Military logistics

The word "logistics" is derived from the Greek adjective logistikos meaning "skilled in calculating",[1] and its corresponding Latin word logisticus. In turn this comes from the Greek logos, which refers to the principles of thought and action.[2] Another Latin root, log-, gave rise around 1380 to logio, meaning to lodge or dwell, and became the French verb loger, meaning "to lodge". Around 1670, the French King Louis XIV created the position of Maréchal des logis, an officer responsible for planning marches, establishing camp sites, and regulating transport and supply. The term logistique soon came to refer to his duties.[3] It was in this sense that Antoine-Henri Jomini referred to the term in his Summary of the Art of War (1838). In the English translation, the word became "logistics".[4]

In 1888, Charles C. Rogers created a course on naval logistics at the Naval War College. In Farrow's Military Encyclopedia (1895), Edward S. Farrow, and instructor in tactics at West Point provided this definition:

Bardin considers the application of this word by some writers as more ambitious than accurate. It is derived from Latin logista, the administrator or intendant of the Roman armies. It is properly that branch of the military art embracing all the details for moving and supplying armies. It includes the operations of the ordnance, quartermaster's, subsistence, medical, and pay departments. It also embraces the preparation and regulation of magazines, for opening a campaign, and all orders of march and other orders from the general-in-chief relative to moving and supplying armies.[5]

The term became popularised during the Second World War. In Logistics in World War II: Final Report of the Army Service Forces, Lieutenant General LeRoy Lutes, the commanding general of the Army Service Forces, gave the term a more expansive definition:

The word "logistics" has been given many different shades of meaning. A common definition is: "That branch of military art which embraces the details of the transport, quartering, and supply of troops in military operations." As the word is used in the following pages, its meaning is even broader. It embraces all military activities not included in the terms "strategy" and "tactics." In this sense, logistics includes procurement, storage, and distribution of equipment and supplies; transport of troops and cargo by land, sea, and air; construction and maintenance of facilities; communication by wire, radio, and the mails; care of the sick and wounded; and the induction, classification, assignment, welfare and separation of personnel.[6]

NATO uses a more restrictive definition:

The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces. In its most comprehensive sense, the aspects of military operations which deal with:

1. design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposal of materiel;
2. transport of personnel;
3. acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities;
4. acquisition or furnishing of services; and
5. medical and health service support.[7]

In the 1960s, the term "logistics" began to be used in the business world,[2] where it means physical distribution and supply chain management.[8]

Historian James A. Huston proposed sixteen principles of military logistics:[9][10]

1. Equivalence: Strategy, tactics and logistics are inseparable and interdependent facets of military art and science.
2. Material precedence: Mobilisation of materiel should precede that of personnel, and the provision of logistical units that of combat units.
3. Forward impetus: The impetus of supply should be from the rear, and combat unit commanders should be spared having to deal with logistical details while still being in control of their logistics.
4. Mobility: Logistics should facilitate the rapid movement of both combat and logistical units in support of operations.
5. Dispersion: Multiple sources of supply and lines of communications reduce the enemy interference and congestion of transportation infrastructure.
6. Economy: Logistical resources are limited, so they must be deployed so as to make the best use of them.
7. Feasibility: Logistical capabilities are subject to external constraints.
8. Flexibility: Strategic and operational plans and priorities change and logistical support must change with them.
9. Relativity: Logistics is relative to time and space.
10. Continuity: Fundamental changes should not be required to meet an emergency.
11. Timeliness Logistical tasks must be accomplished so as to take full advantage of opportunities.
12. Responsibility: Someone must be responsible for logistical performance and outcomes.
13. Unity of command: Logistics is a function of command and a single authority should be responsible for logistics.
14. Information: Accurate and timely information is required for effective logistical planning and support.
15. Quality: Logistics is facilitated by strict quality standards.
16. Simplicity: Simple solutions are more effective and manageable.

