Who's Sorry Now? (Great Military Blunders Documentary) | Timeline

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cinema's didn't show this film in wartime Britain it depicts the Japanese army on bicycles sending the British into retreat it wasn't the first reverse the British had suffered since 1939 but it was perhaps the most humiliating it happened because the British commander broke one of the cardinal rules of warfare never underestimate your enemy armies have different ways of under estimating their enemies they assume they can out gun them or outmaneuver them they believe their will to win is stronger but theirs is the fete Accord but the most dangerous mistake is unthinking prejudice content for an enemy based on who he is and what he looks like often proves [Music] in the heyday of empire 12,000 British troops invaded the Zulu nation the British were anxious to develop Southern Africa the Zulus were in the way a short cheap war was the answer at the Battle of Rorke's gripped British bullishness seemed justified here thousands of Africans were held at bay by a small band of British soldiers who as a result were immortalized in painting poetry and film much less is that of the battle that immediately preceded it this is Istanbul Bonner [Music] [Applause] [Music] here on the 25th of January 1879 the unthinkable happened a Zulu army wiped out an entire British force in a battle the British had always expected to win the British were not just out numbered that day they were outsmarted I think that there's a psychology which pervades the British which resulted in this catastrophe and it manifests itself in in a complacency and an underestimation of the enemy attributing attributing them was little more than being brave savage Google the British force under the command of Lord Chancellor a friend of Queen Victoria was heading for a Zulu Commodore chumford decided to set up camp for one night at the foot of a Sandra Juana so unconcerned was Chancellor the barber zulus read that he failed to take even the most elementary precautions Chelmsford failed to increase the camp's he did not dig a peripheral trench around the borders of that camp now this was the stipulation in the general order and by not doing so he effectively disobeyed the standing instruction Chelmsford was to be flayed in history for not influencing this cap he fails to draw his wagons into a defensive arrangement a lager Chelmsford was to be crucified in history for not blogging [Music] this is a Content procore to certain arrogance in superior very professional on well-trained and how could this possibly have happened against the British in the campaign such as this is absolutely inexplicable the British soldiers who invaded Zulu land knew themselves to be the most powerful fighting force in the world the British Army really from top to bottom from Lord Chelmsford down to the ordinary soldier had an innate belief in their own superiority they felt that their white skins and they disciplined in their technological superiority actually made them pretty much superior to anybody of course it was the reality is over there far by far better I'm doing deserters in any case you might say it's an element of racism but still this is just a bunch of savages to know perhaps they thought but they should be my builds get in all directions but they're quite shocked to find that it wasn't the case the king of the Zulu nation did not want this war but he was prepared for it the Zulus had a proud military tradition the king's army was taken seriously by those who'd seen it in action white settlers had worn chumford of Zulu prowess their speed and endurance their ability to fight in large numbers skillfully deployed but chance firs only African experiences had been in the Eastern Cape where his enemy had used hit-and-run guerrilla tactics he was convinced the Zulus would want to fight in the same way that he would have to force them out never thinking that the zulus might want to face him John flirt sent out a patrol to find them yeah we actually see the Zulu army using tactics which today that very day we use in battle they put in a masking movement this guard saw this puny little patrol approaching the vanguard of the Zulu army what do they do they sent out Scout to access bait and invited us patrol to fire a few fleeting shots at them before disappearing into the long grass the poem is reputed to have said that the general who makes the fewest mistakes wins the battle Zulu generals undoubtedly made the fewest mistakes if one starts to tell you those two British and finds a very considerable list at 1:30 that night Jung had heard that his patrol had encountered the Zulus he gave orders for half his force to prepare to leave the camp at 4:30 Chun had led his men out to join up with the patrol chums Berg was leading the camp at half strength and taking his forces in the wrong direction the Zulu decoy had worked there the picnic attitude towards the whole thing and I think that is very traumatized by the fact that sir not chumps for a chance for himself had breakfast that morning I mean with all the silver and things that shows the the disdain clearly there is an element of disdain in the attitude the day of the battle began with chums but miles away chumford left Lieutenant Colonel Henry poulain in command of the camp palain was essentially a military bureaucrat he had never heard a shot fired in anger hindi playing within his tent which is next