Aerospace Power, Necessity of Unity in Commandment and Control (Part I)

Prior to 1941, the Axis Powers were at height of their power. Almost all of Europe was occupied by Germany. The fate of Moscow and Stalingrad changed as a result of a small threat. Rommel (the German commander during the Second World War) was freely advancing in North Africa. The Japanese, with quick and simultaneous invasions in eight regions, achieved an astonishing position and, with this success, a new power emerged in Asia. The Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor forced the Americans to fight against the Axis states. The American forces first entered the battle at the end of 1942 in North Africa. In the Battle of KASSRIN-PASS, the German Air Force, which was weaker than the US forces in terms of number of forces and equipment, carried out such heavy attack against them that led to their defeat. By analyzing this failure, the Americans came to the conclusion that their main mistake was lack of unity in command and control, as well as their lack of attention to multiple air forces controlled by numerous commanders, including many ground-force commanders. Command and control play very important roles in almost all societies. The advantages and disadvantages of their absence are well known. Command is assigned by commanders and applies to specific resources that usually include human resources. A person who is senior to a commander in terms of hierarchy, can monitor and control the resources that are under that commander’s authority. Therefore, control can be exercised by various organizations within an organizational hierarchical structure, depending on the task assigned to each of them, but command is only imposed by the official commander.