Use of wargames

In history it seems that several times armies play war on forehand. This is called Wargames. Wargames give lots of useful information. Unfortunately, as war really happens one almost never sticks to the conclusions derived from previous wargames.

Does anybody know of some interesting wargames and what would have happened if they stick to the plans which were made as a result of those games?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
War Plan Red, the US plan for war with England and the subsequent invasion of Canada, had it's land portion done as a dry run in the mid-30s. It was the largest war game the US had ever done until the Louisiana wargames in 40/41 that really showed how the US would wage war in WWII.

What was interesting about it was that according to the referees the Canadians almost won. They were able to "repel the first wave, only to be outnumbered when motorized reinforcements arrive."
 
What was interesting about it was that according to the referees the Canadians almost won. They were able to "repel the first wave, only to be outnumbered when motorized reinforcements arrive."

And I'll bet the "Canadians" were just running things straight, rather than executing our secret Defence Scheme #1... :D
 

MacCaulay

Banned
And I'll bet the "Canadians" were just running things straight, rather than executing our secret Defence Scheme #1... :D

Yup.

When my scanner gets up and working, I'll probably post War Plan Red for everyone to read. It's not as entertaining as you'd think: it reads like a target list, basically. The creepiest part is where the US Army Air Corps got permission in the mid-30s to drop gas on Halifax if it looked like the US couldn't capture it before the British reenforced it.

There was a book written about it called Defending the Undefended Border, but I forget the name of the author. It's a good book so long as you can filter out that alarmist parts. He's more or less convinced himself that all these airfields in northern Michigan that were built in the 30s were put there as part of some secret American invasion plan.
 

Ming777

Monthly Donor
Lol....
Unfortunately, Politicians tend to be ignorant of the realities of war. Why else would a relatively small country, with a stretch out empire, take on the country with more men, more assets, and far more industrial capacity. In the words of Yamamoto, "I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices."
 

Cook

Banned
Japan conducted repeated war games of the Pacific in 1940-41.
The results of these were presented as “proof” in favour of an attack on the Allies during Cabinet discussions.

They are also referred to professionally as Exercises without Soldiers.
 
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