War is Hell

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Originally posted by: Kenazo
Originally posted by: Mookow
Originally posted by: Deadtrees
Those pictures were good but it doesn't show what wars are like, at all.
Surf the web and find pictures of Iriq. Torn, Burned, Dead bodies all over the place...that's what a war is like..

The conflict in Iraq has nothing on Dresden or Tokyo.

Tell that to the mother of a dead soldier from either. To the dead all war is equal.

Your missing the point. Deadtree stated. Surf the web and find pictures of Iriq. Torn, Burned, Dead bodies all over the place...that's what a war is like.. implying the Iraqi war was worse then WWII. Thats utterly nuts. NOTHING has compared to the two World Wars in history. NOTHING. NOT EVER. In WWI you had gas attacks. I dont mean gassing a village, I mean gassing entire battlefields. On MANY occasions. Gas has got to be one of the worst ways to die. In WWII you had entire cmetropolitan cities, not villages, but CITIES completely burned and shelled into nothingness and ruble. No pinpoint laser guided bombs taking out a building here or there, but widespread carpet bombing. You had entire villages thrown into ovens and cooked to death. Entire villages thrown into "showers" and gassed, then buried in mass graves. Starved, beaten and raped.
Iraq is no picnic. But as hellacious as it is, the atrocities and destruction in Iraq doesnt hold a candle to WWII.
Again, regardless of the conflict, ALL soldier have my utmost respect. I'm not argueing on that point. I'm simply trying to make it clear Iraq is NOT WWII.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,833
46,685
136
And I sure wouldn't disagree. It's just quite easy to sit here and debate which war is the most brutal, etc. I think they are all awful.

I would agree that war is awful. Just sometimes it is unavoidable.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
I think we can all agree there is no "good" war, only wars fought for good reasons. So lets just keep it clean and "enjoy" the pics shall we? :)
 

Kenazo

Lifer
Sep 15, 2000
10,429
1
81
Originally posted by: Shockwave
Originally posted by: Kenazo
Originally posted by: Mookow
Originally posted by: Deadtrees
Those pictures were good but it doesn't show what wars are like, at all.
Surf the web and find pictures of Iriq. Torn, Burned, Dead bodies all over the place...that's what a war is like..

The conflict in Iraq has nothing on Dresden or Tokyo.

Tell that to the mother of a dead soldier from either. To the dead all war is equal.

Your missing the point. Deadtree stated. Surf the web and find pictures of Iriq. Torn, Burned, Dead bodies all over the place...that's what a war is like.. implying the Iraqi war was worse then WWII. Thats utterly nuts. NOTHING has compared to the two World Wars in history. NOTHING. NOT EVER. In WWI you had gas attacks. I dont mean gassing a village, I mean gassing entire battlefields. On MANY occasions. Gas has got to be one of the worst ways to die. In WWII you had entire cmetropolitan cities, not villages, but CITIES completely burned and shelled into nothingness and ruble. No pinpoint laser guided bombs taking out a building here or there, but widespread carpet bombing. You had entire villages thrown into ovens and cooked to death. Entire villages thrown into "showers" and gassed, then buried in mass graves. Starved, beaten and raped.
Iraq is no picnic. But as hellacious as it is, the atrocities and destruction in Iraq doesnt hold a candle to WWII.
Again, regardless of the conflict, ALL soldier have my utmost respect. I'm not argueing on that point. I'm simply trying to make it clear Iraq is NOT WWII.

I see what you're getting at. I misinterpreted.

those atrocities, or similar ones still happen today, though not on the same scale as during the World Wars. wide-scale slaughter happens quite often in some African countries. What was that Bruce Willis movie called that came out a while ago? Tears of the Sun or something. Entire villages and millions of ppl were wiped out.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Originally posted by: Kenazo
I see what you're getting at. I misinterpreted.

those atrocities, or similar ones still happen today, though not on the same scale as during the World Wars. wide-scale slaughter happens quite often in some African countries. What was that Bruce Willis movie called that came out a while ago? Tears of the Sun or something. Entire villages and millions of ppl were wiped out.

