Posted on 04/14/2002 8:15:14 AM PDT by Democrats are liars
These first moves are necessity to the current and future security and safety of Israel. Arafat and the Palis will never halt all aggressions against the Israeli people. The Arab/Muslim world, wants the total destruction of Israel. PM Sharon has no alternative.Israel is finally recognizing that this war is a permanent fact of life. A Wall is the only Way.
Mr. Sharon please start building the wall ASAP for your country's own good as well as the rest of the world's. Good fences make good neighbors.
That's exactly what we need between America and Mexico!
And for all the leftist pansies that want to draw a parallel between a Mexican border barrier and the Berlin Wall, try to understand the difference between keeping people in and keeping people out. When you keep people in your property, it's called "prison." When you keep people out of your property, it's called "home."
Instead the Germans got through the forts very fast, and then did meet the French in Belgian as the French had planned. But the bulk of their armor went through the rough Ardennes forest and came out at the Meuse river at Sedan, between the Maginot line on the south, and the advancing French left wing in Belgian on the north. They broke through the river defenses quickly, the real coup de main involved in the whole campaign. Then they cut behind the French left wing (not behind the Maginot line).
The British, who were part of the French left wing force, counterattacked to seal the hole in the line but were defeated, primarily due to their primitive armor doctrine at the time (tanks sent ahead alone, instead of with support of all arms). Many suppose there was some technical superiority on the part of the Germans to make this possible - better tanks. Not so, the British tanks involved in this attempt were far superior to anything the Germans had. But they did not know how to use them, while the Germans did - that was the real discrepancy in 1940.
The advance of the French left into Belgian thus wound up stepping into a giant trap. They were cut off and could not be supplied. The German army then pressed them, basically ignoring the half of their army in the south (in Maginot line territory, and reserves around Paris). Many of them, including the bulk of the British force, were successfully evacuated at Dunkirk, but "wars are not won by evacuations", as Churchill said at the time.
The German victory was due to fighting smarter. Especially the intellectual contributions of three men - Manstein, who as a staff officer designed the overall operational plan including the thrust through the Ardennes; Guderian, who largely designed the German armor doctrine and panzer division formations, and Rommel, who commanded the division that executed the coup de main at the Meuse river, leading from the front, and so got the main effort into the French rear. He also stopped the British counterattack. Compared to the performance they exhibited, Allied military decision making was clumsy indeed.
But it wasn't due to the Maginot line or any false faith placed in it by the French high command. They expected the war to be decided by a mobile battle north of the area covered by the line, and it was. Just not as far north as they had expected, and a heck of a lot faster than they were prepared for.
Of course, there were other general intangibles present as well. French army morale was not high, and demoralization spread rapidly after the initial German success. Their army fought poorly even in the relatively even engagements that took place in the north early on. The French high command was indecisive, expecting at best a dreary repeat of the near fatal trial of WW I. It was nearly paralyzed after the breakthrough, with only a few field officers still showing any appreciable energy (De Gaulle was notable among them).
But fundamentally, they were simply "outplayed", in the intellectual duel between the rival commanders. Their armor doctrine was poor compared to what Guderian had come up with, and it proved disasterous both in failing to stop the German breakthrough and in the failure of the Allied counterattacks to close the hole in the line. The Allied operational plan was predictable and had a much larger downside if wrong (as events showed) than upside if right, about the location of the German main effort. Manstein at the staff plannng level got inside their head and simply outsmarted them. The commanders at the scene of the decisive action at Sedan showed little initiative when Rommel got across the river, and little understanding of what the attempted counterattack required, while Rommel saw to everything personally and made the one happen and the other fail.
The moral of the story is the importance of well trained and intelligent officers, given room to run (which incidentally the German commanders lost later in the war, to high command interference), not the uselessness of fortifications. I suspect Sharon understands this point, considering his own role leading front line armor in some of Israel's past victories. Just some historical reflections, which I hope are at least moderately interesting, even if a bit off topic for the thread.
Naaahh. The U.S. will let millions of them in.
Brilliant!
This is clear and rational proclamation coming from "The Corpulent one" should have been foreseen.
These excellent structures might be built just like those at Auschwitz, Buchanwald, and the others......perhaps ovens should be included as the "pieces de resistance"?
Do you have any idea how insulting you sound?
Israel needs a very thick and tall wall ---they should allow no Muslims on the Israeli side, not for schools, hospitals or anything. Let the Palestinians build their own --after all ---they want their own state.
Now that's just silly
uh.... that's what I was going to say. LOL
Seriously, thanks for the info. I must claim my lack of total knowledge on this particular subject. Out of curiousity, may I ask how you are so knowledgable on the subject?
Thanks!
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