CHAPTER 4
PLANNING
GENERAL
The corps allocates support elements to the division and provides terrain and enemy analyses. It assigns mission objectives to the division. For operations where the corps is crossing the river, it may assign the bridgehead line.
The division assigns mission objectives to the brigades and specifies the bridgehead line. It may assign bridgehead objectives to the brigades. The division allocates maneuver and maneuver-support forces to the brigades and develops coordination measures, such as movement schedules, that apply to more than one brigade. The division also provides terrain and enemy analyses to the brigades.
The senior corps engineer headquarters, allocated to the division for the crossing, assists the division engineer section with detailed crossing plans. The lead brigade develops the tactical plans that it will execute. It develops the crossing objectives in order to attain its mission objective.
The headquarters of the corps engineer battalion, assigned to support each brigade crossing, develops the detailed crossing plan. The battalions develop the tactical plan necessary to seize assigned objectives.
The actual planning process for a river crossing is the same as for any tactical operation. Differences occur primarily because of the complexity of crossing a river (which makes extensive calculation necessary) and the need to balance tactics with crossing rates.
Planners do crossing calculations twice. Crossing calculations are critical to COA evaluation. They are required to ensure that force buildup supports the COA. For initial planning, simple calculations and rules of thumb are used to produce quick force-buildup information. Once a commander selects a specific COA, planners make detailed crossing calculations to produce the crossing plan.
THE PLANNING PROCESS
In the following paragraphs, the planning process is described in steps and by echelons. The shadowed text in the tables shows the step in the planning process being discussed, with the battle staff and engineer planning requirements alongside. A detailed discussion that is primarily aimed at the division and brigade echelons follows. In general, the corps identifies the crossing requirement and provides assets, the division conducts a detailed terrain analysis and develops rough crossing plans, and the brigade develops detailed crossing plans.
ANALYZING THE MISSION
The first step is to recognize that a river crossing is necessary (see Table 4-1). Once the mission is received, the staff develops and conducts a mission analysis. This is done to-- Understand the purpose of the mission and the intent of the commander and the commander two levels up.
- Review the area of operations.
- Identify tasks (both specified and implied), assets available, constraints, restraints, and an acceptable level of risk
Normally, if the corps identifies the requirement for a river crossing, its warning order (WO) includes it. The topographic company supporting the corps provides detailed river data and crossing-area overlays. The topographic company automatically provides necessary topographic data to the division terrain team. See FM 100-15 for more details on planning at the corps level.
The division discovers that it must cross a river by receiving a specified task in the corps's order or by developing an implied task during mission analysis. The division engineer's section always examines all rivers in the division's area of operations during the mission-analysis process. The division terrain team maintains a terrain database that includes river data and potential crossing sites for the division's area of operation.
NOTE: Upon identifying a river- crossing task, the division engineer and terrain team immediately determine potential crossing sites.
INTELLIGENCE PREPARATION OF THE BATTLEFIELD
The battle staff, including the staff engineer's help, analyze the existing situation. This analysis includes the enemy, friendly troops, terrain, and time available for the mission. This step is primarily designed to acquire the data necessary for the following planning steps, but some early analysis is necessary to generate critical information. The engineer staff officer must very quickly convert raw terrain data and friendly information into crossing rates. This allows the planners to make intelligent decisions about supportable schemes of maneuver.As a part of the IPB process, the G2 leads the staff development of a defensive situational template along the entire river that the division must cross. The template focuses attention on possible areas of weakness, counterattack forces, and artillery.
The G2, with the division engineer's help, develops obstacle templates from the line of contact through to division objectives. He provides the templates to the brigade intelligence sections for their planning and analysis. The division engineer provides enemy obstacle information (particularly along the river) to the brigade engineers.
The division provides the brigade staff with templates that it refines and further develops for the enemy force in its area of operation. The S2 develops intelligence requirements and a detailed intelligence-collection plan, with specific emphasis on the far shore. Reconnaissance teams seek information to fill those requirements. Obstacle templates are verified by active air and ground reconnaissance, as directed in Chapter 2.
FRIENDLY TROOPS
The division engineer coordinates for corps engineer units to cross the force, using the simple rule of thumb that every forward brigade requires two bridges. Insufficient bridging assets limit possible COAs.The brigade engineer identifies the crossing sites required for the brigade and for each battalion based on the number of vehicles. This calculation is based on simple assumptions. From it, the brigade engineer determines the approximate time necessary to cross the entire brigade (see Appendix B). The crossings required are important during COA development. The brigade engineer also determines the amount of bridging available, the number of possible heavy rafts, and the number of assault boats. This information is forwarded to the CAE, who is responsible for the control of all crossing means.
