Overcoming Incredible Odds Sometimes things happen in battle which are hard to explain. This is precisely what happened in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 when the Pakistani army invaded India. The Indian army had a contingent of 100 men on a base training to be motor men. They also had a jeep with an anti-tank weapon on it. This was not exactly a unit which could defend against an invasion. They were behind a sand dune which had been somewhat fortified. A bombardment broke out from the Pakistani troops and over 50 tanks rolled toward them. Surely one would think this was the end for these men. Along with the tanks there were about 3,000 Pakistani troops and many artillery pieces. The Indians radioed for air support but the Indian military refused, because it was night time and there was no night vision equipment so the Indian troops were told they would have to wait until daylight. Meanwhile they kept beating back the Pakistani attacks and destroyed 12 tanks. When daylight arrived two Indian fighter planes caught the tanks and troops in the open, because there was no where to hide in the desert. When all was said and done only 8 tanks escaped and the area had become a killing field for the Pakistani troops many of which had met their end there. I have to mention the battle of Thermoplae, because even thought it ultimately was a defeat, a small amount of Greeks managed to kill what has been estimated as 20,000 Persians. The 300 Spartans were reinforced and had about 6,700 allies with them. The Persian army by modern estimates is said to have been between 100,000 and 1,500,000 men. Quite a formidable force for the time. The 300 Spartans blocked the pass while the rest of the troops formed a rear guard. When you think of the fact this was hand to hand combat, defeating this many enemy soldiers with such a small force was unheard of. A traitor led the Persians behind the rear guard on a goat tract, but not before King Leonidas realized this was going to happen and dismissed all of the soldiers except for the 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans who fought to the death killing even more Persians. There were some lopsided wins in battles of the American Civil War. One such battle was the second battle of Sabine Pass in 1863. The North had decided it was time to invade Texas again. They had been forced out the year before. The North thought it would a simple matter since Texas could be reached by a water passage and there was only one fort with 47 Confederate soldiers and six cannons guarding the pass. The Union formed an overwhelming force to overrun the rebels. They amassed four gunboats, 18 transports and 4,000 troops. Surely outnumbering the rebels by more than 21 to 1 and the support of heavy gunboats should do the job. The rebels began firing immediately on the Union ships as soon as they were spotted. They managed to completely disable two ships and eventually they damaged enough Union ships the passage was blocked. The remaining ships had to retreat. The ships which were stuck had rebel troops sent against the crews and they had to give up. In the end the rebels lost no men, but it was a different story for the Northern army. They had over 100 men killed or wounded and more than 300 captured. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be the commander of that fleet. Alexander the Great was one of the greatest, if not thee greatest general in history. It is said one of the greatest victories for Alexander was the Battle of Gaugamela. It is hard to estimate the size of the Persian army he faced since there are so many different estimates, but it seems a figure of about 120,000 troops and cavalry is about right. They also had war elephants. Alexander’s force had 31,000 heavy infantry, 9,000 light infantry and 7,000 cavalry for a total of 47,000 troops and cavalry. Thus, Alexander was probably out numbered 2.5 to 1. The leader of the Persians was King Darius. His cavalry included chariots. He was waiting on a field he had cleared for Alexander to attack. He was in the center with his best infantry surrounding him. What many may not know is he had a contingent of Greek mercenaries in his army. Alexander’s army was divided into two forces, one on the right and one on the left. The left force was to fight a holding pattern while the right force which he commanded would go for the throat. Alexander smashed through the center where Darius was. Seeing this Darius ran and the rest of his army ran with him. His own men killed Darius and this angered Alexander and he not only gave him a full burial he then pursued his murderers and killed them. This is something a little different. Benjamin Lewis Salomon was a US Army dentist and was assigned to the front lines. In 1944 Japanese forces began to overrun his hospital and he defended it. He was part of the Battle of Saipan. Solomon’s unit was placed less than 200 feet from the most forward installation. He was in a medical tent. When the Japanese began to swarm the tent, Solomon began to fire a machine gun. Days later the Americans were able to get back to the hospital tent and they couldn’t believe what they saw. There was the corpse of Solomon with 76 bullet holes in his body surrounded by 98 dead Japanese. It is believed 24 bullet wounds could have been in his body while he was still alive. He received the Medal of Honor. Sometimes you just have to wonder how people win over such overwhelming odds. There seems to always be someone whether in peace time or in war that beats tremendous odds. Just look at all the lottery winners. Their chances in some cases were millions to one. In war time sometimes it is a matter expert planning, weather conditions and/or just plain luck. |
