Ibid - Australian Army

33
Study Paper No. 301
doctrine. In October 1985 Lieutenant General Gration described
directive control as follows:
This [directive control] requires from a superior officer a clear
statement of mission and an allocation of resources, and from
subordinates a determination to achieve that mission. It also requires
a degree of risk taking by the superior officer, who must be prepared
to accept occasional mistakes. He must delegate freely and supervise
lightly; he must praise action and censure inaction. 133
In November 1988, Training Information Letter (TIL) 1/88,
Directive Control 1988, was published to provide a new command
method for conducting highly mobile and wide-area operations. 134
‘Directive control’, TIL 1/88 noted, ‘has particular relevance in the
Australian context because of the probability of our forces having
to operate in a widely dispersed mode regardless of the level of
conflict’. 135 The pamphlet stated that the policy of Defence of
Australia had caused a fundamental review of tactical doctrine in
which the main thrust of conventional tactical doctrine had shifted
from battles of attrition, based on seizing and holding ground, to an
emphasis on manoeuvre and wide-area operations with a capability
for rapid concentration. 136
To meet this shift in tactical emphasis, there was a need for
independent and flexible execution of the command and control
cycle. 137 The term ‘directive control’ was defined as describing
‘a decentralised approach to command and control’—aimed at
exploiting battlefield opportunity, maximising speed of manoeuvre
133
134
135
136
137
Speech by Lieutenant General P. C. Gration, 24 October 1985.
Document in author’s possession.
Australian Army, Directive Control 1988, Training Information Letter
No. 01/88, Headquarters Training Command, Sydney, November
1988.
Ibid., para. 7.
Ibid., paras 2–3.
Ibid.