WW2 in Color History Forum http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/ Discussion forum dedicated to World War 2 topics. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:49:14 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg WW2 in Color History Forum http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/ Trivia http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10103&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:43:38 GMT When we previously discussed the most impressive Sergeant-Majors, wee for got a coupel:Bill Fraser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEydu...eature=related

William Hartnell

http://video.google.co.uk/videosearc...70502024488970 ]]> Off Topic 32Bravo http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10103 Ration crate stencils? http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10102&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:47:11 GMT Anyone have a K,C,D or ANY type of stencil they can make me a copy of? 10 in 1, 5 in 1 ration crate stencils are fine or ammo or grenade etc. I gotta "roll" my own as I am VERY tight with putting my 1943 Willys back together!

Semper FI!

Vince (973)580-7011:confused: ]]> American Military gpwgyrene http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10102 Tukhachevsky affair http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10099&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:02:26 GMT ---Quote--- The participation of the German Secret Service in the Tukhachevsky affair, particularly the extent of such participation, is still being disputed. An unsigned study appearing in the periodical Die Gegenwart, Vol. 13, arrived at the following carefully balanced conclusion which for the...
Quote:
The participation of the German Secret Service in the Tukhachevsky affair, particularly the extent of such participation, is still being disputed. An unsigned study appearing in the periodical Die Gegenwart, Vol. 13, arrived at the following carefully balanced conclusion which for the time being must no doubt remain the last word on this affair:

'The probability approaching certainty is that the Tukhachevsky affair was not engineered by the leaders of the Third Reich. On the other hand it can be assumed with the same degree of probability approaching certainty that the rulers of the Third Reich had a finger in the Tukhachevsky affair. It is extremely probable that they sought to contribute to the downfall of Marshal Tukhachevsky. It is almost established fact that they boasted of this. It is possible that Heydrich and his accomplices were the passive and unconscious tools of Stalin.'
I found this as a note, while reading about another subject.

Is there anybody here who can give a short summary of the Tukhachevsky affair and its implications? ]]> Russian Military snebold http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10099 CoD:Modern warfare2-back to the cold war future:) http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10098&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:36:36 GMT Just yerstarday i'got the pirate copy of that brilliant game.
I/m in shock guyes:)
The gameplay is a fine , as always for CoD series , but the ..story is ... a really race-hate. I've did never feel such a strong will to ..drop the a-bomb on the Washington before:)
See the plot
Quote:
Modern Warfare 2 ....., the Ultranationalists seize control of Russia and declare Zakhaev a hero and martyr. Meanwhile, Vladimir Makarov, one of Zakhaev's former lieutenants, begins a campaign against Europe by committing numerous acts of terrorism.
The russian nationalistic organisation declared the( guss who?) ...Chechen mafiosi who murdered the russians of "its russian leader":D ;) :mrgreen:

the Russian maniacs start the series of terrosistic attack all over the world , including ..the mass slaughter in major Russian aurport.
After that the ....russian "social oppinoin" ;) blame the ..( guess who again?)..the USA.
And Russia start the..... Invasion to America:mrgreen: for ..retribution:)(Why not to use the hydrogen SBM for that holy aim ?)
Ah no , the ONLY invasion, it so familiar to russians.
After that the brave (becouse immortal :))american raingers repel the invasion of hords of russian paratrupers over ..Texas or something else:)
I've passed only couple of missions last night but that's more then enough..
What is interesting, the inner oppinion blame the foreign state in inner terroristic attack (see the analogy with 9'11?)
The new Russian Al-Kaeda2 is ready for your purposes, gentlements..
Sure it just a game for fun , but though... ]]> WWII Games Chevan http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10098 Mussolini.Diaries http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10093&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:07:38 GMT Leave it to the Herman Meister to bring you this hot news....I can't wait to read the book. It sounds GREAT!

From Toronto Sun newspaper today...
ROME -- Benito Mussolini was a fierce anti-Semite, who proudly said that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and vowed to "destroy them all," according to previously unpublished diaries by the Fascist dictator's longtime mistress.

