Ukraine Kursk offensive congers up Doolittle Raid of 1942

 

Ukraine Kursk offensive congers up Doolittle Raid of 1942

 

The surprise Ukraine offensive into Kursk region of Russia captured roughly 400 square miles of Russian territory. It was a huge morale boost for the beleaguered Ukrainian forces losing ground daily in the Donbas and 2 neighboring Oblasts. It was also a shock and embarrassment to Russia by showing Ukraine still has enough fight to launch an offensive amid no imminent Ukrainian defeat.

 

The surprise offensive by a Ukraine back on its heels reminded me of a similar war situation involving the USA 82 years ago in the Good War. Four months after the devastating Pearl Harbor attack, America had suffered loss after loss. Tho the Homeland was safe, it was not unthinkable America would be pushed out of the Pacific to a rampaging Japanese regional empire.

 

To both assuage US morale and puncture Japanese invulnerability, the US cooked up the Doolittle Raid, named after its leader Col. .Jimmy Doolittle. Sixteen Air Corp B-25’s were trained to do the near impossible…take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet and bomb Japan. They all traveled over 600 miles to unload their bombs, killing 50 and wounding 400. A pinprick if there ever was one, the raid accomplished both objectives, the first morale spike for America and the first dose of reality to Japan that they could be hit.

 

Alas for Ukraine, its momentary boost in Kurst offers no comparison to America after the Doolittle Raid, after which America went on to bomb Japan nearly into oblivion, killing millions with incendiary napalm bombs and a couple of nukes.

 

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive is likely a strategic blunder. Its military gobbled up the 400 square miles that were largely undefended by Russia, who suffered minimal casualties. Conversely, Russia is pounding the thousand plus Ukrainian soldiers with unimpeded air power. Worse for Ukraine, they took some of their best trained and experienced troops from the main fighting in and around Donbas for the offensive. Every day these troops hold onto their new acquisition, the situation in the critically important theater becomes increasingly dire.

 

Possibly an even more appropriate WWII reference to Kursk might be the desperate German Ardennes Forest offensive in December ’44. In the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans created a bulge in the Allied offensive line with their best remaining soldiers. Within two weeks, the skies cleared and Allied air power pulverized Germany’s last offensive gasp into defeat 5 months later.

 

Whether Ukraine’s Kursk offensive will help it in the inevitable negotiations that will ultimately end this war remains to be seen. But anyone following the offensive would do well to ignore the propaganda about Kursk being offered up Biden administration and Congressional war hawks. Heralding the quixotic and ultimately meaningless Ukrainian thrust into Kursk simply continues the fantasy of American exceptionalism in Ukraine the US has maintained now for 30 months wi,th no end in sight.