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From: military-request@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Where do the most casualties occur ?
Message-ID: <1991Jan16.012141.8051@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 16 Jan 91 01:21:41 GMT
References: <1991Jan15.021152.22475@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
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From: military-request@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)

In article <1991Jan15.021152.22475@cbnews.att.com> pur-ee!muttiah@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Ranjan S Muttiah) writes:
>
>In any war event, when does most of the casualties to the combatants occur ?
>[Air raids ? ground assaults ?  etc]

As today's replies show (and tomorrow's will no doubt continue to show)
this question doesn't lend itself to a pat answer.  It's too loosely
worded.

Readers will interpret this in different ways, based on their own
knowledge and experience.  For instance, I would first say "artillery
inflicts the most casualties," but that presumes an active battlefield.

Suppose, instead, the land battle stagnates and a strategic air campaign
is carried out.  Then the correct answer will be "downed aircrews."
Or if the warfare reduces itself to a simple blockade, ships' crews may
account for the bulk of the casualties.

Even if we limit ourselves to a "traditional" land campaign of the WWII
pattern (for no particular reason) the question is tricky.  Does it ask
"which sort of weapon injures the most people ?", or "what phase of the
battle accounts for the most casualties ?", or even "what weapon system
inflicts the most casualties per unit time ?"


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