A few come to mind like Pearl Harbor, Battle of the Bulge, Tet Offensive.
Walker spy ring as well. I believe I read somewhere that someone high up in our defense department stated that for a while the Russians had "war winning" information from those traitors, especially WRT the Navy.Mr. AGSPRT04 said:
The 2008 election? j/k...kinda
9/11
Robert Hanssen
Would that occasion be more of a MacArthur failure than an intelligence failure?BQ08 said:
Chinese entry into the Korean War would be up there for sure.
Bite your tongue.JoeAggie1010 said:Would that occasion be more of a MacArthur failure than an intelligence failure?BQ08 said:
Chinese entry into the Korean War would be up there for sure.
BQ is right on. A runner up for 2nd Place would be having 9 hours warning that the Japanese Empire had launched a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor and would probably attack the Philippines the very next day, and doing nothing to prepare for it. Then promptly getting shellacked by the Japanese right on schedule.Quote:Would that occasion be more of a MacArthur failure than an intelligence failure?Quote:
BQ08 said:
Chinese entry into the Korean War would be up there for sure.
He knew exactly what was down there. He was just too big to fail in his own mind.BQ_90 said:
Little Big Horn on the micro scale
Truman made the decision with MacArthur's recommendation. But that's not the intelligence failure. Determining enemy thought processes is the most difficult part of intelligence, because you're interpreting decisions that you don't have access to, as opposed to actual verifiable facts.Quote:
I thought it was Truman, not MacArthur, who took the decision to pursue the North Koreans across the 38th parallel, thus bringing the Chinese into the war?
One of two times the Union Navy gunboats bailed the Union Army out of a very tight jam. The other was also in 1862 with McClellan at Malvern Hill.BQ78 said:
While we're at it Grant at Shiloh was a pretty bad failure.
BQ78 said:
Bailed out by the navy and Buell/Pope, how weak was that sauce?
Agree. Not only that, the GRU had Richard Sorge as an agent in Tokyo, he had proven very reliable and well connected, and he advised about the pending invasion several times and Stalin dismissed the info. Later, he provided the USSR with info verifying that the Japs would not attack the USSR, or at least it was not planned, and that enabled Stalin to free up large numbers of troops and materiel for the war against the Nazi's. This was a significant component of the Russian victory.Quote:
Stalin's inability to see Operation Barbarossa. The signs were numerous and obvious, but not only would Stalin not see them, he attacked those people who gave him the news, accusing them of lying to him as part of some conspiracy. What resulted was the greatest, most violent theater in the greatest war in history. If the Russian/German conflict was its own stand alone war, it would STILL be the largest in history.
As I recall, they didn't even have the planes dispersed, nor ready for combat, etc. The pilots should have been sleeping under the wings, and every gun position with a crew 24/7.Quote:
I don't think the attack on the Philippines was an intelligence failure. All they were told was that Pearl Harbor was attacked and not when the attack would come. The air force launched planes and some were on patrol. Shortly after they landed the attack came.