Iwo Jima Ronson
Posted on 08/01/2006 6:18:07 AM PDT by Dark Skies
Recent dueling essays on The American Thinker have debated whether Israel is following the tactics of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at the expense of Gen. George S. Patton’s methods. James Lewis argued that indeed the IDF’s approach was more Monty than Patton whereas Glen Tschirgi countered that Israel would be better advised to choose a lesser Patton over the “full Monty.”
Unfortunately, though both writers make impressive arguments, the appropriate analogy is not found in the Europe Theater of Operations during World War II but rather the Pacific. Hezbollah’s predicament comes closer to the Japanese forces at Iwo Jima than the German Army in Normandy and Western Europe. And as such, Israel’s strategy in part calls for trapping the Hezbollah terrorist forces in their entrenched, fortified positions where Israel will cut them off from re-supply and then tear apart piece-by-piece.
The formerly Hezbollah-controlled, fortified hilltop Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of intense fighting between Hezbollah terrorist-guerrillas and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF claims Maroun al-Ras is under its control, though accounts of subduing nearby Bint Jbeil proved premature. Apparently, hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil were holed up in fortified bunkers, and have reentered the town via an elaborate series of interconnected tunnels, or hid amongst the few remaining civilians in the initial days of fighting.
The pro-Iranian, Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization has turned a number of southern Lebanese hillsides and towns into fortified death-traps. It has spent the better part of the past six years since the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon turning several hilltop towns into an Iwo Jima-like maze of fortified bunkers, spider holes, pill-boxes, sniper dens, fields of anti-tank mines and IEDs, and interconnected tunnels.
An Israeli Army commander, Siman Tov said Hezbollah guerrillas in Maroun al-Ras were
“fighting from tunnels, some equipped with above-ground cameras. They are armed with … sophisticated weapons … including longer-range antitank missiles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. ‘Here we’re dealing with missiles, a little army.’”
Hezbollah’s strategy appears geared for a massive Israeli armor and infantry incursion up to and perhaps beyond the Litani River.
Hezbollah was counting on a twofold IDF tactic of digging out the entrenched fighters in a costly war of attrition while also moving rapidly into Lebanon, leaving its lines of communications vulnerable to guerrilla ambushes in the rear. The Israelis thus far have not taken the bait.
Hezbollah apparently banked on Israel falling for a “rope-the-dope” strategy. Instead, it is Hezbollah that is trapped, like the Japanese Imperial Army on Iwo Jima, in a delusion of its own making.
Although the initial Israeli incursions into Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon have been cautious, painfully slow, and unfortunately costly, a deeper analysis reveals that this is the IDF’s plan unfolding. One observant writer has noted that the Israeli strategy is more Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and less Gen. George S. Patton. Some inside and outside of Israel question this strategy; critics contend that the IDF risks losing the initiative while simultaneously and unwittingly boosting Hezbollah’s fighting-prowess image in the Arab world. The Washington Post reports
“Israeli news outlets, which had largely lined up behind the army’s conduct of the war, have begun to ask why an army that once defeated the armies of several Arab neighbors in six days was finding it so difficult to push one militia off Israel’s border.”
Indeed, the first week of the IDF’s limited ground offensive delivered what appeared to be mixed results.
A total of five elite commandos were killed when Hezbollah “ambushed the ambushers” in the first two Israeli ground operations. Since then and as of this writing, several Israeli-manufactured Merkava tanks have been heavily damaged, one completely destroyed with the loss of its four-man crew. Two Apache helicopters have collided, killing a pilot and hurting three others. A third, an Apache Longbow, crashed, killing both pilots. Nine Israel soldiers were killed in fighting on Wednesday, July 26, bringing the total to 33 Israeli soldiers killed in the past two weeks. Even more troubling is the fact that Israel has suffered these losses even though it had barely entered Lebanon, its deepest penetration thus far being no more than three miles. The current incursion into, underway as this article goes to press may well produce more casualties.
Many fear that Israel’s difficulties in the current fighting signal a sea-change in the IDF’s fortunes. These drawbacks might give credence to Hezbollah’s charge that IDF military supremacy is a myth. The critics and doom-and-gloom pessimists ought to take a deep breath and appreciate the Israeli strategy.
It is Hezbollah that has been outsmarted here, though uninformed, mainstream reporting of the initial results obscure this fact. For in banking on a massive Israeli offensive, Hezbollah apparently posted a sizeable force in the Lebanese border towns that are being picked apart one by one by the IDF. Already there are IDF reports of as many as 230 Hezbollah terrorists killed in Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil. The Bint Jbeil meat-grinder, where Hezbollah appeared determined to make an ill-advised last stand, has done its work.
The IDF and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have destroyed an estimated 1,300 Hezbollah missiles that range from the Katyushas to Farj-3s, Farj5s, and Zelzal-2s. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has expended an estimated 2,000 missiles and has little to show for it. Israeli military officials report soldiers have found and destroyed Katyusha rocket launchers, antitank missile launchers and large caches of ammunition. Few launchers are reported available. Like the Japanese at Iwo Jima, Hezbollah has stored enormous quantities of ammunition in the Lebanese border towns, perhaps planning to wage a hit-and-run guerrilla war on Israel’s supply convoys as the IDF repeats the 1982 invasion. But Israel’s been there, done that, and she is not going to make the same mistake twice. “‘This battle against Hezbollah is going to last,’ Avi Dichter, Israel’s public security minister” informed reporters. “‘We’re not in any hurry.’”
