiction” after introduction of aircraft into warfare.
Lessons learnt from the projection of power across the Atlantic
legitimized the inter-dependence of land, sea and air power.
In the US, World War 1 experience led to
National Defense Act of 1920, establishing a Joint Army-Navy Board
|
|
World War 1 (African Theater) |
|
In support of British and French
colonial governments, West African colonial troops took part in
joint/combined Army-Naval amphibious assaults on Lome in Togo
(August 1914) and Douala in Cameroun (September 1914). Similarly,
South African troops landed at Luderichbucht (September 1914),
Walvis Bay (December 1914), and Swakopmund (January 1915), all in
Namibia. |
Successful |
German territories in Africa were shared as
protectorates between Britain and France. |
|
World War 2 |
|
Operation Watchtower: US Army, Navy, Marine
joint invasion of Guadalcanal in August 1942 |
Successful |
|
|
Operation Torch: Allied
combined invasion of North Africa in November 1942 |
Successful |
Provided many useful lessons for future
operations |
|
Operation Husky: Allied
combined invasion of Sicily in July 1943 |
Successful |
|
|
Operation Overlord:
Allied combined invasion of France on June 6, 1944 |
Successful |
|
|
Operation Iceburg: US
Joint invasion of Okinawa in 1945. |
Successful |
|
|
Operations ‘Plunder'
, ‘Widgeon' and ‘Varsity’: US and
British Joint/combined Tri-service crossing of the River Rhine on
March 23/24 1945 |
Successful |
Resulted in the collapse Germany’s western
front. |
|
Cold War |
|
Operation Chromite: US
Joint landings at Inchon on August 12, 1950, during the Korean war. |
Successful. |
Outstanding example of a well led modern Joint
operation. |
|
US Military Assistance
Command Vietnam (MACV) Operations in Vietnam – 1965 - 1973 |
Ultimately unsuccessful. South Vietnam
surrendered and came under unified communist rule with North
Vietnam. |
Many examples of problems associated with
modern Joint operations. Also illustrates how factors beyond
“jointness” can result in Military failure. |
|
US Joint operation to
rescue crew of SS Mayaguez on May 15, 1975 in Cambodia |
Successful, at high cost. |
Good example of problems associated with modern
Joint operations |
|
Operation Eagle Claw:
Joint attempt, in April 1980, to rescue US Hostages in Iran. |
Unsuccessful |
Another good example of problems associated
with modern Joint operations |
|
Operation Azul (blue):
Joint Argentine invasion of the Falklands, on April 1st,
1982. |
Successful |
Although initially successful, the Argentines
were later evicted by a Joint British Force in June 1982. |
|
Joint British Naval Task
Force invaded Argentine held Falklands from May 1st to
June 14, 1982. |
Successful. |
This conflict illustrated many lessons in joint
warfare 8000 miles away from home. |
|
Operation Urgent Fury:
Joint and combined invasion of Grenada by US and Caribbean nations
(Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and
St. Vincent) in October 1983. |
Successful overthrow of Marxist Government
|
Excellent example of failures of joint
inter-operability. Ultimately led to passage of the 1986
Goldwater-Nichols Act which has enhanced “jointness” in the US
Military. |
|
Operation Just Cause:
U.S. Southern Command joint invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989 |
Successful overthrow of Manuel Noriega regime. |
This was the first US joint operation after the
Goldwater-Nichols Act. |
|
Nigerian Civil War |
|
Amphibious Army-Navy
assault at Bonny on July 26, 1967. |
Successful |
This opposed beach landing operation also
involved the use of merchant ships from the Nigerian National
Shipping Line. It was the first joint Army-Navy combat operation in
post-colonial Nigeria. |
|
Joint amphibious Army-Navy
operations at Escravos, Koko, Youngtown, Sapele and Warri during
operations to clear the Midwest. (August and September 1967) |
Successful |
These landings were mostly unopposed.
|
|
Operation Tiger-Claw:
Joint amphibious Army-Navy assault on Calabar on October 18, 1967. |
Successful |
|
|
Joint amphibious assault
on Oron, March 1968. |
Successful |
This was the first full coordinated tri-service
joint operation, involving the NA, NN and NAF. |
|
Post Cold War |
|
Operation Desert Storm (a.k.a. Operation
Granby, “Harb Tahrir al-Kuwait” – war of Kuwait
liberation, or “Um M'aārak”, the “Mother of All Battles”) Joint and
combined invasion of Kuwait by US and 33 allies on January 17, 1991. |
Successful |
Although a vast improvement in jointness over
previous Military campaigns, service rivalry still reared its ugly
head in the form of incidents of “friendly fire” |
|
Operation Proven Force:
US European Command Joint/combined Army, Air Force and Special Ops
operation from Turkey during Operation Desert Storm: It targeted
radar, command and control, airfields, and Military production
facilities in northern Iraq. |
Successful |
|
|
Operation Provide Comfort: US Joint operation
in defence of Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq; July 24, 1991.
|
Successful |
|
|
Operation Southern Watch: Under control of the
US Central Command, this was a joint/combined operation carried out
by the Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA). Units were drawn
from the US, UK, France, and Saudi Arabia. It began on August 27,
1992. |
Enforcement of “No-Fly zone”. Successful
control of Iraqi airspace south of the 33rd Parallel, up until the
start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. |
Op Southern watch showed that US inter-service
communications, tactics and operations have continued to be
problematic, although much less so than in the past. Just prior to
Op Iraqi Freedom, Op Southern Watch became Op Southern Focus, a
secret operation to disrupt Iraqi Command and Communications. |
|
Operation Provide Relief:
US Central Command Joint Humanitarian Task Force in August 1992 in
support of support of multinational UN relief effort
during Somalia civil war and famine. |
Impaired by widespread theft, it was initially
unsuccessful. |
The problems of Operation Provide Relief led to
authorization of Operation Restore Hope. |
|
Operation Restore Hope: US
component of combined UN operation (UNOSOM II). From March 1993 to
March 1995, it was authorized to use "all necessary means" to
“establish a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations
in Somalia” |
Credited with saving an
estimated 200,000 lives from famine, although strategically
unsuccessful. |
See Operation Gothic Serpent |
|
Operation Gothic Serpent:
This joint US Op was aimed at capturing General Aidid’s Habr Gidr
clan leaders on Oct 3 – 4, 1993 during Op Restore Hope. Also known
as the Battle of Mogadishu. |
Clan leaders were captured, but the operation,
which resulted in many casualties, was strategically unsuccessful.
|
One lesson from this experience was that the US
(and other) Armed Forces need joint combined arms urban warfare
training.
Inter-service rivalry was partly to blame for
what transpired. The Army commander had requested Army tanks two
months prior (and did not get them); even though Marine Corps Tanks
were onboard ships only four sailing days away. Rather than ask for
the Marine Tanks, service pride took hold to avoid the perception of
Marines going to the rescue of the Army.
This debacle also illustrated, once again, how
factors beyond “jointness” can result in Military failure.
It led to the withdrawal of US Military
participation in Somalia and the resignation of the US Defense
Secretary. It also led to US reluctance to deploy its Military for
direct combat in subsequent African conflict situations. |
|
Operation Joint Endeavor: US and NATO
joint/combined peace operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina; December 1995
|
Successful |
|
|
Operation Iraqi Freedom
(a.k.a. Operation Telic (UK) and Operation Falconer (Australia)):
US and allied invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.
|
Successful overthrow of the regime of Saddam
Hussein |
Although later marred by poor post-invasion
contingency planning for stability, this is a widely recognized and
hailed model of modern joint operations. |