Quote:
Originally Posted by gunnut
D-Day, compare the casualties of American forces on the first day against Operation Iraqi freedom. Our troops drowned by the scores due to the weight of their equipment and lack of training. There would be a congressional inquiry if Bush were in charge. Bloody Omaha, why did we lose so many men there and why weren't they properly equipped?
Battle of France, Germany allowed more than 1/4 million Allied troops to escape to fight another day. A great tactical victory, but a strategic defeat.
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The French had the largest army in the world right before WWII broke out, very modern, and the Maginot Line; and were still defeated in less than two months. As for Dunkirk, it's a bit overrrated in my book. One of the few times in military history when a retreat is so gloriously celebrated. By the time these troops are re-engaged in a theater against the Nazis, the Soviets are involved in the fight, with the Americans soon to follow. In the end Hitler accomplished his strategic victory of conquering France.
So if we're going to be comparing casualties, let's also compare the force size, and the training of the opposing force that the invaders were facing. At D-Day the Nazis were a much tougher foe, had the advantage of terrain, it was a seaborne invasion and still the Allies held ground. Casualties were expected in WWII, that's why the Allies did not go in with 170,000 troops. Anyway your threshold was one invasion, I mentioned several others. Here's some more:
List of invasions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
it's Wikipedia, and not an exhaustive list, but a good place to start. Just looking at the modern-day wars I see Tanzania's invasion of Uganda (forcing Adid out of power), the UN invasion of Kuwait (forcing Saddam's surrender and pushing him out of Kuwait), the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (where they still remain) as pretty successful invasions that went off without much of a hitch. Quibble if you want over whether the 1991 Kuwait war was a true victory when it left Saddam in power; but remember the strategic goals set up by the coalition force.