TERRAIN
The division engineer ensures that adequate information is in the crossing-site database for planning at brigade level. The division terrain team generates crossing-site overlays, site data files, and road and cross-country-movement overlays for the crossing areas.The division engineer ensures that sufficient assault, raft, and bridge sites are available within each assault-brigade area. Generally, a main attack brigade requires assault sites for two dismounted battalions and at least two raft or bridge sites.
The brigade engineer, coordinating with the CAE, evaluates all potential crossing sites from both technical and tactical considerations, including-
- Entry- and exit-road networks.
- Cross-country movement.
- The width, velocity, and depth of the river.
- The conditions of the bank.
- The vegetation along the shore.
- The obstacles in or along the river.
- Possible attack positions and routes to the river.
- Possible call-forward areas.
The division engineer, coordinating with the CFC, ensures that the crossing requirements of the lead brigades and breakout force are adequately resourced to satisfy each COA.
The BMAIN evaluates the terrain along the river in terms of OCOKA. The intent is to understand the terrain along the river so that potential COAs can be devised with crossing objectives. The operations planners combine this knowledge with the crossing-site comparisons and enemy templates to develop possible COAs.
DEVELOPING COAs
The G3, along with key members of the battle staff, sketches out possible COAs to accomplish the mission of the division (see Table 4-2). COAs must include-- Assigned crossing areas for each brigade.
- Brigade boundaries that include terrain which is necessary to defend the bridgehead against enemy counterattacks.
Looking two levels down, the division staff plans an assault-crossing site for each anticipated assault battalion in a brigade's area. A brigade should also have two bridging or rafting sites within its boundaries.
The S3 looks closely at the avenues leading to brigade mission objectives, particularly at crossing sites feeding the avenues. Developing practicable COAs is normally an iterative process. The division staff first develops a scheme of maneuver to take the final objective, then verifies that the force build-up rate across the river is adequate for the scheme of maneuver. If so, the S3 expands the COAs to include the tactics required for the crossing.
The tactics required for the crossing are based on enemy defenses near the crossing sites, enemy reaction forces and earliest employment times, and crossing rates at each site. The COAs must include exit-bank, intermediate, and bridgehead objectives.
The S3, working with the brigade engineer and CAE, develops the control measures, crossing graphics, and crossing time line for each COA (see Figure 4-1)
ANALYZING COAs
The staff at both the division and brigade war-game each COA against likely enemy reactions (see Table 4-3). They then attempt to counter each enemy response.- War-games against other variables outside his control, such as terrain difficulties and crossing-equipment losses.
- Considers what will happen-
- - If it takes longer to open a crossing site.
- - If damage slows progress over entrance and exit routes.
- - If the conditions of the river change.
- Considers what will happen if enemy action shuts down a crossing site or forces its relocation.
- Must consider the consequences of equipment failure or loss to enemy action.
- Evaluates the most likely of these against all COAs and develops, within his means, necessary counters to include alternate sites and routes.
COMPARING COAs
The division staff examines each COA against both the immediate and follow-on missions (see Table 4-4). The division is particularly concerned with the movement of reserve and support forces and compares COAs against these requirements.The brigade staff considers the ability of each COA to handle enemy responses, support follow-on missions, provide brigade flexibility, and allow for crossing redundancy.
PRODUCING ORDERS
The battle staff converts the selected COA into a plan with sufficient detail for synchronized execution (see Table 4-5). The staff engineer conducts an extensive analysis to develop a unit-by-unit crossing plan and movement schedule in conjunction with the G3, G4, and DTO. From this analysis, he develops the crossing-capability chart (see Appendix B) and the crossing overlay (see Figure 3-6, Chapter 3). These are his primary execution tools. The staff engineer develops the crossing-synchronization matrix as a primary execution tool for the S3 (see Appendix B). He also helps the traffic-control cell work out the traffic-circulation plan.While detailed planning is underway, the CAE initiates far-shore and nearshore reconnaissance to develop sufficient detail for battalion-level planning. He converts this planning into a detailed engineer task list and develops an engineer execution matrix to synchronize it (see Appendix B).
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