In the latest of many pre-recorded podcasts while Victor is touring in Israel, Jack Fowler reads listener questions on military strategies around the world including China, Germany, Russia, Israel, and Japan.
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8 thoughts on “Current and Past Military Strategies”
Charles Carroll
Regarding our military supply of Israel, it wasn’t one-way. Israeli pilots provided films of their aerial combat in Phantom II jets to us; thereby aiding our training and improvement of both tactics and the airframes.
Regarding your Dad’s mastery of the art of plain speaking vis-a-vis our experience with the Japanese in WW II, people who want to condemn our barbarity need to read “Flags of Our Fathers” regarding the treatment of our Corpsmen (Navy medics with the Marines) on Iwo Jima. They were singled out for particularly gruesome tortures to dissuade this vital component of our units. Your Dad wouldn’t have known about the specifics of that but he was “right on”! Then there was the Rape of “Nanking” (now Nanjing) and the Bataan Death March from which we learned that the Japanese considered soldiers who surrendered unworthy of humane treatment.
Your Dad was one of those who built the Marine Corps’ reputation as the epitome of the American fighting man. God bless him!
As a fan of Dr. Hanson’s works and views, I’m curious to know if he has any plans to write a book about Israeli military history or a comparison/contrasting project with either ancient examples or against their Arab opponents?
Victor’s’s comments about his father are so real and familiar to me. My father was the most loving and caring father any child could have. He was a Navy Seabee, Guam, the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Like Victor’s father, my father was greatly affected by the war and he would hear nothing about the plight of the “poor Japanese”……They started it and We finished it, end of story.
Than you Victor, GEN Pershing entered WW I with a Regular Army of 127,000 officers and soldiers, lacked, general staff, division structures, modern weapons, artillery, tanks, airplanes, doctrine, field manuals, training, etc. Congress enacted a draft, Wilson ordered the AEF to be “a separate and distinct component of the combined forces, the identity of which must be preserved”* Tactical operations amounted to grinding assaults supported by French and British artillery, tanks and aviation against extensive fortified counterattacking German defenses-in-depth. The 2 mil AEF suffered 320,000 casualties pushing German lines back from over 200 miles of French territory. Risk averse strategy could have prolonged conflict advantaging Germany. VB, G
*Palmer, Frederick: Newton D. Baker. America At War, volume I, New York 1931, p. 171.
Thank you again Victor, btw, my Grandfather lost an arm with the AEF in 1918 then 3 Sons, Luzon 6 May 42’, in South China Sea 23 Aug 43’ and at Mainz 22 May 45’. Sorry I can’t find the words to describe the story of your Dad’s response at the Honors Dinner, beyond fantastic. VB, G
Thank you Victor, recommend The United States in the World War (1918-1920) by John Bach McMaster 1920 D. Appleton and Co. New York for a greater appreciation of America in the conflict and GEN Pershing among many books. VB, G
Regarding our military supply of Israel, it wasn’t one-way. Israeli pilots provided films of their aerial combat in Phantom II jets to us; thereby aiding our training and improvement of both tactics and the airframes.
Regarding your Dad’s mastery of the art of plain speaking vis-a-vis our experience with the Japanese in WW II, people who want to condemn our barbarity need to read “Flags of Our Fathers” regarding the treatment of our Corpsmen (Navy medics with the Marines) on Iwo Jima. They were singled out for particularly gruesome tortures to dissuade this vital component of our units. Your Dad wouldn’t have known about the specifics of that but he was “right on”! Then there was the Rape of “Nanking” (now Nanjing) and the Bataan Death March from which we learned that the Japanese considered soldiers who surrendered unworthy of humane treatment.
Your Dad was one of those who built the Marine Corps’ reputation as the epitome of the American fighting man. God bless him!
As a fan of Dr. Hanson’s works and views, I’m curious to know if he has any plans to write a book about Israeli military history or a comparison/contrasting project with either ancient examples or against their Arab opponents?
Victor’s’s comments about his father are so real and familiar to me. My father was the most loving and caring father any child could have. He was a Navy Seabee, Guam, the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Like Victor’s father, my father was greatly affected by the war and he would hear nothing about the plight of the “poor Japanese”……They started it and We finished it, end of story.
VDH, your dad is my hero!
Thanks for sharing.
Than you Victor, GEN Pershing entered WW I with a Regular Army of 127,000 officers and soldiers, lacked, general staff, division structures, modern weapons, artillery, tanks, airplanes, doctrine, field manuals, training, etc. Congress enacted a draft, Wilson ordered the AEF to be “a separate and distinct component of the combined forces, the identity of which must be preserved”* Tactical operations amounted to grinding assaults supported by French and British artillery, tanks and aviation against extensive fortified counterattacking German defenses-in-depth. The 2 mil AEF suffered 320,000 casualties pushing German lines back from over 200 miles of French territory. Risk averse strategy could have prolonged conflict advantaging Germany. VB, G
*Palmer, Frederick: Newton D. Baker. America At War, volume I, New York 1931, p. 171.
Thank you again Victor, btw, my Grandfather lost an arm with the AEF in 1918 then 3 Sons, Luzon 6 May 42’, in South China Sea 23 Aug 43’ and at Mainz 22 May 45’. Sorry I can’t find the words to describe the story of your Dad’s response at the Honors Dinner, beyond fantastic. VB, G
Correction “Mainz 2 Mar 45’ “ not 22 May 45’. Sorry also recovering at home from a brief flu-like illness. VB, G
Thank you Victor, recommend The United States in the World War (1918-1920) by John Bach McMaster 1920 D. Appleton and Co. New York for a greater appreciation of America in the conflict and GEN Pershing among many books. VB, G