What are some of the lessons learned, relearned and unlearned from Operation Neptune?
One of the lessons learned from Operation Neptune was the importance of inter-agency cooperation. No other operation in the Second World War involved so much coordination and cooperation between different branches of government. In the case of Neptune, the war ministries and branches of the military had to cooperate with ministries of transportation, coastal command (the British Coast Guard), to name a few. Another major lesson learned was the effectiveness of pre-loading merchant ships with supplies needed for a major ground operation, then sending those merchant ships to ports captured by the Allies after the amphibious assault. The concept of Maritime Prepositioned Ships was effectively replicated and used for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. There were several relearned lessons from Neptune as well. The importance of air supremacy for the conduct of amphibious operations. For the British, the importance of tactical surprise was also reaffirmed with the successful outcome o
