For organizations and teams that have experienced our Gettysburg and Normandy battlefield programs, we are developing programs based on different sets of battlefield events and leadership examples from these epic engagements. The inherent intent is to revisit each battle from a different perspective, bringing different sites, actions, characters and new leadership lessons into focus.

Gettysburg II Leadership Experience

This 3-day program will focus on the events of July 1-3, 1863 from the perspective of the heads of government for the Confederacy and Union, and of the Union army high command and the Confederate army mid-level leaders in contrast to our Gettysburg Leadership Experience. The pre-reading will be Stars In Their Courses by renowned historian, Shelby Foote.

The battle will be first examined in light of the global political and economic context of the time and will focus on the mandates presented by Davis and Lincoln as the political framework for the military strategy leading to the battle. The content will focus on Meade’s role in the Gettysburg battle, the loss of strategic control presented by the death of Reynolds, the role of intelligence in shaping the events, and the force of momentum leading to both Heth and Early committing forces to the battle well before Lee’s decision to engage.

Hancock’s role as Union wing commander on July 2 will be explored as it relates to the initiative demonstrated by Confederate generals Hood and McLaws on the right flank and by the headlong assault of General Barksdale through the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield. The mandate for strategic reassessments in the course of action and the premium placed on communication in ensuring effective execution will be explored in the interaction between Longstreet and Anderson and their direct reports. The role of the 1st Minnesota Regiment and their action in the Ravine against Wilcox’s Alabama brigade in shaping the outcome of the second day will be examined.

Union General George Greene’s heroic stand on Culp’s Hill will be the opening focus for July 3, followed by the role of supply chain logistics and the Artillery commanders on both sides in determining the final battle tactics of Longstreet’s Grand Assault. The role of President Abraham Lincoln in Meade’s hesitancy to press the attack on Lee’s retreating army will be the final focus as we leave the field.

Normandy II Leadership Experience

This 4-day program will emphasize the actions of the multinational forces involved in the Battle for Normandy, especially in the period following D-Day through August 1944 and the phases commonly known as the Breakout from the Bocage and the German Escape Through the Falaise Pocket. It will also focus on the problems in the planning effort following the invasion itself and will examine Allied mistakes in communication and the the utilization of resources. The pre-reading will be John Keegan’s Six Armies in Normandy.

The victory in Normandy will first be examined in the action following the D-Day airborne landings in the Cotentin Peninsula (at Utah Beach, Neuville au Plain, Brecourt Manor, and St. Come du Mont); we will follow the capture of Carentan and the seizure of the port at Cherbourg with Patton’s sweep from the sea down the Western coastline to Avranches. The events of Mont Castre-Le Haye du Puis, Operation Cobra, and La Croix Rouge-Hill 192 will be the source of leadership examples relative to this phase of the action.

Next will be Montgomery’s Operation Goodwood and the Commonwealth forces’ move south and west, and the focus of the events will include the actions and decisions of Canadian Armor and Infantry units with the British (Scots) 15th Infantry, which culminated in the action at Mont Pincon in securing the corridor between Caen and Falaise. The heroic actions of the German armored divisions in and around Cintheaux will be examined, as will the death of the German tanker ace, Michael Wittmann, as a prelude to the flight through Falaise.

And, near the conclusion of the Battle for Normandy, the decisions and actions of the Allied commanders will come under scrutiny as the mistakes leading to the German escape at Mont Ormel are explored. From positions on Lookout Point at Exmes and in the Corridor of Death through Chambois, we will see how all but 50,000 of the 250,000 Germans trapped in the Falaise pocket managed to evade the blocking of the 1st Polish Armored Division at Hill 262 and flee toward the Seine and Paris.

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