"Greatests" Military Blunders

[Herrmannek]

All greates losses consequential not from strenght or actions of opfor but from irrational, insane, unlucky, unready, impetuous, quarrelsome, foolhardy, and cowardly commanders or other fellow reasons.

From small in amount or old in date to bigest & newest.
Please, try to cover yours country history if you can.

Starting to search for myself
...
Strange, can't recall any blunder with Poland involved in ;)
...
USA:: Operation EAGLE CLAW::1980
http://www.specwarnet.com/miscinfo/eagleclaw.htm
...
Still serching for polish blunder, polish memebers help wanted
...

[Gringo]

The GREATEST military blunder ever is World War One

[Seraphim]

How about relying too much on afghan forces to stop bin laden through the mountains.

What was that one where they didnt issue the guards ammo and some guy in a truck full of explosives drove through and killed a bunch of marines...I think.

[Oxley]

How about the Allied landings at Gallipoli?

British commanders sent the boats to the wrong position, caused alot of casualties.

[budanski]

The Frog's Maginot Line: Trench warfare was SO yesterday.

[hoganshero]

in Britain channel 4 books publishes a book by geoffrey regan with this exact title. Interesting read... For my part I think the greatest military blunder which (thankfully) didn't happen, was Gen. Wesley Clark deciding to seize Pristina airport from the Russians in Kosovo. thankfully Gen. Jackson told Clark to get stuffed. Maybe it was more of a political blunder though...

[Trigger]

Not continuing on to Baghdad in Gulf War I. :|

[Fargin]

I vote for the Trojan horse.

[Argyll]

Are we talking blunders involving large scale Ops or smaller unit Ops?

Large scale=Gallipoli
Arnhem

Small scale=Bravo 20
=SEAL attack on the airport during Op Just cause.

[Seiyuuki]

Why the Trojan Horse?

[Argyll]

cause it causes major problems with your PC!!!!! rofl

I agree,I thought the Trojan horse was a stroke of Military Genius!!

[Schiller]

*****sburg. Quite a bloodshed that was.

[usa320]

"Not continuing on to Baghdad in Gulf War I"

yepper...but at the time, that wasnt the objective- had we known it would bite us in the ass 11 years later, im sure we would have.

As for Operation Eagle Claw, things got very messy, but had they pulled it off, it probably would have been one of the GREATEST military operations in history, at least the greatest hostage rescue mission... It was a great plan, unfortunately it failed because of technical troubles that probably could have been avoided. Thankfully we have learned from that, and have improved the RH-53 to the MH-53J.

[Fargin]

My city is under siege,

Come dawn then enemy has vanished,

Tall before me stands a giant horse,

I'd set it on fire, maybe it's hindside talking.

j/k

[Seiyuuki]

Oh... rofl ...I guess from the Trojan's perspective, it was a blunder.

The Arabs in the coalition forces in the Gulf War wouldn't allow us to proceed onto Badghad.

[budanski]

Well, at least we got the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment out of that.

[James]

*****sburg. Quite a bloodshed that was.

Bloodshed, yes. Blunder for who? Pickett?

[Herrmannek]

Operation Market Garden, like Eagle Claw to ambitious, to many unknows, to optimistic & lack of luck.

Poland was involved ;)
http://www.pointvista.com/WW2GliderPilots/Holland/GraveDropPolishParatroopers23Sept1944.jpg

Broken glider
http://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/img/artykul/912.jpg

[budanski]

Greatest Military Blunder?
The Air Forces' Secret Weapon:
http://www.noisedesignlab.com/buddy/secretweapon.jpg

[Trigger]

Wow! the ultra-secret and never before seen 'J-DUMB' rofl

[a. enders]

rofl

[Gringo]

Operation Market Garden, like Eagle Claw to ambitious, to many unknows, to optimistic & lack of luck.

Poland was involved ;)
http://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/img/artykul/912.jpg

It could've been worse. All but one bridge (Arnhem Bridge) was captured.

