Biggest Blunders in Military History

Biggest Blunder

While there are so many to choose from I'm torn between choosing because the difference between strategic, tactical and operational make for such a smorgasboard. Hitler's declaration of war on the the US when he was not required to do so by the TriParte agreement(John Keegan noted that Von Ribbentrop argued against this!!!) probably stands apart because one can understand his motivation in attacking the Soviet Union and argue whether or not he could have won by attacking on his original schedule. Tactically-Lee at Gettysburgh and Grant at Cold Harbor probably both tie for second behind Burnside dual performance at Fredericksburg and the Crater. BUT .... As a devout reader of the Flashman Papers I have a soft spot for Elphinstone and the retreat from Kabul which would would not pass a fiction writers criteria for believability. George Macdonald Fraser's comment that the greatest military geniuses could not have destroyed that army as surely as he did in trying to preserve it is unsurpassable. Thanks
 
Claymore said:
Cadet Airman Adam Seaman said:
Well.

Battle of the Bulge.
Dunkirk
Normandy

ect......
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For whom are you saying each of these were blunders?
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It couldn't be anyone other than Germany, as in all 3 cases there was evidence of German mistakes in some way. I wouldn't agree that any of them were in any way the biggest blunders that Germany committed in WW2 though.
 
Charge_7 said:
I'm surprised that Chewie or other ANZAC folks didn't mention Gallipoli. A tremendous loss of lives and ships that did not accomplish one single thing decisive in WWI and was the scene of error after error after error. Nobody can question the valor of the troops, but the generals involved and Churchill who promoted it made a very grievious error indeed.
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I agree with c7.

You can also throw in "Stalingrad".
 
Biggest Blunders

Churchill really doesn't deserve the blame for the Gallipoli Campaign- it would have succeeded had they landed(1) after the initial bombardment or (2) the commanders on the spot had moved and taken the heights when they did land. This same sort of inaction plagued the British in WW2 when they failed to capture Caen on D-Day and when they failed to secure the banks of the Scheldt. These failures were the direct causes of GOODWOOD and MARKET GARDEN- the twin howlers on Monty's reputation. As to the biggest blunders I'd like to mention the Romans Varus and Crassus who both managed to stop the Empires expansion and George Washington whose reputation as a military genius is based upon beting drunken Hessians and not on a study of his actual campaigns(The New York and Philadelphia campaigns are painful reading).Santa Anna( the Texan revolution and actions in the Mexican War)rivals Washington with the Alamo as his claim to fame and.,predating Hitler and Naploleon, Charles XII at Poltava.
 
aussiejohn said:
Charge_7 said:
I'm surprised that Chewie or other ANZAC folks didn't mention Gallipoli. A tremendous loss of lives and ships that did not accomplish one single thing decisive in WWI and was the scene of error after error after error. Nobody can question the valor of the troops, but the generals involved and Churchill who promoted it made a very grievious error indeed.
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I agree with c7.

You can also throw in "Stalingrad".
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Stalingrad is a good example of German strategic blundering, especially when they could have captured the city with little effort in July '42, but Kursk was even worse.
 
Re: Biggest Blunders

melkor the first said:
Churchill really doesn't deserve the blame for the Gallipoli Campaign- it would have succeeded had they landed(1) after the initial bombardment or (2) the commanders on the spot had moved and taken the heights when they did land. This same sort of inaction plagued the British in WW2 when they failed to capture Caen on D-Day and when they failed to secure the banks of the Scheldt. These failures were the direct causes of GOODWOOD and MARKET GARDEN- the twin howlers on Monty's reputation. As to the biggest blunders I'd like to mention the Romans Varus and Crassus who both managed to stop the Empires expansion and George Washington whose reputation as a military genius is based upon beting drunken Hessians and not on a study of his actual campaigns(The New York and Philadelphia campaigns are painful reading).Santa Anna( the Texan revolution and actions in the Mexican War)rivals Washington with the Alamo as his claim to fame and.,predating Hitler and Naploleon, Charles XII at Poltava.
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apart from tactical and operational side of gallipoli, I think that that campaign was strategic blunter, when you consider global situation in south east europe in 1915. main goal was to make gap betveen turkeys mainland and rest of their allys in europe. by april 1915 austro hungary launched 2 massive campaigns against serbia, and was defeated with heavy losses. if only forces used in gallipoli were used in serbia, I am sure that austro hungaria would be defeated by the end of 1915, bulgaria would not join central powers, and probably war would be much shorter.
 
Gallipoli

I agree in part on the strategic aspects although with the caveat that one of the objectives was to buttress Russia. Considering the abilities of the allied commanders involved I'm not sure that had they diverted the troops in the way that you suggest that we would not be discussing an entirely different area of greatest blunders(not your suggestion, but how it would have been executed.)
 
