Krigets historia
Moderna slag
1st Manassas/1st Bull Run 1861
The first major battle of the
Civil War was fought in
Virginia, near the Manassas,
Virginia railway junction,
after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing
stream on the battlefield, if
of the Union persuasion).
The armies in this first
battle were not very large by
later Civil War standards.
The Federal forces under
Brigadier General Irvin
McDowell were organized
into four divisions (five, if
one includes Runyan's division), of about 30,000 men.
These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter,
Heintzelman, (Runyan), and
Miles. The Confederate
command structure was
somewhat more unwieldy,
including two "armies",
with no division structure
and thirteen independent
brigades under Bonham,
Ewell, Jones, Longstreet,
Cocke, Early, Holmes, Kershaw, Evans, Jackson, Bartow, Bee, Smith, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The
Confederate Army of the
Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre
G. T. Beauregard, and the Army
of the Shenandoah was commanded by Brigadier General
Joseph E. Johnston. These two
forces would equal McDowell's
strength.
Interestingly enough, each
commander had planned to initiate an attack on the other side
with a feint attack on the enemy's
right flank and a massed attack
on the opposite flank. Had this
been done simultaneously, and
both been successful in their
purpose, the two armies would
have simply pivoted around each
other and ended up in each other's rear, able to march unopposed to Washington or Richmond,
as the case may be. As it turned
out, the general least successful
in initiating this movement was
the winner.
McDowell had planned to
use Tyler's division as the diversionary attack at the Stone
Bridge, while Davies' brigade did
the same at Blackburn's Ford. At
the same time, Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions would
cross Bull Run at Sudley Springs
and attack from the north.
McDowell's green troops
involved in the flanking column,
reached their jumping off positions two and a half hours behind schedule. Tyler's and Davies' attacks at the Stone Bridge
and Blackburn's Ford were already well under way, and the Confederate high command was beginning to sense a ruse because
the Union attacks were not pressed very hard. When Beauregard
was notified that Federal troops
were massing on his left flank, he
realized that this must be the
main attack so began to shift his
own troop dispositions.
The Federals had about
18,000 men in the main attack
column and it was only thanks to
the quick reactions of Colonel
Evans and his small brigade that
Beauregard did not suffer a major disaster. He quickly moved
his small force to Matthew's Hill
to block the Federal move. Sounds of the fighting drew other
brigade commanders to Evans'
aid on their own initiative. Brigadier General Bee and Colonel
Bartow joined Evans' defensive
line and deployed their men to
his right to extend and strengthen it.
The Confederate position
was still badly outnumbered however, and eventually the weight
of those numbers began to be
felt. With Tyler's division threatening the right flank and rear of
the Confederate position after
having forced a crossing at the
Stone Bridge, and their left flank
now being overlapped by Federal reinforcements, the three Confederate brigades broke to the
rear, heading toward the cleared
plateau of the Henry House Hill.
Unfortunately for the Federals,
they were slow to follow-up their
success and allowed the Southern brigade commanders to rally the remnants of their units behind Jackson's brigade which had
just arrived and formed a line of
battle on the reverse slope of
Henry House Hill.
In the meantime, McDowell
ordered two artillery batteries to
advance to silence the defensive
fire. Rickett's Battery and Griffin's Battery advanced to well
within musket range of the Confederate positions near the crest
of the hill. These batteries were
counterattacked by Confederate
infantry and overrun and although it is still somewhat an
open question, most historians
give credit to the 33rd Virginia
Infantry, although the 6th North
Carolina State Troops, and elements of the 2nd Mississippi In-
fantry also claim credit for silencing Rickett
s. This counterattack also
routed the infantry supports to
the guns -- a battalion of U. S.
Marines and the 11th New York
Infantry, the famed Fire Zouaves.
The loss of the guns became a
focal point for see-saw attacks
and counterattacks by each side,
with the possession of the guns
changing hands several times.
Finally having accumulated
enough units to not only stabilize
the Confederate lines, but also
overlap the right flank of the Federal lines, the order was given
for a general advance by Beauregard. This attack caved-in the
Federal right and what began as
a fairly orderly retreat turned
into a disorganized rout. The
equally tired and inexperienced
Confederates however, were in
no shape to conduct an effective
pursuit, so the battle ended. The
Federals lost about 3,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and captured or missing), and the Confederates suffered about 2,000.
