At the water's edge

by Theodore L. Gatchel

Col. Theodore L. Gatchel, USMC (Ret.), examines amphibious operations from Gallipoli to the Falkland Islands to determine why the defenders were unable either to prevent the attackers from landing or to throw them back into the sea after they had fought their way ashore. He places the reader at the water's edge as such epic battles as Normandy, Iwo Jima, and Inchon are planned and fought. He then uses these cases to explain why the defenders, including many with distinguished combat records, could not successfully defend against enemy landings. A practitioner, teacher, and student of amphibious warfare, Colonel Gatchel follows these explanations with speculations about how a defender today might try to stop a landing, and the implications of such actions for future amphibious operations.