The War's 'Constructive Component'

According to a 1939 U.S. Army Field Manual, the ultimate objective of all military operations is the destruction of the enemy's armed forces in battle. Decisive defeat in battle breaks the enemy's will to continue fighting and forces him to sue for peace.1 This doctrine served the U.S. well in World War II, but by the 1960's the teachings of Mao Tse-Tung, Lin Piao and Che Guevara became relevant to an understanding of the …

…Krepinevich, The Army, 175. 34 Krepinevich interview with Depuy, March 26, 1979. Krepinevich, The Army, 175. 35 Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, (N.Y., N.Y.: Random House, 1988), 630. 36 Krulak, p. 202. 37 Otto Lehrack, No Shining Armor, (Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 181. 38 See Prados, Valley, 146, for both statistics on DYE MARKER resource utilization and quotation on Westmoreland's rational for its discontinuance. 39 Robert Thompson, Revolutionary War in World Strategy, 1945-1969, (N.Y., N.Y.: Taplinger Publishing Co., 1970), 130. d in Krepinevich, The Army, 172.