What was the most ingenious/creative/absolutely mad successful tactical move ever made during a battle?
>>588997
Knocking down your own city wall in a siege, tying a bunch of swords and spears to your cattle and then setting their tails on fire before letting them loose on the besiegers. This was first used in 279 BC and was last used in the 30s during the Chinese civil war.
>>588997
Ukrainian Jewish Partisans.
They received word that the SS were coming to liquidiate their ghetto and did the following...
>Open the gates
>Hide in prepared positions
>Light everything in the ghetto on fire and I mean fucking everything.
>Germans are now far into the ghetto and surrounded by fucking fire on all sides.
>Resistance fighters open fire and make a bee-line for the German's vehicles.
>Succesfully steal said vehicles.
>Tear ass out of a burning ghetto while leaving the Germans there to try and escape.
The absolute fucking madmen. Sublime... Just sublime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pelusium_(525_BC)
CATS
no contest
>>589090
You'll find many similar tactics used by the partisan groups during WWII. I don't have specifics on hand, but I have heard stories about the French and Dutch resistance fighters doing similar things.
They were all pretty bad ass.
>>588997
Cannae was pure genius.
Destruction of the biggest army of the world at the time in a single day while being heavily outnumbered and trapped - theres literally nothing else i can say about it that would justify its brilliance.
Austerlitz.
>>589317
I attribute the defeat primarily to the retardation of the Roman officers.
>fuck formation and discipline, let's just mob them and rely completely on numbers alone!!
dipshits.
>>589317
Carthaginians genuinely never did anything particularly smart, the romans just had a long string of overwhelmingly incompetent consuls.
>>589317
If it was so great, why no one ever did it again? Why they didn't do it at Zamma, why didn't Hannibal advised Antiochus on how to crush Romans with reverse crescent? I say it was more about Roman stupidity and superior cavalry.
Alesia, and y'all are just saying otherwise because you are hipsters.
>>589090
>you will never be a resistance fighter in german occupied europe, always on the move, living every day like it's your last, hanging out in secret resistance friendly bars, and occasionally kicking german ass
>>589347
feelsbadman.png
>sneaking into a camp using fucking blackface
Rhodesians really were brilliant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eland
>>589317
I can't speak to the actual genius or retardation of either side, but I can it's absolutely fucking insane that there was that much bloodshed in that little time with just bows and swords.
Imagine it, just a few hours of brutal man on man hack and slash violence, tens of thousands being butchered and killing in equal measure, the absolute insanity of the raucous mass of human on human violence.
It's the bloodiest single day of combat before fire arms, so far as we know. That's fucking crazy.
>>588997
Masada.
It's fucking insane that the Romans looked at that mountain and just went "Let's just build a colossal fucking ramp" and they did it before any kind of mechanized earth moving.
>>589342
Romans learned from their mistakes. You don't use the same tactics in every battle in the same war.
>>589347
>you will never watch village people being fucking hanged because you wanted to play hero
>>589456
more like
>you will never be fucked and hanged regardless of whether or not you tried to play hero
>Battle of Myeongnyang
>Yi Sun-Sin and the Joseon Navy have 13 ships total
>Invading Japanese Fleet of Toyotomi Hideyoshi has over 130 warships and even more support/logistics ships
>Japanese attack Koreans
>Japanese lose at least 30 ships and more damaged
>Korea loses none of its 13 ships and only two of their men die
>Admiral Yi makes the Japanese look like a joke
>Decisive Joseon victory
>keks all around
>>589326
While there certainly was considerable glory-seeking stupidity on the part of the roman officers, they did still form their troops into the triplex axes and attempt some discipline. The thing is, in that era, where coordination went only as far as you could shout or blow a horn, getting 80,000 (newly-raised, mostly undrilled) guys to do much more than march straight at the enemy would've been exceedingly difficult.
Not saying you're wrong, since the Romans had to be stupid for Hannibal to play them like he did, but there were other factors at play.
The second brigade, commanded by Major General Kingsley, consisted of the 25th Foot, the 51st Foot, a newly raised regiment, and the 20th Foot, Major General James Wolfe’s old regiment. On the previous day, as these regiments had marched up from Prince Ferdinand’s camp near Hille, they had picked wild roses from the hedges and decorated their hats and uniforms.
There now occurred one of the incidents beloved of British military history. It is said that an order was sent that the infantry were to “advance on the beat of drum" and that this was misinterpreted as an order to “advance to the beat of drum". Waldegrave’s brigade set off towards the French line, followed by Kingsley’s.