to Chelmsford stead at this moment a picket a lookout comes in from that Ridgeline on the skyline with rather a startling message he salutes Perlane and he says Colonel plane there are thousands of Zulus on the top of that platter and they're apparently advancing towards the left front of the santillana camp and palain walked across to where the men were having their breakfast and he ordered them to leave their breakfast and they were told to form up in a skirmishing line to face the threat the soldiers grumbled at having to interrupt their breakfast neither they nor their officers seemed concerned [Music] one of the officers he survived worked home afterwards well we had seen equally large bodies of men on the Cape frontier and we were not alarmed in the least so we never dreamed for a moment that the Zulus would come on and attack us they should have been worried very worried the main zulu army 25,000 strong was camped just four miles away once again an absolute brilliant fashion the duties managed to affect the ultimate in surprise there was behind this plateaus of the messed Sulu Army lay hidden and some sources reckoned perhaps as many as a number of days before the back of this and runner went down the Zuna may not Army was already hidden there at 11:30 the British patrol headed up to the plateau they were about to get the shock of their lives one feels once heckles rides with these men say dear God suddenly we had to rein in our horses to prevent our horses from falling into a huge valley and they gazed aghast at what was in this valley below and beyond them stretching off along the course of that Ingrid ministry off in an easterly direction as far as the eye could see packed in a squatting an absolute silence upon their great war shield regimented by discipline regimen with the Zulus of the main sinew honey what a moment that must have be when the British patrols or the Zulu army out of desperation of stupidity the 30 men fired on the 25,000 suitors the Zulu response was immediate and killing regiment by regiment the whole army began to move the patrols led back towards the camp with one flank of the Zulu army giving full chase the news soon weak and we blame blames attitude in this moment was I have got 1774 men of these men a thousand of veteran soldiers equipped with modern reach loading lever action martini-henry rifle these rifles can deliver 12 rounds per man per minute they can fire accurately a 600 grain slug of lead accurately at ranges up to 800 yards I put it to you that Poland's attitude in this tent is roll on Zulu roll on and will sums up lighters in the open you [Music] the British soldiers began their well-rehearsed procedures but the Zulus had more surprises in store at 12:40 one of the men suddenly glanced away from the Zulu attack the traditional Zulu tactic known as the horns of the buffalo was moving inexorably into position the second flank of the Zulu army had appeared India was rule Jagadamba would be important to this risk by this route a Ile de caña it is ultra fubá Sai Baba Amr bootiful Mata mammogram - mud pimple dog LS soon the horns of the Buffalo and the chest were firmly established the next stage as the horns close is called eating the enemy [Music] Zulu tactics require them to charge right into the math fire path of the British Army the casualty rate was enormous but still they kept coming another factor for coming to play on the Zulu side motivation everybody knew that this was a foreign army coming into Zulu territory this was somebody who had broken the doors down of the house and had invaded that was realized by the men before who fought this war and who had to run across this valley to get close enough to those guns to kill the people firing them call it a charge if you will can you imagine charging that system across this valley into the PIA turned into rifle fire rank volley firing very difficult thing to do this was chasing the burglars out but then the Zulu advance faltered the martini-henry rifles were having the desired effect they're certainly a point fairly early in the battle when the British seem to be winning the men seem to be in good spirits they were laughing and joking and convinced they were giving the blacks an awful hammering and there's very much a feeling again that this battle is going to go the way that the British wanted to go the Zulus were pinned down unable to move forward hiding in the long grass then from the ridge an old Zulu chief strode onto the battlefield in front of the crowds warriors and screamed them to move forward your King never ordered you to lie down he ordered you to fight way economy cosine wave avuncular baba Oh what my Z is even Donella phenomena Ganesha exactly but we were we print out our atomizer man Aparna why why tones would hang gaining upon odd in the rubric or Tabata a pair is a problem posed honestly of a fella called the Zulus move forward the horns closed faced with the full weight of the zulu force the british line broke there are stories of men running out of ammunition stories of guns jamming stories of naked contingents running away [Music] but as the zulus advance the British mine broke seeing why of the doodle general from the vantage point up on the ridge watched his fine work this was his finest hour this was an enormous battle this battle had its moment when it might even have been a British victory but all those things that make good Sadri came into play good tactics good men use of the