According to the diaries, Mussolini also talked about the warm reception he received from Hitler at the 1938 Munich conference -- he called the German leader a "big softy, deep down" -- and attacked Pope Pius XI for his criticism of Nazism and Fascism.

On a more intimate note, Mussolini was explicit about his sexual appetites for his mistress and said he regretted having affairs with several other women.

The diaries kept by Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938 are the subject of a book coming out this week entitled Secret Mussolini. Excerpts were published yesterday by Italy's daily Corriere della Sera.

Historians said the diaries appeared to be convincing and reinforced the image that Mussolini was strongly anti-Semitic.

Many of the excerpts that were published date to 1938, when Mussolini's Fascist regime passed the racial laws.

"I have been a racist since 1921. I don't know how they can think I'm imitating Hitler," Mussolini is quoted as boasting in August 1938. "We must give Italians a sense of race."

Mussolini and Petacci were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945. ]]> General WWII Discussion herman2 http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10093 “The Airmen and the Headhunters” http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10092&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:28:22 GMT “The Airmen and the Headhunters” I watched this on TV and thought it was interesting.It is viewable also online at the link.Its a documentary about an American aircrew shot down over Borneo and protected from the Japanese by the Dayak tribe,who were headhunters.A group of British commandos are... “The Airmen and the Headhunters” I watched this on TV and thought it was interesting.It is viewable also online at the link.Its a documentary about an American aircrew shot down over Borneo and protected from the Japanese by the Dayak tribe,who were headhunters.A group of British commandos are dropped in to setup guerrilla operations with the Dayak's.One veteran of the aircrew and two veterans of the commandos share their story.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/epis...l-episode/499/ ]]> rudeerude http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10092 <![CDATA[Cradle of Noble Heroes: The Philippine Army's Role in World War II]]> http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10089&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:32:24 GMT Took the title from the English lyrics of the Philippine National Anthem (source).

I hope no one minds my saying this, but honestly I am shocked and appalled that we don't yet have a section here devoted to Filipino veterans and their heroism during WWII.

Worse yet, not a lot of Allied WWII veterans both online and offline seem to acknowledge their presence at all. And, of course, there's that long-overdue stimulus finally being given right when there are less than 20,000 Filipino veterans on both sides of the Pacific who are actually alive. I am particularly angry at this because while this gives provisions - meager provisions, considering what my forebears did! - to the surviving veterans, the stimulus doesn't provide for the widows, who continue to bear the injustice wrought upon them after the Rescission Act of 1946 was passed by the US Congress, when in fact many able-bodied Filipinos were asked, even forced, to join in the war effort by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 at a time when the Philippines was under the US Commonwealth. Please don't be mistaken; I'm not ungrateful or rabidly anti-American. It's just that if you take a good, critical look at it, the US government could still do much better because this is a classic case of "too little, too late."

I know there are parties out there who may want to share their stories and photos. There are so few actual veterans left (for starters, my grandfathers - who were both directly involved in WWII - died very early in my life, and were unable to share what really happened to them), and I would like Filipinos all over the world to know our story. So please, by all means, share your memories here. ]]> Other Military Units Ligaya Diwata http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10089 Welcome to britain-British documentary film http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10086&goto=newpost Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:40 GMT Hello all,

its lovely to be a member I am wanting to ask if it is possible to ask questions on here regarding the the public information film "Welcome to Britain" (oversexed,over paid, over here DVD).

I am a British mature university student and researching this film as part of a project.

I wish to ask regarding anyone having any thoughts on how this film (and other documentary films at this time) were received within britain and the USA? Did the Amercian soldiers within Britain ever get to see these films before or after coming to the Britain, if they did what were their views on this film, did it explain the british way of life to them?

How it this film (and others) now remembered or regarded?

Any thoughts on this film (or the documentary movement) whether your own views or any relative would be appreciated.

