Heck of an article. There’s "war", and then there’s "hyper-war" - a term I picked up from a website about the Pacific theater of operations - but that term describes WW2 probably better than anything. There are plenty of accurate stories of war in all of its brutality in the decades following WW2 ... Chosin Reservoir, Ia Drang Valley, Fallujah, and so on... but there is nothing that compares for epic scale to WW2. And out all the horrors of WW2, there are few things that match either the D-Day landings in Normandy, or the assault on Iwo Jima for just how bad things can get.ELB wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:17 am In November of 1960 The Atlantic magazine published an article by S.L.A. Marshall detailing the fate of the first wave to assault Omaha Beach, in particular Able and Baker companies of the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. It is both fascinating and grim reading, and explains very well the need for the US military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach:
First Wave at Omaha Beach
Do take a few minutes and read it.
Imagine what the American public's reaction would be today to a military action that cost 4,414 Allied lives in the first 24 hours, as happened at Normandy.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/d-day-casualties
During the 5 weeks it took to secure Iwo Jima, we suffered 26,040 total casualties—6,821 killed, and 19,217 wounded. In just 36 days.The First U.S. Army, accounting for the first twenty-four hours in Normandy, tabulated 1,465 killed, 1,928 missing, and 6,603 wounded. The after-action report of U.S. VII Corps (ending 1 July) showed 22,119 casualties including 2,811 killed, 5,665 missing, 79 prisoners, and 13,564 wounded, including paratroopers.
.........
The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be guested. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war (not included in the 425,000 total, above). During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered 90,000 losses, including prisoners.
...and WW2 pales in comparison to our own Civil War casualties. I seriously doubt that the American people have the stomach for another global war against nation states.