ground mobility communication and the British were sort on many of those and the Zulus were long on many of those and the Zulus carried the day I am convinced that we have to appraise this battle accordingly we have to stop looking at as a British defeat and disaster overwhelming numbers of of of savages coming over the hills darkening the azure skies with clouds of a so guys go and read the poetry of this period forget it these were brave intelligent human beings and intelligent command executing brilliantly issued commands brilliantly and they carried it off in two hours all over one British Army finished [Music] the ordinary soldiers had no chance they were outnumbered and outmaneuvered in groups and alone they fell [Music] when reports of shooting being heard in the camp reached Lord Chelmsford they were airily dismissed our amazing said one of his officers and then in the final moments of the battle the skies darkened there was an eclipse several hours later Chelmsford returned he found mostly bodies to greet him 1300 of his men had been killed most of the men who fought this battle were in fact trapped trapped by the idiocy and the arrogance of their officers unable to go anywhere else and were caught isolated without horses to get away like so many of the officers and we're sorted here that's something that's forgotten if somehow this a devoted band against this mountain I think much more tragic than that [Music] Jones woods failure to recognize the ability of his enemy that cost his men dearly it's something that plagues the European armies for a very long time indeed and it is a really great mistake because what those people who think that way don't understand is it doesn't actually matter where you come from or what color you are what actually matters is how well-trained you are and how well led you are that's all that matters in Britain is sandal wanna was seen as an aberration no lesson was learned even in the next century British armies and British officers were still paying the price for under estimating their enemies in 1942 General Arthur Percival was about to oversee one of the greatest British defeats of modern times Percival misled himself about the strength and intentions of his enemy and in doing so took away his men's will to fight before the war Singapore was Britain stronghold in the Far East in the 30s Britain had turned the island into a giant fortress a huge naval base defended by enormous guns pointing in the direction from which everyone assumed the enemy would come the sea well you know all along we were told Singapore would never fall it's a pride British Empire you know there you have all the big guns you know facing the sea and if an image was to come from the sea were left no chance no chance against uniformed based on Singapore's but never for such a strong fortress British confidence reign supreme they even knew who the enemy would be but saw no real threat the Japanese were regarded as little man with short-sighted scared of heights inability to control machinery people who bought very poor bits of machinery in wisdom which was course all psychological nonsense and they believed that all Japan's invasion of China in 1937 should have been a warning but the belief in British superiority persisted they know from observers watching the Japanese in the war in China they're very hardly frugal soldiers who may be ok behave in a very brutal way but they were highly efficient as well but like so often happens and I can quote other examples people look at the intelligence and don't actually believe what they're seeing because it doesn't suit them and again this comes back to those of under estimating the enemy it's often assumed that the Japanese invasion tactics took the British completely by surprise it's certainly true that all those seaward pointing guns turned out to be pointing the wrong way but in fact it had been known for years that plans for the defense of Singapore were hopelessly wrong [Music] for most of its history it had been impossible for an invader to approach Singapore except by sea to the north was Malaya a country covered by impenetrable jungle forming a natural defensive barrier to the island but Malaya had developed as a major supplier of the world's rather now roads crisscrossed the forests providing access of businessman traders and invaders road networks were built the railway was expanded jungle was cleared for rubber plantation and by the middle to late 1930s it did become possible to think of an invader moving through Malaya down towards Singapore in 1937 the British even commissioned the report that predicted exactly how the Japanese would invade but the government reluctant to spend money still convinced the Japanese posed no threat if nothing Lieutenant General Arthur Percival was the army commander in Singapore he had been a staff officer in the 30s and had played a major part in writing the 1937 report but he believed he could do nothing to force the government to act you would have thought that personal would have immediately started to kick up a tremendous fuss about how he couldn't hope to defend Malaya and Singapore with such an under strength army but Percival was the only term I can use a true company man and he'd tried to do what he thought was the best he could with what he had I think Percival was too weak as a leader he'd been a very brave battalion commander in the First World War but that I think was about his level he was also