Top 10 Cancelled MILITARY Operations That
Would’ve CHANGED EVERYTHING 10. Operation Tannenbaum The Plot: Despite its neutrality, Switzerland
was expecting to be invaded at any time, and had actually raised the draft age to 60 to
add more soldiers to defend the country. Hitler promised to respect their neutrality,
but the Swiss knew better, especially after he started to invade other non-enemy countries
like the Soviet Union. Hitler even told Italian diplomats “Switzerland
possessed the most disgusting and miserable people and political system. The Swiss were the mortal enemies of the new
Germany.” Why It Didn’t Happen: This is still a mystery. Hitler was expected to go in at any time,
with Germans and Italian forces massed on the border and Switzerland ready to start
fighting house to house warfare, but he never pushed the button. This may have been due to the Allies landing
in North Africa, or the Soviet Union proving to be a handful. But this was also due to the fact that almost
every household in Switzerland had at least one gun, due to national service for all males. They would slow advances with potshots, possibly
stalling the troops. If It Did Happen: If it was successful, Germany
would have a slight issue. Most Germans did not want to see a neutral
country being taken over, so this would have led to massive internal criticism and disobedience. So much so that, according to many contemporary
German reports, it would have overwhelmed many cities police and armed forces, and would
have weakened Germany. 9. Plan Rubber The Plot: After the Vichy government was installed
in France, German aircraft were now in range of South America through bases in Africa,
with Brazil being a trove of natural resources waiting to be taken. The US government thought that after losing
to Moscow, the Germans might take their anger out West, and into Brazil. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. thought this
plan credible enough to draw up plans to invade Brazil. While planning showed that most coastal cities
could not be taken quickly with beach assaults, the U.S. decided to make formal plans anyway. Especially after they found some evidence
that Brazil’s dictators could side with the Nazis. Called Plan Rubber, battleships were assigned
to the coastal positions and divisions were assigned beaches and cities, eerily similar
to the D-day plans. Queries about Brazilian forces showed how
weak they were. Why It Didn’t Happen: However, the plans
never came to fruition, mostly because Brazil, then on the fence on who to side with, finally
chose the Allies and actually allowed American troops access to air bases and even signed
a defense pact with them. If It Did Happen: The U.S. had a right to
be afraid of Brazil’s Nazi sympathies, especially since neighbor Argentina particularly liked
them. An American attack, demonstrated by exercises
in the States, would have most likely been defeated. And, since the ruler of Brazil didn’t know
who to choose for the longest time, a nation closely associated with Germany’s enemies
attacking Brazil, could have pushed them to go running to Germany for help, especially
with all the Pro-Nazi Brazilians. So if Plan Rubber was initiated, there would
most likely be a third front in World War II, this time in South America. 8. Operation Vulture The Plot: In 1954, the French were busy trying
to defend French Indochina from Communist guerrillas With the country about to fall,
the French asked the Americans to come and rescue the French forces in the region. The head of the French army even flew into
Washington to personally ask President Eisenhower for help. A plan was quickly formulated, in which parts
of Vietnam would become the next Hiroshima. As in, they were going to allow the Americans
to drop three nuclear weapons on Vietnam simultaneously. Why It Didn’t Happen: Hmm, did you miss
the part about the nukes? President Eisenhower was unsure about them,
and called on the Brits for backing on this. When they said no, Eisenhower balked at going
in with only French assistance. If It Did Happen: Nukes would have been dropped
on the major Communist cities, most notably Hanoi. The French and the Americans believed Vietnam
would surrender, and immediately stop the siege of Dien Bien Phu. With a now partially-radiated Vietnam now
back under French control (and France owing the U.S. a huge favor,) U.S. intervention
in Vietnam a decade later would have probably not have happened, sparing the generation
thousands of deaths, and quite possibly not fighting anywhere. Provided the nukes didn’t kill us all anyway. 7. Operation Northwoods The Plot: After the Cuban Missile Crisis,
