Smaller Scale Battles

[Mofreaka]

I'm looking for some good battles or skirmishes that demonstrate basic military tactics and such. I enjoy learning about things like that.

To give you an idea; I did a project on the Raid at Cabanatuan, which was an extremely successful raid that freed over 500 POW's and was conducted by two companies of the 6th Ranger battalion in WW2. I was able to find general information that helped peak my interest, but most importantly i was able to find vivid play by play descriptions of the raid in a nice US. Army pdf file. From that I was able to recreate what happened using maps and such. I was then able to give a most awesome presentation to our Civil Air Patrol Squadron.

I've tried to find other excellent such examples, but I'm coming up short. If anyone on here knows of any good ideas, it would greatly be appreciated. I'm not even asking for you to do the work lol, I can do that.

[derf]

As a civvy, I hear the Brecourt Manor assault is regarded as text book to some extent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%A9court_Manor_Assault

[Mofreaka]

I know!!! That is one I have heard about (Band of Brothers ftw) But sadly, i cannot find anything about it, except that wiki page. It has to be someplace on the Westpoint database or something, since they apparently teach it, but I cannot find it. Thanks though :D

[digrar]

Battle of Long Tan, 18 August 1966, Rifle Company defensive action against a numerically superior NVA force.

[IDF_TANKER]

Operation "Raviv" 8th September, 1969 - Israeli armoured raid across the Gulf of Suez into Egypt. Egyptian radar installation at Ras Abu-Daraj and Ras Za'arfrana were destroyed. Also known as the Ten-Hour War.

There was a thread on MP.net about this operation here:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6609

[IDF_TANKER]

Operation Bulmus 6, also known as the Green Island Raid, was a military raid conducted by special operations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_forces) units of the Israel Defense Forces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces) (IDF) against an Egyptian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt) early warning radar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_warning_radar) and ELINT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELINT) station located on a small island in the Gulf of Suez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Suez) on the night of July 19, 1969.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bulmus_6

[Danskeren]

Operation Phantom Fury.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah

p-)

[NavyTimes]

I know!!! That is one I have heard about (Band of Brothers ftw) But sadly, i cannot find anything about it, except that wiki page. It has to be someplace on the Westpoint database or something, since they apparently teach it, but I cannot find it. Thanks though :D

You should keep looking, because i remember reading a very theoretical and detailed description of that attack somewhere on the internet. (Don't know what site, or if it still exists, lol.)

Edit:
Found it! the site is actually not there anymore, but it is stored on archive.org!
http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.brecourtassault.com

[Mofreaka]

Oh hot damn, thanks alot. Keep em' coming lol.

[James]

Son Tay raid, Eagle Claw, Acid Gambit are all good, solid contained SOF missions.

You might consider some WWII British Commando operations as well - Bruneval, St. Nazaire, Vaagsoy and Maaloy, etc.

What kind of parameters are you looking at? American or anything? Successful missions that went exactly as planned?

[Mofreaka]

I guess i'm looking for anything, as long as it is well documented. They should probably be successful lol, but they don't have to go exactly as planned.

[James]

You should research the Soviet assault on the presidential palace in Kabul in December 1979. The Soviets tend to do things quite a bit differently than we do in the west - I've always thought it was more a "hammer" approach than a "scalpel".

[James]

You could also research that IDF raid into Beirut that was depicted in the film Munich.

Oh! Do the raid on Entebbe!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe

[Minardiau]

The Kakoda Campaign in WW2.

For the most part Australia rarely had more then a few hundred facing the Japanese.

[johanness]

Fort Eben Emael

1940, 74 German Fallschirmjäger vs 1200 Belgians in the strongest Fort at it's time

[mas36]

Camerone, Mexico 1863 - 65 Legionnaires vs. 2,000 Mexican calvalry and infantry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camerone

[Ordie]

Kobayashi Maru incident of 2280
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDE8pjiCnSw

[Ubar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cassinga

Part of Operation Reindeer - 1978, very successful air assault operation in the Angolan war

[Kaplanr]

I'd go with the Kobayashi Maru myself. Or ...