actually quite intolerant he was intolerant of some of the people he commanded but heading into Staff College he was in a way a sort of mixture of a military snob and a guy who actually is a bit weak when it comes to morale things [Music] brigadiere Simpson the chief engineer urged pleaded begged personal to go ahead with a program fortifications and sixty centers on both occasions Percival either rejected outright or hesitated fatally on the grounds that building defenses would be bad for morale and it might encourage in the troops a kind of sit on your butt in the trench and do not go out and fight the enemy mentality there was simply no meeting of the minds between Simpson and first of all and this turned out to be tragic because Simpson got it exactly right I think you've got to be honest with your troops and say this is the threat and this is how we're going to go about beating them because if you depth if you down today and then these people turn out to be exceedingly efficient and exceedingly dangerous and formidable effect on the morale earn troops home intervals and these guys on the problem and suddenly they are is pretty shattering on the 8th of December 1941 in the early hours of the morning the Japanese launched their invasion everything goes right for the Japanese everything goes wrong for the British and the key to it for both is speed the Japanese destroy all the basic defense plans for Malaya in four days in a hundred hours 200 miles away in Singapore amazingly there was little alarm all the lights are on in Singapore old guns really doesn't say the code on my Christmas was the best Christmas forever by then they've got these silhouettes of German soldiers so all the shooting stars older them and while though I dropped in Malaya refusing for the lies with me shooting Pathan was on Singapore social life was going on as the Japanese were advancing down the peninsula parties were still being held in the raffles hotel where the masses were full was a kind of blind belief that the Japanese were going to be somehow easily turned back at some point down the Malayan financial and that they really wouldn't have to worry in Singapore but Churchill was worried he sent our two battleships the Prince of Wales under repulse but within days of their arrival the Japanese had sunk both of them the Air Force was practically decimated and the entire Defence Force on the run general Wavell the new commander of the Pacific chose this moment to visit possible general Wavell put to him directly and bluntly the question why haven't you done anything about this and Percival replied I was afraid this would suggest to the civilians that we wouldn't be able to hold out upcountry it would be bad for their morale Wavell and you can understand his frustration said acidly it's going to be a hell of a lot worse for their morale when Japanese troops start pouring across the causeway and along an undefended coast as the Japanese neared the island the bombing raids intensified finally the dances of the raffles hotel came to an end a great poll of black smoke hangs over the island bodies are lying in the streets the hospitals are overrun with injured from the bombings and also from the from the fighting in the north the Japanese then start dropping incendiary bombs one of them hits an Indian hospital 700 people burnt to death in that hospital and it gets really beyond all control months the water gives out Percival's wilted to stand and fight has simply been no cripple [Music] Parsifal ordered his troops back off the causeway onto the island to sit and wait for the Japanese to arrive what happened here in Singapore was for the British Empire and its armies nothing knew they'd seen it before it had happened at Bunker Hill in Boston it had happened at by sanjuana in southern Africa British Empire armies paid a terrible price for not taking seriously enough an enemy which didn't look like them dressed like them act like them fight like them the disaster that began at Bunker Hill marked the end of Britain's first Empire the disaster that reached its climax here in Singapore in the long run marked the end of its last [Music] as the Japanese pounded the island British morale plummeted furious of the lack of defense operations many soldiers had lost the will to fight by the time the Japanese set foot on Singapore Percival had effectively beaten his own army Percival's army literally disintegrated than his hands as the troops concluded having been disappointed time and again that their higher commanders simply did not know what they were doing we're not giving them any chance to put up any sort of a meaningful flight and took matters into their own hands many soldiers tried to get on the last ships as they left there were even stories of women and children pushed out of the way by deserters others simply drifted into the docks area looted got drunk and refused to return to the line of fire I doubt that Percival had more than 60% of his army in line under orders ready to fight on the day he finally surrendered general Yamashita set up his headquarters in the Ford Motor Factory he instructed Percival to meet him and bring a white flag Percival's signed away British influence in the Far East and committed himself and his men to Japanese prison camps Perceval survived imprisonment but many never returned those who fought and those who gave up were all treated the same they had all lost in the annals of military blunders fatal overconfidence