WW2s greatest battles

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#21

No smoking only a little vodka :wink:

If the Western Front didnā€™t matter, and if it couldnā€™t help the Red Army (not that that was the primary consideration in the formulation of the other Alliesā€™ operational decisions on every occasion as they had a bit on their own plates) why was Stalin getting his panties in a twist from 1942 onwards demanding that the UK and US open the Western Front?

Sorry mate but panties of Stalin was wet in the 1941-42-43 when alles prefered to send the the 1/3 part of lend-lise but not a real combat in the France. But not in the mid of 1944 the fate of the war in the east ( and in the world) WAS clear. The Germany retreated in the whole Eastern and south ( italy ) front and the allies was afraid the Stalin take for itself the whole Western Europe - this is more ā€œdangerā€ then the bombing of London and Battle for Atlantic.
In the 1944 the Churchill getting his panties in the fear the Stalin could took the whole Europe.

If D-Day wasnā€™t a serious battle, or more accurately a number of battles, what do you think qualifies as ā€˜seriousā€™? Itā€™s by far the biggest landing in WWII, and ever, and represented a mammoth effort by the UK and US.

The serious mean the persentage of troops - which could send the Germany for defence.
May be you donā€™t know but the tupical landing operation was for instance the boosting the river like of Vistula or Dnepr where the whole fronts ( 500 000 -1 000 000 of men) lands to the opposite side under Germans fire.

As for D-Day being important only politically, what does that mean? It didnā€™t demonstrate Nazis had come to an end. That happened months later, and probably not until after the Ardennes, after a lot more grinding battles by the UK and US forces advancing towards Germany. The D-Day landings could have been repulsed if the Germans had acted differently. Itā€™s not like the opinion polls turned against Hitler on 7 June 1944 and it altered his conduct of the war. The only thing that mattered was the military wins on and after D-Day.

The Ardenn battle was much more importaint then the D-Day becouse in those battles Germany losed about 250 000 of soldiers. D-Day is not so ā€œseriouceā€ from this view.

P.S. Whatever it is that youā€™ve been smoking, can you send me some? Itā€™s top gear. :mrgreen:

No it just for me :slight_smile:

#22

No it just for me :slight_smile:

Yea! Australian imperialistic lawyers, keep your fingers off our bottles! The national resources of Russia belong to our people!

#23

Not so :wink:
I just donā€™t know will the vodka has the effect at the our australian mate who as we saw prefer to ā€œsmoke the somethingā€ :smiley:

#24

One small point. At the Battle of Kursk the new Panther tanks only served with the Heer, not the SS. Though plagued by mechanical faults the Panthers still managed to claim 25% of all Soviet tank casualties on the northern front of the offensive.

I think one of the most overlooked, but terribly important battle of the Eastern Front was Leningrad. This siege/battle not only tied down an enormous amount of German resources, but was also expertly used for itā€™s propaganda purposes.

The defenders of Leningrad always served as a reminder, Soviet forces were indeed capable of resisting the Nazi invader.

Oh, vodka has a wonderful effect on us Aussies!

Regards Digger.

#25

Youā€™re only saying that because youā€™ve been to a dentist recently.

The difference between lawyers and dentists is this:

Dentists observe careful hygiene measures before inflicting pain on you and putting their hands in your pocket to take your money.

Lawyers donā€™t worry about the hygiene. :smiley:

#26

Right! RisingSun, listen to what a smart man says. Smoking will affect yout brain activiry and make you think like some one else. Like this guy:

#27

Crystal or powder? I just tried it with schnapps (no vodka - the wife drank it all) but the cigarette wonā€™t light. :smiley:

Sorry mate but panties of Stalin was wet in the 1941-42-43 ā€¦ In the 1944 the Churchill getting his panties in the fear the Stalin could took the whole Europe.