[FallenAngel]

Tane: my understanding of Pickett's charge was planned by Lee to take place just before sunrise, giving Pickett's brigades at least SOME cover of morning fog/darkness. However, Longstreet (Pickett's corps commander) insisted that the Confederates attack AFTER (instead of with, as Lee wanted) an artillery strike on the union center. It took Colonel Alexander all morning to muster the necessary guns and the barage itself lasted over an hour. Thus the charge took place after noon and with a hell of a warning shot. But again, it was Lee's fault to let Longstreet have his way.

But if you REALLY want to place blame, blame Gen. Stuart for taking his cavalry on raids and boosting his ego instead of doing his job and scouting ahead of the Army of Northern Virginia, then the Confederates could have avoided the chance meeting at *****sburg on the first day and continued to march on Philidelphia which was the origional plan I believe. :)

[morlick]

Bay of pigs.

[Fargin]

- Bay of pigs.

- Iran-contra.

- Maginot line.

- Iran Air shoot down.

- Peder Skram.

[Kitsune]

@Herrmanek:
A Polish military blunder? What about the defense of Poland in September 1939? rofl


Frome the German perspective: WWI and WWII were pretty bad blunders... :(

[usa320]

While Eagle Claw was a failure, it wasnt all bad- it made us look closely at the operation in hindsight, and that led to a specialized unit, the 160th and made us realize we needed better all-weather, night capable helicopters equipped with TFR, NVG's and FLIR...hence the MH-60G and MH-53J.

[XASA]

Stalingrad

[Herrmannek]

Herrmanek:
A Polish military blunder? What about the defense of Poland in September 1939?

This wasn't blunder. Nazis & Ruskies were beter at the time. Just brute force, we didn't help them ;)

[vryhpyammoadded]

US Civil War: Burnsides assault on the crater in Petersburg VA

[California Joe]

The assault on Mayre's Heights at Fredericksburg, over, and over, and over...

Lee was in command at *****sburg. Blame rest squarely on his shoulders, but at the time he had every reason to believe that his men could break the Union center. They had done it before.

Stalingrad was all on Hitler. Not allowing the army to retreat before the Russians closed the circle was fatal. They couldn't be ressuplied fast enough by air. That was retarded.

[Vance]

Hitler invading Russia in the first place was a blunder..

[Herrmannek]

Hitler invading Russia in the first place was a blunder..
He didn't invade soviet union in first place, First was Poland then western europe, and then ruskies, with also were preparing to hit nazis so the germans didn't have real choice in that mater.

[Ratamacue]

I'd definitely say Pickett's Charge was a great military blunder.

[richardben23]

Disbanding the Canadian Airborne Regiment.

http://www.commando.org

[He219]

http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/graphics/lettow.jpghttp://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/webpages/Postkarte_DOA_Englisch_Indische_Regimenter_machen_einen_Landungsversuch.jpg

Colonel, later General, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1373/11_49/57748067/p1/article.jhtml) defeated a force Eight times the size of his own at the Battle of Tanga Bay in German East Africa. British General Atiken launched an amphibious attack by 8,000 British and Indian forces to capture East Africa's busiest sea port as well as the site of the crucial Usambara railway.

Lettow-Vorbeck launched his counter-attack backed by around 1,000 troops trained in the Prussian tradition. Rapidly overrunning the hastily (and badly) prepared British positions, Lettow-Vorbeck's forces obliged the British force to retreat back to their boats. His men used knowledge of the local terrain to rout the British forces. They manipulated prevalent East African Brush Bees with careful gunfire into swarms of angry defending allies that earned the action the title 'The Battle of the Bees' (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/tanga.htm).

By the end of the four-year campaign, over 300,000 British troops had fought against him, commanded at different times by 137 generals. He was undefeated and is considered the 20th century's most cunning Guerilla Warfare tactician.

[Vance]

Hitler invading Russia in the first place was a blunder..
He didn't invade soviet union in first place, First was Poland then western europe, and then ruskies, with also were preparing to hit nazis so the germans didn't have real choice in that mater.
Huh? No, I meant Hitler never should of invaded Russia at all.

[James]

The invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

What?