was never confined to the British other armies founded just as hard to learn the lessons that resulted from under estimating your enemy and after World War 2 that sense of superiority was bolstered by huge technological advances in military hardware Western armies often underestimate their opponents there is very often a tendency to believe in technology that technology is the arms that technology is the panacea it enables you to hold the enemy at arm's length to punish him without him being able to punish you and an over reliance on technology on firepower on airpower on modern logistics often lies at the heart of a Western armies defeat by an outside army by what Kipling would have called lesser bleeds without the law this is the army that took on the greatest superpower in the world and refused to be beaten this is the army that throughout its colonizers this is the army of Vietnam this is the French army but thought it could beat them and this is the garrison they thought would protect them this is the fortress of d-m d-m food and this is the battle the French lost the Vietnamese victory at dn bein Phu would bring down the French government and the colonization of Vietnam and sow the seeds of war with America but in 1953 the French was still confident they knew their days in Vietnam were numbered but did not want to leave the country to the Communists the Indian food with the answer [Music] a seven-mile air Armada began the process 2,000 French paratroopers landed 200 miles behind enemy lines they were going to fortify a series of hills around a runway the man behind the plan general on reason gem Navarre was building a massive base right in the heart of enemy territory from here Lavar intended either to hunt out the enemy or draw them on two massive French fire fire constantly resupplied by a yo-yo Sabu Pranava or disaster Jacques Indian food office Montaigne one or two on our take on daesh Olivia took a solid figure I see that against that one the tower most people would Allah Pranava actually live yet they did it's really what I don't forget be inferred it was he the far appointed the aristocratic Colonel Christian Marie Verdun all the Lacroix the country as head of the garrison country is reputed once to have said to make life sweet a man needs a horse to ride an enemy to kill and a woman to bed [Music] his opponents took a more austere approach to warfare 8,000 Vietnamese communists died at TN Bien Phu as it is and Awana their motivation was to make all the difference regarding women captain having harmful new rank Akuma who gotcha Johnny ninamarie na na Roy Makaay takishi report negative [Music] neva had chosen a heart-shaped valley in the remote northwest of the country as the setting for the showdown each of the fortified hills was given a girl's name le Anne Dominique Gabrielle under if they are tres it was rumored they were named after de Castries mistresses [Music] in the dying days of Empire the French believed they held all the military advantages they had the guns and the plane the Vietnamese did not [Music] this is the man who would defeat the French General von yenge at he had to get his forces to dien bien phu and support them he set about planning one of the greatest logistical feats in military history I think the French II didn't believe that yet would be able to bring guns and ammunition all the way that he had to do in order to the siege it and eventually destroy it yeah had quite clearly a soft out where the French weakness lay and I think he was a very great general and he out general the French Jeff was well aware the French thought the Vietnamese were powerless to stop them he knew they were wrong the navarre plan relied on the ability of the French to add gun and our supply the Vietnamese the French hoped that by getting Jap out into the open they could bring overwhelming force to bear and destroy him utterly and of course actually when they did get him out there he destroyed them utterly because he was able to support his army they were not thousands and thousands of Vietnamese villages were set to work job had to move his applied some 400 miles to get the D&B and food he would do it by foot and by bicycle amazingly he was planning to surround the French base with an army of 40,000 they would all have to be fed motive we follow the in Capitola Johar I do him house hire donít enjoy Conkeldurr LUN toca la Faisal home patroller now all my camcorder linear for the remote control include any mental man xalapa Chappelle I'm Jaclyn I'm Raymond kilo thousands of weapons were dismantled and pushed on bicycles adapted with bamboo rods the Vietnamese were creating the first Ho Chi Minh Trail this time they would out with the French years later the second Oh Chi Minh Trail would out with the Americans altogether some 300,000 people were involved in the huge logistical life [Music] Jeff had acquired large 105 millimeter guns from the Russians and the Chinese the French never expected to face them at Tian Bien Phu Moab disease Jeff very suitable Indian food people control a revival very conscious about higher Honorable Minister knowing I'd appreciate a tequila scenario sequence they supposed to loop from a month away properly even work available for SEPA kibbutz coat on top say exactitude on you in bed for conjugates three months after the French had first landed at GNB an Fuu jabbed launched his major attack the artillery brought hundreds of miles across country had a devastating