Kartan visar pendeltågsnätet i Washington.
Manassas är ändstation på den blåa linjen.
Det antyder hur nära Washington slaget
utspelade sig.
Chancellorsville 1863
Vid Chancellorsville lät sydstatsgeneralen Lee halva sin arme, under Stonewall Jackson,
göra en flankmarsch och besegrade de numerärt överlägsna men
försiktiga nordstatarna.
On April 27, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the V, XI, and
XII Corps on a campaign to turn
the Confederate left flank by
crossing the Rappahannock and
Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan
via Germanna and Ely’s Fords,
the Federals concentrated near
Chancellorsville on April 30 and
May 1. The III Corps was ordered
to join the army via United States
Ford. Sedgwick’s VI Corps and
Gibbon’s division remained to
demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the
meantime, Lee left a covering
force under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early
in Fredericksburg and marched
with the rest of the army to confront the Federals. As Hooker’s
army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike,
they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his
army to suspend the advance
and to concentrate again at
Chancellorsville. Pressed closely
by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus
giving Lee the initiative. On the
morning of May 2, Lt.
Gen. T.J. Jackson directed
his corps on a march against the Federal left flank,
which was reported to be “hanging in the air.”
Fighting was sporadic on other portions of
the field throughout the
day, as Jackson’s column
reached its jump-off point. At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line
surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushed the
Union XI Corps. Federal troops
rallied, resisted the advance, and
counterattacked. Disorganization
on both sides and darkness ended the fighting. While making a
night reconnaissance, Jackson
was mortally wounded by his
own men and carried from the
field. J.E.B. Stuart took temporary
command of Jackson’s Corps. On
May 3, the Confederates attacked
with both wings of the army and
massed their artillery at Hazel
Grove. This finally broke the Federal line at Chancellorsville.
Hooker withdrew a
mile and entrenched
in a defensive “U”
with his back to the
river at United States Ford. Union generals Berry and
Whipple and Confederate general
Paxton were killed;
”Stonewall” Jackson
was mortally wounded. On the
night of May 5-6, after Union
reverses at Salem Church, Hooker recrossed to the north bank of
the Rappahannock. This battle
was considered by many historians to be Lee’s greatest victory.
Vid Petersburg förekom skyttegravar
som liknade de som förekom under
första världskriget. Nedan ser du en
sådan bild
Petersburg 1864/65
Union forces beseiged Petersburg
for 9 months. Union forces were
well supplied. Confederate forces
could barely find food to eat.
Finally, with their numbers
dwindling due to desertions, and
with Sherman's forces approaching from the south, Lee attempted a break out. It failed
miserably, and on April 2nd,
Union forces soon assaulted the
Confederate lines. The Army of
Virginia was forced to withdraw
from both Petersburg and Richmond.
Once Lee's army had arrived
at Petersburg, both armies dug in
for a long-term siege. This was a
siege that Lee knew he could not
win, but he had no choice but to
participate in. If Petersburg fell,
Richmond was doomed. The
Union forces had all the advantages in the siege. Its forces were
well supplied both in armaments,
food and clothing. The Union
Engineers ran a railroad right
behind the Union trenches. Regular trains supplied the union troops regularly. At the same time
Confederate troops were going
hungry and were suffering a
shortage in ammunition. Lee
wrote at one point ”If some
change is not made and the
commissary department reorga-
nized I apprehend dire results.
The physical strength of the men,
if their courage survives must fail
under this treatment.”
Union and Confederates shelled
each other daily. Each side suffered casualties, but the Union casualties were replaceable, the
confederates had reached the
absolute bottom of the manpower pool.
There were a number of attempts to break the stalemate, the
most well known was an attempt
to break through the lines by
building a tunnel under the confederate
fortifications and set off
a large explosive charge. A division of black
troops had been trained to exploit the explosion, but at the last
moment they were replaced by a
white division, who were not
prepared for the task. The explosion created a great hole in the
confederate lines, but the uncoordinated attack that followed
achieved nothing but 4,000 Union casualties. As Grant wrote
Halleck: ”It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war.
Such opportunity for carrying
fortifications I have never seen
and do not expect again to have.”
