The D-Day Invasion

James M. Dubik, Frederick W. Kagan, and Kimberly Kagan

Hertog Foundation | 2018

In this War Studies Advanced Program, Gen. James Dubik will examine the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, France. Students will consider the role of the commanders, both military and civilian; geography and history; and the political, strategic, and technological challenges that made Operation Overlord one of the most difficult military operations in history.  Among the themes students will cover are:

Achieving unity of effort and coherency of action: Thinking and acting in depth—temporal, geographic, militarily, politically—and along multiple lines of operation, domestic and alliance.

Alignment: Designing nested objectives and actions among the levels of war—grand strategic, strategic, operational, and tactical—military and non-military, domestic and alliance.

Theory and practice: Understanding how the theory of war informs and guides the practice of war.

Leadership: The meaning and practice of leadership in a large, distributed, dynamic, and complex civil-military activity.

Waging war: Understanding war involves more than fighting; waging war as an enterprise.

Images courtesy U.S. Department of Defense