effect on the French artillery fire any back has an impact which is psychological as well as physical an enemy that can reach into the heart of your position that can flatten bunkers rip up the wire change contours is clearly very powerful and it's all more damaging as you father undersold the enemy up until there and that's what happened is at the end and food proves the garrison that they are dealing with a very powerful opponent indeed the French artillery officer Colonel D road was beside himself he had claimed the Vietnamese would never have done the French in desperation he took a hand grenade and committed suicide a French force of 17,000 was now surrounded by an enemy three times its size but the French still hoped that their air power and superior technology would win the day and general Jap learned not to underestimate that advantage jab followed the artillery barrage with wave after wave of infantry assaults on the fortified positions but he realized that the human cost was too high nail DiPalma Lagoon hey Logan Canyon Canyon yiddishe momme bola de l'amour que my mom uses alcohol Tara Bulbul Tara head formula Tanana some point potato sunjammer no the toiler was going to quit the connectome stock order he do it on [Music] Jeff was going to Rindge endian fool with trenches to get closer and closer to the French you can go for profitable German Latin otoko didn't demote I can't even city criminal he was a midget they knew not to litter cabin integrity he's a crowd or could hit my zoom super played zoo quilt agenda these are not minor doubt is what who called I've got nada City none of yes the how the repositories mathematics it took me kalamata within a month the trench diggers had cut right through the runway the French lifeline now there was no way out of G M VN foo parishes crops were now the only means of supplying the garrison once again the French had underestimated their enemy job not only had anti-aircraft guns he also had highly-trained gun crews the Vietnamese fire fought the relief planes to fly higher and higher causing more and more supplies to fall into the wrong hands soon the Vietnamese had stocks of French brandy French cheese and french weapons the Vietnamese even got the medals of promotion meant for de Castries the garrison was beginning to run out of food out of Medicine and out of ammunition the orders were however to hold out losing the fortress was simply unthinkable the siege of Jin bein Phu lasted for 56 days and as conditions in the French bunkers worsened so did morale to cut 3 the commander withdrew into his bunker refusing to speak to anyone the Marat must have been pretty low actually when you think that there was no way out the last aircraft to take out wounded was about 6 weeks before the end and so the wounded had nowhere to go except lying filthy half waterlogged excreta filled maggot ridden bunkers in the monsoon waiting for death one by one Gabrielle Beatrice le on and all the 49 defensive sites fell for 750 machine-gun posts and 500 tons of barbed wire could not stop Japs forces yeah hey Susie still otário comando vision pasa pasa pasa Victoria da real enemy comes our division offensive rascal visit a cosmetology material and on lizard venereal dr. Kimia Mallory first long visitation merger today John phonetic present any leadership they are yet come on si como su estado visitors where PA al-qaradawi - whoa la patate goddamn you patroller 82 later so literature will repeal the bill Van Winkle of the two nearing bow it is CT image of the got the obligatory Anna will cool down our computer will make them the sacrifice we will go to have involve isn't over - sorry what I what I mean I love kuru it hello the garganta to hold Ohio who lose I will infer David I'm going on gym class no Togo via de Milo how do Laden waha during a cholera syncope at a casino ah the French forces at Dien Bien Phu had been largely financed by the United States the Vietnamese victory had caught France a colony and America 385 million dollars in the end it was to caught the Americans very much more they would bog themselves down in a war they couldn't win they too would pay the price for under estimating the enemy [Music] defeat and underestimation go hand in hand sometimes it's ignorant that leads to content but it seems just as frequently to arise from arrogance and that arrogance doesn't stop even with defeat as the losers remake the victors in their own image there's a similar sort of swing that goes on in the attitude of the western army to its opponent that happens at excel DeWanna at Singapore and AD Indian food the Westerners start by under estimating there and then when they actually replace that abstract underestimation with a very concrete view of what the enemies like the estimate veers in the other direction they then tend to overestimate the enemy there is after all no no great merit in being beaten by somebody who's loudly proclaimed is very low quality so if you're going to lose a battle in the campaign it was much to be said for then saying goodness me this is a this is an annual admirable enemy a noble warrior [Music] you you you

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Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 488,468

Rating: 4.6971855 out of 5

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Length: 48min 27sec (2907 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 29 2017

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