Recently I had an interesting conversation about what the greatest military accomplishment by an individual was, and what the greatest accomplishment by a military unit was. I nominate Alvin York for the greatest individual accomplishment, for capturing 142 German soldiers during World War I. For the greatest unit accomplishment, I nominate the retreat from the Chosin Resevoir by the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War. I am interested in what others might think about this question.

good question. off the top of my head I would have to agree with you on SGT York. as far as units go, off the top of my head 101 airborne at Bastogne

That was also one that I considered. Both were remarkable. I also considered the invasion of Tarawa by the 2nd Marine Division, and the actions of Stephen Decataur in Libya. I'm sure there are many other possibilities. I would not limit this to U.S. military actions either.

after more thought, i have to change my personel actions to SGTs Shugart and Gordon during the OCT 3 Black Hawk Down incident. they requested to go into unwinable odds to protect a downed chopper form being over run by a horde of scumbag somalis. They were both killed and both recieved the CMH.

Naval accomplishment...
The Spanish Armada was a fleet which King Philip II of Spain used as part of an attempt to invade England in 1588. It was the largest battle of the Anglo-Spanish War, the first of several invasion attempts in the course of the war, and one of the most famous episodes in English history. The Spanish fleet was scattered by the English under Francis Drake in the battle of Gravelines and the invasion failed.

a funny personel one: a friend of mine was in vietnam. one night their base camp got mortared and they all ran to their foxholes. during the bombardment he realized he left the bottle of Jim Beam they were driniking in the hootch, so he ran through VC mortar fire to retrieve it, getting hit in the hand with shrapnel on the way back to the foxhole. the bottle as undamaged and the party continued. needless to say his buddies thought of him as a hero that night

All good answers. I would like to throw out one more contender in the personal actions. Colonel T.E. Lawrence of the British Army during World War I was dispatched to try and stir up trouble in the Turkish controlled Middle East. He enlisted many locals who hated the Turks, and wound up capturing Damascus, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. He caused the Turks no end of trouble, and his actions led to the British colonial period between the world wars. He is best known as Lawrence of Arabia.

I have to disagree i believe the one of the best is Douglas Barder
Not only was he an ace fighter pilot in World War two but he also had no legs and when captured he tried to escape without his false legs!!! He also is credited for some very good suggestions on how to make the fighter pilots life more easy.

Big Dave

Since 2003, I think the most significant battle in history has been Falluja. This area was a very dangerous territory to invade and for the soldiers there it was extremely stressful. For anybody to serve in Iraq nowadays it is very dangerous. I commend our soldiers and civilians there for being willing to serve in that volitile and deadly part of the world. I am sure the strories they could tell will fill volumes of history books someday.

I think stalingrad was a bit more significant and dangerous then fallujah. not to take anything away from our troops over there, but stalingrad turned the tide of WW2

I think one the best TECHNICAL accomplishment by the military is a toss up between Chuck Yeager flying faster than the speed of sound and the Manhatten Project.

One of the better military accomplishment, I believe, was done by General Chenault. He led the AVG group of fighter pilots in China before the U.S. got into World War II. You know them as the Flying Tigers. It's amazing because the P-40 was NOT a plane that the pilots liked initiallly. It's landing speed was 100 mph was one of the gripes,VERY fast at the time. In doing battle against the Japanese Zero, the P-40 could not out turn the Zero by any stretch of the imagination. The Zero's turn radius was half that of the P-40. Also, it was impossible to outclimb a Zero. The Zero was very lightly constructed (no armour for the pilots, no self sealing fuel tanks) and could easily outclimb the P-40. So how to fight the Zero? Well, the P-40 could do things the Zero could not. It could outDIVE the Zero and outrun it. So Chenault taught his pilots to never, never try to turn with the Zero. The Warhawk (P-40) pilots would get into position over the Japenese, who were conducting bombing raids over China at the time, dive down to shoot up the bombers and dive away when it got too hot for them to stick around. A quick zoom climb later and the P-40 drivers were back in business.

Using these tactics, the AVG group racked up kill after to kill over the Japenese.

The AVG didn't win, in the end over the Japenese. The U.S. government didn't supply spare parts and spare aircraft to the AVG squadron. But it was a brilliant chapter in aviation history.


PS. Dave it was Douglas BADER who was the ace pilot, not Barder. Also Richard Bong did a bang up job driving the P-38 Lightning against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater.