Lee's army was steadily dwindling, every day more and more
confederate soldiers deserted. By
the end of March the end was in
sight, Sherman was advancing
through South Carolina and
would soon reach Virginia, coming up with his army on Lee's
south. Thus, Lee knew that he
would have to give up Petersburg or be annihilated. To accomplish this he attempted an
attack on Fort Stedman. Lees'
troops seized it, but in the ensuing counterattack Union forces
recaptured it as
well as some of the
confederate fortifications. Lee lost
5,000 men and his
lines were now so
thin they could not
hold for long.
Grant ordered Sheridan to turn
the Confederate flank south of
Petersburg. In the ensuing battle
called Five Folks Union troops
won a decisive victory when half
the Confederate forces surrendered. Grant then ordered an assault all along the lines for the
next morning- the 2nd of April.
The assault succeeded and the
confederates were forced to pull
out of Petersburg, as well as Richmond.
Första världskriget 1914-18
Det förekom flera slag under
första världskriget. Inget av dem
kommer att bli ihågkommet för
den stora fältherrekonst som
präglade dem.
Verdun 1916
The Battle of Verdun is considered the greatest and lengthiest in world history. Never before or since has there been such
a lengthy battle, involving so
many men, situated on such a
tiny piece of land. The battle,
which lasted from 21 February
1916 until 19 December 1916
caused over an estimated
700,000 casualties (dead,
wounded and missing). The
battlefield was not even a
square ten kilometers. From
a strategic point of view
there can be no justification
for these atrocious losses.
The battle degenerated into
a matter of prestige of two
nations literally for the sake
of fighting...... defensivens överlägsenhet. Slaget
vid Somme, som varade från juli
till oktober, kostade tyskarna
500.000 man, engelsmännen
400.000 och fransmännen
200.000. Ingenting av något som
helst värde hade vunnits.
Passchendaele 1917
The 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third
Battle of Ypres or simply Third
Ypres, was one of the major battles of World War I, fought by British, ANZAC, Canadian and
Somme 1916
Vid Somme körde de
allierade fram oerhörda
mängder artilleri, och den
nyutbildade brittiska armén
var tillstädes i full styrka.
Tanken var att bryta igenom
den tyska linjen helt enkelt
genom ett överväldigande
tryck.; på båda sidor, allierad såväl som tysk, hade
fältherrekonsten med nödvändighet sjunkit till en bottenpunkt. Trots ett veckolångt
artilleribombardemang förlorade
engelsmännen 60 000 man på
attackens första dag. På en vecka
hade de ryckt fram endast 1,5 km
längs en front som var nära 1 mil
lång. Efter en månad hade de
kommit 4 km framåt. Liksom vid
Verdun demonstrerades återigen
rine bases there. It was intended
to create a decisive corridor in a
crucial area of the front, and to
take pressure off the French forces. After the disastrous Nivelle
offensive the French Army was
suffering from extremely low
morale, which resulted in such
an increase in cases of mutiny
and misconduct as to threaten
the field-worthiness of entire divisions.
The land on which the battle
took place was largely reclaimed
marshland, swampy even without rain. The extremely
heavy preparatory bombardment by the British tore
up the surface of the land,
and heavy rain from August
onwards produced an impassable terrain of deep "liquid mud", in which an
unknown number of soldiers drowned. Even the newly-developed tanks bogged
down. The Germans were
well entrenched, with mutually-supporting pillboxes
which the initial bombardment had not destroyed. The
town of Passendale was
finally taken by the Canadian forces, but the allies suffered almost half a million
casualties and the Germans
just over a quarter of a million.
Bilden på omslaget är tagen från
Passchendaele
South African soldiers against the
German Army. The battle was
fought for control of the village
of Passendale (Passchendaele on
maps of that time) near the Belgian town of Ypres (Ieper in Dutch)
in West Flanders. The plan was to
drive a hole in the German lines
and advance to the Belgian coast
and capture the German subma-
Den tyska våroffensiven
1918 (Mikaelsoffensiven)
Du bör titta på dina anteckningar
för detaljer kring taktiken.
By this stage of the war, both
sides had refined their tactics.
The German army had developed stormtrooper units, with
infantry trained in Hutier tactics
(after Oskar von Hutier) to infiltrate and bypass enemy front line
units, leaving these strongpoints
to be "mopped-up" by follow-up
troops. The stormtroopers' tactic
was to attack and disrupt enemy
headquarters, artillery units and
supply depots in the rear areas,
as well as to occupy territory rapidly.