The two brigades emerged from the copse and now in full sight of the French army, they attracted the fire of the French guns along the line, from right and left.
The French cavalry commander, Lieutenant General Fitzjames, launched his first attack on the British and Hanoverian foot, 11 squadrons of the regiments Royal Cravates and the Mestre de Camp under the Marquis de Castries. The charge was received with fire and dispersed. The second French charge was delivered by 22 squadrons of the regiments Royal Étranger, Bourgogne and Brigade du Roi. Again the charge was dispersed.
the third French cavalry attack was delivered by the Gendarmerie de France and the Carabineers led by Lieutenant General de Poyanne. This charge lapped around the right flank of Sporcken’s column. The British and Hanoverian foot held firm considerably assisted by the fire from the column to its left, Wutginau’s Hanoverian and Hessian Foot.
Marshal Contades is reputed to have said bitterly after the battle: “I never thought to see a single line of infantry break through three lines of cavalry ranked in order of battle and tumble them to ruin."
>>588997
The siege of Malta had quite a few memorable things. At one point the Ottomans gave up on cannons and started building an old school siege tower. The Maltese and the Knights started taking their own wall apart at the bottom to create an opening through which a cannon shot their fully laden siege tower to shit, then they quickly filled the hole again.
Absolutely mad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_of_Stettin Five hundred hussars conquered a fort with 5000 Prussians and 200 cannons inside.
And: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Borodino French cavalry charged and captured a redoubt, absolute madman really.
And another one: At this point (1580s) gunpowder had been used in guns and cannons for a while but a few Dutch rebels took it to a new level. They essentially filled a ship with gunpowder, bricks and schrapnel to create a giant floating bomb/grenade. At the time this was something of a novelty so you can imagine how this was seen as a weapon of mass destruction.
"The 'Hope' disappeared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. It was the work of a single instant. The earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. A wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. Houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote places, could keep its feet. The air was filled with a rain of plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. Slabs of granite, vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. A thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond even the semblance of humanity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellburners
>>588997
>Alexander and the lead element of the Guards had cut their way through masses of fugitives to reach the citadel. Alexander prowled in front of their ranks, protected by his shield bearer, Peucestas, who bore the sacred shield of Troy that the king had taken down from Athena’s sanctuary at that ancient site. Next to him also was his bodyguard, Leonnatus, an officer of the Guard. Deciding that personal example was the only way to bring the Guard forward, as it had at Atari, he snatched one of the ladders and ran to the wall. In an instant, Alexander planted the ladder and bounded up, holding his own shield before him. His sword flicked with deadly speed as he cleared the parapet of defenders and climbed over the top. When he had dispatched the last defender, those Indians on the adjoining towers poured spears and arrows down on him. He was the most magnificent target in military history, standing there alone in his gold-decked armor, the white plumes and crest of his helmet nodding violently as he swung his shield back and forth to parry the converging missiles.
>>590537
>Below him, his Guards stood transfixed in horror. Peucestas and Leonnatus scrambled up the ladder, followed by Abreas, a double-pay Guardsman who was the only man with the presence of mind to seize a second ladder and mount it. The Guards shouted to Alexander to jump to safety into their arms, but he ignored them. He saw that the ground level inside the citadel was higher than outside. He would later say that he calculated that the greatest danger was to stay where he was, while jumping back would accomplish nothing. By attacking, he might intimidate the enemy and at the very worst die a legendary death. With that split-second decision made, he leapt inside. Crying out in shock, the Guard rushed to the ladders as Peucestas, Leonnatus and Abreas disappeared over the top. But so many tried to mount at once that the ladders shattered.
>The Indians were even more astonished than the Guards as Alexander landed on his feet, put his back to the wall and assumed his fighting stance. A group of Indians then attacked, but all, including their commander, fell to his sword. Alexander felled a second leader with a stone, hurled with the force of a small catapult. More Mallians only added their bodies to the growing heap in front of the raging commander. The Indians may have been brave, but they recognized a near-inhuman killing machine, a veritable mythic hero from their Vedic epics come to life, and prudently kept their distance, forming a half circle from which to hurl every sort of missile at him.
