Best Battle in WW2

[Bunz]

Beetle, ease up buddy, plenty of people dont know about it. I know of WWII vets who didnt know much about it. It is often spoken about as being the forgotten campaign.
VYO, the best book I have read concerning the Aleutians like I said earlier is called "The Thousand Mile War"
In my town in western Alaska a few hundred miled from the main action, one can still find rusted out shore batteries that were used as further defense up the coast. They were never fired in anger.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Beetle, ease up buddy, plenty of people dont know about it. I know of WWII vets who didnt know much about it. It is often spoken about as being the forgotten campaign.
VYO, the best book I have read concerning the Aleutians like I said earlier is called "The Thousand Mile War"
In my town in western Alaska a few hundred miled from the main action, one can still find rusted out shore batteries that were used as further defense up the coast. They were never fired in anger.

The difference is that this guy prides himself on his knowlege of history and war. And he keeps reminding us of that. The problem is, he doesn't really seem to know much. I despise phoney intellectuals.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

The difference is that this guy prides himself on his knowlege of history and war. And he keeps reminding us of that. The problem is, he doesn't really seem to know much. I despise phoney intellectuals.

I refer to VYO. Just wanted to make that apparent.

 

[vyo476]

The difference is that this guy prides himself on his knowlege of history and war. And he keeps reminding us of that. The problem is, he doesn't really seem to know much. I despise phoney intellectuals.

Wow. I am sorry if I came across as pompous or if you thought I was flaunting my knowledge of history. I do enjoy reading about history and I know a few things about it; what I wrote in this thread was, at the least, an acknowledgment of something I don't know about. No one knows everything and we learn more by, amongst other things, learning from others. I was stating a desire to learn more about something I didn't know about...and you attacked me.

Once again, I apologize if I offended you.

 

[Abraxis Axis]

Call me biased, but the Aleutian campaign is a largely forgotten series of battles in the Aleutian Islands of Alaskans where the Japanese for a time occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska the only enemy held territory on North America. There is a very good book called the Thousand Mile War which details this campaign. The elements and hardship endured by the soldiers was extraordinary.

well ill give you this its one of the most Obscure battles of WW2 .......May i ask why you believe it is one of the Best battles of war? How in your opinion does it make the rate so to speak?
I am just curious of your view

 

[Bunz]

Abraxis, sure no problem, for a few reasons, and maybe best battle isnt quite fair, but my favorite, for several reasons. Firstly, the Aleutians were the only North American enemy held territory and it involved kicking the Japanese out. So as an American I found that to be a good thing. But several things happened during that battle, for instance the US was able to aquire a nearly intact Zero that crashed in some tundra and it was then studied for weaknesses. Also the hardships endured by the all parties involved were pretty extraordinary. Local Aleuts, the natives of the island areas were evacuated to southeast Alaska in what turned out to be a tragic turn of events similar to the treatment in Japanese internment camps. Though one could argue they were better off in the relative safety of southeast Alaska rather than facing a Japanese invasion, but regardless the conditions of thier internment were tragic. But also the circumstances of the distances involved, the reliance on aircraft, and it being basically in my backyard with people I know involved makes it my favorite. I would encourage anyone to read about the Alaska territorial guard, fasinating bunch they were, not many left alive now.

 

[Abraxis Axis]

cool. i will defenitly do some more reading. i do remember that the japanese did have men in alaska, but didnt really know the details.unfortunatly it isnt one of the more written about battles? thanks for the information .

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Wow. I am sorry if I came across as pompous or if you thought I was flaunting my knowledge of history. I do enjoy reading about history and I know a few things about it; what I wrote in this thread was, at the least, an acknowledgment of something I don't know about. No one knows everything and we learn more by, amongst other things, learning from others. I was stating a desire to learn more about something I didn't know about...and you attacked me.

Once again, I apologize if I offended you.

No need to apoligize. I probably shouldn't be so hard on you. And I shouldn't allow the debate on one thread to spill over on to another. Just because you feel free to challenge me on other threads doesn't give me the right to target you. However, if you want to talk history with me, be ready. The history of western civilization is sort of like a hobby with me. War is always the most prominent feature in anyone's history. I usually don't read most of the pop culture, revisionist historian distillations of other people's writing's. For people like you that have a real interest in history I think you should start with the classics. Read the stuff that modern authors refer to. Read the translations of Caesar, Xenophon, Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Clausewitz, and others. You will be firmly based and well enough versed to hold discourse with almost anyone about western history.

 

[vyo476]

No need to apoligize. I probably shouldn't be so hard on you. And I shouldn't allow the debate on one thread to spill over on to another. Just because you feel free to challenge me on other threads doesn't give me the right to target you. However, if you want to talk history with me, be ready. The history of western civilization is sort of like a hobby with me. War is always the most prominent feature in anyone's history. I usually don't read most of the pop culture, revisionist historian distillations of other people's writing's. For people like you that have a real interest in history I think you should start with the classics. Read the stuff that modern authors refer to. Read the translations of Caesar, Xenophon, Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Clausewitz, and others. You will be firmly based and well enough versed to hold discourse with almost anyone about western history.

I have a course coming up in college (either this fall or next spring) in early Western history. Of course it's just a survey class, but our school's history teacher (there's only one - the downside of art school) likes to drop hints about which texts he prefers. That should help fill in the gaps that I have on early western civs - and there are a lot of gaps.

I too am an amateur historian. I considered studying it in college (and in fact would have if I'd wound up at a different school) but decided on creative writing instead. I'm still very actively interested in history and I love to read everything I can get my hands on (within reason - two jobs and a disabled mother make my life busy).

As for revisionism...I'm not a fan of revisionist history. I like to read alternate history. The only real difference is that alternate history presents hypothetical situations as hypothetical situations, whereas revisionists tend to present hypothetical situations as "the truth." I've always been fascinated with hypotheticals...but not so much on an intellectual level as on an entertainment level. Exploring how things may have happened, according to people with more degrees than I have fingers, can be quite as exciting (or disturbing) as a good science fiction or fantasy book. While I do think that there can be some intellectual value to alternate history (ironically Orwell's 1984 and Clancy's Red Storm Rising are both considered quasi-alternate history today) I wouldn't put too much faith in the various scenarios as "what would have happened." They always are "what might have happened." Another small but important difference.

I am ready to discuss history with you. I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from you. There'll probably be friction too, but this a debate forum, after all.

I'm rather fond of Winston Churchill and I thought I'd throw a little something he said once at the end here: "Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

 

[Rick]

What exactly is meant by "best"?

 

[ChairmanMeow]

It’s kind of terrible that we can call battles “best” but I would have to say The Battle of Normandy!