To enable the initial breakthrough, Lieutenant Colonel
Georg Bruchmuller[1], a German
artillery officer, developed the
Feuerwalze, an effective and economical artillery bombardment
scheme. There were three
phases: a brief attack on
the enemy's command
and communications,
destruction of their artillery and lastly an attack upon the enemy
front-line infantry defences. Bombardment
would always be brief
so as to retain surprise.
In their turn, the
Allies had developed
defences in depth, reducing the proportion of
troops in their front line
and pulling reserves
and supply dumps back
beyond German artillery range. In theory, the
front line was an "outpost zone", held by snipers, patrols and machine-gun posts only.
Behind was the "battle
zone", where the offensive was to be resisted, and behind
that again, was a "rear zone",
where reserves were held ready
to counter-attack or seal off penetrations.
In the spring of 1918, Luderndorff ordered a massive
German attack on the Western
Front. The Spring Offensive was
Germany’s attempt to end World
War One. With 500,000 troops
added to Germany’s strength
from the Russian Front, Luderndorff was confident of success:
“ We must strike at the earliest moment before
the Americans can throw strong forces into
the scale. We must beat the British.”
Hindenburg and Luderndorff
By the spring of 1918, the
Allies knew that there would be a
major German attack – they just
did not know where it would
come. The British reinforced their
positions near the coast while the
French strengthened their positions to the south of the British.
However, this left a weakness in
Tyska stormtrupper tar sig över floden
Marne på en pontonbro under Mikaelsoffensiven.
the British line to the west of
Cambrai. Here the British trench
system had not been completed
and those that had been dug were inadequate. Sir Hubert Gough,
who commanded the Fifth Army
in this area, was well aware of his
predicament and more conscious
of the fact that he had few reserves to call on if the Germans did
attack the sector where the Fifth
Army was stationed. German
reconnaissance had made them
aware that the area was less well
defended.
On March 21st, 1918, Luderndorff launched the offensive.
In just five hours, the Germans
fired one million artillery shells
at the British lines held by the
Fifth Army – over 3000 shells
fired every minute. The artillery
bombardment was followed by
an attack by elite storm troopers.
These soldiers travelled lightly
and were skilled in fast, hard-hitting attacks before moving
on to their next target. Unlike soldiers burdened with
weighty kit etc, the storm
troopers carried little except weaponry (such as
flame throwers) that could
cause much panic, as proved to be the case in this
attack.
By the end of the first day
of the attack, 21,000 British
soldiers had been taken
prisoner and the Germans
had made great advances
through the lines of the
Fifth Army. Senior British
military commanders lost
control of the situation.
They had spent three years
used to static warfare and
suddenly they had to cope
with a German onslaught.
Gough ordered the Fifth
Army to withdraw. The
German attack was the biggest breakthrough in three years
of warfare on the Western Front.
Ironically, the British gave up to
the Germans the Somme region –
where so many British and German soldiers had been killed in
the battle of 1916.
The German advance also
put Paris in the firing line. The
Germans had built the world’s
largest artillery gun. Three
Krupps cannons were moved to
the front line and used to shell
Paris. Paris was 120 kilometres
from the front line but a shell
from the huge guns only took
just over 200 seconds to reach the
city and 183 huge shells landed
on the capital of France causing
many Parisians to leave the city. advanced. Horses, that should
have been used in the advance on
Amiens, were killed for their me-
Albert and the attack on Amiens
imploded. Luderndorff could not
have planned for this and he did
The first few days of the attack were such an overwhelming
success, that William II declared
March 24th to be a national holiday. Many in Germany assumed
that the war was all but over.
However, the Germans experienced one major problem. Their
advance had been a major success. But their troops deliberately
carried few things except weapons to assist their mobility. The
speed of their advance put their
supply lines under huge strain.
The supply units of the storm
troopers simply could not keep
up with them and those leading
the attack became short of vital
supplies that were stuck well
back from their positions.
In particular, the German
18th Army had been spectacularly successful. It had advanced to
Amiens and threatened the city.