Abu Agheila - Israel v. Egypt, 1967. Armour and mechanized infantry.
Ammunituion Hill - Israel v. Jordan, 1967. Infantry.
Chinese Farm - Israel v. Egypt, 1973. Armour and infantry.
Valley of Tears - Israel v. Syria, 1973. Armour.

[Erki]

Operation Dingo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dingo

[James]

Fort Eben Emael

1940, 74 German Fallschirmjäger vs 1200 Belgians in the strongest Fort at it's time

That was a good one.

[stonecutter]

Kolwezi, 1978. French Foreign Legion at its finest and in its element --blind drop, and heavily outnumbered. First use of the FR-F1 sniper rifle in combat.

[Koen]

Kolwezi, 1978. French Foreign Legion at its finest and in its element --blind drop, and heavily outnumbered. First use of the FR-F1 sniper rifle in combat.

Yes, and "red Bean", the stormlanding at Kolwezi airport the next morning by belgian paracommando's and the nice coordination afterwards with 2 REP.

[TGVorster]

The first battles of Op Modular in 1987. Check my posts on the battle under South Africas Last Operations in Angola here.

[oregongrunt]

I always thought the Doolittle raid was interesting.

As they passed over the countryside, farmers in the field looked up and went back to work undisturbed; villagers waved from the streets; a baseball game continued its play; and in the distance training planes took off and landed apparently unaware of any danger present.

[Laconian]

The Hammelburg Raid, 1945

Roger's Rangers raid on the Abenaki village at St. Francis

[Mofreaka]

Wow, these are all sick lol.

[Mike Keenan]

I heard somewhere that an Israeli commander (that what I was told) called an artillery strike on his unit's position as they were about to be overran with enemy troops. Is this story true? If so when and where did it happen.

[NavyTimes]

You might consider some WWII British Commando operations as well - [...] Vaagsoy and Maaloy, etc.


Wow, to think that someone here have heard of those. Actually that is just 30 minutes by boat from my hometown. The strike force were poised to attack my hometown some days earlier, but that attack was never executed, so Måløy became the target.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/83/a4598283.shtml
http://www.combinedops.com/vaagso.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Archery

http://www.maloyraidet.no/maloyraid10-m.jpg
http://flyhi.de/images/memoir44/m44_vaagso_panorama.jpg

http://flyhi.de/images/memoir44/m44_vaagso_overviewmap.jpg




I would be happy to give you the tour of the location, hehe.

[Mordoror]

I heard somewhere that an Israeli commander (that what I was told) called an artillery strike on his unit's position as they were about to be overran with enemy troops. Is this story true? If so when and where did it happen.


This occured several time among several conflicts around the world from german units on the eastern front to french para and legionnaires at Dien Bien Phu and on some of US firebase (don't remember exactly which) in VietNam

[Toddy]

Battle of Mirbat

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mirbat

[Laconian]

This occured several time among several conflicts around the world from german units on the eastern front to french para and legionnaires at Dien Bien Phu and on some of US firebase (don't remember exactly which) in VietNam

The one that I am most familiar with involved Bill Carpenter, who at West Point was known as The Lonely End (great story here:http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:-8VlFoHO8F8J:www.coachwyatt.com/blaik9.html+the+lonely+end&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Later as a Company Commander in RVN he earned the DSC for calling an airstrike on top of his company during a firefight. Here is the citation:

