TopHatter

But that ammo load is possible only if the small compartment in the back is used, correct? I can't seem to find really detailed information on the Merkava, although GlobalSecurity.org has some good info.

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bigross86

And it'll probably get harder know that Merkava Mk IV might get cancelled.

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Officer of Engineers

IMHO, they lacked the will to fight. When they did fight, it was with tenacity and courage (Medina Ridge, 73 Easting) even though they got steamrolled. However, they did accomplish their OPOBJ - to buy time for the Iraqi Army to escape Kuwait.

They did alot of things right in this war (and conversley, the Americans did alot of things wrong) but they lacked either the competence or the will or both to carry their initial successes through.

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TopHatter

Yes, I agree with you there. The only chance they'ed have would be as partisans in city fighting

Officer of Engineers

Look, when the Americans capture 6 out of 7 bridges when you had days to blow them up (the 7th collapsed because it couldn't support the weight of an Abrams), someone is incompetent.

TopHatter

Once again, I have to agree with you 100%.

Anon

OIF would've been a disaster if not for the Iraqi incompetence.

Thank god they are military idiots. They missed so many opportunities to bleed US forces it's almost bewildering.

axl

history is not an issue. but if you don't pack your tank with ammo, with will run into trouble. the compartment is an emergency thing only, normally not used. but in addition it allows the crew to enter the tank easier.


just try the link under my post.

regards
axl

TopHatter

Yeah, you said it. I wonder how many people in America and elsewhere even realize how disastrous OIF could have been if it would have been a different country/army opposing them

Officer of Engineers

As I stated, this was a very situational planning and a very situational war. However, given Rumsfeld's interference, I don't think Gen Franks had a choice but to count on Iraqi incompetence.

You've could tell that he took some very big risks. Risks that I don't think he would have made if he were facing another army. 3-7Cav wouldn't have made that far of advance that fast. Basra would have been destroyed, not bypassed. The 187 Bde wouldn't have dropped and sat around waiting. The LOCs would have been swept clean. And there would not have been a pause. And after walking into 5 ambushes, you think you would slow down and find out what you're doing wrong.

I was amazed that the Americans didn't repeat a tactic that was used in the Kuwait War and one which we initially thought of in VII Corps at the Fulda Gap. Drop a supply depot in FRONT of the advancing column. That way, you don't wait for your supplies to catch up to you but rather waiting for you.

TopHatter

I think Rumsfeld was banking on Fortune Favors The Bold (I'm sure I butchered a good saying) or better yet, Who Dares Wins. I think he gambled on the Iraqis being incompetent to make up for the rushed war. He gambled big and won big. The plans of Franks and others, and the training of the allied armies made up the difference. All in all, a "splendid little war". It's too bad the public will be expecting that from now on. Just wait until the DPRK decides to try it's hand at full-blown conventional warfare again. :unsure

Praxus

Excuse me?

Please explain to me how they could make "US Forces Bleed". You make it sound like we just got lucky because they are incompitent.

EXCUSE ME AGAIN?????

The DPRK has a starving Army, equipment from the 1950's, and illtrained soldiers. The South Koreans with US aircover WILL butcher them and yes BUTCHER them. The battle won't even be close, they will have to walk over dead bodies stacked 5 feet high to attack us.

Officer of Engineers

Praxus,

The Americans were lucky. Had it been a Russian motor rifle regt instead of the Medina, 3-7Cav would have been meat. At the very least, that bridge the 3-7Cav was tasked to take and hold would have been gone.

The Iraqis didn't manned their ambushes with heavy ATGMs. Hell, they didn't use heavy ATGMs at all. You think those raids into Baghdad would be so impressive then?

Baghdad airport was taken and held by a single battalion. The Iraqis threw coy and pltn attacks at it. Had it been a co-ordinated bde lvl attack, Baghdad Airport would have been re-taken. Hell, there were enough Iraqi guns within range of Baghdad airport, no one started raining steel.

Had it been any other army in Basra, they would have mounted counter-attacks to tie down the Brits and to strangle the supply lines by forcing the Brits to commit to battle and thus expend resources, resources that could not be used in the drive to Baghdad.

The Americans and the British could not have handled 100s of 1000s of EPWs. Any other army would have ordered surrenders when the strategic picture became hopeless and drain the attacking force of men and material by guarding the EPWs instead of going north.

Alot could have gone wrong. And alot did. The Iraqis were just too stupid to exploit it.

And you've gone the opposite extreme thinking we'll slaughter the NKPA. The fact is that both sides will bleed and bleed big fighting through the DMZ. That many guns and that many people up front is going to hurt you no matter how good your air cover is. I think we'll stop them at the DMZ or at Seoul and we'll stop them but the fight would be up close and personal. Yes, they're that close.

Anon

Not much to add there Colonel, except to say that the Iraqi's missed a golden opportunity in forcing the US to clear baghdad block by block, and house by house.

All those fedayeen wasted on stupid suicide attacks against US armored columns would have been MUCH better used as urban fighters.

If Franks, Schwarzkopf, Wallace, Powell or Shelton had been commanding the Iraqi forces, the US death toll would've probably been in the several thousands, or more.

Stinger

Thats what had me worried, I didn't think the Iraqi's had much of a prayer out in the open (though I thought they'd do better than they did), but I was damned worried whenever we entered urban environments. I HATE urban warefare, give me some nice trees or tall grass, or maybe even a sand dune to hide behind.

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