>>590540
>At that moment, Alexander’s three protectors dropped inside the wall and rushed to his side. They were an instant too late. Abreas fell with an arrow in the face. Peucestas was throwing his shield in front of his commander when another arrow sped past and struck Alexander in his left lung. Red foam, blood mixed with air, bubbled from the wound through his pierced corselet. The Indians surged forward for the kill, but Alexander continued to defend himself. Finally, blood gushed from the wound and their king slumped forward over his shield. Peucestas and Leonnatus stepped in front of his body to shield him with their own, as arrows, darts and stones rained down on them.
>Outside the citadel, near panic had gripped the Guards. Some formed human ladders; others drove wooden pegs into the wall so they could climb it. One by one they reached the top and dropped inside. ‘There they saw the King on the ground,’ wrote the historian Arrian, ‘and a cry of grief and a shout of rage rose from every throat.’ Each man leapt forward to cover Alexander with their shields and bodies as the Indians pressed the fight.
GREATEST. OF . ALL. TIME.
>>589061
>and he believed it
>>589342
Wait, so was the Carthaginian cavalry just plain superior or why did they win on both wings?
>>590555
One wing was suposed to pin the roman cav down. The other side had a number superiority.
Numidian cavalry actually rode without saddle, stirrups and bridle. Either these guys really knew horses or the Romans were truely shit at cavalry. Probably a bit of both.
>>590555
>was the Carthaginian cavalry just plain superior
Yes. Whether by virtue of experience or superior coordination, the Carthaginian cavalry put the Romans to flight almost immediately.
>>590555
That was Carthage's prime advantage at Cannae. The Roman light cavalry was terribly equipped, mostly used for scouting and skirmishing. Their allies were better equipped, but more unreliable. That was the primary reason the envelopment strategy worked: Hannibal had the cavalry with which to surround and slaughter the Romans.
2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
>>590529
>Five hundred hussars conquered a fort with 5000 Prussians and 200 cannons inside.
Wasn't Berlin also briefly captured by some small unit of hussars during the 7 Years war when the rest of Prussian forces were elsewhere?
I like this thread.
Good tales.
Keep it coming, please!
>>588997
>Knocking down your own city wall in a siege
Not terribly historical, but I would do this in Total War because the AI was dumb enough to charge into it as a massive choke point for pikemen and grapeshot and rifle lines.
Doesn't seem like the most implausible thing ever.
Watch the movie The Admiral: Roaring Currents. Battle of Salamis: Whirlpool and Cannons Edition
Considering the power balance between Iraq's top of the line American-Soviet fighters and Iran's flying coffins Operation H3 was insane and it was even more insane when it actually succeeded.
>>590703
>the part where the jets flew literally 1 m above ground to avoid detection
absolue madmen
>The plan seemed so desperate and inept, that when a copy of it was intercepted by the Soviets, it was discarded as a poor deception attempt
>>590546
Driving cattle/all sorts of animals to ruin formations was a thing in many places of the world. Romans used it against the Carthaginians.
source?
>>590647
Force 10 from Navarone is better
>>590703
>>Aerial refueling at 100m altitude
Sheeeit
>>590739
Can you cite that sauce?
>>590703
Speaking of crazy air raids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck
Italian MAS boats. Imagine a speedboat with torpedoes on it, intended for harassment attacks.
Some lunatics took them to hunt A-H's battleships. And they sunk them.
>>589317
I don't understand the fact that they managed to kill 70000 disciplined romans with them being only "trapped".
As Sun Tzu mentioned: "Always leave a hole for enemy to escape, otherwise he will fight madly for his own life, and the casualties will be greater on your side". And Hanibal lost only 8000...really?
>>589342
Some of them did escape. Just very few.
Regardless, Hannibals plan was meant to inflict massive casualties, not to simply win the battle. The second Punic war was a war of attrition.
>>589326
The Romans obviously didn't have the most competent generals. But they still formed up correctly, and used their typical battle plans. The reason they were butchered is because the Roman soldiers, as most would do at the time, thought the enemy was routing and therefore charged in, only to be led into a brilliant trap.
>>589342
He tried to do the same at Zama. However, not only did he have generally poorer infantry than Scipio, but Scipio actually was a great general on par with the skill of Hannibal. In the end, (to his extreme credit) Scipio was able to stop his troops from pursuing a rout.
>>590469
worst day of my weeb life
>>589342
>>589446
Actually, it WAS tried again-Hannibals brother got his ass beat in iberia trying the same tactic.
It only works if the superior roman force fails to break through your center before your flanking attack can halt them.
If you fail, they'll crush the middle, break your army in two, and then proceed slaughter your now isolated flankers.