CARPENTER, WILLIAM STANLEY, JR.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to William Stanley Carpenter, Jr. (0-90703), Captain (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 502d Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Captain Carpenter distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions during the period 9 June 1966 to 11 June 1966 while serving as Commanding Officer of an infantry company engaged in a blocking mission near Tou Morong Outpost. As Captain Carpenter's company advanced, the lead platoon suddenly received intense fire from an estimated two companies of Viet Cong. Captain Carpenter immediately deployed the company to continue its forward progress, but it soon became pinned down by extremely heavy hostile fire from three directions. After Captain Carpenter organized a hasty defense, it became apparent that the insurgent force was at least of battalion size. The insurgents launched a determined frontal attack and were successful in overrunning one platoon. Realizing the severe consequences if the enemy forces were able to penetrate the entire company area, Captain Carpenter ordered supporting jet aircraft to drop napalm directly on the company's position. The napalm bombs hit the top of the trees in the center of the company position and detonated 25 feet above ground. As a result, the fiery napalm carried directly into the charging insurgents and passed over most of the friendly troops. The skillfully directed air strike completely subdued the Viet Cong attempt to overrun the company. As the insurgents withdrew, Captain Carpenter repeatedly exposed himself to the hostile fire to reorganize his command and direct supporting artillery fire. Throughout the remainder of the three-day battle and in the face of almost overwhelming odds, Captain Carpenter continued to direct and inspire the company to repulse three additional determined assaults by the enemy battalion. Through Captain Carpenter's heroic actions and courageous tenacity, his company was spared numerous casualties and was able to withstand the repeated attacks of the Viet Cong battalion until reinforcements arrived. Captain Carpenter's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, US Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 4125 (August 14, 1967)
Born: at Woodbury, Pennsylvania
Home Town: Springfield, Pennsylvania

[James]

Wow, to think that someone here have heard of those. Actually that is just 30 minutes by boat from my hometown. The strike force were poised to attack my hometown some days earlier, but that attack was never executed, so Måløy became the target.

Hell yeah! I was a very voracious reader when I was younger (I still am, but life's responsibilities reduce my reading time significantly). I had/have a Time Life WWII series book somewhere called "The Commandos" - there is a fair amount of info about the raids in Norway, as well as the mischief caused on the Channel Islands and along the French coast. I've been interested ever since.

[California Joe]

I'm with James. I read every one of those Time Life books. I was always very interested in the Commandos.

[Laconian]

I read that whole series. There was also a series on the '30s, '40s, and '50s that were real cool and had some exceptional photos in them

[ronnieraygun]

I'm with James. I read every one of those Time Life books. I was always very interested in the Commandos.

I'm pretty sure I've got the whole set - there was also a book in the series called "War in the Outposts" or something like that and it had a good spread on the battle of Madagascar. Some of the other Time-Life series have sucked, but not that one.

[Ordie]

Mad Mitch in Aden in regards to the pacification of Crater.

Good case study in pacification efforts in the Middle East.

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/700.htm

[The Saint]

Rhodesian and South African cross-border ops are classic examples.

Here's another one : Operation "Hirondelle" during the French Indochina War. In July 1953, four airborne battalions were parachuted on a major Vietminh logistical base in Northern Tonkin. Thousands of small arms, tons of explosives and several vehicules were destroyed, for minimum casualties.

Eric

[Ravage]

Roberts Ridge - no need to explain.

Howards Ridge - a small Force Recon squad defended their position against overwhelming NVA forces.

The Great Raid - (Raid at Cabanatuan) US Army Rangers along with Alamo Scouts and Filipino rescued 511 prisoners of war.


Lt. Colonel Mucci: I'm here to tell you men the latrine rumors are true. We finally got a mission worthy of Rangers. We're going to push through our frontlines right into the Japs' backyard and rescue 500 American prisoners of war. Goin' to be a rough son of a bitch- a textbook-style raid that can only succeed through speed, surprise, and overwhelming firepower. Before you start congratulating yourselves, remember you haven't achieved a damn thing yet. You're the best-trained, least-proven battalion in this whole army. This is your one chance to do something about it, and I mean ONE chance. How you acquit yourselves over the next 48 hours will determine how you are judged for the rest of your lives- men worthy of serving in this army... or... an embarrassment that history and time will eventually forget. It's up to you. Now, I happen to think it's the former. That's why I'm accompanying you on this raid. There's not another group of men in this or any other army I'd sooner trust my life with. You're the finest, best-prepared soldiers this country has ever sent to war, and I expect you to PROVE it... IS THAT CLEAR?
6th Ranger Battalion: YES, SIR!

