Littoral warfare och försvar mot landstigning : En teoriprövande fallstudie av försvar mot en modern amfibieoperation

Defending against a modern amphibious landing is one of the most difficult operations in warfare. Many have tried but very few have succeeded to throw an assaulting landing force back into the sea. This essay is an attempt to create deeper understanding for anti-landing defense by using Milan Vego’s theory on littoral warfare in a case study of the landings in Salerno 1943 and on Okinawa 1945. This is in order to examine if this theory on marine warfare in coastal regions can be used to create deeper understanding for defense against a modern amphibious assault. With a current trend towards increasing military interests in littoral regions, this essay intends to bring an up-to-date contribution to the theoretical foundation of marine warfare in littoral regions, and more specifically coastal defense. The analysis shows that Vego’s theory did create deeper understanding of the two cases and particularly regarding command, inter-service cooperation and sea control or sea denial. These concepts have in both cases proven successfully practiced by the assaulting force, while the defenders have failed to benefit from them