Africa is just a clusterfvck.
Its crazy, when you get right down to the brass tacks, we all live on the same stupid rock. Just too damned bad we cant all get along. Gotta love humanity, and being the "intelligent" species of the planet...... :roll:
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,833
46,685
136
those atrocities, or similar ones still happen today, though not on the same scale as during the World Wars. wide-scale slaughter happens quite often in some African countries. What was that Bruce Willis movie called that came out a while ago? Tears of the Sun or something. Entire villages and millions of ppl were wiped out.

It is estimated that 50 Million people died in WWII. It most likely exceeds that due to a lack of records concerning China.

Africa is a mess that was left to the world by the old colonial powes (England, France, Germany, and a few others).
 

PanzerIV

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2002
6,875
1
0
I viewed the pics last night at home and some were very compelling and vivid. I agree with Shockwave and a few other posters in that WWII was the most widespread, vicious and devestating conflict the history of mankind has yet seen and hopefully will ever experience again.
Certainly death is death and Korea, Vietnam and Iraq were no picnics either (especially Korea and Vietnam), but the death tolls from all subsequent encounters still don't even come close to the worldwide carnage of WWII.
 

Mookow

Lifer
Apr 24, 2001
10,162
0
0
Originally posted by: Kenazo
Originally posted by: Mookow
Originally posted by: Deadtrees
Those pictures were good but it doesn't show what wars are like, at all.
Surf the web and find pictures of Iriq. Torn, Burned, Dead bodies all over the place...that's what a war is like..

The conflict in Iraq has nothing on Dresden or Tokyo.

Tell that to the mother of a dead soldier from either. To the dead all war is equal.

Either mother grieves equally. However, when someone says, if effect, "WWII wasnt anything, look at Iraq!" combined with "you never see the civilians getting hurt by those precision bombs", I'm going to call him on it. Look at the bomber footage from WWII. All those expanding concentric circles marching through a city are the shockwaves of the bombs. When you can see the air like that, it's been compressed till it is almost as strong as if you had a sheet of steel moving outwards at that speed. The bombing campaign against Iraq, compared to the bombing of WWII, is as precise as a finely focused laser beam being compared to a flourescent bulb. Sh!t, one WWII style bombing raid with a couple hundred B-52's over Baghdad would have wiped out more civilians than the US had killed in this iteration of the war with Iraq.

I just find it pathetic that people think of WWII as a "good war", or even a "clean" war, while dismaying the "massive civilian casualties" being caused by the USA and it's "indiscrimanate use of bombs, rockets, and bullets". That's not to say I think we should have sat out of WWII. I even argued with someone on my campus who said, and this is almost a direct quote: "Well, my grandfather flew a B-17 over Europe, and he never killed a civilian, unlike the a**holes in the Air Force are doing in Iraq". It was all I could do not to punch the stupid f***er.
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Originally posted by: K1052
Places NOT to be sent in WWII.

1. Russian front
2. Russian front
3. Russian front


I spy Mosin Nagants. M38s, M44s, M91/30s, and a couple M91/30 PU snipers (AND a PE sniper). Lots of PPSCHs too.
Don't forget

4. Japanese POW Camp
5. Japanese POW Camp
6. Japanese POW Camp
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,833
46,685
136
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Originally posted by: K1052
Places NOT to be sent in WWII.

1. Russian front
2. Russian front
3. Russian front


I spy Mosin Nagants. M38s, M44s, M91/30s, and a couple M91/30 PU snipers (AND a PE sniper). Lots of PPSCHs too.
Don't forget

4. Japanese POW Camp
5. Japanese POW Camp
6. Japanese POW Camp

Yes, thats not a ton of fun either.

I like how they transported prisoners in unmarked ships. Resulting in some of them being sunk by US subs and aircraft killing many of the POWs.:|
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Its good to see the number of views and replies to this thread. Its important for people to remember the history and what has happened. More importantly, veterans of these wars are dying off faster by the day then they did in the Wars themselves. Damned sad really. :(
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,880
2,042
126
Originally posted by: K1052
Yes, thats not a ton of fun either.