However, rather than use the
18th Army to assist other units
moving forward so that the Germans could consolidate their advance, Luderndorff ordered the
18th Army to advance on Amiens
as he believed the fall of the city
would be a devastating blow to
the Allies. In this Luderndorff
was correct. Amiens was the major rail centre for the Allies in the
region and its loss would have
been a disaster. However, many
believed that the 18th Army
could have been more positively
used if it had supported other
units of the German army as they
advanced and then moved on to
Amiens. The 18th Army found
that it ran out of supplies as it
Två flygfotografier tagna över Passchendaele före och efter den allierade offensiven
at. Therefore, the mobility of the
18th Army was reduced and the
loss of such transport was to be
vital.
As the Germans advanced to
Amiens, they went via Albert.
Here the German troops found
shops filled with all types of
food. Such was their hunger and
desperation for food that looting
took place and the discipline that
had started with the attack on
March 21st soon disappeared.
The advance all but stopped in
not know what to do. Senior
German officers based with Luderndorff feared that he was at a
point of exhaustion and they feared for his mental health.
Though the German attack
had been spectacular in terms of
land conquered, it had also been
expensive in terms of men lost.
Between March and April, the
Germans suffered 230,000 casualties. The German Army simply
could not sustain such casualties.
.
Andra världskriget
Andra världskrigets inledning
kom helt att domineras av Tysklands doktrin om Blixtkrig. Vi
har gått igenom vad blixtkriget
innebar. Nedan finns en tolkning
av vilken betydelse det har haft
för senare krigföring.
Blixtkrigets betydelse
Blitzkrieg's widest influence
was within the Western Allied
leadership of the war, some of
whom drew inspiration from the
Wehrmacht's approach. United
States General George S. Patton
emphasized fast pursuit, the use
of an armored spearhead to effect
a breakthrough, then cut off and
disrupt enemy forces prior to
their flight. In his comments of
the time, he credited Guderian
and Rommel's work, notably Infantry Attacks, for this insight.
He also put into practice the idea
attributed to cavalry leader Nat-
han Bedford Forrest, "Get there
fastest with the mostest." (Get
there fastest, with the most forces).
Blitzkrieg also has had some
influence on subsequent militaries and doctrines. The Israel Defense Forces may have been influenced by blitzkrieg in creating
a military of flexible armored
spearheads and close air
support.[20] The 1990's United
States theorists of "Shock and
awe" claim blitzkrieg as a subset
of strategies which they term
"rapid dominance".
It must also be stated that
Napoleon Bonaparte used some
form of the "blitzkrieg" tactic
when conquering Europe centuries prior to the invasion of Poland by Adolf Hitler.
Suomissalmi
Ingår kanske inte till provet,
men…
När sovjettrupperna gick till
anfall morgonen den 30 november 1939 mötte de fåtaliga finska
förbanden en numerärt helt överlägsen fiende. Sovjetstyrkorna
intog Suomissalmi kyrkby, som
brändes ned till grunden. Den
legendariske finske översten
Hjalmar Siilasvuo ledde motanfallet. Kyrkbyn återerövrades,
och nu koncentrerades avgörandet till Raatevägen, som från
Suomissalmi leder österut över
gränsen mot Ryssland.
På vägen bildades en enorm
anhopning av sovjetsoldater och
materiel. Bit för bit kringrändes
dessa av finska skidpatruller och
förintades. Ryssarna saknade
livsmedel och inte minst foder åt
hästarna. Sovjetsoldaterna blev
så skräckslagna att de inte ens
vågade göra upp eld för att
skydda sig mot den stränga kylan.
På kvällen den 10 januari
1940 var striderna vid Raatevägen över. Sovjetdivisionen förlorade 23 000 man i stupade. Finnarna 800 man. Dubbelslaget
vid Suomissalmi-Raate är historiens största drabbning i arktisk
miljö.
