Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: cerebus@bucsf.bu.edu (Tim Miller)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Questionable value of air superiority
Message-ID: <1990Sep2.060945.3135@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 2 Sep 90 06:09:45 GMT
References: <1990Aug28.042628.28858@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Boston University Bridge Crew
Lines: 34
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: cerebus@bucsf.bu.edu (Tim Miller)

On 31 Aug 90, bakken@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken) said:

D> There are a lot of places to hide in the jungle, and the Ho Chi Minh trail
D> was a faithful supply line.  There are no places to hide from air
D> power in the desert, and Iraq will have almost no external supply lines,
D> and internal ones would get hammered by air.   A potential war against
D> Iraq has very few valid comparisons to those in Vietnam or Afghanistan.

	But, so far as air superiority goes, I still have my doubts.  HE
bombs and shells historically have had a lesser than anticipated effect on
infantry that has had the foresight to dig in and dig deep.  The battles
across Normandy during WWII are a classic example; despite constant
hammering by air and by Allied artillery, the Wehrmacht was still able to
maintain adequate supply lines, move tanks and men, and still keep Allied
forces bottled up for more than 2 months *despite* the total Allied control
of the air.

	Granted that the German infantryman was a vastly superior fighter
than the average Allied soldier, the lesson still stands; when attempting
to clear out prepared infantry, air superiority alone is insufficient.
Supplies, intelligently organized, can still flow despite constant air
attacks, and one still needs men prepared to take each strongpoint.

	These lessons seem to have been lost upon the American military in
the last 50 years.  Iraq may not stand a chance in hell in the long run,
but if such thinking continues, Hussein (sp?) can make a war damn expensive
in lives in the short haul.

					Timothy J. Miller
					cerebus@bucsf.bu.edu