This usually won't happen-break the middle was the romans tactic of the day, and they were every, very good at it.
If hannibals men hadn't been of such exceptional quality, his plan would have failed miserably, and he'd have been dead within a year.
>>591335
A lot of this is incorrect.
a LOT of Romans escaped cannae. The disgraced (and essentially exiled) survivors went of to form scipios best troops at zama.
The romans were not formed particuraly well, either.
The formation was compacted, with too many men in too small of an area-this is what left them so helpless once they got flanked, despite being far, far more numerous than their enemies.
Romans, despite common myth, do not fight well when packed together.
>>591405
>A lot of Romans escaped Cannae
No, they didn't. at the lowest estimates, Wikipedia has 66,000 killed or captured out of 86,000. That's the lowest estimate. 1/5 of an army having survived is atrocious, and certainly comes under the scope of "very few".
Yes, those who survived were later called upon for Scipios army, but that certainly doesn't mean that there were a lot of them.
I didn't say they were formed well either. I said they were formed correctly, and typical of the Roman system. The idea was the pack the middle and ensure that it breaks the enemies. This would have worked if Hannibal wasn't on such a higher level than the Roman commanders. He predicted this would happen, and that's why it succeeded.
>>591453
*1/4
Math.
>>591297
Are you implying Cannae didn't happen?
biological warfare by the mongols at the siege of Caffa
>>591521
I think he means that he doesn't understand why Hannibal didn't give them an escape.
>>590544
Source?
>>591543
New to the conversation, but that's obvious. Sure, completely encircling and annihilating the Romans would prevent them from fleeing except through his own forces and probably upped his casualties some. But you have to keep the overall strategic picture in mind:
Hannibal is running around Italy with no lines of communication and a large force that's almost completely dependent on plunder not only for food, but for pay; a good chunk of his force is mercenary. He needs to eliminate Rome as a regional power, but he doesn't have the supplies to sit in for a long siege, or the engines to storm the city walls. He needs to create a base of support, and the logical candidates for that are the various cities that Rome has conquered/colonized; if he can get enough of them to throw in behind him, he's probably won the war already at that point, and they can likely supply him well enough to take the city if it comes to that.
But that means he needs to win them over, which will require at the very least some sort of very visible, dramatic victory. It's not enough to beat the Romans and beat them back, he has to crush them, stamp them into the dirt so badly that Rome can no longer impose its will on other cities in Italy.
If anything, Cannae wasn't enough, as Rome was still able to keep going, but the encirclement was done because of the weakness of his strategic position and his tactics deriving from that.
>>589090
That's a pretty generic luring tactic.
An opposite would the a general where they pretend to open the door and mindfuck the enemy general into not coming through. Even though you only have 100 soldiers and enemy has 5000. (Happened in ancient China)
Also Genghis Khan's small army of couple thousand multiplied their force by carrying multiple torches per person at night. This demoralized the enemy city into thinking it was a large army and lost their will.
>>591778
>Mongols
Literally the nazi germany war machine half a millenium before. The blitzkreig and all of modern warfare is based on steppe tribes, their enemies would love for you to believe they were overwhelmed by maassive mongol horde, when in reality the mongols were virtually always outnumbered and were simply masters at hiding their true size. If the enemy thinks youre weak, let them believe it. If the enemy thinks youre strong, likewise let them believe it. Either way you are promoting a false sense of superiority or youre covering up your own weakness, both of which are useful in their own ways.
The speed, tactics, and fear factor that the mongols had became the foundation for all of modern war to this day.
The mongol rapetrain was the most impressive military feat in history, and even though they themselves did not take the mantle, they laid the foundation; hannibal to scipio, caesar to augustus, Spain to Great Britain, Great Britain to the US, etc. The man thay changes the world isnt always the one who lives in that world, which is why any criticism of the mongols should equally apply to the caesars and hannibals of history.
>>591840
Steppe nomads can field huge armies relative to their size so they weren't always outnumbered. Anyone is outnumbered against China, but when subjugating the Hungarians or Russians? Nope.
>>591905
Youre joking right? The hungarians had around 80k and the mongols had 20-40k.
They were outnumbered against the west every time. They sent a very small scout force to europe and the stupid slavs overestimated their enemy because a)previously mentioned inability to count them and b)embarassement and lies as a result of massive casualties.
