At the Arcadia Conference in December 1941, the United States pledged to conduct operations in North Africa by the end of 1942. This decision directly influenced a rapid force generation of amphibious troops. This proved challenging as the US Army had no existing amphibious units, no trained leaders in amphibious operations, no amphibious equipment, and no amphibious doctrine. With these significant handicaps, it took eighty-five days to man, train, and equip the first 7,000 man 1st Engineer Special Brigade and ship them to England in preparation for the North African Operations. The Engineer Regiment, initially tasked by the War Department to study the opposed beach landings, sought to become the principal proponent for training and execution of amphibious operations for the US Army. Brig. Gen. Daniel Noce and Col. Arthur Trudeau, as leaders of the Engineer Amphibious Command synthesized decades of US Marine Corps and Navy amphibious doctrine, prototyping, and experimentation into fighting formations influencing all of the amphibious operations during World War II. This monograph provides the historical context that set conditions for the Engineer Amphibian Command to grow at an exponential rate and discusses the possibilities of rapid force generation in the 21st century.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)