Rinnhart,Jun 18 2005, 08:45 AM Wrote:If you take away the bow and hand the Indian a Kalashinikov, the game changes, Occhi.
The Republican Guard fought well for how outclassed, numerically and technologically, they were. But the fact of the matter is, 1960's soviet tanks never had a chance against late 80's technology. Iraqi forces were out-gunned, out-ranged, and out-armored when facing Coalition forces. Shermans vs. Tigers except with far more Tigers than Shermans.
And, for good measure, toss in the complete domination of the air by the Coalition.
More on topic: I fully believe that what the region needs is a good, bloody, prolonged, horrible, outright war. Need a fricken Hitler figure to terrify everyone so much they can look at one another and say "you know, those guys really aren't so bad." A unifying enemy that's not supported by a super power, or a super power itself, would be best.
Worked for Europe (granted circumstances were a bit different with Communist Russia looking over part of the reconstruction).
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Just to give another example to add to what Occhi said. In '43 during the Battle of Kursk, near the village of Prohorovka, the largest isolated tank battle in history took place.
According to what I've been able to figure out from reading German, Russian and British sources, the approximate numbers were something like 500-600 german mostly Tigers and Panthers, against around 700-800 russian mostly T-34s. Now, at this time the T-34 were not yet upgraded to their T-34/85 status with an 85mm gun, so basically the only way they could pierce the germans was through the side and from up close, very close. So the battle should have been a slaughter, logically speaking. However, what the russians did is to move in at full speed up until from the air it was impossible to tell which is which becasue they were right in each other's faces and thereby cutting down the german advantage to a large degree. Crews would ram an enemy tank after running out of ammunition, and other similar sorts of acts. The result was a complete slaughter on both sides...instead of on one side. It ended up somewhere along the line of the germans losing something like ~ 400-500 tanks, basically close to 3 of their best armored divisions while the russian 1st (I believe it was 1st, but maybe not) Guards Tank Army ceased to exist, as a result of ~600 tanks destroyed. My point is that with the right training and desire and enough courage/fear, you can overcome many disadvantages. Iraqis do not know and have not been trained how to fight, only how to bully the weak.
-A