69 million page views

Normandy invasion was a footnote, no one remembers Patton,arab armies are magnificient and other gems of military expertise from Debanjan

Reader comment on item: Turkey's Military Capitulation Hits Home
in response to reader comment: My reply to Shishir

Submitted by Shishir (United Arab Emirates), May 1, 2012 at 05:09

Shishir: yes almost single-handedly if you discount the contributions of the allied powers of U.S and U.K which included the largest amphibious assault, the most sustained air campaign as well as well trained ground troops !

Debanjan : Please can you tell me the total number of allied troops who fought alongside Red army in the battles of Stalingrad and the total number of allied troops who fought alongside Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk ?

Shishir:What does it matter whether any Allied troops fought alongside the Red Army at Stalingrad, the point is Allied troops ensured that Nazis kept fighting wars on various fronts, and therefore were unable to focus like a laser beam on one opponent.There was also a great deal of material support with trucks and tanks etc that Allied provided to Stalin.

Dear Mr. Shishir compared to those two above mentioned battles , the so-called largest amphibious assault was just a footnote in the annuls of history until and unless you happen to be a bleeding heart Anglo-Saxonphile historian who is unable to take an objective view of history.

Debanjan:You and I know seem to have a different understand of the word "footnote"! If the Normandy invasion was not the largest ambphibious assault in history as you claim then which one was?

Shishir:Had there been competent generals ,the scale of deaths would've been vastly reduced.

Debanjan : Had Stalin not carried out the purges there would have been strong possibilities that some of these so-called competent generals would have overthrown the Soviet government and cut a deal with the Third Reich thus making it almost impossible for the allies to defeat the Third Reich in the Western front.

Shishir: Again the boogeyman of the coup plotting generals!Maybe you should ask yourself why is it that the regimes that you support seem to be so vulnerable to coups .Is it because they are loathsome gangster states which holds the lives of soldiers and citizens of little value?

Debanjan:You mean these competent generals Gen. Vlasov and Gen. Shilenkov who collaborated with the Third Reich ?

Shishir:You cant really blame them that much,at one point the entire Soviet Union "collaborated" with the Third Reich!

Fighting Saddam!Indeed that was an incredible challenge!Read Norvelle Atkins essay on why Arabs lose wars on the utterly pathetic performance of Arab militaries. No single serious military observer is impressed by the Iranians resistance of Saddam Hussein.

Debanjan : Well if Iran's successfully fending off Saddam's aggressive designs is not bigger enough challenges to impress the armchair military analysts such as you , then surely Israel's 1967 war victory against those very same Arab armies also should not be worthy of frequent chest-beatings that we regularly see in these forums.

Shishir:Actually yes,Israels victories against Arab states be it 1967 or 1973 becomes less impressive to any objective analyst when one realizes that Israel in the end were fighting Arabs.I maybe pro Israel but doesnt mean I have to swallow pro Israel propaganda wholesale.I use critical thinking to evaluate events, somewhat you are unable to do.Whether I am an armchair military analyst(as opposed to you who I suppose are a decorated war hero!) or not,what does it matter!Facts are facts! If Gen Petraeus tomorrow claims that the U.S lost WWII, I refuse to yield the argument to him just because he is more qualified on military matters than anyone currently on the planet.Indeed he has done many questionable things like drafting rule of engagements in Afghanistan which severely handicap U.S troops ability to fight!He does this to subordinate any military operations to nation building.Of course he is just doing his job.But therein lies the problem,generals whether active or retired may not always have a vested interest in stating facts.This is true in all countries.So therefore it is not all advisable for a country to heed your "wisdom" and surrender our critical faculties only to those who fought in wars!

Debanjan:Who is this guy Novel Aetkins by the way ? How many wars has he been able to fight and win ? How many divisions did he successfully command in battle ?

Shishir:Perhaps if you hadn't butchered his name, you would successfully come up with this info in a google search.

Norvell De Atkine, a U.S. Army retired colonel with eight years residence in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, and a graduate degree in Arab studies from the American University of Beirut, is currently instructing U.S. Army personnel assigned to Middle Eastern areas.

Shishir:The Korean war was salvaged to the near satisfaction of both parties.Americans never lost a battle in Vietnam but lost the war of public opinion thru a near traitorous left wing media and the Democrat commie sympathizing Congress cut funding for South Vietnam snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.Indeed America has ultimately courted "disasters" but only when communist sympathizing leftists were in charge!

Many conservatives ,including Dr Pipes ,were highly critical of any sort of nation building efforts.You would realize that had you paid attention.Had the focus had not been on nation building and democracy promotion,Afghanistan would've been pacified a long time ago.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (28) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Turkey's Military Capitulation Hits Home [52 words]stephjoshMay 14, 2012 04:22195598
1Turkey should not allowed to EU [191 words]moMay 20, 2012 03:23195598
Slavery mentalitty [11 words]B SoetoroMay 22, 2012 07:56195598
1Turkey [28 words]GeorgeAug 15, 2012 16:01195598
For Better Days [18 words]Jay1Apr 25, 2012 18:06195258
Unfortunate but.... [70 words]ShishirApr 23, 2012 06:34195233
New Turkey [118 words]NazimApr 24, 2012 18:36195233
Turkish desperation [168 words]ShishirApr 26, 2012 08:52195233
My reply to Shishir [272 words]Debanjan BanerjeeApr 26, 2012 23:04195233
My reply to Shishir [171 words]Debanjan BanerjeeApr 26, 2012 23:11195233
Here comes Turkeys knight in shining armor Debanjan [268 words]ShishirApr 28, 2012 00:43195233
Iran and Turkey:Please heed Debanjan's military expertise! [662 words]ShishirApr 28, 2012 01:31195233
My reply to Shishir [688 words]Debanjan BanerjeeApr 29, 2012 23:11195233
Normandy invasion was a footnote, no one remembers Patton,arab armies are magnificient and other gems of military expertise from Debanjan [850 words]ShishirMay 1, 2012 05:09195233
Dream of Turkish crash [74 words]moMay 6, 2012 15:25195233
My reply to Shishir [229 words]Debanjan BanerjeeMay 7, 2012 04:26195233
Debanjan:Socialism,what socialism? [780 words]ShishirMay 8, 2012 04:29195233
This isnt a dream for me but a nightmare for Turks [253 words]ShishirMay 8, 2012 04:37195233
1Turkish crash [173 words]NazimMay 8, 2012 13:21195233
1To early to conclude anything about Turkish economy [135 words]PrashantMay 9, 2012 07:34195233
Nothing to do with Islamic vs Secular [165 words]ShishirMay 9, 2012 12:01195233
Dear Mr. Shishir [555 words]Debanjan BanerjeeMay 9, 2012 22:58195233
Prediction [151 words]moMay 11, 2012 15:18195233
Please read my comments before jumping to conclusions [81 words]ShishirMay 13, 2012 02:30195233
One more time for Debanjan [825 words]ShishirMay 13, 2012 03:28195233
My reply [1021 words]Debanjan BanerjeeMay 28, 2012 12:29195233
So many words from Debanjan, but so little substance [1496 words]ShishirMay 30, 2012 05:40195233
Coups in Turkey [25 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Ayla KosebeyApr 22, 2012 07:02195222

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)