Thanks, Cyberken. Nice post.
There are many other such examples, of course. Regarding WWII, I believe Iwo Jima was defended by a Japanese garrison of 30,000. Intensive artillery and airstrikes with incendiary bombing softened them up but little. We incurred horrific casualties there going in and methodically killing the enemy in the myriad caves and bunkers there. But in the end, I believe less than 500 Japanese soldiers were taken alive. The bombing might have terrorized 500 and caused them to run for safety, but I suspect they were taken captive against their will while still trying to fight. And evidently, it just didn't have that effect on the other 29,500 Japanese troops there, who fought on until the bitter end. Not exactly the hallmark of a demoralized, shell-shocked, scared-witless enemy......
Regards,
Walkingshadow |