>>591932
>The hungarians had around 80k and the mongols had 20-40k
[citation needed]
>>591946
Regardless of the exact numbers, it clear in every respected account that the mongols were in fact outnumbered. There is no chance that a foreign scout force consisting of 3 small armies would outnumber the entire hungarian/allied military, the mongols simply did not send that many men to Europe, regardless of whatever their enemies thought.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mohi
>>592027
>There is no chance that a foreign scout force
It wasn't a scout force. Batu was sent west with an army of up to 130,000 warriors tasked with conquering land, not scouting it.
The three armies were by no means small - the one attacking from the north had already defeated the Poles and the templars active in the region
>>592041
Those numbers are fucking ridiculous. Doesnt take a lot of mongols to kill some europeans in the field.
>>592041
>Templars
You mean Teutonic knights?
Or Livonians?
Pretty sure Templars weren't active in the region.
>>591778
>Luring tactic
There was nothing to lure. The Nazis were coming for them. They had a rough count of their numbers because they'd confined them there in the first place. What was supposed to be unarmed, starving peasants had turned the trap built for them into a trap built for the Germans.
The heroism of desperation, my friend.
>>588997
never underestimate Slavs
>run smuggling operation in Africa
>suddenly civil war
>become head of Biafran airforce
>except they have no planes
>aquire demilitarized B-26R
>get locals to make bombs out of oil drums by local fireworks manufacturer, and "bombardiers" who throw them out of plane
>cut hole in nose and stick light machinegun through it
>attach cord to MG operator: 1 pull - fire! 2 pulls - cease fire!
>get ordered to attack Nigerian military airfield
>get close to airport and ask for permission to land
>air control lets him in thinking it's rutine flight
>drop bombs on hangars and machines and get away before they get thier AAs to fire
>attack flagship of Nigerian Navy "Nigeria", forcing it to leave port
>raid Nigerian military airfield disabling freshly arrived MiG-17s
>kill Nigerian AF Chief of Staff in another raid
>get grounded because you can fly on jury-rigged spares only for so long
Holy shit, That's too much slav...
>>588997
anyone got that chinese general that was an absolute madman?
>needs more arrows
>puts up straw dummies
>enemies turns them into pincushions
>they realize they are dummies
>start to patrol around the walls
>Chinese guys defenders starts to pick off the patrolling attackers with their own arrows
it was some crazy shit like that
>>592201
His name was Zhuge Liang and he lived during the Three Kingdoms and also in our hearts thanks to the East Asian genocide/magical girl dating simulator known as KOEI's Dynasty Warriors.
That particular incident you're referencing has Zhuge the Ruse matching wits with Zhou "All Those Flavors And You Chose To Be Salty" Yu, who was trying to bait Zhuge Liang by demanding he outfit the Wu and Shu kingdoms allied armies with enough arrows in the space of 10 days, in preparation for a decisive showdown with the Wei kingdom's invasion force. It was literally, L I T E R A L L Y a ruse cruise.
https://youtu.be/jElIveJTKr8
>>592244
Thank you based anon, but I THINK I may be thinking of this guy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xun_(Tang_dynasty)
please correct me if i'm wrong
>>588997
Napoleon offering the highground to the Allies at Austerlitz
Obi-Wan would never have seen it coming
>>590579
Is that Lt. Murphy? Why does he look 12 years old?
>>589425
Siege of Tyre is similar. Unconquerable island? Lets build fucking peninsula.
>>590736
my favourite moment of war:
>On 18 April, Colonel Belina decided to use the element of surprise and move into Vilnius without waiting for the slower infantry units. Belina's cavalry bypassed Vilnius and attacked from behind. Cavalry under lieutenant Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer charged into the suburbs, spreading panic among the confused garrison. He seized the train station and sent a train down the line to collect infantry.
>>588997
False retreat.
>>592516
Its really not all that creative. Dogs do it.
>>592388
because he was like fucking 16 when it happened
he was like 19 at the end of the war or some shit
70 replies in and nobody said the Fall of Singapore? (although maybe it doesn't count because it was partly the Brits fault - and yes, I firmly believe that General Percival did nothing wrong).
>>592521
But it works so well.
>>589347
>you will never be tortured to death whilst the family who let you hide in their home is forced to dig their own grave
>>592528
Maybe because the Fall of Singapore was an operation.
Tactical / Operational / Strategic
Different scales and problem sets.
>>592528
Trying to hold an island that has no fresh water and with no hope of resupply
Not many options
>>588997
Cambyses getting his troops to throw cats at the Egyptians
>>592537
>>you will never be tortured to death whilst the family who let you hide in their home is forced to dig their own grave
Says you.