Motti-taktiken
Ryssarna hade gott om
stridsvagnar som de var mycket
beroende av under kriget, vilket
innebar att de var tvungna att
hålla sig till vägarna. Detta gav
finska armén en möjlighet att
omringa dem. Finnarna var
nämligen mycket duktiga skidåkare och kunde på så sätt utnyttja stora markområden vilket
gav möjligheter att lätt kunna
omringa ryssarna. Finnarna
lockade isär de stora ryska
trupperna till lite mindre grupper, efter det så omringade de
dem. På detta sätt var det lättare
att bekämpa dem. Finnarna var
också klädda i vita dräkter så att
de inte skulle synas så bra, detta
gjorde det svårt för ryssarna att
upptäcka dem
Eben Emael
The taking of the Belgian
fortress of Eben Emael was a brilliant use of gliders in a “coup de
main” assault.The Germans had
appreciated the usefulness of
airborne forces and then within
these to have yet a further level
of elite troops for 'Storm Troop'
assault operations. Also, during
the 1930's when they were not
allowed to build up an air force
they got around the rules by an
extensive use of gliders both as a
vehicle for pilot training, but also
as a means of delivering troops
silently to an objective. Assault
En karta över Eben Emael
Battalion Koch was one such
crack group within 7th Flieger
Division commanded by General
Kurt Student. In the plan for the
German attack in the west Hitler
gave his backing for General von
Manstein's plan which called for
am armoured thrust through the
Ardennes as this would surprise
the Allies - they would have been
led to believe that the main German attack would be through
Holland, basically the 1914 Schlieffen Plan. Manstein's plan relied
on the right flank of the panzer
attack being covered by the infantry of the 6th Army. This army
would need to cross the Albert
Canal and in their way, defending the bridges over the canal
was the Belgian fortress complex
at Eben Emael. Koch's 500 man
Assault Battalion would be as-
signed to take Eben Emael and
following that, airborne forces
would be dropped on targets
around Rotterdam. The whole
timing of the German attack in
the west was dependent on this
relatively little known airborne
assault. The German army would
not begin its general assault until
5 minutes after the assault gliders
landed, and the airborne operations in Holland would be timed
for 30 minutes after those landings. The fortress was, as you
would expect, sited in a strong
defensive position. It stood on a
150-foot high ridge with the River Maas and the Albert Canal
protecting it from the East and
North East, while the South and
South West perimeter were the
sites of field fortifications and
anti-tank ditches. The guns on
the fortress were like those of the
began their silent approach to the
dent upon the accuracy with
old fort Douaumont at Verdun,
bridges and the fortress at Eben
which they were dropped and
mounted in retractable cupolas
Emael. The gliders for the fortthe time it took their support to
or thick steel 'helmets'. The atress were all assigned individual
arrive. Some had no support untack was to come from 11 gliders,
gun positions and cupolas to attil the 14th May. The gliders at
each with 7 - 8 men inside, and
tack with hollow-charge grenaEben Emael carried out a successthey would be landed on the roof
des and flamethrowers, and this
ful ”coup de main”, as the Allies
of the fort complex, which was
was accomplished within 10 miwould do later with 3 gliders
some 800 yards long by 650 yards
nutes of the gliders touching
against Pegasus Bridge on Dwide, with gun emplacements as
down. In the original planning
Day. This success, and the effect
physical obstructions. The whole
the Germans believed that the
of the drop on Rotterdam gave
operation depended on the eleBelgians might recover sufficientGeneral Student and his ideas on
ment of surprise; there would be
ly within 60 minutes to start coairborne assault the credibility
no declaration of war on
needed to propose the asBelgium before the attack.
sault on Crete in May 1941,
The Germans would rely
and have the plan backed
on stealth and their speciaby Hitler.
lized training to put out of
action the armoured cupolas... destroy the enemy's
resistance and defend the
gains you have made until
relieved.' (Koch's orders to
Witzig whose force would
land in the gliders.) While Lieutenant Witzig's
group was taking the fortDe tyska fallskärmsjägarna kunde från ställningar på fortets
ress there would be three
tak helt behärska terrängen.
other elements of Koch's
battalion to seize bridges at
Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven and
unter-attacking, so rapid support
Canne. The general German ofof the glider-borne troops was
fensive in the west, of which the
necessary to capitalize on early
airborne assault was the spearsuccess. This would require the
head, was codenamed 'Gelb' and
other elements of Koch's battaliwould begin at 5.25 am on 10
on to take their objectives, the
May. Koch's battalion took off
three bridges. While two were
from airfields around Cologne at
seized, the nearest to the fortress,
4.30 am, there were 42 gliders
the bridge at Cannes, was blown
carrying 493 officers and men but
by the defenders. Witzig, after his
as with most airborne operations
glider lost its tow, landed back in
(Crete, Arnhem) not all goes to
Germany and took off again. He
plan. The Eben Emael Commanlanded at Eben Emael at 8.30 am
der's glider was one whose tow
just as his group's energy and
line parted and he had to land
morale were flagging because of
back in Germany and try again.
the failure to take the Canne
His second in command, Lt. Debridge, he rallied them sufficientlica, would have to command the
ly for them to hold their position
fortress assault and the action on
until they were relieved at 07.00
the southern edge of the attack
on the 11th May. The success of
area, Sgt. Wenzel would now tathe airborne troops used against
ke control at the northern end.