Gotta run :P :P :P

[Andyman]

How about Dieppe the boys were supposed to be testing the new LCT (Landing Craft Tank) I think something like more than half that were sent died. Something like 5600 were sent and close to 3000 died thats pretty bad. Germany's biggest mistake in WW2 was the battle for Britain and declaring war on Russia far to Early.

[James]

I think Germany's biggest mistake in World War Two was declaring war on the United States. If they hadn't done that, public opinion here would have tied the hands of FDR - it would have been us vs. the Japanese, period. There might not have been Lend-Lease aid to the USSR. There might not have been have been landings in North Africa in November 1942, Sicily in July 1943, Italy in September 1943, or France in June 1944. Britain would (I think) have been left fighting in Egypt to hold onto the Suez canal. No offense to my cousins across the water, but I don't think that Britain could have undertaken an invasion of France alone (neither could the U.S.).

It's hard to say what would've happened. We might have defeated Japan in 1944, w/o using the atomic bomb.

This is disconcerting. :( I am comfortable with history the way it is.

[Ratamacue]

The only reason they declared war on us was because of the alliance between the Axis powers. Unfortunate for them, too.

But you're right, with the power of the entire Army, Navy, and Marine Corps focused on Japan, the Pacific campaigns would have been much easier (of course, the military most likely wouldn't have been as large if we didn't declare war on Germany/Italy).

[a. enders]

That one that happened during that thing that time....

I'd agree with Hitler/Russia,but did anyone think of Russia and Afghanistan?Talk about a war you could never win,eh?

[oldsoak]

Arnhem was a close run thing. I remember seeing a program on it on telly and it came across as one of those operations where the Allies almost did it. The paras did very well despite the landing grounds being further away than they could have been as well as holding the bridge as long as they did. Bad weather played a part because it reduced air support and tactical recce which would have vital in supporting XXX corps advance and harassing the Germans. If the weather had been good, the story might have been "the greatest airborne victory of all time". I dont think it was a blunder in the sense of incompetence. Dieppe showed bad planning and the loss of a lot of loyal Canadians, just as the Gallipoli debacle cost a lot of British and Empire troops despite the best efforts of the rank and file. Blunders ? - bad planning always proceeds a blunder.
IMHO I'd put the British campain in North America during the Revolutionary war as a blunder - no one in charge in the UK had much idea of the difficulty involved . It was carried out at a great distance with few troops, very poor communications and extended supply lines in a vast country with a population that initially didnt want a war and who tried to get an amicable agreement. To top it all, the war was unpopular at home , their being a great deal of sympathy with people who were considered kith and kin. One British officer said that they "had as much chance of conquering the moon " and yet they were directed to carry out something they knew they could not win. That makes a blunder. Hey ho.
rgds

[Andyman]

Napolean attacking Russia :bash: need I say more. That whole scorched earth policy seemed to work more than once. Unfortunate for hitler he was not a fan of French military history, he may have realized what he was getting into by sending his boys to Russia. Just think in Russia having poors roads and little developement actually proved useful while they were being invaded ha ha rofl

[Haiw]

dieppe wans't a total 'blunder'...i mean, ok, a lotta folks died, but also a LOT of lessons were learned, and the failure and misery of dieppe played a big role in the succes of the normandy landings...

[Seiyuuki]

You can say that with most faiures, after all, we all learned from our mistakes.

[ogukuo72]

Try the Fall of Singapore. When a 300,000 well equipped British Commonwealth Army (UK, Aus, and India) surrenders to a half-starving 70,000 Japanese army running out of ammunition, something must have gone very very wrong!

The defeat broke all kinds of record: the entire Malayan peninsular was lost in 63 days, and Singapore in another 7. If you want to compare it to the Six Day War or the recent War in Iraq, remember that the Japanese moved on foot and by bicycle, not by trucks!

Total air and naval superiority helped, of course. But you can add that to the blunder - the best British fighter turned out to be the Brewster Buffalo - which was judged to be good enough to handle the 'inferior' fighters of the Japanese. And the great fleet that the British always promised to send to Singapore in the event of war was made up of exactly one battleship and one cruiser, which was promptly sunk on the third day of war.

