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Revisiting Campaign ...

tactical actions. Secondarily, to transform the paper-plan into action, the
operational level is the ‘task manager’ to manage the theatre of campaign. In recent
decades, there are modern command centers to plan, analyze and process data,
share real time information, monitor and direct operational activities across vast
geographical areas/regions. Hence, the operational level needs to be agile,
structured and network centric where the plan and decisions will require short time
to travel between the levels of war and handle multi-dimensional crisis spectrum.
Campaign Plan

Initiation of Campaign Plan
Definition of Campaign Plan. “Campaign plan provides the broad
concepts for operations and sustainment to achieve strategic objectives in a
theater of war or conflict. It provides an orderly schedule of strategic military
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decisions that embody the commander's intent. It initiates major operations,
battles and engagements. The operational level examines the strategic purpose
and selects the military objectives at Joint Forces HQ. Accordingly, the Army,
Navy and Air Force derive their own military objectives to pursue the strategic
purpose and issue Operation Orders for the tactical level.
Strategic Guidance and Objectives. The Strategic level gives the
Strategic Guidance containing the strategic purpose, objective and directive.
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The guidance then reaches the operational level for subsequent planning. The
example of such Strategic Guidance to General Eisenhower prior Operation
Overlord is highlighted below:
“You are hereby designated as the Supreme Allied Commander of the
forces placed under your orders for operations for liberation of Europe from
Germany. You will enter the continent of Europe and, in conjunction with the
other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and
the destruction of her armed forces. The date for entering the continent is the
month of May 1944. After adequate channel ports have been secured,
exploitation will be directed towards securing an area that will facilitate both
ground and air operations against the enemy”.
Source: The US Team Lecture in Mirpur Defence Services Command and Staff College
in 2006. Colour Legend: Strategic Purpose, Military End State (End), Strategic Guidance
(Ways), Forces (Means).

2. William W. Mendel and Floyd T. Banks, Jr. Campaign Planning, pp.45-46. (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, 1988).
3. Defence Services Command and Staff College (Mirpur, Dhaka), Precis Campaign, Chapter 9, (2006).

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