Rotterdam were mixed and will
Released at 7,000 ft. with some 20
not be gone into here, suffice it to
miles to run the assault gliders
say that their success was depen-
Operation Market-garden
In August 1944, General Bernard Montgomery proposed a
daring Allied offensive of one
powerful thrust through Holland, across the Rhine and into
the German heartland. The plan,
requiring many divisions and
virtually all the logistic support
available to the Allies in Europe,
was not agreed to by General
Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied
Commander. In its place a smaller scale plan, but still a very ambitious one, was approved to
secure a bridgehead across the
Lower Rhine (Neder Rijn).
Montgomery's 21st Army Group
would attempt a narrow thrust to
and beyond the Rhine, largely
supported from its own resources.
The plan was to lay an "airborne carpet" along the 64-mile
Eindhoven-Arnhem road along
which the British 2nd Army
(spearheaded by XXX Corps under Lieut-General B.G. Horrocks)
would advance rapidly to reach
the Arnhem road and rail bridges
which gave passage across the
last great natural barrier to the
Reich, the Lower Rhine.
The essential task of the airborne forces involved was to seize intact the bridges over the canals and rivers en route, notably
those at Son, Vegel, Grave (over
the River Maas) and Nijmegen
(over the River Waal) and finally
the Rhine road bridge at Arnhem.
This part of the plan was codenamed Operation "Market".
The "Garden" part of the plan
was the land offensive by the
armour of Lieut-General Horrocks' XXX Corps and other elements of the 2nd Army
Slaget vid Kursk
Ni har fått material utdelat
kring slaget.
Stalingrad
Den tyska sjätte armén anföll
Stalingrad under hela hösten
1942. Den Röda armén kastade
på Stalins direkta order in allt
man kunde uppbåda för att försvara staden till sista man. Trots
odds på i runda tal 1 mot 2 lyckades nästan den 6:e armén med
sitt uppdrag. Men små spillror av
sovjetiska trupper försvarade
fortfarande varje kvadratmeter
mark i staden.
Hitler vägrade att låta armén
bryta sig ur dödsfällan.
Vintern blev kall och hård.
Röda armén fortsatte sin framryckning västerut och avståndet
till Stalingrad blev större och
större. I januari 1943 kapitulerade
den 6:e armén. Närmare 50 000
tyska soldater hade dödats i slaget om Stalingrad från hösten
1942 till januari 1943. Ytterligare
96 000 tyskar togs tillfånga. Av
dessa omkom 90 000 i fångenskapen. Den totala förlusten för
6:e armén var ungefär 300 000
man.
De sovjetiska förlusterna i
människoliv var oerhörda. Över
en miljon man förlorades i slaget
och mängder med civila fick sätta
livet till.
När isen frös på floden Don
var tyskarnas hopp om att ta staden ute. Röda armén kunde föra
in starka förstärkningar samtidigt som man under Marskalk
Sjukovs ledning började förbereda sig för Operation Uranus. En
väldig klo skulle hugga av den
utsatta 6:e arméns position i Stalingrad.
Rumänska, Ungerska och
Italienska förband stod emot de
väl utrustade sovjetiska förbanden norr och söder om en utsträckt utbuktning i fronten. Den
Röda arméns anfall skar snabbt
av 6:e armén i Stalingrad och
tyska motanfall misslyckades.
Karta över den sovjetiska motoffensiven i november
Efterkrigstiden
Beteckningen ”efterkrigstiden”
kan verka helt
felaktig när man
betänker att det
inte har gått en
enda dag sedan
1945 som det har
rått fred på jorden. Krigen har
emellertid delvis
ändrat karaktär.
Krig mellan två
stater är numera
sällsynta. Krig
inom en stat är
dock väldigt vanligt.
Inchon 1950
The Battle of
Inchon was a decisive invasion
and battle during
the Korean War.