and I would not be a Pole if I would not write about Westerplatte. They were supposed to be relievied by the Brits after a day or two, they defended the site for 7 days...

http://www.sww.w.szu.pl/polacy/westerplatte.jpg

[Machine Wilkins]

This link leads to an online publication that has info on the following small unit actions:
2nd Ranger at Pointe du Hoe (France); 27th Infantry at Tanapag Plain (Saipan); 351st Infantry at Santa Maria Infante (Italy); and 4th Armored at Singling (France).
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/smallunit/smallunit-fm.htm

[James]

Roberts Ridge - no need to explain.

Er, what was the "plan" for that?

[Minardiau]

I heard somewhere that an Israeli commander (that what I was told) called an artillery strike on his unit's position as they were about to be overran with enemy troops. Is this story true? If so when and where did it happen.

During the assault on Gona Lt Col Honner times his assault and artillery barrage so that the barrage was still going when his troops reached the Japanese positions. In Peter Brunes book it mentions the artillery falling for a good 5 minutes after the 39th reached the Japanese positions.

Of course he never told his men what he was doing. Plan worked.

Honner got on the radio and simply said "Gona's Gone!"

[beer_garden]

The British 1st Airborne Division's assault and subsequent defense of Arnhem Bridge during Operation Markent Garden. Here's an excerpt from wiki:


While it was estimated that the entire 1st Airborne Division, 10,000 strong, would only need to hold the Arnhem bridge for two days, in fact just 740 had held it for twice as long against far heavier opposition than anticipated. While 81 British soldiers died defending Arnhem bridge, German losses cannot be stated with any accuracy, though they were certainly extremely heavy; 11 units known to have participated in the fighting reported 50% casualties after the battle. In memory of the fighting there, the bridge has been renamed the "John Frost Bridge". General James M. Gavin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Gavin), commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, called Frost's stand "the outstanding independent parachute battalion action of the war."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden

[Mordoror]

Rorke'drift battle
A reduced riflemen company against thousands of zulu warriors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorke's_Drift

[The Saint]

The British 1st Airborne Division's assault and subsequent defense of Arnhem Bridge during Operation Markent Garden. Here's an excerpt from wiki:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden

With several divisions involved, hardly a small scale battle, if I may say.

[NavyTimes]

Hell yeah! I was a very voracious reader when I was younger (I still am, but life's responsibilities reduce my reading time significantly). I had/have a Time Life WWII series book somewhere called "The Commandos" - there is a fair amount of info about the raids in Norway, as well as the mischief caused on the Channel Islands and along the French coast. I've been interested ever since.

Yeah, there were quite a number of allied commandoattacks here. The most famous one is obviously the Vemork attack against the heavy water plant, but one of my personal favourites is Operation Cartoon where some 60 soldiers were carried over by norwegian Motor Torpedo Boats and put a mineral mine out of production.

List of operations, not perfect but a place to start:
http://www.nuav.net/commando.html

[Ravage]

Er, what was the "plan" for that?

Sorry, let me rehabilitate:

the battle of Takur Ghar:

In the late evening of March 3, Lieutenant Colonel Blaber received notice from Brigadier General Gregory Trebon, commander of TF 11, that two SEAL teams commanded by Lieutenant Commander Vic Hyder were to arrive in Gardez for immediate insertion into the Shahi-Kot Valley. The two SEAL teams, Mako 30 and Mako 21, planned to establish an observation point on the peak of Takur Ghar, which commanded the Shahi-Kot valley. Due to time constraints, a helicopter insertion would be needed for the teams to reach the peak before dawn. While the AFO forces suggested an insertion at a point 1300 meters east of the peak, the SEALs eventually decided upon an insertion to the peak itself.

