Posted on May 19, 2015
What was the greatest victory of outnumbered forces in U.S. military history?
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1SG Michael Blount
MAJ (Join to see) - This country has produced some outstanding military leaders, and Chesty is right up there with them.
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Taffy 3 in the Battle off Samar gets my vote:
"Taffy 3"
6 escort carriers,
3 destroyers,
4 destroyer escorts
Japanese Center Force
4 battleships,
6 heavy cruisers,
2 light cruisers,
11 destroyers,
"Taffy 3"
6 escort carriers,
3 destroyers,
4 destroyer escorts
Japanese Center Force
4 battleships,
6 heavy cruisers,
2 light cruisers,
11 destroyers,
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It's hard to argue with the battles at Bastogne (WWII) and La Drang Valley (Vietnam), however there are others worth mentioning. Allow me to add the battle at Chip yong ni, referred to as the Gettysburg of the Korean War at which the Chinese juggnernaut (human wave attacks) were finally stopped by an American brigade (reinforced by a battalion of French Legionnaires) outnumbered more than 15 to 1.
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I'm thinking Hamburger Hill. The NVA were dug in above the 101st Airborne. The battle lasted ten days with many casualties on both sides.
U.S. losses during the ten-day battle totaled 72 KIA and 372 WIA. To take the position, the 101st Airborne Division eventually committed five infantry battalions and ten batteries of artillery. In addition, the U.S. Air Force flew 272 missions and expended more than 500 tons of ordnance.
U.S. estimates of the losses incurred by the 7th and 8th Battalions of the 29th NVA Regiment included 630 dead (discovered on and around the battlefield); including many found in makeshift mortuaries within the tunnel complex. Yet no one could count the NVA running off the mountain, those killed by artillery and air strikes, the wounded and dead carried into Laos or the dead buried in collapsed bunkers and tunnels.[3] During the ten-day battle, U.S. forces captured 89 individual weapons and 22 crew‑served weapons.[1]
U.S. losses during the ten-day battle totaled 72 KIA and 372 WIA. To take the position, the 101st Airborne Division eventually committed five infantry battalions and ten batteries of artillery. In addition, the U.S. Air Force flew 272 missions and expended more than 500 tons of ordnance.
U.S. estimates of the losses incurred by the 7th and 8th Battalions of the 29th NVA Regiment included 630 dead (discovered on and around the battlefield); including many found in makeshift mortuaries within the tunnel complex. Yet no one could count the NVA running off the mountain, those killed by artillery and air strikes, the wounded and dead carried into Laos or the dead buried in collapsed bunkers and tunnels.[3] During the ten-day battle, U.S. forces captured 89 individual weapons and 22 crew‑served weapons.[1]
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What a great subject for a discussion. How did we ever miss this idea? I'm going to second SGT James Allen answer.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/the-uss-samuel-b-roberts-the-destroyer-escort-that-fought-like-a-battleship
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/the-uss-samuel-b-roberts-the-destroyer-escort-that-fought-like-a-battleship
The USS Samuel B. Roberts. "The destroyer escort that fought like a battleship." | RallyPoint
If David and Goliath met on the sea.......... The destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts participated in the Battle off Samar, an unlikely victory in which relatively light U.S. warships prevented a superior Japanese force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the large Philippine island of Leyte. This destroyer escort, along with the handful of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers of the unit called "Taffy 3", was...
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Lt Robert Edlin, 2nd Rangers. he and 4 other rangers went scouting for a way to capture the Graf Spee Coastal battery in September 1944.
His team navigated a minefield and managed to get undiscovered to a German pillbox, a firefight ensued and captured the pillbox and its commander.
Lt Edlin and his translator then took the pillbox commander and forced him to take them to the Graf Spee battery under the ruse that the pillbox commander needed to talk to the battery commander, as soon as the door was opened, Lt Edlin rushed in, unpinned a grenade and placed it on the Battery's commander belly, forcing him to surrender the Battery without firing a single shot.
Lt Edlin single handedly captured a German Coastal Battery, consisting of 4 - 280mm guns, several pillboxes, ammo magazines, etc. and the entore garrison of more than 800 German Soldiers.
Did I say single handedly?
Lt Edlin is a Ranger Hall of Fame inductee. Lt Edlin was put in for the MoH, but since one of the requirements was that he would have to be placed in a CONUS unit, he officially declined to accept it in order to remain with his Rangers.
His team navigated a minefield and managed to get undiscovered to a German pillbox, a firefight ensued and captured the pillbox and its commander.
Lt Edlin and his translator then took the pillbox commander and forced him to take them to the Graf Spee battery under the ruse that the pillbox commander needed to talk to the battery commander, as soon as the door was opened, Lt Edlin rushed in, unpinned a grenade and placed it on the Battery's commander belly, forcing him to surrender the Battery without firing a single shot.
Lt Edlin single handedly captured a German Coastal Battery, consisting of 4 - 280mm guns, several pillboxes, ammo magazines, etc. and the entore garrison of more than 800 German Soldiers.
Did I say single handedly?
Lt Edlin is a Ranger Hall of Fame inductee. Lt Edlin was put in for the MoH, but since one of the requirements was that he would have to be placed in a CONUS unit, he officially declined to accept it in order to remain with his Rangers.
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