The Impact of Logistics on War

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The Impact of Logistics on War
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Lesson Objectives
  Define "logistics   Begin to understand its
importance in modern war.

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Logistics Case Study
The Russian Campaign of 1812

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Napoleonic Empire 1812
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Russian Campaign
1812

Why did Napoleon attack Russia?
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Strategic Objectives
"I have come to finish off, once and for all, the
Colossus of Northern Barbarism. The sword is
drawn. They must be thrust back into their snow
and ice, so that for a quarter of a century at
least they will not be able to interfere with
civilied sic Europe."

Napoleon I June 1812
With Napoleon in Russia The Memoirs of General
de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza (From the
original memoirs as edited by Jean Hanoteau.
Abridged, edited, and with an introduction by
George Libaire) (1935 William Morrow Co. New
York). Quoted in Richard Orsinger France
During the French Revolution and Under Napoleon
Bonaparte http//www.txdirect.net/users/rrichard/
napoleo1.htm
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Operational Objective
Engage and destroy the Russian army just inside
the border

No intention to go on to Moscow (reported)
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Chronology 1812
Crossed Nieman River into Russia
June 24

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Napoleon Enters Russia
June 24, 1812

Napoleon entered Russia with gt 400,000 men
Reports vary from 400,000 to 685,000
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The Russian Campaign

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?
?

Konigsberg to Moscow 680 miles ( 1,100 Km)
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The Russian Campaign
Minards Graphic
Charles Joseph Minard

"It may well be the best statistical graphic ever
drawn. Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information, 1983
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Minards Graphic
Charles Joseph Minard

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Minards Graphic
Charles Joseph Minard

"It may well be the best statistical graphic ever
drawn. Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information, 1983
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Chronology 1812
Crossed Nieman River into Russia
June 24

Battle of Borodino Indecisive enormous
losses for both sides
September 7
September 14
Entered Moscow
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Battle of Borodino

Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights September 7,
1812
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Battle of Borodino
September 7, 1812

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Moscow

Napoleon arrived September 15, 1812 with 100,000
men
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Chronology 1812
Crossed Nieman River into Russia
June 24

Battle of Borodino Indecisive enormous
losses for both sides
September 7
September 14
Entered Moscow
Began retreat from Moscow
October 18
December 14
Remnants of Grand Armee left Russia
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Retreat From Moscow

Napoleons Retreat From Moscow Adolph Northern

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Retreat From Moscow

"I have no army any more! For many days I have
been marching in the midst of a mob of disbanded,
disorganized men, who wander all over the
countryside in search of food." Napoleon
Bonaparte, 1812

In 1812 Illarion Pryanishnikov
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The Russian Campaign

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Russian Campaign
Napoleon entered Russia with gt 400,000 men June
1812

Napoleon left Russia with 20,000 to 45,000
men December 1812
" ... the most conspicuous logistical failure in
the history of warfare."
Stanley L. Falk Introduction to Pure Logistics
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What Went Wrong?
The Magnitude of the Problem

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Napoleons Challenge
Entered Russia with over 400,000 men
150,000 primary horses

120,000 supply train horses
Feed ration per horse 8 lbs. oats 12 lbs. hay
20 lbs/horse/day
Feed for 270,000 horses 5,400,000 lbs. 2,700
tons/day!
For one week of travel (100 miles), fodder
requirement is
19,800 tons!
just for the horses!
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Napoleons Challenge
Put another way

Using this technology
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Napoleons Challenge
Accomplish this

Twice each week
for 100 miles
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Napoleons Challenge
More
Assuming only half the 120,000 provision horses
were used to draw wagons,

At six horses per wagon,
that would be 10,000 wagons at 2 tons each
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Napoleons Challenge

Allowing 100 ft. per wagon, thats about 50
wagons/mile
so
10,000 wagons single file would stretch 200 miles!
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What Went Wrong?
Plenty of food in the storehouses
Food and fodder available in the countryside

if properly requisitioned
Transportation resources poorly managed
Could not provide enough wagons
Wagons available not effectively used
First echelons plundered as they went
Left nothing for those who followed
Returned over much the same route as ingress
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What Went Wrong?
the Grande Armees problems were at all times,
including the retreat from Moscow, largely due to
bad discipline.
This, of course, was partly due to
logistics shortages.
It would, however, be unwise to attribute this
solely to the problems of supply. The need to
protect enormously long lines of communication
and to leave garrisons behind and the effects of
distance per se were also factors of major
importance.
Martin van Creveld Supplying War
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The Russian Campaign

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Russian Campaign
Consequences

Europe realized that Napoleon was not invincible
Reinforced the importance of logistics in war
one more time!
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What Have People Said About Logistics Over the
Ages?
Strategy and tactics provide the scheme for the
conduct of military operations, logistics the
means therefore. George Thorpe Pure Logistics

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What Have People Said About Logistics Over the
Ages?
Strategy decides where to act

logistics brings the troops to this point.
Baron de Jomini
A
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What Have People Said About Logistics Over the
Ages?
The line between disorder and order lies in
logistics Sun Tzu

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What Have People Said About Logistics Over the
Ages?
strategy.
Amateurs talk Professionals talk logistics
tactics.