The two teams were picked up by Razor 03 and Razor 04, two MH-47 Chinook helicopters at 11:23 PM on March 3. However, the Razor 03 Chinook experienced engine difficulties, and two new MH-47s were dispatched to replace the original helicopters. This delay meant that the SEALs could not be inserted into the LZ east of the peak until 2:30 AM on March 4, which did not allow enough time to reach the peak before daylight. In the fractured command situation at the time, Blaber was not notified that the SEALs were planning to insert at the peak in order to fulfill the order to infil Mako 30 and 21 that night. Nail 22, an AC-130 gunship reconnitored the peak and saw no enemy activity prior to the landing, but was called away to support other troops before Razor 03 and 04 arrived at the LZ. At around 0245 hours, Razor 03 landed at the LZ and was struck in the left side electrical compartment by an RPG. The stricken helicopter took off, but Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts fell out of the open ramp. Razor 03 attempted to return and retrieve him, but the damage prevented proper control and the helicopter was forced to crash-land in the valley below approximately 4 miles away. Razor 04 returned to the peak to attempt to rescue Roberts, offloading Mako 30. The team came under immediate fire, and Air Force combat controller Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman was believed killed and two SEALs wounded. Mako 30 was forced off the peak due to its losses and requested the assistance of the Ranger quick-reaction force located at Bagram Air Base, led by Captain Nate Self.

The quick reaction force (QRF) consisted of 19 Rangers, a tactical air control party (TACP), and a three-man USAF special tactics team carried by two Chinooks, Razor 01 and Razor 02. Due to satellite communications difficulties, Razor 01 was mistakenly directed to the "hot" LZ on the peak at 33°20′34″N 69°12′49″E. As Air Force rules prohibited AC-130 aircraft from remaining in hostile airspace in daylight after the crash of an AC-130 in Khajfi in the Gulf War, the AC-130 support protecting Mako 30 was forced to leave before Razor 01 reached the LZ. Further communications difficulties meant that the pilot of the AC-130 was unaware that Razor 01 was incoming. At approximately 0610 hours, Razor 01 reached the landing zone. The aircraft immediately began taking fire, and the right door minigunner, Sergeant Phillip Svitak, was killed by small arms fire. A RPG then hit the helicopter, destroying the right engine and forcing it to crash land. As the Rangers and special tactics team exited the aircraft, Private First Class Matt Commons, posthumously promoted to Corporal, Sergeant Brad Crose, and Specialist Marc Anderson were killed. The surviving crew and quick-reaction force took cover in a hillock and a fierce firefight began. Razor 02, which had been diverted to Gardez as Razor 01 was landing on Takur Ghar, returned with the rest of the quick-reaction force and Lieutenant Commander Hyder at 0625 hours. With the help of the new arrivals and close air support, the force was able to consolidate its position on the peak. An enemy counterattack midday mortally wounded Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, a pararescueman. The wounded were refused medevac during the daylight hours, due to risk of another downed helicopter. Australian SAS soldiers had infiltrated the area prior to the first helicopter crash undetected as part of a long range reconnaissance mission when the Chinooks went down. They remained undetected in an observation post through the firefight and proved critical in co-ordinating multiple Coalition air strikes to prevent the al-Qaeda fighters from overrunning the downed aircraft, to devastating effect. This, plus the actions of the two SASR officers working with the 10th mountain, earned the commander of the Australian SAS force in Afghanistan the US Bronze Star for his unit's outstanding contribution to the war on terrorism.

At around 2000 hours, the quick-reaction force and Mako 30 were exfiltrated from the Takur Ghar peak. As a result of this action, both Technical Sergeant Chapman and Senior Airman Cunningham were awarded the Air Force Cross, the second highest award for bravery. US and Afghan sources believe at least 200 Taliban and Al Qaida fighters were killed during the initial assault and subsequent rescue mission.