Re: Gallipoli

melkor the first said:
I agree in part on the strategic aspects although with the caveat that one of the objectives was to buttress Russia. Considering the abilities of the allied commanders involved I'm not sure that had they diverted the troops in the way that you suggest that we would not be discussing an entirely different area of greatest blunders(not your suggestion, but how it would have been executed.)
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it would make relief to russia. there was railroad from salonika to serbian front. it was much harder to start campaign with afibious action when you do not have front that is formed. in serbia front was already formed, and serbian forces have pushed austro hungarians from their original positions although they were inferior in manpower and equipment. serbian army was smaler than the size of ally troops deployed on galliopli.
 
Re: Biggest Blunders

melkor the first said:
Churchill really doesn't deserve the blame for the Gallipoli Campaign- it would have succeeded had they landed(1) after the initial bombardment or (2) the commanders on the spot had moved and taken the heights when they did land. This same sort of inaction plagued the British in WW2 when they failed to capture Caen on D-Day and when they failed to secure the banks of the Scheldt. These failures were the direct causes of GOODWOOD and MARKET GARDEN- the twin howlers on Monty's reputation. As to the biggest blunders I'd like to mention the Romans Varus and Crassus who both managed to stop the Empires expansion and George Washington whose reputation as a military genius is based upon beting drunken Hessians and not on a study of his actual campaigns(The New York and Philadelphia campaigns are painful reading).Santa Anna( the Texan revolution and actions in the Mexican War)rivals Washington with the Alamo as his claim to fame and.,predating Hitler and Naploleon, Charles XII at Poltava.
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The British Navy did not secure the Dardanelle Straits before the landings. They got belted by the Turkish shore guns.

Churchill new all this but he insisted on pressing ahead with the campaign.

As I understand it, the Australians were landed in the wrong spot. The terrain was generally all up hill.

Monty's efforts at Caen were disappointing but he did draw the main German armour away from the Americans who were relatively weak during the first several days of the Normandy landings. Rommel desparately wanted to "sink his teeth" into the Americans and drive them back into the sea but was unable to because of the pressure around Caen.
 
As I understand it, the Australians were landed in the wrong spot. The terrain was generally all up hill.
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generally!!, bleedin' heck, it was ALL up hill. The diggers were landed at the base of cliffs, it doesn't get much more uphill than that.
 
Yes there were cliffs.

And gullies, scrub, and ridges.

Lets not forget the loss of life amongst the English, New Zealand and the French troops who fought there.

Even though the Turks were fighting from the heights, I believe they lost about 80,000 dead.
 
landings

according to the vauge orders they were given they pretty much landed in the right general area. they were told to land "on beach between gaba tepe and fishermans hut" an area of 2 and a half miles. with the beach being divided into 8 landing places.
9th batt to clear gaba tepe and andersons knoll near third ridge.
5th batt hill971
6,7,8th battalions to clear fishermans hut, baby 700,battleship hill and chunuk bair.
10,11th batts to go over third ridge (gun ridge)
with 12th batt in reseve.

where they landed was so bloody rugged that any artillery that was landed could not get up most the bloody hills anyway and good artillery support was sumthing that was needed for them to get anywhere near there objectives.
looking at the map and terrain show just what an impossible task it was.
the north where they actually landed around plugges plateau the sphinx and walkers ridge and ari burnu. it is the sort of country mountaingoats have a hard time getting round with ridge lines gullies cliffs and the like.
 
Re: landings

bush musketeer said:
according to the vauge orders they were given they pretty much landed in the right general area. they were told to land "on beach between gaba tepe and fishermans hut" an area of 2 and a half miles. with the beach being divided into 8 landing places.
9th batt to clear gaba tepe and andersons knoll near third ridge.
5th batt hill971
6,7,8th battalions to clear fishermans hut, baby 700,battleship hill and chunuk bair.
10,11th batts to go over third ridge (gun ridge)
with 12th batt in reseve.

where they landed was so bloody rugged that any artillery that was landed could not get up most the bloody hills anyway and good artillery support was sumthing that was needed for them to get anywhere near there objectives.
looking at the map and terrain show just what an impossible task it was.
the north where they actually landed around plugges plateau the sphinx and walkers ridge and ari burnu. it is the sort of country mountaingoats have a hard time getting round with ridge lines gullies cliffs and the like.
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Certainly terrible country to fight in. They showed a lot of guts those ANZACS.
 
From what I have read, which is little, Operation Barbarossa proved to be quite a blunder. The early stages of the operation proved very promising with the Luftwaffe wreaking havoc and whole Soviet armies taken prisoner. The blunder occurred with Hitler, against the views of his generals, ordering his attack south into the Ukraine region for its resources. The German command wanted to drive straight through Russia and take Moscow quickly. He had the chance to defeat the Russians, or at least strike a great blow to the country. This in turn would alleviate pressure on the Eastern Front, allowing more men to be diverted else where. By the time the Germans conquered the Ukraine and made their way close to Moscow, the Russian winter set in, stopping the Germans. I'm sure you know the rest. :)

In general, I think the biggest military blunder would be Hitler's involvement on the military side of things. Leave that to your generals and keep the state flourishing.
 
One overlooked blunder is the allowance of the media to portray America's efforts in the Vietnam War. They screwed it all up, and the battle of Soldier vs. Media was a crippling loss for our country.
 
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