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Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Allies already won the War. The Ardennes offensive aka the Bulge was a last desperate effort that was doomed to fail. Ike knew the war was over and let the Troops relax for a while. It was Dec. 16 and everyone was talking about being home for Christmas. You could say that the Battle of the Bulge was the worst intelligence failure in history but you can never say that Allies were the underdogs.
Battle of the Bulge
The Allies already won the War. The Ardennes offensive aka the Bulge was a last desperate effort that was doomed to fail. Ike knew the war was over and let the Troops relax for a while. It was Dec. 16 and everyone was talking about being home for Christmas. You could say that the Battle of the Bulge was the worst intelligence failure in history but you can never say that Allies were the underdogs.
Obviously in the grand scheme of things the allies had the upper hand in the war-but for that one particular battle? No, we weren't.
The Allies already won the War. The Ardennes offensive aka the Bulge was a last desperate effort that was doomed to fail. Ike knew the war was over and let the Troops relax for a while. It was Dec. 16 and everyone was talking about being home for Christmas. You could say that the Battle of the Bulge was the worst intelligence failure in history but you can never say that Allies were the underdogs.
Obviously in the grand scheme of things the allies had the upper hand in the war-but for that one particular battle? No, we weren't.
The post concerned the USA as a nation. There were battles where Americans were the underdogs. Marines were the underdogs in the entire Pacific war. Guadalcanal was so risky it could be said that it was foolhardy but Marines pulled it off even though a Navy Admiral chickened out and left them stranded without food or supplies. Pop-history has convinced people that Iwo Jima was worth it so all those crippled bombers would have a place to land but I don't buy it for a number of reasons.Who in their right mind would trade 7,000 Marines killed in a month of fighting for a smelly island that could have and should have been bypassed? People who didn't know how well fortified the Japanese were or people who didn't care. The initial mission for taking Iwo Jima stated that was to keep Japanese fighter planes form harassing bombers on the way to Japan. The mission was changed after the administration learned how many Marine lives the island cost. Next thing you know crippled bombers were diverted to Iwo Jima and the war department said it was worth it.
Obviously in the grand scheme of things the allies had the upper hand in the war-but for that one particular battle? No, we weren't.
The post concerned the USA as a nation. There were battles where Americans were the underdogs. Marines were the underdogs in the entire Pacific war. Guadalcanal was so risky it could be said that it was foolhardy but Marines pulled it off even though a Navy Admiral chickened out and left them stranded without food or supplies. Pop-history has convinced people that Iwo Jima was worth it so all those crippled bombers would have a place to land but I don't buy it for a number of reasons.Who in their right mind would trade 7,000 Marines killed in a month of fighting for a smelly island that could have and should have been bypassed? People who didn't know how well fortified the Japanese were or people who didn't care. The initial mission for taking Iwo Jima stated that was to keep Japanese fighter planes form harassing bombers on the way to Japan. The mission was changed after the administration learned how many Marine lives the island cost. Next thing you know crippled bombers were diverted to Iwo Jima and the war department said it was worth it.
Went over my head I guess
The post concerned the USA as a nation. There were battles where Americans were the underdogs. Marines were the underdogs in the entire Pacific war. Guadalcanal was so risky it could be said that it was foolhardy but Marines pulled it off even though a Navy Admiral chickened out and left them stranded without food or supplies. Pop-history has convinced people that Iwo Jima was worth it so all those crippled bombers would have a place to land but I don't buy it for a number of reasons.Who in their right mind would trade 7,000 Marines killed in a month of fighting for a smelly island that could have and should have been bypassed? People who didn't know how well fortified the Japanese were or people who didn't care. The initial mission for taking Iwo Jima stated that was to keep Japanese fighter planes form harassing bombers on the way to Japan. The mission was changed after the administration learned how many Marine lives the island cost. Next thing you know crippled bombers were diverted to Iwo Jima and the war department said it was worth it.
Thats exactly what I was talking about in my original post. The entire wars in their totality - not any particular battle.
I ' m not even sure America was that huge an underdog in the War Of 1812 - the Brits were preoccupied with Napolean (our ally) in Europe.
War of 1812