[wiking]

Yeah, there were quite a number of allied commandoattacks here. The most famous one is obviously the Vemork attack against the heavy water plant, but one of my personal favourites is Operation Cartoon where some 60 soldiers were carried over by norwegian Motor Torpedo Boats and put a mineral mine out of production.

List of operations, not perfect but a place to start:
http://www.nuav.net/commando.html

I've read the book about that one, but it was in Norwegian.

The heavy water sabotage operation is a good study for covert\sabotage ops, but not for battles because they barely fired a shot (except for a 'duel' between one of the men (can't remember his name) and a German witch resulted in both emptying their mags for no hits).
Norway also had one of the largest and most effective independent intelligence organisations (XU) operating in-country of any of the occupied countrys, including high level scientists in Germany (the first info on stuff like the V rockets came through XU). Again, very interesting as a study of covert operations and intelligence work, but not for battles.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Pegasus Bridge, wasn't much of a battle as most of the Germans buggered off, but beautifully executed.

Easy Company, 506th PIR's attack on the Brecourt Manor battery has been mentioned, but i've allways considere their attack on Foy a very good and text-book attack as well. And the total destruction of 2 companys at a crossroad in Holland is also quite amazing when you consider Winters barely had two platoons there.

[Cdt.Hawkins]

You could try finding out about operation Freshman.
The first use of british gliders.
The plan was to destroy a heavy water plant but it went horribly wrong with the gliders crashing into a fjord.
Or you could research the german naval operations outside of the atlantic and mediterrainian.
I know for sure that there was a german minelayer laying mines around here (south-eastern australia).

[INCONEL]

http://www.battlesforguadalcanal.com/Story/Battles/bloody-ridge/bloody-ridge.html

[chulo_allen]

Battle of Kohima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kohima
The Battle of Kohima was a critical battle of the Burma Campaign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Campaign) in World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), fought around the town of Kohima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohima) in northeast India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India) from April 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_4) to June 22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_22), 1944 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944). It marked the limit of the Japanese U Go offensive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Go_offensive) into India in 1944 and was described as the "Stalingrad of the East".
The battle took place in two stages. From April 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3) to April 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_16), the Japanese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japan) attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the major British (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) and Indian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army) troops at Imphal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imphal) were supplied. At this point, the small British force at Kohima was relieved, and from April 18 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_18) to June 22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_22), British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The battle ended on June 22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_22) when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imphal) met at Milestone 109, ending the siege of Imphal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imphal).
not very small - but mainly unknown

but in that battle was one called
Battle of the Tennis Court
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tennis_Court)


The fighting within the 6th Brigade's area was documented by Major Boshell, who commanded 'B' Company, 1st Royal Berkshires, in the 6th Infantry Brigade:
“ To begin with I took over an area overlooking the Tennis Court... The lie of the land made impossible to move by day because of Japanese snipers. We were in Kohima for three weeks. We were attacked every single night... They came in waves, it was like a pigeon shoot. Most nights they overran part of the battalion position, so we had to mount counter-attacks... Water was short and restricted to about one pint per man per day. So we stopped shaving. Air supply was the key, but the steep terrain and narrow ridges meant that some of the drops went to the Japs. My company went into Kohima over 100 strong and came out at about 60.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tennis_Court#_note-0) ” This battle was ultimately to prove to be the turning point of the Battle of Kohima which was the turning point of the Burma Campaign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Campaign). Earl Louis Mountbatten (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten%2C_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma), the Supreme Allied Commander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_East_Asia_Command) in the theatre, described Kohima as
“ probably one of the greatest battles in history... in effect the Battle of Burma... naked unparalleled heroism... the British/Indian Thermopylae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae).[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Tennis_Court#_note-1)

i took over a hundred pics of the memorial and area, but lost the SD card :(

["Desert Fox"]

The 1942 St. Nazaire British commando Raid

Also known as the "The Greatest Raid of all Time"

pretty amazing stuff

[woodduck]

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/bersheba.html


australian light horse take beersheeba.......ww1