I thank you for any comments,

Kind regards

Gillian (Yorkshire, UK)
Edit/Delete Message ]]> Gillian http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10086 german photo album war war 2 http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10080&goto=newpost Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:05:02 GMT hi everyone. I have a German war war 2 photo album, I think my uncle got it during the war in Europe. I like to sell it. please let me know how to go about this. thanks hi everyone.

I have a German war war 2 photo album, I think my uncle got it during the war in Europe. I like to sell it. please let me know how to go about this.
thanks ]]> Photo Research gjgmusic http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10080 U.S. Pistol M1911A1 .45cal ACP http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10076&goto=newpost Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:51:28 GMT Heya, all! Everyone is familar with the U. S. standard issue sidearm of WWII and after, the M1911A1. Originally adopted in 1911 as the M1911, improvements led to the M1911A1 in 1924, with over 2.7 million of them procured for American military service until their replacement in 1985. But how... Heya, all!

Everyone is familar with the U. S. standard issue sidearm of WWII and after, the M1911A1. Originally adopted in 1911 as the M1911, improvements led to the M1911A1 in 1924, with over 2.7 million of them procured for American military service until their replacement in 1985.

But how about the non-typical M1911's?

There is the M1911 modified for Air Service (US Army Air Service) during WWI. Fed from a extended 25 round magazine, and equiped with a mesh cage to catch ejected casings.



There was also a production simplified pistol, in .45 ACP, using M1911 components and made out of stamped steel.



How about a stocked, selective fire version? The Germans had their Artillery Luger, and the British had a "longer ranged" stocked version of the Browning, but how about the U. S.? All I've found was this video... I don't remember where I originally found the link (d'oh!) but do recall that it was mentioned that a limited number of these were "officially" produced for possible issue as aircrew defensive weapons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXh3nRd1K8U

Post what you know!

Russ
Proud son of Rose and Wes ]]> American Military malarz_russ@hotmail.com http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10076 Photo of Sepp Dietrich with his SS Honor Ring http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10075&goto=newpost Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:40:27 GMT Hi; I am trying to find photos that show Sepp Dietrich wearing his SS Honor Ring. Thanks to anyone who can direct me to a source such as a book or a site where I can acquire decent resolution images of him and the ring it would be greatly appreciated. I have attached the 3 low resolution images... Hi;
I am trying to find photos that show Sepp Dietrich wearing his SS Honor Ring. Thanks to anyone who can direct me to a source such as a book or a site where I can acquire decent resolution images of him and the ring it would be greatly appreciated. I have attached the 3 low resolution images I have found so far. Images 1 and 2 look like the ring, image #3 shows him wearing it on the wrong hand, Heydrich did this too, I wonder if Sepp also at times wore it on his right hand.

Lastly, does anyone know that date he was awarded the SS Honor Ring? I can't find any reliable info on the date although I suspect it was 20.4.40, please advise of your source for the information as I'd like to know its level of accuracy.

Cheers;
Russ
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Sepp 1.jpg (118.8 KB)
File Type: jpg Sepp 3.jpg (225.7 KB)
File Type: jpg Sepp 2 v2.jpg (223.7 KB)
]]> Photo Research Russ http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10075 Now and Then Pictures merged http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10073&goto=newpost Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:13:59 GMT Here is some of my work of Now and Then pictures.I decided to show how the pictures look before I have merged them together.I will post more as I am always on the look out for these pictures. Here is some of my work of Now and Then pictures.I decided to show how the pictures look before I have merged them together.I will post more as I am always on the look out for these pictures. ]]> General WWII Discussion rudeerude http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10073 Newly Restored Iwo Jima and Okinawa Footage http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10072&goto=newpost Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:38:49 GMT The first link is a trailer for the History Channel: http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/world-war-ii-in-hd-hd-cinema-spot/5dzcst0u http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/world-war-ii-in-hd-okinawa/5dtwagtr?from=sharepermalink ... The first link is a trailer for the History Channel:

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...-spot/5dzcst0u

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...sharepermalink

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...sharepermalink ]]> American Military Nickdfresh http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10072 Alternate-Universe Sci-Fi Channel Show Asks What Would Happen If Germany Lost War http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10064&goto=newpost Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:45:39 GMT Alternate-Universe Sci-Fi Channel Show Asks What Would Happen If Germany Lost War

November 9, 2009 | Issue 45•46


NEW MUNICH—The new Sci-Fi Channel series Fallen Axis, which eerily depicts a world in which Germany actually lost the Second World War, premiered Tuesday evening to high ratings in an alternate universe to our own.