The American government began to suspect that this Castro fellow in Cuba might be up to
no good. So the U.S. military with help from the CIA,
slapped a plan together, where they would get some loyal Communists from Miami, give
them some cash, weapons and proposed targets, and say “go nuts”. Basically, this would show Americans that
Castro actually wanted to attack the United States, and give them enough credibility for
them to attack Cuba, perhaps with some allied help. Why It Didn’t Happen: When Kennedy read
it, he took one look and pretty much said “Whose insane plan is this!??!?!?” When Joint Chiefs of Staff tried to persuade
him otherwise, the enraged Kennedy, still pretty mad at the CIA and military for using
civilians in missions, simply fired the guy, and the whole Northwoods plan died with him
leaving. If It Did Happen: According to the plans,
an unprovoked attack by Cuba would make international powers side with the Americans. With international support, the US would be
free to attack the recently Communist nation. And, with Cuba at blame, the Soviet Union
couldn’t exactly defend their ally. So if Northwoods did happen, we would be looking
at a Cuban-American war in the early 1960’s. And with a small Army, it is quite likely
Cuba would have been defeated. And since this was to be done before the Cuban
Missile Crisis, that whole debacle would have been averted. 6. Army of the Ocean Coasts The Plot: Napoleon was having fun taking out
Egypt and Austria, until the Peace of Amiens in 1803. Looking for a new target, he eyed his old
enemy, England. Napoleon began a new three-year planning binge,
putting together 200,000 troops, and had his shipyards in France and the Netherlands start
building fleets of ships. Why It Didn’t Happen: France lost the Admiral
who was to take charge of the invasion, due to tuberculosis. And when Napoleon oversaw tests of the huge
battleships to cross the channel, the ships soon sank, leading to many lost ships and
men. While Paris was actually beginning to build
a victory column in preparation for the successful conquest of England, Napoleon began to consider
things that weren’t ships, mostly hot air balloons, and actually prepared the first
air invasion in history. England soon got wind of an attack, and prepared
the coasts for an attack. And then, before an attack could mount, England
struck first, attacking vital French harbors. After Trafalgar, Napoleon had to divert resources
to Spain. If It Did Happen: It would have been the first
airborne invasion ever, even with poorly-made air balloons leading the charge. Assuming that didn’t kill everyone, there
was the rest of England. Leading Napoleonic scholars believe that 2,000
ships full of soldiers would be launched, wiping out any British ships in their path
to London. Considering that there were not many soldiers
at home because of overseas fighting, they would be outnumbered, even with a lot of troops
being recalled. So either Napoleon gets into London or, if
somehow defeated, he turns efforts to other British territory. Either way, today’s maps would probably
not look the same, with a fairly good chance of London being an occupied city for many
years. 5. Huele a Quemado The Plot: In 1977, Panamanian General Omar
Torrijos, and American President Jimmy Carter, were planning how to deal with the Panama
Canal Zone, which was then under American control. After tense negotiations, Carter agreed to
give the Canal back to Panama in 1999, which the US ultimately did. However, if that had failed, Torrijos had
an ace up his sleeve: if Panama couldn’t have it, no one could. Cleverly code-named “Huele a Quemado”
(Spanish for “It smells like something is burning”), the plan stated that, if Panama
didn’t get the Canal Zone back, then it would pretty much attack and destroy the thing. Why It Didn’t Happen: It was signed and
approved in the U.S. Congress by one vote, thus ensuring Panama the canal in 1999 and
none of the “let’s destroy the most valuable trade route in the world at our own expense”
business. If It Did Happen: On average, a few hundred
million tons of shipping per year pass through the Canal, serving every continent, and tolls
from the canal circulate back into the economy. If the canal was blown up, world cargo trade
would be cut at its knees, meaning most probably a bigger recession, Carter losing even more
to Reagan in the 1980 elections, and the VERY strong possibility of the United States invading
Panama in retaliation. 4. Operation Vegetarian The Plot: During World War II, Britain decided
maybe it was time for some out-of-the-box thinking. Thus began the ironically-titled “Operation
