The most important difference between 1944 and today would be in the realm of guided munitions. I once heard that a single F-15 packs as much firepower as an entire squadron of WWII era bombers, when you take into account explosive weight and the …
Air Force joint terminal attack controllers, JTACS for short, are airmen who go forward with special operators, infantry, and other maneuver forces to call down the wrath of god on anyone with the cajones to engage American troops while the…
War is, as Gen. William T. Sherman once remarked, hell. It’s also messy, disgusting and brutal. From the time humans first gathered together to go kill some other humans, war…
Throughout the centuries, humans have been devising ingenious ways to torture and execute each other. Torture methods were used to force a confession for a crime, punish enemies or act…
The idea of an insane military tactic goes well beyond a bayonet charge in the face of overwhelming numbers. An insane military tactic is one that barely has a 50%…
It’s hard to argue with results. No matter how stupid something appears, if it works, it works, and it’s no longer so stupid. This is especially true in military history,…
If you’re looking to punch the enemy in the gut and demonstrate just how much better you are than them, an ambush is your tactic of choice. In fact, that punch-to-the-gut scenario can be more literal than figurative — if you have some solid intel…
Ambushes are a great tool in a commander’s toolbox. The attacker gets the element of surprise, usually has numerical superiority, and almost always has the good ground. With all of those advantages on one side, the fight usually plays out about the…
Germany started WWII with the introduction of blitzkrieg. The new lightning warfare called for fast, overwhelming ground attacks supported by dive and light bombers. This combined arms doctrine was extremely…
If you think that troops marched at each other with muskets and rifles in the Civil War because they were too dumb to maneuver, you’re dead wrong. Civil War formations were the pinnacle of strategy at the time, allowing commanders to bring maximum …