47 replies to this topic

[Zero]

Don't know if it fits here, but this is the place to post your favorite military blunders in history... POST AWAY JB!!!!

[Dauth]

Quote

Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack & Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
Shatter'd & sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse & hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Nothing more need be said.

[Zero]

HA!! One of the two things I was thinking of when I started this thread! Anyway, I'll post some of Hitler's screw ups during WWII tomorrow, but don't have time today.

[Cuppa]

I like:

How Hitler kept the Me-262 from entering combat for a year
How Nazi Germany stopped developing weapons around 1940 somethin' because they were certain they were going to win the war
How Nazi Germany though D-Day did not occur

All I can think of.

Edited by Cuppa, 08 December 2008 - 02:03.

[Waris]

Cuppa, on 8 Dec 2008, 12:33, said:

I like:

How Hitler kept the Me-262 from entering combat for a year
How Nazi Germany stopped developing weapons around 1940 somethin' because they were certain they were going to win the war
How Nazi Germany though D-Day did not occur

All I can think of.

The worst:
Start a war with USSR

Edited by Waris, 08 December 2008 - 02:16.

[Zero]

No, that was FINE! However, as it is said in "The Sum of All Fears," only an idiot fights the USSR and US simultaneously, what one must do is to pit them against each other. If that can't happen, you must pick them off one at a time. If Germany had taken out GB, THEN Russia, THEN US; we'd be FUCKED!

Also, how he was "winning" the Battle of Britain (he was destroying many of their aircraft and GB was starting to run out) and then switched to morale-degrading night-strikes instead of day-time strategic bombing. And, of course, GB had enough to rebuild the RAF and kick some ass!! HOORAH FOR STUPIDITY!!!!

[Dutchygamer]

Just one word: Hitler

[Dr. Strangelove]

Building the Maginot line.

[partyzanpaulzy]

Munich diktat. Everyone around sold Czechoslovakia to the Hitler and thought how will Hitler stop in Czech lands (G.B., France) (and Poland - Stalin). If we hadn't capitulated, they had attacked us and without Western or Soviet support we would have been defeated and eventually betreyed by Slovak nationalists and Polishs (I have seen a documentary film about this scenario).

The West and USSR gave nazis pretty much military tech. If there weren't those appeacement fools, Hitler would have been defeated quickly (only remains question about Stalin and his itch for Poland).

[Zero]

Not really, Nazis really dug into their tech and revolutionized some weapons, as well as "inventing" blitzkrieg. Inventions: jets, rockets, bent-barrel gun, and some other, more obvious ones I can't remember at the moment.

[AllStarZ]

The Germans dabbled, and please, do not refer to Germans of the Second World War as "Nazis". Not every Nazi was German and neither was every German a Nazi.

At the end of the war they were simultaneously producing dozens of aircraft types, several different tank variations, and half a dozen U-boat types. This wasted production capacity and ensuing logistics complexities simply meant that they were never able to produce or field as much materiel as the United States, Russia, or even Great Britain and Canada. Some of this had to do with bureaucracy and inter-service rivalry (between the Army, Air Force, and Navy).

The point is that, when the Germans started making their advanced weapons, that, was when they were losing the war. And it only served to expedite their defeat.

Edited by AllStarZ, 08 December 2008 - 21:28.

[BeefJeRKy]

The 1967 Six-Day war was an epic fail for the Tri-Arab Alliance at its time (Jordan, Syria, and Egypt).

[Lucid]

I'm surprised nobody said Pearl Harbor

[Zero]

AllStarZ, on 8 Dec 2008, 22:28, said:

and please, do not refer to Germans of the Second World War as "Nazis". Not every Nazi was German and neither was every German a Nazi.

I say Nazis because that was the party under control at the time, and Germany at that time was reffered to as "Nazi Germany".... also it's shorter than German and easier to type. I understand not every German was a Nazi or vise-versa, however, that was what the country was (just as Russia was Communist, although not everyone liked that system). Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Me-109 they used at the beginning of the war was pretty advanced for its time.

@Pearl Harbor: Good point. I see what you mean, but I think that was as big a Nazi folly as Japanese, if the Nazis had told them to hold until either USSR, or GB was gone (or prefeberably both) we'd be all fucked right now.....

[Razven]

The German's battle over Stalingrad - the single city which probably costed Hitler the war.

[Jok3r]

The German army attempting to do battle in summer uniforms in the Russian Winter- especially Stalingrad.

[Zero]

Yes, is a damn shame is it not? They made the first stealth plane, the first viable rocket weapon, and fighter jet, and so on, yet they did not have the technology to build the ONE thing they needed to win the war:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by Zero, 12 December 2008 - 01:54.

[Jok3r]

What...?

[Razven]

Stealth Plane?

[AllStarZ]

Zero, on 9 Dec 2008, 18:33, said:

AllStarZ, on 8 Dec 2008, 22:28, said:

and please, do not refer to Germans of the Second World War as "Nazis". Not every Nazi was German and neither was every German a Nazi.

I say Nazis because that was the party under control at the time, and Germany at that time was reffered to as "Nazi Germany".... also it's shorter than German and easier to type. I understand not every German was a Nazi or vise-versa, however, that was what the country was (just as Russia was Communist, although not everyone liked that system). Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Me-109 they used at the beginning of the war was pretty advanced for its time.

@Pearl Harbor: Good point. I see what you mean, but I think that was as big a Nazi folly as Japanese, if the Nazis had told them to hold until either USSR, or GB was gone (or prefeberably both) we'd be all fucked right now.....

Proper terminology for the Russians under the Communist System would be Soviet.

What I meant by their fault in military production was that instead of focusing on a smaller series of vehicles that could then be modified during production, they kept manufacturing several extraordinarily specialized ones for every single perceivable purpose. Take the Kettenrad. The result is that they've had problems with manufacturing enough equipment for their armed forces from the very beginning. And then they were manufacturing these weapons to perfection, exactly to standards. If they didn't reach all standards they brought it back to the beginning of the production line or scrapped it altogether, wasting time and resources.

The later "super weapons" only exacerbated this problem.

One of the great flaws of the Axis powers against the Allies is that the Axis wasn't precisely a military alliance. It was more of a way of drawing a line in the sand for the "New World Order". Germany would have Europe, Japan would have Asia, and Italy would have Africa.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Razven, on 11 Dec 2008, 2:23, said:

Stealth Plane?

A prototype flying wing designed by the Horten brothers that when tested, had been discovered to have some stealth capabilities:

[Dutchygamer]

Horton HO-229 iirc

[NergiZed]

This pretty much applies for most European wars after the 1600s:

DON'T FUCK WITH RUSSIA.

[Overdose]

The same can be said about Japan at least until WW2. If you attacked Japan by sea you'd be fucked, It's as if they have control over typhoons and other natural disasters at their fingertips.

[TehKiller]

Huh....just cuz they had one of the best navy tacticians doesnt make em "control natural disasters"...As for Russia....you do realise that prior to WW2 they have lost most of their wars in Europe?


Now a personal favorite of mine is: Great Serbia (the whole concept itself....if you know what the idea is and how many (or which) wars started because of that plan)