The list continues. Strategic bridges were not blown up in the face of enemy advance. Despite the reports of enemy tanks, no anti-tank defences were prepared. Soldiers were not properly trained or equipped for jungle warfare. Defensive positions were badly placed. Worse of all, the coast of Singapore was not even prepared for an amphibious assault by the Japanese. To add the ultimate insulte, two top quality Australian division were landed just days before the final surrender - effectively being marched from their transports straight into a Japanese POW camp!

[NcDeuce]

Some big blunders...
*****sburg - Pickett's Charge, July 3rd, 1863
Mile of open field...plenty of Union artillery...Army of the Potomac's tough II Corps entrenched and reinforcements nearby...
The Confederate forces do get my respect for having the courage to walk that mile, in the hot summer sun, while being pounded by artillery from all over Cemetary Ridge. They did manage to break the line but only for a short while due to the reinforcements. Imagine if you had just one helicopter during this battle...just one Apache Longbow! Heck, even an AH-6 Little Bird!

Somalia - 1993
Although we won "the battles"...we lost the war. Our Special Ops troops accomplished every task handed to them. Our weak-kneed politicians lost "the war" for our nation by pulling out after the now-famous battle of Mogadishu. If the mission (Operation Restore Hope) in Somalia was pressed on, we would have captured Aidid, the terrorist-like warlords and gangs would have been put down, hope would have been restored to the normal people and families, we would have caught some members of the al-Qaeda cell...perhaps eventually leading to bin Laden. But no, we tucked our tail and ran, can you say BLUNDER?

Iraq - 2003
Invasion was a success. However, as much of a supporter of the military and Republican party, I disagreed with what the President said when he told the Iraqi's to "bring it on" and that "major conflict was over". He used the wrong words. The invasion is over and reconstruction and operations to apprehend key individuals will continue...blah blah blah...would have been much better and caused fewer uproars from the Democrats.

[MARINO]

Annual disaster, in 1921, more than 8 000 spanish were killed, it suposed the began of the end of monarchy an the instauration of republic in 1931
http://usuarios.lycos.es/Belfegor/
is in spanish but is interesting

[warchild1/27scout]

on the russkies in afghanistan i really think it would have to be a total war because the mushadeen(spell?) would hide in pakistan and iran so they would have to close the borders and sweep the mountains in any case it would be hard. in our case (us) we supposedly have help from pakistan and iran does'nt want no trouble so they kinda atleast acted like they shut the border down. just like for us in vietnam we did'nt use total war so the vietcong had unending supplies and hides in the nieghboring countries.

[Tom.G]

I think that at the begining of the war, the Duche exagerated the capabilities of his troops, but after it got on, every one knew of its lack of skill. They were pushed back by a ****ty greek army. They got their asses kicked by the Bits in North Africa (hence the creation of the German Afrika Korps). They basically got creamed every where they fought. No wonder Hitler lost; he had such weak allies!

[redhawk_six]

How about a Canadian one:

The battle for Verrieres Ridge

From The Valour and the Horror: In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944

http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/CHRON/July_18_25.htm

Summary: Operation Spring, the attack by 2nd Canadian Corps on 25 July, 1944 against Verrières Ridge, south of Caen, in the Normandy bridgehead, was an almost unmitigated disaster of Canadian arms. Six infantry divisions and three tank squadrons attacked separately along an eight-kilometer front against entrenched German positions well sited on commanding high ground. One battalion, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, reached its objective and held it against repeated German attempts to drive them off. The others were unsuccessful. When they attempted to take the village of Tilly-la-Campagne, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders were severely mauled by a reinforced half-battalion of 1st SS Division panzer grenadiers. The Cameron Highlanders of Canada, the Calgary Highlanders, and the Le Régiment de Maisonneuve were as severely treated when they tried to secure the connected villages [May-sur-Orne, Verrières village] in the Orne River valley at the other end of the ridge. Following them, the Canadian Black Watch suffered worst of all, taking more than 300 casualties - virtually the battalion's entire rifle strength. It was a Second World War tragedy akin to that experienced by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which lost 90 percent of its men in an hour at the Somme, on July 1, 1916. Except for 19 August, 1942 at Dieppe, this was the Canadian Army's costliest single operation of the Second World War, causing about 1500 casualties, almost a third of them killed. Canadian units had suffered another 1600 casualties in the few days proceeding Spring. The Valour and The Horror Revisited, Dr. Bill McAndrew, p. 129.


