War Plans that should never have been thought of

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Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was not a good idea, I must say. The US Airforce would notg have taken kindly to them, and they knew it.
Well, to be fair, they weren't expecting the US to react militarily to the invasion. Of course, that naivety might be considered as poor planning, but the invasion itself went fine.
 
Kluge's Averanches offensive.

lets take all the armor on the western front and mass it for an attack to spit the allied armies

but our entire army is under heavy air bombardment and observation. our slightest movement attracts the attention of at least 10 artillery batteries. oh and yes lets take the leibstandarte off the caen front so our northern flank can be torn off so i can mass my super duper 120 tanks at mortain

it also seems like a good idea to leave unsupported infantry who have been tired out by weeks of intense combat alone against the might of the third army on the southern flank. oh and wait the allies have only inserted several full strength divisions between mortain and the sea that are supported by unstoppable air power and naval bombardments if needed

doesnt this sound like a war plan that is going to succeed so well?
 
The French Plan XVII. Reliance on a mindless doctrine of the offensive and the magical powers of élan against a numerically superior enemy fighting from defensive positions.
 

ctayfor

Monthly Donor
Why not, it might be nice to throw in a far-out general. One who is so bad he has to be the best general for the other side. :D

I think I remember Soviets remarking somewhere that one of their best Generals was Hitler. :D
 
Khomeini's decision to continue pushing into Iraq after the Liberation of Khorramshahr.

Mao's decision to launch the third battle of Seoul despite long supply line.

Sukarno's konfrontasi with Malaysia.

Enver Pasha's misadventure into Russian Caucasus.

Chiang's Battle of Shanghai, 1937, in which 250 000 of his best troops were lost , mainly to Japanese naval and aerial fire. My grandfather were lucky enough to survive it, only to see an entire regiment of his comrades perish.

Chiang's "Battle" of Nanking, when the city was crowded by the wounded and civilians. After Shanghai fell, Nanking should have been declared an open city. (this, however, did not make the japs less guilty of their crimes in Nanking)

Sadat's decision to push beyond the SAM umbrella.

Every plan Qaddafi made.

The Bar Lev line.

Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.

Most of the above were politically motivated decisions.
 
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Monty's El Alamein offensive

Torch would have beaten Axis forces in Africa anyway. Holding Rommel in El Alamein until having an allied force at his back forced him to retreat and then destroying him in a pursuit operation was the thing to do.
Monty gave the Germans a chance of inflicting needless casualties on his forces and then let them escape because he had wasted his strength on frontal assaults and was to cautious to conduct a real pursuit action.
 
Dyle-Breda

41 allied divisions doing their version of the blonde girl in horror movies that hears a strange noise in the basement and decides to go there to see what's going on without a back up plan...
 
Barbarossa. Yes, why not invade Russia in the winter?

1 - Barbarossa started June 22

2 - Barbarossa could not have happened much earlier *March - May* due to the Rasputista http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa
The myth that operations in the balkans destroyed Germany's chances in Russia is unfortunately all too prevalent.

3 - War was inevitable between the USSR and Germany, or at least that is how both Hitler and Stalin felt. Germany stroke when it was most appropriate, the soviet army was growing rapidly and soon Germany would be completely unable to take the initiative.
 
How about Pickett's Charge on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg? With the Union forces commanding the high ground and with artillery positions on both Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top, the attack by Confederate forces played out like the first two charges up Breed's Hill during the Battle of Bunker Hill--the defenders repulsed the attackers, where the attackers suffered very serious losses.
 

elkarlo

Banned
Pearl Harbor.

Not because it didn't work. Because it did work.


It worked just enough to screw things up. It pissed off the US, and made total war very possible. Also, the US didn't loose experienced crews and carriers out at sea, as they would have with no PH.
 
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