UPDATE: This lecture was originally scheduled for in-person and open to the public, but has been moved to Zoom-only for LLI members who will be emailed a Zoom link. For questions, email llimanassas@gmail.com

Speaker: Dr. Paul Severance

Presented by the Lifelong Learning Institute, Manassas

This event is open to the public. For more information about the Lifelong Learning Institute, Manassas, visit lli-manassas.org

Dr. Severance’s presentation will address the military geographic aspects of the combat water crossings in Operation Market Garden (A Bridge Too Far) in September 1944. He will consider a wide array of geographic factors, principles, and influences that played a role in the planning and execution of this extremely complex airborne and armor-infantry campaign designed to turn the German right flank on the Rhine River and break into Germany’s industrial heartland. This comprehensive analysis will extend to climate and weather, hydrography, topography and micro-terrain, infrastructure, distances, and human influence on the geography (villages, bridges, canals, inundated farmlands, etc.) that characterized the operational arena. The underlying foundation of this presentation is that geography is a “First Principle” in the planning and resourcing of military strategies and the execution and sustainment of major military campaign operations.

Recommended Readings:
Battling the Elements: Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War by Harold A. Winters, with Gerald E. Galloway, Jr., William J. Reynolds, and David W. Rhyne.
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan.

Retired Army Colonel Dr. Paul Severance taught military geography at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. from 1998 to 2018. He focused on analysis and evaluation of the broadest dimensions of physical and human geography on the inception, planning, and execution of major military campaigns, operations, and battles in major wars in which the United States has engaged. He has previously spoken to LLI-Manassas twice, on “The Lincoln Assassination Trial” and on “Geography of the Normandy Landings in 1944.”