This is a very brief summery of what happened on July 25th, 1944. I recommend that you visit the site above and read all the pages for July 25th to get a better understanding of just what happened on that day. Many brave men lost their lives that day, and were never honoured for their true courage.

[ArmoredDov_D9]

The Frog's Maginot Line: Trench warfare was SO yesterday.

And in the end, the German bypassed the line and came from the unprotected Belgian border... AGAIN...

[SlowDog]

Arnhem for sure.... pretending that ss panzer troops are not there was a major military blunder. And by loosing that 1 bridge they lost everything they aimed for, a road to the ruhr. Nonsens to say they won 90%, that area that was left, called the island, didn't speed up the end of the war.

BTW 19 till 21 september we remember the arnhem battle again.

[Ngati Tumatuenga]

The winter war

Soviet Union invades Finland

[Tom.G]

The Raid at Dieppe

[PsihoKekec]

Lets see...
Italian defeat at Adova by Ethiopia. Four Italian brigades got lost, and were overrun one after another.
Italian invasion of Greece. They lost one third of Albania and had to be rescued by Germans.
Italian invasion of Egypt. They advanced a few km, stopped and got beaten by ten times smaller Commonwealth forces (the greatest problem they encounterd were great numbers of prisoners). Again they had to be rescued by Germans.
Soviet invasion of Finnland. Attacking one of the coldest ****ries in the world during winter :cantbeli: !?
American invasion of Canada 1813/14. Yes British were busy dealing with Napoleon but Americans could attack little sooner and not when he was going rapidly downhill.
Yugoslav atempt to overthrow Slovenian goverment 1991. They ain't gonna fight :lol: .
France in Madagascar. They forgot about malarya.

[Flagg]

World War I

Battle of the Somme

1,265,000 estimated total casualties suffered in exchange for a measly few kilometres of horror and blood-soaked earth.

The inept military leadership on both sides should have been court-martialed, convicted, and shot......

[aktarian]

Yugoslav atempt to overthrow Slovenian goverment 1991. They ain't gonna fight :lol: .

woot woot woot

Marathon, Platea. Lightly armored troops against bronze carrying Greeks.

What about that time when Russians and Austrian were supposed to meet to fight French together but Austrians were operating on Gregorian and Russians on Julian calendar and Russians came too late?

GW1. What was supposed to be quick blitz turned into 8 years of slaughter.

Hitler's "no retreat" policy.

Delaying Zitadelle until new tanks were available.

[thatguy96]

Although we won "the battles"...we lost the war. Our Special Ops troops accomplished every task handed to them. Our weak-kneed politicians lost "the war" for our nation by pulling out after the now-famous battle of Mogadishu. If the mission (Operation Restore Hope) in Somalia was pressed on, we would have captured Aidid, the terrorist-like warlords and gangs would have been put down, hope would have been restored to the normal people and families, we would have caught some members of the al-Qaeda cell...perhaps eventually leading to bin Laden. But no, we tucked our tail and ran, can you say BLUNDER?
Somalia was a blunder before it became a soley US run affair. The Abdi House Attack, which was planned and authorized by the UN (although it was carried out by US elements of the UN QRF) made victory by a western power impossible. By the point where Task Force Ranger was introduced and the US took it upon themselves to root out Aidid (Operation Restore Hope) anti-US sentiment was the prevelant viewpoint (although the existance of Pro-Western militias should not be forgotten). Capturing or killing Aidid would've solved nothing, providing only a martyr for the cause and provoking a whole new generation to join the anti-US camp. It is a generally accepted theory that peace and stability (although possibly a lack of freedoms) in a place like Somalia can only happen when someone wins, thereby "legitimizing" their rule through suduing all others. We can see all of this quite clearly, simply in the fact that Aidid died soon after TFR was removed and before his goal of consolitdating power was realized. Somalia continues to be a place of warlords and independent militias, because no one is strong enough to win. However, outside involvement would only serve to unite the people against this intrusion, a unity (if history is any judge) that disolves quite quickly after the invader is vanquished. It is hard to go in and either pressure or create a regime change when their is no regime to begin with, and the continued idea that people want freedom and democracy is still a blinding and untrue American ideal (though I wish everybody did want this).

