In our discussion posts at Walden University, one of the classmates is in the US Military and gave the following two quotes in his discussion post which led to my reply.
A German military strategist once said, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” Even General Eisenhower famously stated, “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” The point of these two great military minds really are the same, that planning is indispensable, but being prepared for what could go wrong is even more important.
Your post reminded me of watching the Military Channel® with my father and I am always fascinated by the D-Day Normandy invasion. That is why I have to comment on your post (even if it is the last day). The source I am using to write this is from www.history.com, and shows the importance that weather forecasting and communication with General Eisenhower played in executing the well planned mission (Klein, 2014). Only one meteorologist was allowed to have direct contact with Eisenhower, and his reports would play a vital role in WWII (Klein, 2014).
It is amazing to think of the technology used in 1944 to predict the weather and to also predict that if the invasion was postponed from June, 5, to the following day there would be a temporary break in the weather that would turn the high probability of a disastrous landing on Omaha beach to one with a higher probability of success (Klein, 2014). The Allied forces had more advanced methods to forcast the weather than the Nazis, and it involved a chain of communication among several meteorologists (Klein, 2014). The Nazis believed that there would be ongoing storms throughout June making and sea to land invasion impossible, so they reduced their forces guarding the beaches in their occupied countries (Klein, 2014).
General Eisenhower listened to his SME advisor about the weather, and made a decision that lead to the start of the turn of the Nazi's control over victory in WWII. Taking a huge risk in his decision and having so many men sacrifice their lives to die for their country and the fight to eliminate the Nazi power's control of Europe proved to be the right move for Eisenhower (Klein, 2014). If General Eisenhower postponed the invasion, it would not have been possible to be carried out for another year (Klein, 2014). That would have meant another year of lives lost, and the horror of the Concentration Camps would have lasted longer. General Eisenhower was the PM in this project and he made wise use of those who advised him, trusted in their judgements and made the right decisions.
Reference
Klein, C. 2014. The weather forecast that saved D-Day. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/the-weather-forecast-that-saved-d-day
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