Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy recruits chant slogan during a parade to mark the end of a semester at a military base of the North Sea Fleet, in Qingdao, Shandong province December 5, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily
Lyle J. Goldstein, National Interest: China's Navy Is Studying the Battle of Guadalcanal. Here's Why It Matters.
In lieu of real wartime experience, the PLAN is drawing from history.
China's military has not had much combat experience in recent decades, and this is recognized among Chinese military leaders as a potentially serious problem. The reasons for this scarcity of battlefield know—how are obvious and might even be praise-worthy. It has been nearly four decades since Beijing undertook a significant military campaign, so how would its armed forces have attained this knowledge? As I have argued many times before in this forum, nearly four decades without resorting to a major use of force represents very impressive restraint for any great power.
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WNU Editor: This is a good analysis on the Battle of Guadalcanal, and why the Japanese lost.
Guadalcanal campaign is my all time favorite WWII history read. It was 6 months of fighting in one of the most unhealthful of earths tropical environments with the US using a mix of WWI and WWII era gear from food to airplanes in a contest against a modern Japanese Imperial Navy and Air Force. No way the US should have won, yet it won a decisive battle that brutally exposed limitations in Japanese tactics and most importantly, leadership.
ReplyDeleteAnon;
ReplyDeletewww.combinedfleet.com/guadoil1.htm. What an eye opener! I'm kinda partial to the Coral Sea and Midway battles but read a number of books on Guadalcanal when I was younger. I agree with your comments.
The above link relates to Guadalcanal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Roger