[buckeyedoc]

The greatest military blunder of all time:



The Clinton Administration

[NcDeuce]

Hear Hear!

[vetjen]

What about the battle at the somme during the first worldwar.

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

The allies lost more than 600 000 soldiers.

Or the third battle of Ypres.

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

Another 400 000 soldiers got killed.

[Tomahawk]

I fully agree. The Fall of Singapore is considered one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Army and a humiliation for the British government.

I guess Yama****a must have scared the **** out of Percival when he banged the table infront of him.

Try the Fall of Singapore. When a 300,000 well equipped British Commonwealth Army (UK, Aus, and India) surrenders to a half-starving 70,000 Japanese army running out of ammunition, something must have gone very very wrong!

The defeat broke all kinds of record: the entire Malayan peninsular was lost in 63 days, and Singapore in another 7. If you want to compare it to the Six Day War or the recent War in Iraq, remember that the Japanese moved on foot and by bicycle, not by trucks!

Total air and naval superiority helped, of course. But you can add that to the blunder - the best British fighter turned out to be the Brewster Buffalo - which was judged to be good enough to handle the 'inferior' fighters of the Japanese. And the great fleet that the British always promised to send to Singapore in the event of war was made up of exactly one battleship and one cruiser, which was promptly sunk on the third day of war.

The list continues. Strategic bridges were not blown up in the face of enemy advance. Despite the reports of enemy tanks, no anti-tank defences were prepared. Soldiers were not properly trained or equipped for jungle warfare. Defensive positions were badly placed. Worse of all, the coast of Singapore was not even prepared for an amphibious assault by the Japanese. To add the ultimate insulte, two top quality Australian division were landed just days before the final surrender - effectively being marched from their transports straight into a Japanese POW camp!

[gaijinsamurai]

Yamashi ta was a very giften tactician. It is a shame that MacArthur saw fit to have him executed over an immature personal grudge.

[gaijinsamurai]

Hitler's stupid micromanagement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, plus Goering's naive and vain assertions that the Luftewaffe could keep them supplied despite Soviet encirclement.

[Labud]

1. Dardanels operation 1915 - Instead of this badly prepared and risky operation, allies should help Serbia to hold Balkan front. In that way they could make Bulgaria stay on alied side.
2. Serbo-Bulgarian war 1885 - Serbian king Milan didn't have any good reason to start this war which was led in totaly wrong way. Long term consequenc was hostility between Serbia and Bulgaria for next 60 years

[Rob1bureau]

Soviet invasion of Finnland. Attacking one of the coldest ****ries in the world during winter :cantbeli: !?

I don't know much about USSR-Finland, but the Red Army proved fitted for winter war some years later against Germans, didn't it ?

[sp2c]

not quite as epic as some of the others mentioned but in 1940 during the may hostilities in the Netherlands, Dutch forces were driven of a section of the Grebbeline by what was assumed to be a small german recce party.
8th infantry regiment commander then went into a rage about leading the regiment of cowards and chickens and ordered a counterattack

second in command major Jacommetti was to lead it but due to german artillerie and pisspoor dutch communications most of the troops participating arrived late and the major decided to take what he had at that point and kick the germans out, he lead the charge from the front with sword and pistol. Little did he know that there were actually more germans in that sector of the line then Dutch and he was among the first to be killed.

he was awarded our second highest award for bravery but he didn't get the highest award because his attempt was somewhat lacking on the leadership department

this is pretty much what happened all over the country, troops showed a lot of bravery but as soon as the plans got too ambitious they failed due to lack of communications and a higher cadre that knew how to deal with this flaw.

in hindsight he should've waited for the rest of his men since the germans were licking their wounds anyways and confirm the rumour that there were only a handfull of germans in the area (could've gotten confirmation from any soldier that fell back to the main (stop) line)

[Pompejus]

Some blunders from before Christ:

The Sicilian Expedition: Two huge expeditionary forces (with more than two hundred fully manned ships, 10'000 heavily armed hoplites, thousands of peltasts, slingers and archers and hundreds of the already rare cavalrymen) virtually destroyed. The expedition was a turning point of the Peloponnesian War and led ultimately to the Athenian defeat.