2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry taking Pegasus Bridge June 6, 1944.

i'd like to submit joshua lawrence chamberlain for best indivdual. held the end of the line at gettysburg, and held off four regiments with one regiment. for that and other actions he was given the honor of accepting the guns of the confederate army at appomattox (sp?), where he called his troops to salute the defeated confederate troops.

and in terms of the greatest military accomplishment, i would submit thermopylae.

Originally posted by Travh20
after more thought, i have to change my personel actions to SGTs Shugart and Gordon during the OCT 3 Black Hawk Down incident. they requested to go into unwinable odds to protect a downed chopper form being over run by a horde of scumbag somalis. They were both killed and both recieved the CMH.

I fail to see how you can but this forward as a great acomplishment. If they died they didnt acomplish anything.

Prize for biggest balls yes!!

No offence

Good question.

Individual accpmplishment by an individual was the masterful piece of lying and obfuscation pulled off by Ollie North under questioning, allowing him to escape unscathed after perpetrating some of the most despicable actions known to man.

Off the top of my head I would say that the greatest accomplishment by a military unit is the invasion was Granada, where President Ronald Reagan sent in our troops to rescue American medical students there who, after being questioned, had no idea whatseover that they were in any dabger from anyone...............14 U.S. military killed ; 6 missing-in-action; 39 wounded ; 30 -40 Cubans killed, 18 Grenada civilians killed. A glorious day in the annals of military conquests.

Absolute worst, most anti-human undertaking ever perpetrated by Americans; the Manhattan Project.

Operation Barras The SAS Rescue Mission Sierra Leone 2000 - As one SAS veteran put it, 'this was not a clinical, black balaclava, Princes' Gate-type operation: it was a very grubby, green operation with lots of potential for things to go wrong'...The British Army has earned a worldwide reputation for its skill at 'peacemaking', intervening in the Balkans and the Middle East to stop civil wars and end communal violence. It does this so well that the horrific risks involved are only really understood by the soldiers themselves, on patrol in strange lands riven by ancient hatreds. In September 2000 the dangers were suddenly highlighted by the capture of eleven British soldiers by a notorious militia gang in Sierra Leone. The so-called 'West Side Boys' had subjected their part of the country to a long reign of terror, murdering, kidnapping and mutilating anyone who stood in their way. Now British soldiers were at their mercy. Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, any resistance would have seen them all killed; yet their hopes of a quick exchange soon faded. They were assaulted and subjected to mock executions. Negotiations with the 'Revolutionary United Front' leaders and the 'West Side Boys' proved futile: although some of the prisoners were released, the gang's demands grew ridiculous and the danger to the rest of the hostages increased. Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the armed forces to get the men back. The SAS and elements of the Parachute Regiment were rushed to West Africa and a naval squadron assembled offshore. The stage was set for the biggest British military operation on the continent for a generation - and their most daring rescue mission ever.

Originally posted by Freethinker


Absolute worst, most anti-human undertaking ever perpetrated by Americans; the Manhattan Project.

The project itself or dropping the bomb. Without the Manhattan Project, the bomb would have existed anyway, just not by us first.

Originally posted by Lokideviluk
Operation Barras The SAS Rescue Mission Sierra Leone 2000 - As one SAS veteran put it, 'this was not a clinical, black balaclava, Princes' Gate-type operation: it was a very grubby, green operation with lots of potential for things to go wrong'...The British Army has earned a worldwide reputation for its skill at 'peacemaking', intervening in the Balkans and the Middle East to stop civil wars and end communal violence. It does this so well that the horrific risks involved are only really understood by the soldiers themselves, on patrol in strange lands riven by ancient hatreds. In September 2000 the dangers were suddenly highlighted by the capture of eleven British soldiers by a notorious militia gang in Sierra Leone. The so-called 'West Side Boys' had subjected their part of the country to a long reign of terror, murdering, kidnapping and mutilating anyone who stood in their way. Now British soldiers were at their mercy. Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, any resistance would have seen them all killed; yet their hopes of a quick exchange soon faded. They were assaulted and subjected to mock executions. Negotiations with the 'Revolutionary United Front' leaders and the 'West Side Boys' proved futile: although some of the prisoners were released, the gang's demands grew ridiculous and the danger to the rest of the hostages increased. Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the armed forces to get the men back. The SAS and elements of the Parachute Regiment were rushed to West Africa and a naval squadron assembled offshore. The stage was set for the biggest British military operation on the continent for a generation - and their most daring rescue mission ever.

ENGLAND ENGLAND ENGLAND ENGLAND ENGLAND!!! SING IT WITH ME

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