|
Date |
Event |
Weather
Effect |
| 217
BC |
Hannibal's
invasion of Italy |
Freezing
of marshland allows invasion by mounted troops across weakly defended
terrain |
| AD
1200s |
Genghis
Khan's invasion of China |
Freezing
of marshlands and rivers allows invasion by mounted troops against
weakly defended terrain |
| 1708
1812
1941 |
Sweden's
Charles XII's invasion of Russia
Napoleon's invasion of Russia
Hitler's invasion of Russia |
Russian
winter's cold degrades army mobility and logistics |
| 1776 |
Washington
crossing to Trenton NJ |
Freezing
of Delaware river allows unforeseen mobility of American Army |
| 1863 |
US
Civil War Battles |
Acoustic
propagation disrupts co-ordination of flanking attacks |
| 1915 |
German
use of poison gas |
Wind
blows chemicals back onto German lines and destroys 4 Prussian
regiments |
| 1939 |
German
blitzkrieg into Poland |
Luftwaffe
commanders utilize forecast of unusually dry weather |
| 1943 |
US
Army 8th Air Force bombers take heavy losses over Germany |
Visual
bombsights only work over visual targets so Germans cluster their
fighters there |
| 1944 |
D-Day |
Most
famous weather forecast of history for conditions favorable to air,
sea, and ground operations together--a rare event |
| 1944 |
Bombing
of Japan |
B-29s
discover 200+mph jet stream winds: can't reach targets with full
bombloads and bombsights don't work with 500+ mph ground speeds |
| 1950 |
North
Korean invasion of South Korea |
NK
planners correctly assess USAF vulnerability and plan attacks during
monsoon season |
| 1951 |
Chinese
invasion of Korea |
Chinese
commanders repeat Genghis Khan's tactic and invade after the Yalu
River freezes (US Bombing had destroyed all bridges) |
| 1954 |
French
defeated in Vietnam |
Last
fortress of Dien Bien Phu located in valley that routinely receives
50% more rain than any other |
| 1966 |
US
Forces in Vietnam |
Army
material replacement cycle speeded up from 8 years to 2 years due to
tropic moisture's degradation of wood, cloth, and electronics |
| 1968 |
US
Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) |
Clouds
force helicopters down into enemy groundfire and lose 21 after
planners erroneously worried more about rainrates then ceiling and
visibility |
| 1972 |
North
Vietnamese cross DMZ |
Low
ceilings and visibility immunize 160 tank force against US detection |
| 1980 |
Iranian
hostage rescue mission |
US
Army intelligence officers untrained in meteorology fail to utilize
proper weather reconnaissance and pass on forecast of dust effects |
| 1983 |
Grenada |
Weather
excluded from planning so approach to Point Salinas Airport is
straight through violent thunderstorms; Navy SEALS drown |
| 1990 |
Desert
Storm |
Diurnal
winds prevent Hussein from launching ballistic SCUD's during day;
winds apparently blow chemicals in unsuspected directions |
| 1996 |
Bosnia |
First bridge and
camp built in a traditional flood plain; mine detectors fail in snow |
