Sixty-five years ago today on a pleasant, sunny September day like this one (only it was a Sunday, not a Thursday) began the greatest battle of the Second World War: Operation Market Garden.
At least it’s the greatest if you’re British. Of course there were many more strategically important battles – eg Stalingrad; El Alamein; D-Day; [...]
Posts Tagged ‘afghanistan’
The lesson of Arnhem and Afghanistan: heroism is no substitute for strategy
Friday, September 18th, 2009Why are we still feeding our soldiers into the Taliban mincing machine?
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009The type of warfare all soldiers most loathe and fear is the type where you can’t shoot back. Every “Tom” relishes a firefight. It’s why he (or she) joined up. What takes its toll – as it did in Vietnam, and is now doing in Afghanistan – is the nerve-shredding anxiety of going out day [...]
Obama: when all else fails, blame Dubya and the CIA
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009Did you hear about the captured Russian gunship pilot shot down in Eighties Afghanistan? (If you’re of a squeamish disposition, I’d skip to the next par). First they gave him tea; then they gave him heroin, then they chopped his foot off, then they raped him; then, once he’d recovered from the first amputation – [...]