Posted on 07/27/2006 6:35:55 PM PDT by JewishRighter
The thing that most impressed Capt. Yisrael Friedler, commander of A Company in the Golani Brigade's Battalion 51, during the bloody battle in Bint Jbail on Wednesday, was the way the junior commanders conducted themselves after their officers had been hit by Hizbullah gunfire.
"The moment their officers went down," he told The Jerusalem Post Thursday, "the sergeants took their radios and began reporting in and managing the battle, while at the same time taking charge of evacuating the wounded. It was the height of professionalism," he said.
The firefight began early in the morning when two companies, A and C, began advancing down one of Bint Jbail's streets on parallel routes. Contrary to previous reports, Friedler said, the Hizbullah fighters were not lying in ambush. "Both sides were unaware of each other and it was actually one of our soldiers who saw them first and opened fire."
In the initial firing, 30 members of C Company, a third of its total strength, were hit, as was the battalion's deputy commander, Maj. Roi Klein.
"But the Hizbullah men were in upper stories of buildings and had a commanding view of the IDF force."
What bothers me is that there should not have been any buildings standing, not an upper story, not a lower story, not even a basement, before these brave IDF men went in. I hate the political correct age of warfare as fought by liberal governments. IMHO, they have bl00d on their hands for not destroying that town before sending the troops in.
I could not agree with you more. Political correctness and all that goes with it as a way of life- is going to kill us.
So the UN didn't help set up an ambush. Well, whatta you know! That surprises me!
As for leaving buildings standing, read up on some military history...leveling buildings can make an assault even more difficult, as there are lots of unpredictable hiding places. Many good soldiers have learned the hard way that "softening up" can be overdone.
Look at how young the soldiers were that died. Lions at 20. God bless them, we are all in this fight together.
Seriously speaking, I really try to understand these things. Any titles you can suggest about this particular issue? Ie: softening up pros and cons? It just looks from the report like the Hizzies had an easy time getting the jump on the IDF by virtue of having standing structures to give them a commanding vantage point.
God bless them!
I left out one thing. I don't mean softening up: I mean leveling the playing field--literally.
Yes, if there is some place for the bad guys to hide and then move to the freshly made ruins [i.e. if the destruction is rather gradual in time]. No, if the area destruction happens very quickly, so there's no place in that area to hide and wait it out. The area is reasonably small, so time-compressed destruction is feasible.
Old Russian expression " first the wolf notices hunter,than the hunter notices wolf"
You're probably right, but I guess I'm rather passionate about the lives of these fine soldiers and, if there's a good reason for putting them in the kind of position they were in to be ambushed, I wish I knew it.
Do you mind me asking how old you are?
Not at all. 46.
BTW, why?
Agreed, rubble can cause all kinds of new issues in a battle.
Not only can rubble provide easy to hide places for the enemy, it can clog streets and limit maneuver. It can block flanking movements, it can stop tanks from penetration, plus it is difficult for infantry to storm.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Your passion for the lives of a few people is admirable, but the life of a nation is at risk. Some of us have to die for the benefit of our people. Obviously, I didn't die, nor did you, but I can certainly understand loss of life in the struggle for survival.
I'm not Jewish, but an admirer of Jewish people, and their role in history.
Your point is well taken. But I'm not questioning loss of life, just the decision to place soldiers in any more danger than tactically required to achieve the objective.
Isn't that the job of people who have been trained to make those decisions?
History has several examples of the effect. The British learned that lesson after their artillery leveled an enemy town in the Crimean War---I believe it was the seige of Taganrog. The Russian riflemen used the rubble as cover to exact a toll from the British.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.