Over whatever time remains before the conflict is forced to end, the IDF will take apart the Hezbollah terrorist-guerrillas that made the ultimate error of remaining in fixed positions. It is Hezbollah that is stoked in the passions and delusions of over-confidence. If Hezbollah takes comfort from fighting in fixed positions, they need only brush up on Napoleon, who said “the army that remains in its forts is beaten.” Or perhaps read up on how General Kuribayashi Tadamichi’s Japanese force of 21,000 at Iwo Jima was reduced by the United States Marines to just over 120 POWs (an additional 900 wounded were captured).
IDF Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, commander of the Galilee Division, summed up Israel’s piecemeal, probing strikes:
“When you fight a regular army, it’s different from fighting guerrillas. They are using everything they have extensively. They have been preparing for this for many years, and we are taking action to dismantle all of that. The government has given me plenty of time, and I intend to use it as long as it takes.”
Israel’s government called up an additional 30,000 reservists, and is heading into Lebanon right now. Israel will chip away, using her superior firepower, soldiers, and leadership to render Hezbollah a defeated Islamist terrorist group.
Quietly, confidently, and assured that they are both fighting for their homeland and backed by more than eighty percent of the Israeli public, the Israeli citizen-soldier will win the day.
Good analysis, accurate I hope.
Also hope the hezzies aren't signing onto Free Republic to update their war strategies.
According to whom? Certainly you are putting any weight behind the reporting of the liberal anti Israel, pro terrorist media, are you?
Keep in mind these are the same clowns that had us "hopelessly bogged down" and in a "quagmire" in both the Afghanistan war to oust the Taliban and again on the march into Baghdad in 2003.
The lamestream media is involved in a massive circle jerk in which they all print stories that will lead to their hoped for outcome to this latest battle between Israel and the terrorists.
If they are, they are probably too late on this. If the article is correct, and I believe it is, Hebullah is already screwed way more than they realize. Time to bring in the flame throwers and torch the tunnels.
I have far more faith in Israel than I do the American and Western presses reporting of it... that is for certain.
Hezzbollah doesn't even have the Arabs on their side in this war... Across the Arab world governments are backing Israel because they know that Hezzboluh is nothing more than a surrogat for a Iran.. a Persian state that wishes to dominate the region.
The dynamic of this war is far different than what is being portrayed on the nightly news.. or even in the newspapers. Israel is free to fight its war, and no doubt will continue to shred these animals.
The worst thing that could happen would be for this conflict to end prematurely.
Seems to me alot of folks did not think we were making any progress in Afghanistan and then one day the Taliban just crumbled.
The IDF is well-aware, much more acutely than you or I, that it is in a fight for its very existence. Let's let the story unfold for more than a couple of weeks before we make bold pronouncements.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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It was a joke.
I can only speak from my personal experience in Vietnam where I served as a lowly field medic.
But whenever the N.V.A. or Viet-Cong stayed in their tunnels and pillboxes to fight...they died.
My guess is that there will be a lot (LOT) of dead terrorists soon.
redrock
This is why you can't listen to the ravings of people like Savage and a few other arm chair TV ex USA generals who say that Israel has lost its nerve, and that USA is incapable of fighting terrorists.
It made no sense to me for Israel to launch head long into that areaa without fully understanding the strength and capabilities of the enemey.
I think the more destruction on Hezbollah by Israel the more likely will be the call for cease fire...
I give this three more weeks and Hez will fold like a house of cards...
If Syria jumps into the mix they're going to be wacked...
"Good analysis - hope it is true - right now it appears that the Israelis are not making much progress..."
That's because we are getting information from news networks that has its reporters where the action isn't. Showing me dead Hizzy kids and katyusha strikes isn't the action. Israel is systematically killing Hezbollah. They pinned them with air strikes, leveled the battlefield which Hezbollah had six years to prepare and now are going town to town killing whatever comes out of the tunnels.
When this phase is ramped up, the bunker busters should be on station to finish the hezzies off.
I suspect that will occur in this new "to the Latani" phase.
I hope this is correct, is sounds like it, and as long as they continue to have the time I think it will work.
Iwo Jima is the better analogy. The first thing the Israelis have to do is destroy the Hezbolla high value targets. This means prepared positions, command, control and communication. In so doing, the Israelis will leave the fighters in the field cut off into isolated groups unable to do much more than wait for the Israeli ground forces to arrive and kill them.
I'm no military tactician, but what about a General MacArthur approach, like the Inchon landing in Korea? Lebanon looks like it would be ideal for such a tactic. Come in south of Beirut, cut off the Hezbos in the south and crush them in the vise.
I'm no military expert, but it does appear that the IDF is using at least one principle of warfare closely held by General Patton: the goal of an army is to kill their soldiers, destroy their equipment and take their supplies. Not to take over and possess land. Do the first and you can have all the land you want.
Excellent article.
Actually, they won't be treated as POWs. The Geneva conventions require you to fight in the open, and have a recognizable uniform in order to be eligible to treated as a PoW.
I wonder if this means they'll be treated as common criminals and plain ol' terrorists.
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