Re: Iraq update

Shawn Wilson wrote:

Here. YOU made the claim, specifically that "an inexperienced and only slightly trained junior officer in a confused and information poor situation he has little or no familiarity with can operate effectively using his inexpert personal judgment"

It's right up there still.

Your claim, YOU need to support it.
Put up or shut up.


Ohhhh. O.k. Here we go:

WWII - Normandy Beaches to Germany:

29th Infantry Division
"Resistance was fierce up the narrow coastal strip. Machine gun fire pinned down 116th doughs on the approaches to Grandchamps and artillery couldn't knock out the German position. T/Sgt. Frank D. Peregory, Charlottesville, Va., did it alone.

Working his way up the side of an enemy-held hill, the sergeant dropped into a trench. As he inched forward, he suddenly came upon a squad of German infantry. Sgt. Peregory killed eight Nazis with hand grenades, took three others prisoner at the point of his bayonet. Threading his way down the trench, he captured 32 more riflemen and the machine gunners who held up the 116th's advance. The Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded Sgt. Peregory posthumously. He was killed in battle six days later."

No battle manual teaches you to attack alone.

""The Battle of Normandy" produced many heroes, T/5 Harold O'Connor, Westbrange, N.J., 175th Medic, dragged his wounded company commander from the Vire River, administered first aid, then braved murderous machine gun fire to stay with him until help came. Lt. Richard N. Reed, Canandaugua, N.Y., 175th, crawled within 10 yards of a Nazi machine gun before he charged the position, killing the gunner with the last round in his carbine and clubbing the assistant gunner with the butt. Pfc Robert Moore, Silver Springs, Md., 115th, stalked a German tank escorting American prisoners to enemy lines. After shouting to them to disperse, he fired his anti-tank grenade, drove off the tank."

No battle manual teaches that a lone infantryman should attack an armored vehicle unsupported.


On taking Brest (The French Port City):
"After repeated attempts, 1st Bn., 175th, drove up the rugged slopes of Hill 103, whose heights had afforded observation for German artillery, and overran the enemy's concrete gun emplacements in a rock quarry. The 115th came up on the left flank.

Hill 103 was the key to the city. Div Arty observers now could spot targets past Fort Keranroux and Fort Montbarey and in the city itself. American artillery hammered everything in the valley.

Protected by a sunken road, an estimated 30 Paratroopers with a machine gun stalled the advance of 2nd Bn., 175th, for three days. S/Sgt. Sherwood H. Hallman, Spring City, Pa., under covering fire, went forward alone, cautiously creeping to a point near the enemy position. Leaping into the road, he tossed hand grenades and fired his carbine to kill or wound four Germans as he yelled for the others to surrender. When 12 Nazis put up their hands, 75 more came out, yielding a position the entire battalion and heavy supporting fires had been unable to take.

Sgt. Hallman was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. He died of wounds received the next day."

"The Roer River towns of Koslar, Bourheim and Kirchberg still were to be taken before the river could be crossed and the prize city of Julich taken.

Bourheim fell first as 2nd Bn., 175th, stormed two platoons into the town against small arms fire the afternoon of Nov. 20. The Germans smashed back with fresh troops that night, driving 2nd Bn. doughs from the town except for a group of 20 men who remained with Capt. Robert W. Gray, Skowhegan, Me., Co. F CO. Crouching in doorways with their M-1s, the men peered down the dark streets, guarded their precarious foothold. In his cellar CP, Capt. Gray destroyed his maps, waited for relief."

No battle manual teaches that you should hold out with only 20 men against an unknown-sized enemy attack force that has you surrounded.

"First and 3rd Bns. succeeded in retaking the town two days later and relieving Capt. Gray's force. After the doughs had slugged their way into Bourheim, German artillery pounded it relentlessly. Enemy infantry and armor unsuccessfully counter-attacked on five occasions. Against the final counter-assault, six P-47S swooped low over the attacking tanks and 500 infantrymen, bombing and strafing with fury.

Second Lt. (then T/Sgt.) Paul F. Musick, Jr., Grantville, Ga., won a Distinguished Service Cross for his action at Bourheim. Racing across a field being pounded by enemy artillery, he directed mortar fire on attacking infantrymen, dispersed them. When two German tanks appeared, Musick climbed into an abandoned light tank, manned a 37mm gun and chased off the armor. Out of the tank, he next silenced three snipers who had the area under fire. Returning to his original position, Musick repaired a three-inch gun and recruited a crew which fired six rounds at an enemy observation post."

No combat manual recommends that you run across a field that is under artillery bombardment. At the time, everyone knew that a 37mm gun was practically useless against german armor, but Tech Sgt. Musick Jr, begged to differ, and forced enemy armor to withdraw using an obsolete weapon. He then became a sniper killing 3 german snipers, and then fixed another cannon while under fire in battle, and crewed it!

"Attacking before dawn, Nov. 27, 1st Bn. broke into the east side of the town, drove off the Nazis and held its ground against two savage, tank-supported counter-attacks.

When a machine gun pinned down his company outside of Kirchberg, Pfc Harold J. Speer, 115th, crawled forward alone. Twenty-five yards from the enemy nest, he leaped up, tossed a grenade, charged with fixed bayonet. After shooting the gunner, he pulled the gun from position and killed the four other members of the crew. Kirchberg, last of the three bastions before Julich, fell to 2nd and 3rd Bns., 115th, after dogged house-to-house fighting."

On crossing the Roer River between Christmas and New Years Day 1945:

"Three major raids were attempted by the 29th. Five officers and 79 men crossed the river in rubber boats, failed to find their objective in a blinding snowstorm. Another patrol set out even as the ice-choked river began to crack but was turned back by mortar fire, Finally, a 54-man patrol reached the opposite shore undetected but ran into a stiff fire fight.

Some men went to Heerlen on pass. Coca Cola and showers became available. Lt. Frank Bishop, Norman, Okla., 175th regt, designed a slingshot from an inner tube, used it to lob hand grenades across the river."

And these are only junior officers (Captains & Lower) and NCO's from the 29th Infantry division, some with only a few days of combat experience. No textbook on combat teaches any of these valorous deeds. There were more than ninety-three Infantry divisions in WWII all with junior officers and NCO's that either refused, or ignored their training and relied on their inexpert personal judgement. Because of their tenacity, zeal, and courage, they were responsible for the Victory in Europe.

You! ShawnTard, on the other hand, owe me $20. You can PayPal it to my e-mail addy.

For the rest of you, you can find out more about the courageous deeds of your fathers and grandfathers here:
http://www.lonesentry.com/index.html

Re,
Dirk

.

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