reply to post by 3DPrisoner
3D, my five year old granddaughter knows more about military capabilities, strategy, and tactics than those you postulated.
And she doesn't know (fill in the blank.)
First misconception. Numbers. Numbers mean absolutely nothing. Assuming one maintains freedom of movement, numbers mean diddly squat, and any
student of history, and more specifically military history can find and recount hundreds of examples that prove that fact.
Guagemela. The Chosin Reservoir - and by the way the Marine Division was surrounded by 22 Chinese Divisions, inflicted the highest casualty ratio in
history, destroying seven CHINESE divisions in the process. And by the way, a Marine Division consisted of 12,500 men, and the Chinese Divisions each
contained 16,500 men.
And while we're talking about the Chinese, after the US pulled out of Viet Nam, some of the Chinese citizens who lived in North Vietnam felt they
were being mistreated, and the Chinese Army invaded across the border to "teach them a lesson."
The North Vietnamese Army kicked their asses. The same Army that the US never suffered a loss to.
Go do some homework. Guagemela, Xenophone and the Ten-Thousand, LZ X-Ray, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea. Midway, Cowpens, Rourke's Drift.
You think the Chinese are badasses?
On October 28, 1951, Lt. Lloyd C. Burke led an assault on three fortified bunkers putting out heavy fire which stopped the assault cold. Burke mad a
lone charge and wiped out one bunker, killing the crew. Making another lone attack on the center bunker, he threw grenades and killed the three man
crew with his pistol. Ordering his men to attack the third bunker, Lt. Burke caught several enemy grenades in midair and threw them back at the
enemy, somewhat inspiring his men. Securing a light machinegun and a few boxes of ammo, he positioned himself on a knoll and poured fire directly
into the enemy, killing another 75 enemy soldiers. Cradling the machinegun in his arms, he led another assault, killing another 25 enemy soldiers,
securing the position.
On September 4,5, of 1952, Private Alford McLaughlin on his voluntary second tour in Korea, found himself alone manning a forward post, under constant
artillery and mortar fire, as he alone, worked to improve his position. The first night McLaughlin was attacked by an enemy battalion which he
engaged with continual, devastating fire, alternating between his two overheating machineguns, his carbine, and grenades. Painfully wounded that
evening, he would fire a machinegun from the hip until overheating blistered his hands, forcing him to drop that machinegun to cool while he grabbed
the other. When both machineguns became too hot to handle, he picked up his carbine and grenades and continued to engage whole shouting to his
distant comrades to encourage them to hold. And they did. McLaughlin alone accounted for 150 dead and another estimated 50 wounded.
Numbers don't mean diddly squat.
Never have.
Never will.
[edit on 4-7-2009 by dooper]