>>592547
It would have been a huge waste of life, but the brits could have rushed the nips and held onto their (then) unimportant island. Is it true they didn't realize british empire troops far outnumbered jap ones?
But hey, they all died in slavery making the Burma railroad anyway.
>>592528
>not holding the line at Kuala Lumpur, instead falling back extremely deep and giving Japan a major iniative
>letting Yamashita cuck him at negotiations
Feel bad for the lad though. He was simply outclassed.
Personally I'm a fan of the Battle of Bạch Đằng during the third Mongol invasion of Vietnam.
>Mongol Yuan dynasty has failed to establish a firm grip on Vietnamese lands
>Third invasion of Đại Việt was largely unsuccessful for the Mongols, supplies were cut off and the capital had been evacuated leaving little to capture
>Knowing the shit state of the Mongol army the Đại Việt grand commander Trần Hưng Đạo decided to fuck shit up
>Planning on ambushing the Mongol brown water navy, the Đại Việt forces places iron tipped stakes at the bottom of the Bạch Đằng River
>Continued assaults on the Mongol land forces had shredded their supply routes entirely, so 400 ships under the command of General Omar were sent for relief
>Waiting until low tide, a small Đại Việt flotilla lured the Mongol navy towards the staked river, whereupon the entire navy was unable to maneuver
>Meanwhile warships were used to block any escape routes
>Navy was essentially wiped out by a storm of flaming arrows and boarding flotillas, and much of the army that fled to the shore was cut down
>General Omar himself was captured and executed
>Battle resulted in a tributary agreement whereupon Đại Việt acknowledged Yuan supremacy and the Mongols no longer tried to invade
Battle of Alesia
>>590546
Sima Qian's as good an ancient historian as any.
>>591946
Hungaria can only support 800k horses. Various calculations whittle this down.
>>589090
And people say Jews are bad fighters
>>592779
Who says that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Focus (which by the way is related to thread topic) They're crafty - which is a stereotype but it might be true.
>>589112
Awesome if true, but I'm doubting Herodotus on this one desu.
>>588997
Right thru Belgium!
Operation Dingo or Operation Gatling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Rhodesia_Flight_825
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dingo
>Guys
>Guys, now stay with me here
>I know
>GUYS!
>I know there's a huge army coming our way.
>Guys
>I know that.
>Now we got them in their walls with our walls but guys...
>We
>Guys
>we'll build a wa
>Guys
>Just hear me out here
>We'll build a WALL....AROUND our wall
>>588997
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_%281504%29
literally hollywood tier
his spies told him he was about to be ambushed during night time, so he boldly decided to come out, give the signal previously agreed among the siege forces to start the attack - then proceeded to go back to the fortification while the brothers in arms (splitted in several forces) hacked each other to pieces.
>>590469
The Portuguese did somethign similar against an indian sultanate and the ottomans and mamluks
>>592570
Not his fault Churchill ordered all the guns and equipment sent to the Middle East and European theaters.
Japan blitzing down the Malay Peninsula using cheap bikes on well-made British roads was a good act of banter though.
>>592868
Yo dawg i heard u like walls
So i took your wall and i built a wall around your wall and then i built another wall around that wall
And then we added a 45 inch flat screen television to your chariot
>>592868
Fucking Caesar man.
>>592868
Its hilarious because the only time that Caesar ever lost a battle was when his enemies decided to build walls as well.
>>591759
It's simpler than that. If even a third of them got out and reformed, they'd have crushed his army. People fial to understand just how bad the numbers were, and how close he came to being beaten.
>>592197
Jan Zumbach, for anybody interested. Took me 2 minutes of searching.
>>592899
>On the dawn of the day of the attack, the Zamorin's infantry began their march towards Palignar. To taunt the sea-king, Pacheco sailed in a boat up to the tip of Arraul island and landed with a small squad to engage in a skirmish with the advance squads of the Calicut army. The irritated Zamorin redirected a large detachment of his forces after him. Pacheco just climbed back on his boat and sailed away.
So much more where this came from. What a madman, I love this dude.
>>592868
BUILD WALL.
MAKE ROME GREAT AGAIN.
>>593112
Please. It's not like other Roman armies, bigger than a third of what was committed at Cannae, hadn't tried and failed. Trebia and Trasameine spring to mind. Hannibal was in no way worried about imminent tactical defeat. He could have left a hole open and won the battle quite easily, it just wouldn't have been enough.