Vegetarian.” Started in 1942, Britain devised linseed cakes
filled with anthrax, and dropped them onto German fields. Cattle would then eat them, with the population
then eating the meat and passing the anthrax onto the humans, killing millions and creating
a food shortage. Why It Didn’t Happen: Because the U.K. actually
poisoned themselves in the process. Britain’s initial testing didn’t go so
well, actually contaminating an area of Scotland until 1990. The cakes made were eventually incinerated. Even then, they still had backing from many
military leaders to give it a shot, but it wasn’t worth making more of the UK uninhabitable
with more testing. If It Did Happen: Seeing what it did to Scotland
unintentionally, a part of Germany could have seen major food shortages, with all the cows
suddenly dying from anthrax attacks. With Bavaria, the main target and cattle area,
out of it, troops and civilians would have had even less food to go on, and possibly
surrendered earlier than expected. 3. Operation Downfall The Plot: In case Truman didn’t opt to fire
the atomic bombs, the Allies needed a backup plan to get Japan. Namely, an invasion. Creatively called Operation Downfall, Forces
would go for the bottom Japanese island of Kyushu, and work up. Estimates of American troops lost range from
250,000 to 4 million, if civilians were brought in to defend. 500,000 Purple Hearts were made in preparation,
a number so large that they have supplied every single war since, with about 100,000
still left over. Why It Didn’t Happen: After Truman saw the
numbers of estimated casualties, he decided that nuking would be much easier, and Japan
surrendered in early September, much sooner than the Downfall estimate of fighting until
1947 or so. If It Did Happen: The War Department made
500,000 purple hearts, so they had a good idea how many soldiers would be hurt or killed
in taking over the islands. Also, if an invasion did occur, with the Soviets
coming from the North, Japan would have been taken over by the US, Soviet Union, and China. After the real surrender, the Soviet Union
wanted a part of occupation like Germany, but they were denied this by Douglas MacArthur. If there was an invasion, it would have been
hard to say no, so that meant dividing up Japan like Germany was. Meaning another part of the Cold War, in Asia,
and even more power struggles in the decades ahead. 2. Vietnam POW Rescue The Plot: In the early 1980’s, the United
States got wind that some POW’s and MIA’s from the Vietnam War might still be alive
in Laos and Vietnam. An elite force of the Army, the Delta Force,
was charged with planning and getting the soldiers out. Why It Didn’t Happen: The strike was set
up twice and canceled at the last minute twice, all because a former Vietnam vet hired American
and Laotian mercenaries, who went into Laos to get the missing soldiers themselves. The vet, a man named Bo Gritz, didn’t help
much with his secret missions. And when they actually went in, they were
immediately caught and ambushed by Vietnamese forces. Eager not to have another Vietnam, the Delta
missions had to be scrubbed, all because Gritz was drawing attention into the region about
POW’s being held behind the lines. Gritz was even called out on his behavior,
being told he was doing more harm than help. But Gritz did inspire Rambo and the second
Delta Force movie, so he wasn’t totally wrong here. If It Did Happen: Delta Force, like the SEALs,
have a pretty high success rate, as seen recently with the Somali shipping hostages and the
Bin Laden takedown. If Gritz wasn’t there trying to do it himself,
many POW’s would have been brought back into the United States safe and sound. 1. The Warsaw Question The Plot: When Germany took over Warsaw during
the beginning of WWII, Warsaw residents threw a fit. For several years. Despite German numbers, Warsaw residents,
especially the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, were not giving up easily, with much of the
city in shambles because of the fighting. So Hitler and friends decided to just get
rid of Warsaw and build a new, more German city in its place. Why It Didn’t Happen: By the time the Germans
had just about quelled the population, they had to retreat from Russian troops marching
on to Berlin. In the only instance this sentence has ever
been uttered, Stalin did wonders for Warsaw. If It Did Happen: With no more Warsaw, Poland
would basically have to build a new capital from scratch, or reuse the old one in Krakow
for awhile. Basically, all of Poland’s growth after
WWII would be reduced with no central capital. In the best case scenario, they would’ve
had a shiny new city with Nazi icons everywhere.
