Imagine being the leader of an eleven-man team made of a hodge-podge group of both Engineers and Infantrymen trying to cross an open river with what seemed like an unending number of French defenses. Imagine having a whole division sized mission stalled by French Artillery from the far bank. This was the situation that Staff Sergeant Walter Rubarth and his team encountered in mid-May, 1940. His leadership helped to open a path for both the 10th Panzer Division and the 1st Panzer Division to cross the Meuse and successfully breach the French-held defensive positions. Rubarth’s leadership attributes and competencies, Leads and Presence, added to the success of the German Army during the Battle of France.
On May 10th 1940, The German Army had …show more content…
As a future platoon leader, I have the opportunity to analyze the strengths and weakness of my squads. I may one day develop and implement a plan for a squad size element to be the decisive operation of a division size mission, and while I find it very unlikely that anything workable would come up, it is inspiring to find such an obscure, but instrumental real-life story of just that. Rubarth’s confidence, resiliency, and pure leadership oozing out of his very soul made this mission a success. His mission first attitude and motivation for himself and his men determined the German Army’s victory in securing France and adding another foot hole to their plan to invade other allied …show more content…
The crossing of the River Meuse by the German Army provided them the tools necessary to continue their invasions. This lesson in leadership and history has taught us to never underestimate the power of a highly trained team, especially one consisting of military
On May 10th 1940, The German Army had …show more content…
As a future platoon leader, I have the opportunity to analyze the strengths and weakness of my squads. I may one day develop and implement a plan for a squad size element to be the decisive operation of a division size mission, and while I find it very unlikely that anything workable would come up, it is inspiring to find such an obscure, but instrumental real-life story of just that. Rubarth’s confidence, resiliency, and pure leadership oozing out of his very soul made this mission a success. His mission first attitude and motivation for himself and his men determined the German Army’s victory in securing France and adding another foot hole to their plan to invade other allied …show more content…
The crossing of the River Meuse by the German Army provided them the tools necessary to continue their invasions. This lesson in leadership and history has taught us to never underestimate the power of a highly trained team, especially one consisting of military