The Aryan Broadcasting Company is the Sci-Fi Channel's parent network.

The much-anticipated television event is said to be the most ambitious ever produced by the science-fiction-themed network, which is a subsidiary of the Aryan Broadcasting Company. According to the early response, audiences in the alternate realm have been riveted by the show's vision of an inverted existence wherein a defeated Germany has been completely neutered by the Allied powers.

"Imagine, if you will, a world in which Hitler's glorious master plan had instead ended in ignominious failure, and the Allies had somehow emerged the victors," the show's creator, Leonhardt Riefenstahl, said during an appearance on Entertainment Heute Nacht. "It would be as if everything we know to be true—the fall of Russia, the invasion and surrender of the American continents, Heinrich Braun-Hitler's consolidation of the various conquered states in 1973—had never even happened."

Added Riefenstahl, "I think viewers all across the great worldwide National Socialist Empire are going to be terrified by the upside-down world we've created."

Critics residing in the alternate realm have also responded positively to the show: Many praised its scarily realistic depiction of a postwar Russian-American union rising to economic dominance and superpower status with the help of gloating French and English allies.

A father relaxes with wife and son after a long day of building panzerkampfwagens.

"Not only is Fallen Axis a chilling, what-if story of a world gone mad, it also asks a number of important questions about what Germany's victory meant, and why its sacred mission was so critical to the fatherland and all of humankind," said Hans von Winterstein, TV critic for the Deutsche-American Zeitung. "And Rolf Staal's performance as former cowboy actor Henry Fonda II, the monstrous American president who attempts to spread his country's insidious political and economic liberalism across the globe, will horrify even the most stoic among us."

Producers said depicting the fictional, non-German-controlled America cost upwards of 40 million reichsmarks per episode, with much of the budget going toward recreating the cities of Washington, D.C. and New York exactly as they would have appeared before the famous tide-turning Luftwaffe strike of 1951. In addition, test audiences reported being impressed by the show's painstaking portrayal of a topsy-turvy 2009 in which American big-band music plays on every radio, Mickey Mouse spouts pro-Semitic propaganda from every cinema screen, and dilution of the supreme race runs rampant.

The show is considered by many to be another boon to the Sci-Fi Channel's fall schedule, which also includes Battlestar Gleichschaltung, a weekly drama about a starship crew that enforces the total coordination of intergalactic society and commerce, and the hit reality series Jew Hunters, in which a team of paranormal investigators scour banks and former Polish ghettos in search of Jewish spirits.

No less an authority than the National Socialist Empire's reichsminister of propaganda Helmut Goebbels expressed his admiration for Fallen Axis in a formal address yesterday from the Reichstag.

"The Führer and myself are enormously pleased with this provocative new program," Goebbels said. "It shows you how close Germany might have been to losing the war had Nazi scientists not perfected the vortex gun just in time, and it is a reaffirmation of the values of self-sacrifice and racial purity that Germany's magnificent victory championed."

Added Goebbels, "However, I must strongly warn the show's creators that it would be extremely unwise of them not to include a five-minute tribute to the Führer at the beginning of all future episodes."

TheOnion.com

:evil: :lol: ]]> General WWII Discussion Nickdfresh http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10064 The Surprising Lessons of Vietnam http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10060&goto=newpost Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:53:45 GMT *The Surprising Lessons of Vietnam Unraveling the mysteries of Vietnam may prevent us from repeating its mistakes.* By Evan Thomas and John Barry | NEWSWEEK (http://www.newsweek.com/id/221632) Published Nov 7, 2009 From the magazine issue dated Nov 16, 2009 Stanley Karnow is the... The Surprising Lessons of Vietnam
Unraveling the mysteries of Vietnam may prevent us from repeating its mistakes.

