"Last Ditch Efforts–Six of History’s Doomed Final Offensives " Topic

"MANY REMEMBER Adolf Hitler's December 1944 assault on Allied troops in the Ardennes as the last major German offensive of World War Two.

It wasn't.

Seventy years ago today, more than 430,000 Axis troops slammed into the Soviet lines near Lake Balaton in Hungary.

Elements of the 6th SS Panzer Army along with the 1st SS Panzer "Adolf Hitler" Leibstandarte Division spearheaded the March 6, 1945 attack, which was codenamed Operation Spring Awakening.

The objective was simple: blunt the Red Army's relentless drive into Axis territory and secure the last remaining European oil fields within easy reach of Axis forces…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

I figured that the German 1918 spring push would be one of the six doomed offensives. Lost 600K troops in three months! Is that some kind of record?…

Interesting – I did not know that the Indian Wars had their last battle in 1898!

For myself I find these things beg the question "perhaps they should have left the ditch unfilled."

The question in my mind is always "why?"

Will this sacrifice of men materially improve or even prolong the war in some way that can accrue benefit to the side that launches it.

At what point does the sacrifice become not worth it.

Clearly there comes a point when it is obvious that a war cannot be won no matter what short of a bona-fide actual act of God where God is seen hurling the lightning bolts.

That is when there can still be a reasonable doubt that either side could win the war. The "last ditch" would be the battle just before that, after which the losing side should make peace, conserving it for a SECOND last ditch which will never be fought. Or put in another way, when a peace can still be negotiated and not dictated.

I did not know that Japanese ships could burn at the bottom of the ocean. You learn something new every day.

You never know what the future will hold. What if Stalin died in March 1945? What if the A-bomb did not work? What if Sam Houston send another 300 men to the Alamo? There is always something that may happen to change things up.

Lost causes are always surrounded by a last ditch.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Arguably, the Tet offensive was a last ditch attack that COMPLETELY worked.

'Interesting – I did not know that the Indian Wars had their last battle in 1898!'

Or later. The last Apache raid on the US was in 1924.

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Thanks for share my friend.

Amicalement
Armand