Originally Posted by Charge_7

I'm surprised that Chewie or other ANZAC folks didn't mention Gallipoli. A tremendous loss of lives and ships that did not accomplish one single thing decisive in WWI and was the scene of error after error after error. Nobody can question the valor of the troops, but the generals involved and Churchill who promoted it made a very grievious error indeed.

hmmmm i think it because for some strange reason i don't consider it a blunder ( well on our part anyway) ANZAC forces achieved their objectives...only to have the british shell us off them. grrrr.

but you're right charge, there are many factors that doomed that operation right from the start, formost would be that they were useing tourist maps to plan it....and that we landed at the wrong beach. hmmmm

Originally Posted by AussieNick

Napoleon's march on Russia. Because he was the "original" one to get done in by Russia's winter and huge distance... Hitler just didn't read up on French history enough

since the topic is biggest blunter, I would say both of campaigns on russia. this two actions were decesive for both, poor adolf and napoleon. both were so masive, involving most of military power of both countries, not to mention their historical significance.

Hitler declaring War on America.

Anybody declaring war on America...

But seriously...

How about Antietam? And wasn't the Battle of the Crater a Burnside move, too?

J

If you just count bodies, a lot of Civil War battles were blunders. Pickett's charge was foolhardy.

Here's an article on the Crater:

http://www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-the-crater


So Burnsides was involved and paid a price - finally.

Elphinstone's retreat from Kabul on 6th January-13th January 1842. Out of 15,500 men, women and children only one reached Jellalabad. The rest either froze, starved, taken hostage or were slaughtered by Afghan tribesmen.

Originally Posted by Zucchini

The Bay of Pigs was a blunder, but I think it is a red herring to suggest lack of air support is what doomed it.

The plan hinged on picking up widespread support from the Cuban people. That was proven to be naive, and the 1500-man force had no chance of succeeding without significant ground support.

When the US finally did send in planes, four pilots were killed. We did not have the the type of dominance over the sky that we enjoy now.

While a popular uprising may or may not have taken place. The lack of air support and fire support ensured a lodgement could not be established. So we'll never know. But I still say JFK left them twisting.

He was kind of stuck with it though. Those forces had been started under Eisenhower. Difficult decision for a brand new President from the opposite party to make. JFK himself though acknowledged his errors in the Bay of Pigs incident and learned from it. Without that lesson I doubt he'd have done so well with the Missiles of October.

Operation barborossa is one of the worst, i think.

Barbarossa started to work, but in the end fell flat on its face.