Abstract
Prior to and during the events of the six-day war which span from the 5th of June to the 10th of June in
1967 Israel was meet with the threats of a potential extinction being surrounded by enemies.
The aim of the study is to examine the influence of Mission Command within the Israeli Defense Force
to shed light on the role of Mission Command in achieving success on the battlefield. The study will be
focused on the Israeli Defense Forces Sinai campaign of the six-day war and will be analyzing the use of
the enabling principles of Mission Command (Commanders Intent, Disciplined initiative, Competence,
Shared understanding, Mutual trust, Risk acceptance and Mission orders) and its significance in shaping
the outcome of this pivotal conflict.
The study has been built based on a broad pool of books, doctrines, and articles to provide a nuanced
picture of the campaign. However, since the sources on both sides of the conflict is biased, due to
challenges in reading the original languages of the two sides of the conflict, the study has its foundation
on mostly produced information in English from the western part of the world. The paper therefore
might have a small inherent bias.
The findings in this paper will showcase that the Israeli Defense Force understood the use of Mission
Command as a leadership style. The Israeli Defense Force also knew that one principle can’t stand
alone and it’s the mutual influence of all the principles that enables Mission Command to influence the
outcome. The principles on which mission command is built is shown to have been an integrated part
of the entire command chain from the Ugda generals to the battalion second in command and most
likely throughout the entire command-chain down to the platoon commanders.
The outcome of the Sinai-campaign shows that Mission Command if fully integrated in the army
command chain and its doctrine, can have a significant impactful positive outcome on the battlefield.
Among the principles, the principal of competence has shown to be one of the most outspoken in terms
of enabling the other principles as training shows to have a positive impact on all other principles.