I like how they transported prisoners in unmarked ships. Resulting in some of them being sunk by US subs and aircraft killing many of the POWs.:|
The Japanese were absolutely horrible during World War II. Worse than the Nazis in my opinion.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: K1052
Yes, thats not a ton of fun either.

I like how they transported prisoners in unmarked ships. Resulting in some of them being sunk by US subs and aircraft killing many of the POWs.:|
The Japanese were absolutely horrible during World War II. Worse than the Nazis in my opinion.

Stalin > all
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,880
2,042
126
Originally posted by: Shockwave
Stalin > all
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

You know, I have this DVD set called "Why We Fight: WW2", and it has a whole part dedicated to showing soldiers how awesome the Soviet Union is. They're an industrious people with happy children and beautiful girls.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: Shockwave
Stalin > all
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

You know, I have this DVD set called "Why We Fight: WW2", and it has a whole part dedicated to showing soldiers how awesome the Soviet Union is. They're an industrious people with happy children and beautiful girls.

Ahhh, a perfect world does exist..... ;)
 

djheater

Lifer
Mar 19, 2001
14,637
2
0
War is hell.

One should remember though that war doesn't compare to the damge caused by disease.

Consider the plague of Justinian, or the Spanish Flu. Awareness of these catastrophes should compel us to set aside our petty differences and work toward the elimination of pestilence.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,833
46,685
136
Originally posted by: Shockwave
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: K1052
Yes, thats not a ton of fun either.

I like how they transported prisoners in unmarked ships. Resulting in some of them being sunk by US subs and aircraft killing many of the POWs.:|
The Japanese were absolutely horrible during World War II. Worse than the Nazis in my opinion.

Stalin > all

Patton was right.

We should have reformed and rearmed the Wehrmacht under close allied command and started East. Cut off from allied supplies and support, Russia would have crumbled in months. There would have been a number of Eastern European countries eager to help.
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,880
2,042
126
Originally posted by: K1052
Patton was right.

We should have reformed and rearmed the Wehrmacht under close allied command and started East. Cut off from allied supplies and support, Russia would have crumbled in months. There would have been a number of Eastern European countries eager to help.
Yep.

We also should have gone into China from Korea. I don't know why we let China walk all over us like that.
 

Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: K1052
Patton was right.

We should have reformed and rearmed the Wehrmacht under close allied command and started East. Cut off from allied supplies and support, Russia would have crumbled in months. There would have been a number of Eastern European countries eager to help.
Yep.

We also should have gone into China from Korea. I don't know why we let China walk all over us like that.


Because Bush wasnt in office..... :D
 

PanzerIV

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2002
6,875
1
0
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: K1052
Yes, thats not a ton of fun either.

I like how they transported prisoners in unmarked ships. Resulting in some of them being sunk by US subs and aircraft killing many of the POWs.:|
The Japanese were absolutely horrible during World War II. Worse than the Nazis in my opinion.

In general, I think the SS was as evil as the average Japanese soldier could be as opposed to the Wehrmacht regular units. Granted none of them were innocent by any stretch of the imagination but the SS and Japanese troops were certainly fearful for their exploits and unfailing devotion to their causes.
I've read and seen pictures of atrocities by both that made my skin crawl like the SS lining up civilians by a big trench and nonchalantly shooting them in the head then queing up the next poor victim. Of course the Japanese also had an abominal record like shooting prisoners on marches to POW camps among many other things. :(

I saw a fascinating show on the History Channel I think it was that explained why the concentration camps were put into place and the reason wasn't as cut and dry as you would think. Himmler had blood splattered on him during an execution once and he was actually a frail, sickly type and it upset him greatly.
Using carbon monoxide from automobiles was tried as well but was time consuming and ineffectual so the plan to introduce the camps came into fruition. Mass and effective killing factories in the German tradition of efficiency.
 

PanzerIV

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2002
6,875
1
0
Originally posted by: Nik
1941, shooted down soviet bomber
Apparently, grammar is hell too.


The guy is Russian so English isn't his first language. I think he did just fine in conveying his thoughts. I sure as hell couldn't translate Russian let alone do it without grammar errors.