Arausio: Fine Servilius Caepio thought to be too good to pass the chief command over to the actual Consul Mallius Maximus, because this was only a novus homo and not a nobleman. As a result up to 12 legions (Livy said that 80'000 Legionaries died, Mommsen claimed another 40'000 auxillary troops and camp-followers as casualties) got annihilated.

Battle of Dyrrhacium: After rooting Caesar's army, Pompey did not seize the oppurtunity to kill or captivate his rival fearing a trap. History could have been dramatically changed.

Marcus Antonius' war against Parthia: Kind of a napoleonic defeat. After he had assembled a huge army consisting 16 (!) legions, 10'000 auxillary cavalry from Gaul and Hispania and, last but not least, strong troops from client kingdoms, he didn't achieve anything except a catastrophic retreat over the Armenian mountains during the winter. Result: Around 40% of the invasion army ended up dead or as Parthian prisoners.

[TheBelgian]

Maginot Line

[James]

What about the battle at the somme during the first worldwar.

If you'd read earlier posts you'd know that it had been mentioned about 4 years ago.

[Major_Ass]

WW1 again..

Battle of the "Nek"

3 waves sent over the top even tho the first two never made it close to the 27m distance between the two trenches. utter stupidity on the commanding generals part.

The attack was scheduled to commence at 5:30 a.m. on 7 August (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_7). It was to be preceded by a naval bombardment. The 8th and 10th Light Horse regiments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiment) were to advance on a front 80 metres wide in a total of four waves of 150 men each, two waves per regiment. Each wave would advance two minutes apart. The distance they would have to travel to reach the Turkish line was a mere 27 metres. Coloured marker flags were carried, to be shown from the captured trenches to indicate success.

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

[MARK.TIGGER]

The American mission creep in Somalia

Arnhem
Op Varsity
The Battle of the Hurtigen Forest

[Hauser]

British officer Patrick Ferguson being too honourable to shoot George Washington in the back in 1777.

[baboon6]

Try the Fall of Singapore. When a 300,000 well equipped British Commonwealth Army (UK, Aus, and India) surrenders to a half-starving 70,000 Japanese army running out of ammunition, something must have gone very very wrong!

The defeat broke all kinds of record: the entire Malayan peninsular was lost in 63 days, and Singapore in another 7. If you want to compare it to the Six Day War or the recent War in Iraq, remember that the Japanese moved on foot and by bicycle, not by trucks!

Total air and naval superiority helped, of course. But you can add that to the blunder - the best British fighter turned out to be the Brewster Buffalo - which was judged to be good enough to handle the 'inferior' fighters of the Japanese. And the great fleet that the British always promised to send to Singapore in the event of war was made up of exactly one battleship and one cruiser, which was promptly sunk on the third day of war.

The list continues. Strategic bridges were not blown up in the face of enemy advance. Despite the reports of enemy tanks, no anti-tank defences were prepared. Soldiers were not properly trained or equipped for jungle warfare. Defensive positions were badly placed. Worse of all, the coast of Singapore was not even prepared for an amphibious assault by the Japanese. To add the ultimate insulte, two top quality Australian division were landed just days before the final surrender - effectively being marched from their transports straight into a Japanese POW camp!

It was the British 18th Division that went almost straight from " the boat to the bag." The 8th Australian Division (which only had two brigades) had fought on the Malay peninsula. Some of the Aussies fought well but it wasn't exactly a top-quality division. The actions of General Bennett during/after the surrender were disgraceful.

[clean]

The raid at Son Tay POW camp. Executed well, faulty intel.

This might just qualify as an unsuccessful mission.