The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff reduced the number of principles to just seven:[11]

1. Responsiveness: Providing the required support when and where it is needed.
2. Simplicity: fosters unity and efficiency in planning and execution, and reduces the fog of war and the "friction" caused by combat.
3. Flexibility: the ability to improvise and adapt to changing situations and requirements.
4. Economy: using the minimum amount of resources required to bring about an objective.
5. Attainability: the point at which sufficient supplies, support and distribution capabilities exist to initiate operations at an acceptable level of risk.
6. Sustainability: the ability to maintain the necessary level and duration of logistics support to achieve objectives.
7. Survivability: the capacity to prevail in spite of adverse impacts.

There are three basic options for the supply of an army in the field, which can be employed individually or in combination.[12]

The history of military logistics goes back to Neolithic times.[26] The most basic requirements of an army were food and water.[13] Early armies were equipped with weapons used for hunting like spears, knives, axes and bows and arrows,[26] and rarely exceeded 20,000 men due to the practical difficulty of supplying a large number of soldiers.[27] Large armies began to appear in the Iron Age.[28] Animals such as horses, oxen, camels and even elephants were used as beasts of burden to carry supplies.[29][30] Food, water and fodder for the animals could usually be found or purchased in the field.[31] The Roman Empire and Maurya Empire in India built networks of roads, but it was far less expensive to transport a ton of grain from Egypt to Rome than 80 kilometres (50 mi) by road.[32][23] After the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century there was the shift from a centrally organised army to a combination of military forces made up of local troops.[33] Feudalism was therefore a distributed military logistics system where magnates of the households drew upon their own resources for men and equipment.[34][35]

From the late sixteenth century, armies in Europe increased in size, to 100,000 or more in some cases.[36] When operating in enemy territory an army was forced to plunder the local countryside for supplies, which allowed war to be conducted at the enemy's expense. However, with the increase in army sizes this reliance on pillage and plunder became problematic, as decisions regarding where and when an army could move or fight became based not on strategic objectives but on whether a given area was capable of supporting the soldiers' needs. Sieges in particular were affected by this, both for an army attempting to lay siege to a town and one coming to its relief. Unless a commander was able to arrange a form of regular resupply, a fortress or town with a devastated countryside could become immune to either operation.[37]

Napoleon made logistics a major part of his strategy.[38] He dispersed his corps along a broad front to maximise the area from which supplies could be drawn. Each day forage parties brought in supplies. This differed from earlier operations living off the land in the size of the forces involved, and because the primary motivation was the emperor's desire for mobility.[39] Ammunition could not as a rule be obtained locally, but it was still possible to carry sufficient ammunition for an entire whole campaign.[40]

The nineteenth century witnessed technological developments that facilitated immense improvements to the storage, handling and transportation of supplies which made it easier to support and army from the rear. Canning simplified storage and distribution of foods, and reduced waste and the incidence of food-related illness. Refrigeration allowed frozen meat and fresh produce to be stored and shipped.[41] Steamships made water transports faster and more reliable.[42] Railways were a more economical form of transport than animal-drawn carts and wagons, although they were limited to tracks, and therefore could not support an advancing army unless its advance was along existing railway lines.[42] At the same time, the advent of industrial warfare in the form of bolt-action rifles, machine guns and quick-firing artillery sent ammunition consumption soaring during the First World War.[43][44]

In the twentieth century the advent of motor vehicles powered by internal combustion engines offered an alternative to animal transport for moving supplies forward of the railhead, although many armies still used animals during the Second World War.[45][46] The development of air transport provided an alternative to both land and sea transport, but with limited tonnage and at high cost.[47] An airlift over "the Hump" helped supply the Chinese war effort],[48] and after the war the 1948 Berlin Air Lift was successful in supplying half of the city.[43] With the subsequent development of large jets, aircraft became the preferred method of moving personnel over long distances, although it was still more economical to move cargo by sea and land. In forward areas, the helicopter was well-suited to moving troops and supplies, especially over rugged terrain.[43]

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