List of military disasters

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A military disaster is when one side in a battle or war is unexpectedly and soundly defeated, and often changes the course of history. A battle where two forces meet and one side loses without making a major mistake is not a military disaster, that is simply warfare.

A military disaster can range from a strong army losing a major battle against a clearly inferior force, to an army being surprised and decimated by a clearly superior force, to a seemingly evenly matched conflict with an extremely one sided result. A military disaster could be due to bad planning, bad execution, bad weather, general lack of skill or ability, the failure of a new piece of military technology, a major blunder, a brilliant move on the part of the enemy, or simply the unexpected presence of an overwhelming enemy force.

Contents

[edit] Ancient era

[edit] Medieval era

[edit] 16th century

  • The Spanish Armada in 1588. An English fleet sends fire ships into the Spanish invasion fleet destroying some and scattering the rest effectively ending the invasion threat.

[edit] 18th century

[edit] 19th century

[edit] 20th century

  • The Battle of Tsushima - the Russian Baltic fleet was sent halfway around the world in a suicidal attack on the Japanese in the Tsushima Straits in 1905.
  • The Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 and early 1916. A combined British,Commonwealth and French attempt to capture Istanbul fails completely at the Gallipoli peninsula with an estimated 250,000 Allied casualties.
  • The Maginot line - although from a strictly technical viewpoint the line itself functioned as designed, it was emblematic of a deeply flawed defensive strategy.
  • The Battle of France in 1940 - the French Army moved to meet the Germans inside Belgium, believing the Maginot Line would force the Germans to rerun the Schlieffen Plan, but was cutoff by a German advance through the Ardennes, which the French had believed was impassable for tanks.
  • The Battle of Taranto in 1940. A small number of British aircraft more or less eliminated the Italian navy by knocking out three battleships with torpedoes as they lay at anchor in the harbor of Taranto.
  • The British Operation Compass proved a disaster for the Italian forces in Libya. In the end the British force of 36 000 men captured 130 000 POWs ultimately forcing Germany to dispatch troops of her own to North Africa to save Mussolini from defeat.
  • The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 rendered the US Pacific fleet unable to act for six months during which Japan conquered much of the Pacific.
  • The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse (two battleships) in December 1941 shocked the British and once more showed that aircraft posed a serious threat to even the largest of warships.
  • Operation Typhoon, the failed German drive towards Moscow in 1941 was exacerbated by the German decision to not bring along any winter clothing and vehicle antifreeze.
  • The fall of Singapore (believed to be an impregnable fortress) in February 1942 to two Japanese division was the largest surrender of British-led troops in history and destroyed the linchpin of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command.
  • The naval Battle of Midway. Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted to invade the American navy base at Midway Island. US navy intelligence broke his codes and anticipated the attack. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost four fleet carriers in three days.
  • The allied Dieppe Raid on German-occupied France in 1942 ended with ~60 % of the attacking force being lost in battle without any of the major objectives of the raid achieved.
  • The Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43 was one of the turning points of World War II. The German troops in Stalingrad surrendered even though Hitler had promised that they would never leave the city.
  • The allied Operation Market Garden in 1944 failed and resulted in the destruction of the British 1st Airborne Division.
  • The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which forced the French to withdraw from northern Vietnam in 1954.
  • The Bay of Pigs Invasion, a 1961 attempt to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro with 1,500 Cuban exiles. Not only were the exiles heavily outnumbered when they reached the bay, but the US-promised air support never came to aid the exiles.
  • The Battle of Longewala, a pivotal battle of the Bangladesh Liberation war where a 2000 strong Pakistan Infantry Brigade and Armoured Regiment comprising 60+ tanks failed to take a lone Indian outpost manned by a company of just 120 soldiers before being finally decimated by the Indian Air Force.
  • Operation Eagle Claw, a US attempt to rescue hostages in Iran. This operation was marked by a series of mechanical and communication failures that lead to the deaths of 8 American servicemen, and failed to rescue the hostages.
  • Argentinian bombing of Royal Navy ships during the Falklands War. The Argentines flew so low that their bombs hit their targets before the fuses had time to activate. As a result, the bombs almost always failed to detonate.

[edit] Further reading

  • Military Intelligence Blunders and Cover-Ups, by Colonel Hughes-Wilson John (ISBN 0-7867-1373-9)
  • Geoffrey Regan's Book Of Military Blunders, by Geoffrey Regan (ISBN 0-233-99977-9)

[edit] See also

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