WAR MAY BE HELL, BUT READING ABOUT IT IS FUN

Blog number 212                                                             01 September 2008

"Vinegar" Joe Stilwell was put in command of the attacking "enemy" forces during military maneuvers before December 7, 1941.  "His ideas and surprises and unexpected tactics, " included the breaking of rules by beginning his attack by jumping off ahead of schedule.

When I first read this, I thought, "well, that's not fair, to begin the games before the agreed upon time, " but then I realized that war doesn't go by any rules, so that what he did was right on target.  Best to expect the unexpected.

Before the great battle with the Japs at Midway, the Japanese were running war games on the way there, and once they lost a carrier, but they figured that could never happen so they brought the carrier "back to life."  When it actually DID happen that they lost a carrier - two actually, they had no backup plan for that eventuality, and it cost them dearly.

One Jap officer saw the American torpedo bombers shot down one after the other, and kept coming.  He had been told that the Americans would turn tail at the first sign of trouble, so observing this, he thought Japan might be in more trouble than they believed. 

The Japanese before this had always ran into troops that gave up long before they had to.  Singapore, Wake Island, Burma, China - all could have been victories sans idiots and cowards.  Not the troops - the leaders.  Troops mostly do what they are told.  Leaders do the telling.