I know this is serious, but you can be bloody funny. :mrgreen:

The serious mean the persentage of troops - which could send the Germany for defence.
May be you donā€™t know but the tupical landing operation was for instance the boosting the river like of Vistula or Dnepr where the whole fronts ( 500 000 -1 000 000 of men) lands to the opposite side under Germans fire.

Seriously, no, I didnā€™t know that. I didnā€™t think that Russia / USSR had undertaken amphibious operations on that scale. Do you have any links to tell me more about it?

The Ardenn battle was much more importaint then the D-Day becouse in those battles Germany losed about 250 000 of soldiers. D-Day is not so ā€œseriouceā€ from this view.

I think this is another example of where our thinking and assessments differ.

I think you tend to look at the scale of individual events.

I tend to look at what happened before to allow the events to occur and to assess the whole sequence leading to an event. The Ardennes would not have occurred without D-Day which, ignoring lots of events in between, would not have occurred without Churchill (wet panties though he may have had) deciding to fight Germany alone.

No it just for me :slight_smile:

Well, be careful with it, because itā€™s strong stuff. I still think thereā€™s enough for two

#28

Keep your bottles.

We imperialists down here have a famous beer called Fosterā€™s Lager and an ice cream called Peterā€™s which had the slogan ā€œThe health food of the nationā€ which had its advertising jingle corrupted by beer drinkers.

Fosterā€™s Lager
Fosterā€™s Lager
Comes in bottles cans or glasses
Itā€™s the health food of the nation
Stick your ice creams
Up your arses.

Anyway, Aussie imperialists donā€™t need brawny men to portray their national drink. We feed it to our kids, because itā€™s cheaper than chemical laden American infant formula with the special McDonalds taste implants in it and easier than breast milk. As my father used to say, ā€˜Beer builds better babiesā€™.

#29

Least we forget Sevastopol, El Alamein and Djemansk.

#30

oh yea el alamein was a great battle between britain and the "Afrika"Corps,i think it was the turning point for britain.
Oh and D-Day wasnt the greatest battle but it was great

#31

battle of britain, if that was lost all the rest would be uniportant. after that pearl harbour, as that changed the war.

#32

But I donā€™t think there are too many cases where brilliant victory was achieved against brilliant commander(s)? ;-D

Mistakes and bad leadership of enemy are seeds of brilliant victory.

Excellent point. This type of ā€œbattleā€ often goes unnoticed.

_

#33

Imphal/Kohima. Defeated the Japanese offensive drive on India. Provided the ā€˜springboardā€™ for Slim to execute his counter-stroke against the Japanese which culminated in their defeat in Burma.

http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/publications/comm_booklets/kohima_book.pdf

#34

In my opinion
For Europe theatre the greatest was Stalingrad
For Pacific Midway

#35

When discussing D-Day I presume we are really talking about the Normandy campaign, and what was probably the most decisive action of the campaign was the destruction of the German forces in the action at the Battle of the Falaise Gap. Could have been total if the Canadadians had closed the gapā€¦ I blame Monty. :wink:

http://www.directart.co.uk/mall/more.php?ProdID=129

http://www.aero-web.org/history/wwii/d-day/15.htm

#36

Itā€™s obvious there were many important battles which impacted on the course of the war. What were the most important is always open for debate.

Perhaps one of the most important campaigns was the Italians failed attempt to subdue Greece, thereby attracting Hitlerā€™s attention away from his prime objective, the Soviet Union. Ultimately Hitlerā€™s material aid to Mussolini was fatal for the German cause.

Another battle to consider in itā€™s importance is the Battle Of The Atlantic. If Britainā€™s supply line was strangled it was end game.

Regards Digger.:slight_smile:

#37

Absolutely. The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

#38

How about pearl harbour then? That cause the americans to join the allies and create more trouble for the Germans.

#39

And battle for Poland in 1939 :wink:
If Hitler did not begin this war in 1 sep 1939 we could win the Germany and Japane :wink:

#40

yes,yes guys those are also very inmportant battles pearl harbour was a sad day to the pacific navi fleet and tha battle of poland was important but i have almost no idea about this battle