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Honestly, if Taiwan wants to fight then just watch the start of 'Saving private Ryan' for a good idea of what establishing a beach head look likes. China needs

Honestly, if Taiwan wants to fight then just watch the start of 'Saving private Ryan' for a good idea of what establishing a beach head look likes. China needs to do about a millions things very competently and quickly to take Taiwan. The activities involved are things that would be hard for most western militaries today, even with all their money and skill. Here's a list of difficult things for china to do: 1. It's got to stage it's troops in a way that's real but maintains the element of surprise against an actor with US Intel backing it up. Even if it's just 1 guy from the NRO with a satellite phone and a laptop. The edge for Taiwan will be massive. 2. It's got to be able to cross 100km of open ocean with about 10-20 thousand troops as a first wave that can be dropped off rapidly to fight and survive on it's own. 3. Then those same ships will need to return and onboard more and more waves of troops that will need to be landed until they can safely establish maritime operations. In land warfare gaining air superiority is a first major goal. This is one of the reasons the Russians have gone so badly in Ukraine. For China, they will need to be able to own the sea and provide safety for their own ships as a highest priority. 4. The fighting on the beaches, will turn into fighting in the cities, and then fighting in the hills. Each one of these is a real challenge on it's own. It took the US military years to get good in Iraq. 5. Whilst China has lots of cash, and lots of men, and lots of tanks etc. The will power to fight may be an issue. For the Taiwanese soldiers, fighting and dying may mean independence for their family and nation. For the Chinese soldiers, fighting and dying probably just means they die. Its kind of a pointless activity for the soldier on the ground who just needed a job when they signed up for the PLA.

hef19898 4y ago
It took the allies in WW2 almost two years to make 1 through 3 happen. Operation sea lion, the Nazi invasion of the UK, was canceled for failing at 3 after the battle of Britain.
yucky 4y ago
>Honestly, if Taiwan wants to fight then just watch the start of 'Saving private Ryan' for a good idea of what establishing a beach head look likes. Why would China use tactics and weaponry from 80 years ago though?
- Nomentatus 4y ago
  True, their ferries are less specialized than what the allies WWII used. The older tech would be better suited to the task. China has lots of medium-range missiles, but that won't help much at the beach. Bullets and artillery are much the same. But AI weapons such as anti-ship missiles and the slimmer 20 inch diameter torpedoes are more use on the defense.
manicdee 4y ago
The weapons are already in Taiwan and flying soldiers in via commercial airlines is far cheaper than crossing the ocean by boat in some kind of bizarre reenactment of D-Day.
- Nomentatus 4y ago
  For the initial beach assault? Russia tried something like this with helicopters at Kiev airport, true. Relatively cheap, but it didn't end well.
LAC-Tech 4y ago
One can only hope our vary own dirtyid has the honour of being shot to pieces in the initial assault upon the beaches. Or maybe his ship will be sunk by a US torpedo. Then making the ultimate sacrifice for the communist party he can pass in peace and honour, and we would no longer need to read his warmongering in the comment section.
dingaling 4y ago
> In land warfare gaining air superiority is a first major goal. It would be the same for any operation against Taiwan. None of the steps you've outlined would happen before achieving air supremacy. Taiwan has a weak submarine force, so the Chinese objective would be to control the air over the Straits to prevent the surface fleet intervening. Once air supremacy is achieved in any conflict the dominoes of layered defence start falling. I would imagine that any Chinese move towards Taiwan would be preceded by a couple of weeks of ferocious air attrition and ballistic missiles being used for SEAD.

hef19898 4y ago

It took the allies in WW2 almost two years to make 1 through 3 happen. Operation sea lion, the Nazi invasion of the UK, was canceled for failing at 3 after the battle of Britain.

yucky 4y ago

>Honestly, if Taiwan wants to fight then just watch the start of 'Saving private Ryan' for a good idea of what establishing a beach head look likes. Why would China use tactics and weaponry from 80 years ago though?

Nomentatus 4y ago
True, their ferries are less specialized than what the allies WWII used. The older tech would be better suited to the task. China has lots of medium-range missiles, but that won't help much at the beach. Bullets and artillery are much the same. But AI weapons such as anti-ship missiles and the slimmer 20 inch diameter torpedoes are more use on the defense.

manicdee 4y ago

The weapons are already in Taiwan and flying soldiers in via commercial airlines is far cheaper than crossing the ocean by boat in some kind of bizarre reenactment of D-Day.

Nomentatus 4y ago
For the initial beach assault? Russia tried something like this with helicopters at Kiev airport, true. Relatively cheap, but it didn't end well.

LAC-Tech 4y ago

One can only hope our vary own dirtyid has the honour of being shot to pieces in the initial assault upon the beaches. Or maybe his ship will be sunk by a US torpedo. Then making the ultimate sacrifice for the communist party he can pass in peace and honour, and we would no longer need to read his warmongering in the comment section.

dingaling 4y ago

> In land warfare gaining air superiority is a first major goal. It would be the same for any operation against Taiwan. None of the steps you've outlined would happen before achieving air supremacy. Taiwan has a weak submarine force, so the Chinese objective would be to control the air over the Straits to prevent the surface fleet intervening. Once air supremacy is achieved in any conflict the dominoes of layered defence start falling. I would imagine that any Chinese move towards Taiwan would be preceded by a couple of weeks of ferocious air attrition and ballistic missiles being used for SEAD.