Author Unknown
Different Unknown Author
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So what is Logistics?

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So what is Logistics?
Logistics is the practical art of moving
armies. Baron de Jomini

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Logistics
The art and science of managing and controlling
the flow of goods, energy and information

production and procurement (strategic)
transportation (operational)
distribution (tactical)
maintenance (all)
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The Logistician     Logisticians are a sad and
embittered race of men who are very much in
demand in war, and who sink resentfully into
obscurity in peace. They deal only in facts, but
must work for men who merchant in theories. They
emerge during war because war is very much a
fact. They disappear in peace because peace is
mostly theory. The people who merchant in
theories, and who employ logisticians in war and
ignore them in peace, are generals.   Generals
are a happily blessed race who radiate confidence
and power. They feed only on ambrosia and drink
only nectar. In peace, they stride confidently
and can invade a world simply by sweeping their
hands grandly over a map, pointing their fingers
decisively up terrain corridors, and blocking
defiles and obstacles with the sides of their
hands. In war, they must stride more slowly
because each general has a logistician riding on
his back and he knows that, at any moment, the
logistician may lean forward and whisper "No,
you can't do that." Generals fear logisticians
in war and in peace, generals try to forget
logisticians.   Romping along beside generals are
strategists and tacticians. Logisticians despise
strategists and tacticians. Strategists and
tacticians do not know about logisticians until
they grow to become generals -- which they
usually do.   Sometimes a logistician becomes a
general. If he does, he must associate with
generals whom he hates he has a retinue of
strategists and tacticians whom he despises and,
on his back, is a logistician whom he fears.
This is why logisticians who become generals
always have ulcers and cannot eat their ambrosia.
Generals are a happily blessed race who radiate
confidence and power. They feed only on ambrosia
and drink only nectar. In peace, they stride
confidently and can invade a world simply by
sweeping their hands grandly over a map, pointing
their fingers decisively up terrain corridors,
and blocking defiles and obstacles with the sides
of their hands. In war, they must stride more
slowly because each general has a logistician
riding on his back and he knows that, at any
moment, the logistician may lean forward and
whisper "No, you can't do that." Generals fear
logisticians in war, and in peace generals try to
forget logisticians.

Author Unknown http//logistics.about.com/library/
bllogistician.htm  
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Generals are a happily blessed race who radiate
confidence and power. They feed only on ambrosia
and drink only nectar. In peace, they stride
confidently and can invade a world simply by
sweeping their hands grandly over a map, pointing
their fingers decisively up terrain corridors,
and blocking defiles and obstacles with the sides
of their hands. In war, they must stride more
slowly because each general has a logistician
riding on his back and he knows that, at any
moment, the logistician may lean forward and
whisper "No, you can't do that." Generals fear
logisticians in war, and in peace generals try to
forget logisticians.
Author Unknown http//logistics.about.com/library/
bllogistician.htm  
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Generals are a happily blessed race who radiate
confidence and power. They feed only on ambrosia
and drink only nectar. In peace, they stride
confidently and can invade a world simply by
sweeping their hands grandly over a map, pointing
their fingers decisively up terrain corridors,
and blocking defiles and obstacles with the sides
of their hands. In war, they must stride more
slowly because each general has a logistician
riding on his back and he knows that, at any
moment, the logistician may lean forward and
whisper "No, you can't do that." Generals fear
logisticians in war, and in peace generals try to
forget logisticians.
Author Unknown http//logistics.about.com/library/
bllogistician.htm  
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Generals are a happily blessed race who radiate
confidence and power. They feed only on ambrosia
and drink only nectar. In peace, they stride
confidently and can invade a world simply by
sweeping their hands grandly over a map, pointing
their fingers decisively up terrain corridors,
and blocking defiles and obstacles with the sides
of their hands. In war, they must stride more
slowly because each general has a logistician
riding on his back and he knows that, at any
moment, the logistician may lean forward and
whisper "No, you can't do that." Generals fear
logisticians in war, and in peace generals try to
forget logisticians.
Author Unknown http//logistics.about.com/library/
bllogistician.htm  
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Definitions
(review)
Strategy
A plan to match resources to objectives
basic definition
Matching ends to means
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Definitions
Strategy
A plan to match resources to objectives
Logistics
Process of putting resources to work to achieve
objectives
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