Did anyone else watch this episode. I was impressed by the marksmanship of the fellows representing the SS and the final outcome as well. Any views?
I downloaded this video recently… Have to say it was very biased politically… which was completely unnecessary as I find people can come to terms with their own political assertions without having to be forced… Anyways, it was entertaining to a degree - however the VC wouldn’t stand a chance.
I agree Kamerad, i hated the germans being called " evil " all the time myself. My mother was born in Coblenz so it hit close to home, and the SS would not have used the same tactics as the US ( fighting with one arm tied behind their back ) they would have left them no jungle to hide in and would have chased them into Cambodia and Laos to totally eliminate them, unlike how we did it. The VC claim to be supermen but won because they didnt care to lose millions of people to continue fighting ( communist tactics ) and just played on american sentiment
Ummm… the US didn’t leave them any jungle to hide in (Agent Orange) and frankly it didn’t work. The SS never really got a handle on the partisan problem in Russia - even in areas like Byelorussia where areas were depopulated by a third to a half, there was still a significant problem. As for playing on American sentiment, suggesting that this is somehow inappropriate completely ignores the nature of war (politics by other means) - the entire purpose of war is to have a political effect on the enemy - and in a democracy the political effect by definition should be on the populace at large.
Agent Orange actually left most of SVN untouched. http://cybersarges.tripod.com/aomap3.html
Also, much of SVN was not jungle but a range of open country from fields / rice paddies to moderate country such as rubber plantations where Agent Orange would have no or at best modest effect in exposing the enemy.
Sorry, I meant to say it didn’t work very well in the areas it was tried.
Then we’re in furious agreement on that point.
Although it did work rather well on humans, on both sides. Not that we hear much in the West about the poor bastards in whose country it was used and who continue to suffer without the modest benefits the West accords to its troops.
Except the SS DID fight the VC, and lost. Well, sort of…
The forerunners of the Viet Cong (or National Liberation Front) was the Viet Minh who waged a War of National Liberation against the French. The French responded by sending the Foreign Legion–many of whom were ex-SS and German soldiers–against them. And they lost by 1954…
And the U.S. hardly fought with one hand behind its back. More like it fought stupidly until the CIA and special operations developed Operation Phoenix which largely decimated the VC and prepared the way for North Vietnamese domination of what remained…