By Evan Thomas and John Barry | NEWSWEEK

Published Nov 7, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Nov 16, 2009

Stanley Karnow is the author of Vietnam: A History, generally regarded as the standard popular account of the Vietnam War. This past summer, Karnow, 84, picked up the phone to hear the voice of an old friend, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. The two men had first met when Holbrooke was a young Foreign Service officer in Vietnam in the mid-1960s and Karnow was a reporter covering the war. Holbrooke, who is now the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was calling from Kabul. The two friends chatted for a while, then Holbrooke said, "Let me pass you to General McChrystal." Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, came on the line. His question was simple but pregnant: "Is there anything we learned in Vietnam that we can apply to Afghanistan?" Karnow's reply was just as simple: "The main thing I learned is that we never should have been there in the first place."

Words of wisdom, but not all that useful to General McChrystal. Like it or not, he is already in Afghanistan, along with roughly 68,000 American and 35,000 European troops. McChrystal has been charged by President Obama with presenting a strategy for victory, generally defined as standing up the Afghan Army to beat back the Taliban and deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda. An avid reader of history, McChrystal has read Karnow's book, but he has also read many others. One that he has read—and reread—is a 1999 book called A Better War, written by Lewis Sorley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Sorley argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the United States could have won in Vietnam—if only the U.S. Congress hadn't cut off military aid to South Vietnam.

Not surprisingly, the Sorley book is getting a lot of attention at the upper levels of the Pentagon and at McChrystal's headquarters in Kabul. Told that NEWSWEEK was looking into the parallels between the Sorley book and General McChrystal's situation in Afghanistan, a senior Marine general exclaimed, "You're on to something there!" (Like other senior military officials contacted by NEWSWEEK, the general declined to be quoted praising a book that argues, though not in so many words, that the military was stabbed in the back by its civilian leaders.)

As he decides how to respond to McChrystal's request for at least another 40,000 troops, President Obama has been reading some books, too. One that has caught the attention of some top advisers is Lessons in Disaster, by Gordon Goldstein, recounting how Presidents Kennedy and Johnson were not well advised on Vietnam. The very title of Goldstein's book captures the conventional wisdom (at least at the center and left of the political spectrum) that Vietnam was a hopeless, unwinnable war.

But was it? The lessons of Vietnam are not necessarily the ones we glibly assume—chief among them that Afghanistan, like Vietnam, is a quagmire, and that achieving some sort of victory is out of reach. Vietnam has become code for American hubris and inevitable military defeat. "What ifs" are always a risky exercise, but some good historians have suggested that there were two moments when victory—or at least a semblance of victory—was possible in America's long war in Southeast Asia. The first came early, in 1965. Had Lyndon Johnson moved aggressively into Vietnam then—taking the war to the enemy and cutting off its supply routes into South Vietnam—the North Vietnamese might have backed off. The second fell five years later, when the military was finally having success with a new counterinsurgency strategy. Would more resources and more fighting later in the war have resulted in South Vietnam remaining independent of the communist North, leaving Vietnam divided in the manner of Korea? Some historians now say yes; many others still say no.

What makes the conversation about Sorley's thesis especially interesting now, of course, is, as McChrystal asked Karnow, whether there is anything to be learned from Vietnam that would illuminate the way forward in Afghanistan. To be clear: there is no precise parallel to draw between Vietnam and Afghanistan. Every war is different. But the revisionists' view of Vietnam does shed some light on the issues facing Obama about war leadership. The most surprising guidance Vietnam may have to offer is not that wars of this kind are unwinnable—which is clearly the common wisdom in America—but that they can produce victories if presidents resist the temptation to fight wars halfway or on the cheap. As President Eisenhower liked to say, if you fight, "you must fight to win."

