Starting in mid-January to mid-February, there was interest in assaulting the Shahikot Valley in the Paktia province of Afghanistan by employing U.S. ground combat forces as part as an operation due to intelligence reports suggesting that enemy forces, which included al Qaeda and the Taliban where in the stages of reoccupying the area to regroup its forces after its sustaining defeats during the early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom. A debate between intelligence agencies on whether the enemy troops would be on the valley floor or on the hills. Well before the battle, early intelligence estimates, which drew on HUMINT and other sources, claimed that nearly 1,000 al Qaeda and Taliban forces might be present in the Shahikot Valley but then were lowered to about 200 to 300 personnel (Baranick, Binnendijk , Kuglar, 2009). They also concluded that they were mostly living in the valley’s villages, rather than deployed in the surrounding mountains and ridgelines as they thought they would be from the more tactical
“This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war, and will, I believe be regarded as an ever famous American victory.” Winston Churchill said these famous lines after the Americans had defeated the Germans in the battle of the bulge. It will forever go down in history as one of the greatest battles ever fought for it sealed up the last German offensive and ultimately caused the fall of berlin and the fall of the Nazis. It was midnight on December 16, 1944 in the Ardennes forest the German forces are about to unleash a last ditch offensive effort on the thinly spread untrained American and allied lines hoping to break thru and retake German territory. The allies were not ready for the German blitzkrieg.
The Actions along the Matanikau—sometimes referred to as the Second and Third Battles of the Matanikau—were two separate but related engagements, which took place in the months of September and October 1942, among a series of engagements between the United States and Imperial Japanese naval and ground forces around the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal (island in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia) during the Guadalcanal Campaign. These particular engagements—the first taking place between 23 and 27 September, and the second between 6 and 9 October—were two of the largest and most significant of the Matanikau actions. The Matanikau River area on Guadalcanal included a peninsula called Point Cruz, the village of Kokumbona, and a series of ridges and ravines stretching inland from the coast. Japanese forces used the area to regroup from attacks against U.S. forces on the island, to launch further attacks on the U.S. defenses that guarded the Allied airfield (called Henderson Field) located at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal, as a base to defend against Allied attacks directed at Japanese troop and supply encampments between Point Cruz and Cape
General Patton, in the Battle of the Bulge exercised the principles of mission command to the fullest and they yielded significantly great results for the Allied forces. General Patton employed each of the principles in different ways in order to ensure that the German surprise attack did not significantly set back the Allied forces in the war. The exercise of mission command allows a commander to conduct military operations and missions through dispersed execution. According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-0, Mission Command, the definition of mission command is “the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations”. General Patton exhibited four of the mission command principles extremely well during the Battle of the Bulge.
Additionally, by the end of the day, the Germans had retreated into the old city leaving behind huge amounts of land mines. The next 6 days onwards were essentially the same, they involved the Germans retreating again and again leaving booby traps and explosives for the Allies to find and the Allies pushing up to control much needed ground. But on the 7th day or December 28th 1943, the battle had finally ended. It involved the Allies pushing the Germans into a castle overnight and in the morning when the Allies were ready to move forward they found no resistance whatsoever, the Germans had found a small route out of the city and had taken it, the Germans had retreated. So on December 28th 1943, the Battle of Ortona or “Little Stalingrad” ended, leaving the Allies free to take the rest of the
U.S. and SVA forces used superior firepower and mobility to annihilate NVA forces, who failed to hold any of their military objectives. The fighting continued for the period
The battle began with a 90-minute artillery barrage from the Germans’ Sixth Panzer Army at 0530 (Yeide 364). The Germans quickly overwhelm the thinly stretched VIII Corp. () and by December 18, 1944, they had pushed quickly past the initial defenders (). In a briefing at Verdun on December 19, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower asked General George S. Patton to counterattack from the south, telling him “to make a strong attack with six divisions” (Yeide 365). General Patton had other plans however, stating he would attack in three days’ time with three divsions (Forty 154).
The battle of the bulge is one of the deadliest battle in World War 2. In December 1944, Adolf Hitler attempted to split the allied armies in Northwest Europe by means of surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to antwerp. Caught off guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne, Lieutenant General George S. Patton 's successful maneuvering of the third Army to bastogne proved vital to the allied defense, leading to the neutralization of the German Counteroffensive despite heavy casualties. On December 16, three German Armies launched the deadliest most desperate battle of the war in the west in the poorly ordered, rugged, heavily forested Ardennes. A shortage
fifty miles behind enemy lines. It was only at the express order, urging by General Patton that General Hoge consented to the raid. In fact Patton had told Abrams, “Bill, I’ll promise I’ll replace anything you lose…every man, every tank, every half-track.” After the revelation to General Hoge from MAJ Stiller of Patton’s son-in-law being in the camp, that General Hoge understood the purpose for the raid. The true purpose of the raid was a violation of trust .
On June 22nd, 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union under the codename, “Operation Barbarossa”. Operation Barbarossa is the second largest military conflict in the military history. In 1939, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union’s dictator, in which they would have no military action for the next ten years. However not even two years later, Hitler ordered to invade the Soviet Union. This invasion was only suppose to last three to six months; instead it lasted for about three years.
Allied forces turned their artillery toward the 9th and 10th redoubts with the intention to assault them that night under the cover of a moonless sky. The plan was for the french to attack the Fusiliers redoubt and then half an hour later attack the 9th while the american attacked the 10th. Redoubt 9 would be assaulted by 400 French regular soldiers under the command of the German Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm von Zweibrücken and redoubt 10 would be assaulted by 400 light infantry troops under the command of Alexander
Operation Hydra was an allied strategic bombing raid on the Peenemünde Army Research Centre on the 17th/18th August 1943. These raids, according to Joseph Goebbels, caused a setback of ‘six to eight weeks’ in terms of the testing of the revolutionary weapon. This setback meant that the development of the V-2 Rocket occurred too late to become a significant factor in the outcome of the war and hence Allied Strategic Bombing was greatly significant in these regards. Allied Strategic Bombing also
Educated at West Point, George S. Patton (1885-1945) began his military career leading cavalry troops against Mexican forces and became the first officer assigned to the new U.S. Army Tank Corps during World War I. Promoted through the ranks over the next several decades, he reached the high point of his career during World War II, when he led the U.S. 7th Army in its invasion of Sicily and swept across northern France at the head of the 3rd Army in the summer of 1944. Late that same year, Patton’s forces played a key role in defeating the German counterattack in the Battle of the Bulge, after which he led them across the Rhine River and into Germany, capturing 10,000 miles of territory and liberating the country from the Nazi regime. Patton
On June 6, 1944, the Battle of Normandy began. This day, also known as D-Day, would go down in history for making a tremendous impact on the war. The German and American forces fought hard, inflicting injuries beyond compare (G1). Many people were highly dedicated to fighting for their country, resulting in many lost lives (C1). Many Americans were so determined that they actually swam into German fire to fight on the coast of France (F1).
The invasion of Normandy was a successful battle for the allies and a crucial turning point in World War II against Germany. The Allies; Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, and the U.S. were determined to end the war with Nazi Germany. The Battle of Normandy was very well planned out within the Navy and Army leaders of the allies. The Battle of Normandy was an important battle in Naval History. WWII broke out because Germany was expanding, invading and attacking numerous countries.
