24 members of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, deployed to Germany over the week of the 21-25 August on Ex STEELBACK AACHEN, a Battlefield Study to focus on operations conducted by US forces during the initial penetrations into Germany in Sep-Dec 1944.
The Battlefield Study was organized and run by Major Ollie Ormiston, a former Adjt of the Battalion. The study was well attended by a diverse rank range from recruit to Commanding Officer and provided an excellent opportunity to educate and develop members of the Battalion in Leadership, the Principles of War, and the Nature of Conflict through exposure to key historical events and battles.
The specific themes for the study were to develop an understanding of the scale of warfare, the management of risk and discomfort and the fog and friction of war by concentrating on three main battles of the campaign, the Battle of the Stolberg Corridor (primarily 3rd Armoured Division), the Battle of Aachen (primarily 26th Infantry Regiment), and the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest (primarily 36th Infantry Regiment).
This provided an excellent vehicle to discuss high-intensity warfare that ranged from large-scale urban operations to the fighting in woods and forests of the Hurtgen area.