With their natural tendency to wage the last war, armies learn slowly. In World War II, American armed forces fought badly in Africa in 1942–43 and not so well in Italy in 1943–44 before getting it right in France and Germany in 1944–45. In Vietnam in 1965–67, the Americans pursued a misbegotten strategy of "search and destroy," trying to fight an unconventional war with conventional forces that focused on "body counts" while the North Vietnamese more shrewdly infiltrated into towns and villages. Not until Gen. Creighton Abrams replaced Gen. William Westmoreland as U.S. commander in 1968 did the Americans smarten up and begin to fight a true counterinsurgency, focusing on protecting the population by a strategy of "clear and hold." Instead of shoving aside the South Vietnamese Army, Abrams built up the local forces until they could stand and fight largely on their own—as they did in 1972, repulsing North Vietnam's Easter Offensive with the aid of American airstrikes.

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Vietnam Orphans: Legacy of Horror

11/27/07: Photographer Justin Mott documents the lives of children alleged to be third-generation victims of Agent Orange.

But by then, as Sorley laments in A Better War, it was too late. American public opinion had turned. In 1973, President Nixon and the North Vietnamese signed a peace treaty that allowed Hanoi to keep 150,000 troops in South Vietnam, just waiting on orders to march. In 1974, breaking Nixon's promises of continued support to Saigon, the U.S. Congress cut off all aid to South Vietnam. Without logistical support or air cover, the South Vietnamese Army collapsed in 1975 and the communists swept into Saigon. Sorley quotes one of General Abrams's closest colleagues, Gen. Bruce Palmer, as saying that Abrams "died [of cancer in 1974] feeling that we could have won the war. He felt we were on top of it in 1971, then lost our way." Ellsworth Bunker, the U.S. ambassador to Saigon who worked with Abrams to turn the war around, felt the same: "We eventually defeated ourselves," Bunker said.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, American forces have also been slow learners. Ever since the Civil War, the American way of war was to overwhelm the enemy with superior firepower. Against the better-led but materially weaker Confederate Army, a war of attrition finally brought results for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant—who had been made commander by President Lincoln only after much trial and error by the Union Army. In Iraq, the learning curve again stretched out for years. After Vietnam, the Army adopted an approach known as the Powell doctrine that called for overwhelming force and a quick exit strategy. Forgotten was how to fight a counterinsurgency. At the outset of the Iraq War, U.S. forces overwhelmed the pitiful Iraqi Army—but then got bogged down in a guerrilla struggle. At last realizing the futility of superior "kinetics"—roughly speaking, putting a lot of metal in the air—American forces belatedly adopted a counterinsurgency strategy. Using a new field manual—FM 3-24, written under the supervision of Gen. David Petraeus—U.S. forces began to focus on protecting civilians while ruthlessly targeting jihadist leaders. The so-called surge, along with a vigorous effort to negotiate with Sunni enemies and bring them over to our side, worked. It bought the shaky Iraqi government breathing room to establish itself in relative peace. Still marred by violence, Iraq is nowhere near the all-out civil war that had long been predicted.

Now, in Afghanistan, McChrystal is implementing a strategy that draws on the lessons of Iraq—and looks an awful lot like the "pacification" program adopted by General Abrams in Vietnam in 1968. By ratcheting back the heavy use (and overuse) of firepower, McChrystal has reduced civilian casualties, which alienate the locals and breed more jihadists. At the same time, U.S. Special Operations Forces use the intelligence gleaned from friendly civilians to find and kill Taliban leaders. That is precisely what the Phoenix Program was designed to do 40 years ago in Vietnam: target and assassinate Viet Cong leaders. McChrystal is focusing on recruiting and training Afghan Army and police so they can take over the job of securing Afghanistan as soon as possible. "Afghanization" of the war is much the same as "Vietnamization," the strategy adopted—successfully, Sorley argues—before Congress voted an end to aid to the South.

Cont'd ]]> Off Topic - Militaria Nickdfresh http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10060