The battle began on September
15, 1950, and ended around Sep-
tember 28. During the amphibious operation, United Nations
(UN) forces secured Inchon, and
broke out of the Pusan region
through a series of landings in
enemy territory. The vast majority of UN ground forces were
composed of U.S. Marines, commanded by U.S. Army General
Douglas MacArthur. The Battle
of Inchon ended a string of victories by the invading North Korean People's Army (NKPA) and
began a counterattack by United
Nations forces that led to the
recapture of Seoul. The advance
north ended near the Yalu River,
when China's People's Volunteer
Army entered the conflict by deploying thousands of fresh Chinese troops in support of North
Korea, overrunning UN forces
along the Ch'ongch'on River and
forcing a withdrawal after the
Battle of Chosin Reservoir to
South Korea.
Yom Kippur 1973
Three years of relative calm
along the borders were shattered
on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the
Jewish year, when Egypt and
Syria launched a coordinated
surprise assault against Israel (6
October 1973), with the Egyptian
army crossing the Suez Canal
and Syrian troops penetrating the
Golan Heights.
During the next three weeks,
the Israel Defense Forces turned
the tide of battle and repulsed the
attackers, crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing to
within 20 miles (32 km.) of the
Syrian capital, Damascus. Two
years of difficult negotiations
between Israel and Egypt and
between Israel and Syria resulted
in disengagement agreements,
according to which Israel
withdrew from parts of the territories
captured
during
the
war
Vietnamkriget
Jag har haft svårt att hitta en bra
och artikel som ger en bild av den
taktik som vietnameser samt
amerikaner använde. Du får studera dina anteckningar. Du får
har bara två små artiklar som
ger en liten pusselbit
Gerillataktik i Vietnam
n December 1965, Ho Chi
Minh and the North Vietnamese
leadership ordered a change in a
way the war in the South was to
be fought. From now on, the Vietcong would avoid pitched battles with the Americans unless the
odds were clearly in their favor.
There would be more hit and run
attacks and ambushes. To counter the American build-up, Vietcong recruitment would be
stepped up and more North Vietnamese Army troops would be
infiltrated into South Vietnam.
The Vietcong, following the
example of Chinese guerillas before them, had always given the
highest priority to creating safe
base areas. They were training
grounds, logistics centers and
headquarters. They also offered
secure sanctuaries for times
when the war might go badly.
Hiding the base areas had
always been a high priority for
the Vietcong. Now, with American spotter planes everywhere, it
was more vital than ever to protect them. In remote swamps or
forests, there were few problems,
but nearer the capital, it was
much more difficult. The answer
was to build enormous systems
of underground tunnels.
The orders coming from NLF
headquarters were absolutely
clear. Tunnels were not to be treated as mere shelters. They were
fighting bases capable of providing continuous support for tro-
ops. Even if a village was in
enemy hands, the NLF beneath
were still able to conduct offensive operations.
There were complexes big
and small scattered across the
country. Each villager in a NLF
area had to dig three feet of tunnel a day. There was even a standard handbook specifying how
tunnels were to be built. The biggest tunnel systems were in the
Iron Triangle and the Cu Chi District, only 20 miles from Saigon.
Amerikansk taktik
Working closely with the
Army of the South Vietnamese
(Arvin’s) the Americans tried to
make it difficult for the Viet Cong
(Vietnamese Communists – ‘Victor Charlie’) to gain support from
the South Vietnamese peasants.
‘Strategic Hamlet’ attempted
to place peasants in fortified
villages at night, where they
couldn’t be ‘infiltrated’. This
backfired badly. It was very unpopular with the peasants who
resented being so far away from
their rice fields and ancestors. VC
demolished many of the fortified
villages anyway. Frustrated by lack of success
on the ground, the US tried to
win the
war from
the air.
Operation Rolling
Thunder
that began with
dropping
millions
of tons of
High
Explosive bombs
on North Vietnam and Ho Chi
Minh trail.
This was backed up by
phosphorous and napalm bombs
– the latter causing dreadful
burns to thousand of innocent
civilians.
When this failed to break
down the jungle cover the USAF
started ‘Operation Ranch Hand’
– the defoliation programme,
using Agent Orange. This deadly
chemical cocktail, containing dioxin, killed off millions of acres
of jungle to try to weaken the VC
– but left a horrendous legacy in
Vietnam. The dioxin got into the
food chain causing chromosome
damage to humans. There were
hundreds of cases of children
born with deformities.
Of all aircraft, the helicopter
(mainly Bell Huey) was the most
useful, dropping platoons in the
jungle clearings and out again.
They were excellent air ambulances.
