« Who'd a thunk it? | Main | China - North Korea Fighting? »

Another war - same enemy

The enemy, is pessimism.

From Wikipedia - The battle of Henderson Field.

snip.

On 23 October 1942, with the addition of more troops, the Japanese made another attempt to capture Henderson Field from the south of the salient. The newly arrived U.S. Army's 164th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 7th Marines defended this position, and after a determined battle the attack was finally repulsed after committing the U.S. reserves.

On 25 October Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige and 33 marine riflemen emplaced 4 water-cooled .30-caliber Browning machine guns on a ridge to defend Henderson Field. By the time the night was over the Japanese 29th Infantry Regiment had lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men. The Japanese 16th Regiment's losses were not accounted for but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. Total American estimates for Japanese casualties on that ridge were 2,200. All the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon were either killed or wounded during the night of fierce fighting. Mitchell Paige moved up and down the line placing dead and wounded troops back into foxholes and firing short bursts from each of the four Brownings to deceive the Japanese that a force still held the ridge.

At dawn of the next day, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley reinforced Paige on the hill. It was decided that they would charge the remnants of the two Japanese regiments who were now regrouping. Conoley gathered his resources who consisted "three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food to the position the evening before." In total 17 marines charged the Japanese at 05:40 on the morning of the 26th, signaling the turn in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War.

end snip...

On October 23rd 1942, things looked really bad. On October 25th, The finally Japanese had lost control of the island, and in doing so, lost control of the war.

Had they existed in the 1940’s CNN On October 23rd would have said “AMERICANS ENGAGED IN FUTILE BATTLE AGAINST POPULAR JAPANESE INSURGENTS”

The New York Times of today would have said “NO MILITARY SOLUTION IN PACIFIC, WORLD ASKS FOR CEASEFIRE TO SAVE LIVES OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS”

The Washington Post of today’s world would have said “FAILED STRATEGY OF ISLAND HOPPING CALLED INTO QUESTION AS ILL ADVISED GUADALCANAL QUAGMIRE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES”.

Almost exactly three years later, the Japanese Empire, which had never experienced a defeat; had been defeated. The war ended on the deck of the USS Missouri with the capitulation of an Empire into the hands of a Democracy. Peace came, not from the pen of diplomats, but from the capitulation that was imposed by the men of the Allied Armed Forces.

My point? Yes, Hezbollah fired a lot of missiles today. They will still lose. Hezbollah has two choices, fire the missiles they have wherever they are or they will be captured wherever they are. Better to fire them off, then to have them sit on the ground. Since Hezbollah cannot manufacture Katushyas and since there are now 20,000 IDF soldiers cutting off every road that is not already crowded with refugees flowing north, it seems that every day we go forward just diminishes the supply of rockets. Today Hezbollah dimished its supply by 200 rockets, with almost no effect on the fighting ability of the Israelis. Hezbollah cannot change the direction of the war in its favor with these weapons. Katushyas are terror weapons, and the Israelis have simply failed to be terrified.

Despite all that Hezbollah has done, It is not Israel who is calling for a cease fire, it is Hezbollah and their allies.

I would say Hezbollah is using “banzai tactics” here; but that would infer the existence of a code of honor on their part.

Historical evidence says the contrary.

Posted @ August 02, 2006 11:30 AM | Current Affairs

Comments

What a shame! The Hezzies spent six years accumulating all those rockets and missiles and are now finding that they are not accomplishing anything by firing them at Israel other than justifying a massive Israeli ground and air campaign. And those unreliable Western democracies haven't reacted to the predictable civilian atrocity stories by making the Israelis stop. You just can't count on the media, or the Syrians or the Iranians, any more.

Posted by: Robert Speirs at August 2, 2006 12:27 PM

The Marine victory at the 'Canal which you described was possible because in the Corps even the clerks and jerks are riflemen. My understanding is that the same is true in the IDF. Most of Hezbollah's fighters have rifles, but nowhere near the skill in using them.

Posted by: triticale at August 2, 2006 02:03 PM

what a wonderful, *wonderful* story!
So the West has no stomach for this fight, eh? We shall see.

Posted by: Keitj at August 2, 2006 03:03 PM

"...Hezbollah and their allies."

It is the "allies" part that is disturbing.
Perhaps you could make a list....

Posted by: _Jon at August 2, 2006 05:46 PM

You can see where their priorities lie. Those rockets were originally designed to be used as barrage weapons against dismounted infantry. They could be using those rockets with some affect against the IDF but instead they choose to fire them into Israel proper. This says much. It says that Hezbollah believes they would get more political gain from killing Israeli civilians than they would military gain by killing IDF soldiers.

Another interesting thing ... Olmert was saying Israel needed 7 to 10 more days to finish operations while the troops departing Israel into Lebanon said they have been given 4 days to reach the Litani. What will happen in the additional 3 to 6 days? My guess is the utter taking apart of Hezbollah in Bekaa.

Israel began with air strikes and rabbit-punch attacks into border villages. I believe this was to convince Lebanon and Hezbollah that Israel was serious and to attempt to nudge them into action. I also believe the current phase of the operation was delayed ... it was originally scheduled for last Wednesday but was delayed to allow some potentional diplomatic activity. When that didn't pan out, Israel continued with the operation.

Actually, I am surprised they were able to get their momentum back. But I would say Israel has now committed to the dismantling of Hezbollah because it has now become obvious that Lebanon and the world don't have the guts to do so.

Posted by: crosspatch at August 2, 2006 11:00 PM