What is your favorite battle to study?
My favorite battle is Cannae in the 2nd Punic War.
Hi Worsham. Nice choice. Bring a battle of antiquity, there is not much material on which to work though.
First reaction was Normandy. Then I thought: is that a campaign? D-Day and the build up that developed have always fascinated me: German superior quality in tanks and defensive tactics against Allied numbers and air superiority.
Then I thought: Gettysburg!
Not a very original answer, but Hood vs. Bismarck for sure.
The battles around Con Thien from May-July of 1967.
Towton 1461. 1/10 of all adult males of fighting age in England were involved.
Built up a huge database of participants and their arms.
My favourites, for sentimental reasons, would be Stalingrad on land and Midway at sea because those were the two battles that originally sparked my interest in military and naval history. My introduction to Stalingrad was the “Stalingrad” episode of the TV series The World at War, and my introduction to Midway was the Charlton Heston movie of the same name. As I said, they’re sentimental favourites – but even with all the other battles I’ve learned about since then, they still both rank highly as battles that were of great historical significance, that have a lot to teach about the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of warfare, and which are riveting stories in their own right. And they both occured in the middle-to-late part of 1942 (with Stalingrad dribbling a bit into early 1943), which was the “deep war” phase of WWII: the phase after the period of initial Axis successes but before the period of Allied supremacy, the phase during which the ultimate outcome of the war was still in doubt for both sides.
Fascinating Flashman. Have you been on one of the walks?
How long is that list: would you let me have a copy, if it is not too much bother?
Battle of the Bulge, because of the movie LOL, even though it had almost nothing to do with the historical Battle of the Bulge.
