SO many to pick from, but Operation Desert Storm certainly shines as the most recent culmination of military excellence. It almost wasn't a campaign at all, so disoriented and disrupted were the Iraqi defenses. Where combat did occur, it was just stupidly one-sided, and the world's 4th-largest military crumbled in hours.

Full credit to all the strategic geniuses that came before. They may even have done a better job in the same situation, but damn if there isn't something to say for the terrible power of the US military complex, from the production lines to the rifleman, and hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of top-notch gear.

Russia REALLY highlights the difference with their Ukraine campaign, which was largely sabotaged by their own government, and had difficulty getting functional tires on trucks. They should have been able to roll over Ukraine easily, years ago, but instead they need to have school children make trench candles. Just IMAGINE the US military pitted against that. It would be the work of weeks, pessimistically speaking. More likely, they would also collapse in hours.

basically all the campaigns led by Julius Caesar are worthy to be studied.

Originally posted by Corvus XIII:

The legendary Xiahou Dun when his eye got pierced by an arrow and he took it out and ate his own eye and continued to fight.

I'm sure that happened...

Originally posted by L1qu1dator:

Originally posted by Corvus XIII:

The legendary Xiahou Dun when his eye got pierced by an arrow and he took it out and ate his own eye and continued to fight.

I'm sure that happened...

Probably did.
you hang around some 'robust crowds' and you will see what people will do.

Take a military campaign especially of ancient days you got a lot of testosterone and a lot of people following you, if you show weakness the enemy are going to be all over you.

Even in British Empire you had a person get his leg blown off by a cannonball his response was something 'I believe I have had my leg shot off'
response 'It appears you have'
British understatement.

Guys, is the op Hobbit XIII???

There is an absurdly long list of amazing and astonishing notes in military history. Every book on the subject will contain descriptions of events that would blow your mind.

The campaign that stands out in my mind, all these years after I was a student, is Julius Ceasar's Gallic Wars. Vercingetorix is a name that people should know.

the one where they screw everything up but then think its going to be better next time.

Originally posted by C4Warr10r:

SO many to pick from, but Operation Desert Storm certainly shines as the most recent culmination of military excellence. It almost wasn't a campaign at all, so disoriented and disrupted were the Iraqi defenses. Where combat did occur, it was just stupidly one-sided, and the world's 4th-largest military crumbled in hours.

Full credit to all the strategic geniuses that came before. They may even have done a better job in the same situation, but damn if there isn't something to say for the terrible power of the US military complex, from the production lines to the rifleman, and hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of top-notch gear.

Russia REALLY highlights the difference with their Ukraine campaign, which was largely sabotaged by their own government, and had difficulty getting functional tires on trucks. They should have been able to roll over Ukraine easily, years ago, but instead they need to have school children make trench candles. Just IMAGINE the US military pitted against that. It would be the work of weeks, pessimistically speaking. More likely, they would also collapse in hours.

The Gulf War numbers are staggering.
Desert Storm does not get the recognition (in my opinion) that it should have.

Gulf War .
Coalition:
Total : 13,488
292 killed (147 killed by enemy action, 145 non-hostile deaths)
776 wounded[5] (467 wounded in action)
31 tanks destroyed/disabled[6][7][8][9]
[10][11][12][13]
28 Bradley IFVs destroyed/damaged
[14][15]
1 M113 APC destroyed
2 British Warrior APCs destroyed
1 artillery piece destroyed
75 aircraft destroyed[citation needed]
Kuwait:
420 killed
12,000 captured
≈200 tanks destroyed/captured
850+ other armored vehicles destroyed/captured
57 aircraft lost
8 aircraft captured (Mirage F1s)
17 ships sunk, 6 captured[16]

Iraqi:
Total : 175,000–300,000+

20,000–50,000 killed[17][18]
75,000+ wounded[5]
80,000–175,000 captured[17][19][20]
3,300 tanks destroyed[17]
2,100 APCs destroyed[17]
2,200 artillery pieces destroyed[17]
110 aircraft destroyed[citation needed]
137 aircraft flown to Iran to escape destruction[21][22]
19 ships sunk, 6 damaged

A war about a bucket. Must have been a good bucket.

In the winter of 1943, a group of American/British operators is sent to rescue General George Carnaby, a chief planner for the Western Front, captured by the Germans and held at a mountaintop fortress in the Bavarian alpine village of Werfen, accessible only by cable car. Disguised as German troops, the team must parachute in, infiltrate the castle, and rescue Carnaby before the Germans interrogate him and obtain crucial intel.

This is a fictional story written by Alistair MacLean, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like that really happened during WW2. Iron Maiden wrote a song about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGqbJiq675s

It's snowing outside
The rumbling sound of engines roar in the night
The mission is near
The confident men are waiting to drop from the sky
The blizzard goes on
But still they must fly
No one should go
Where eagles dare
Bavarian alps that lay all around
They seem to stare from below
The enemy lines a long time passed
Are lying deep in the snow
Into the night
They fall through the sky
No one should fly
Where eagles dare
They're closing in the fortress is near
It's standing high in the sky
The cable car's the only way in
It's really impossible to climb
They make their way
But maybe too late
They've got to try
To save the day
The panicking cries
The roaring of guns are echoing all around the valley
The mission complete
They make to escape away from the Eagles Nest
They dared to go
Where no one would try
They chose to fly
Where eagles dare

North Vietnam kicking out the USA

Originally posted by Bar:

North Vietnam kicking out the USA

Long Range Recon Patrol
Not so long ago very much unknown to many now every youtuber and their cat is posting information about them.

LRRP
Operational silence throughout.
Dropped in about a day maybe three days away from where you gotta be.
Enter VC camp, take a VC hostage in silence.
Question them and sometimes drop them back into camp in silence.
Withdraw back into the jungle.

Originally posted by Pierce Dalton:

WW2 Rescue Operations responding to.

I copied this not word for word from a site :
An air raid.

Operation Jericho WW2
1943
Many of the resistance cells had been rounded up from Nazi counter espionage and collaborators.

Feburay 19 1943 100 Resistance fighters to be executed.
The Free French Army petitioned RAF to carry out a raid on Amiens Prison.
approximately 700 prisoners were being held.

Second Tactical Air Force.
Small but skilled section of the RAF.
Intelligence stated the guards were based in separate building.
Hitting Munitions dumps the prison doors could be made to swing open.
If outer walls destroyed too, prisoners had a chance to escape.

Group Captain Pickard RAF attacked on Feburary 18.
Lunch time attack when most guards would be in their own mess halls away from prisoners.
Mosquitoes first wave (air craft) breached outer walls.
Second wave hit railway station knocking it out.
Final wave hit the guards hut.
Pickard flew over the site one last time checking the damage. He turned homewards his plane took a direct hit and went down killing Pickard and his navigator.
(will look up name of navigator).

255 prisoners made it out, many would be recaptured.
The prisoners were helped by the railway station being hit meant reinforcements would take 2 hours to get there.
Some historians say the French Resistance gave the go ahead of the operation.
Some historians say it was the SIS Special Intelligence Service, hoping it would divert attention away from Normandy where the Allies would soon land for D Day.

Operation Enduring Freedom™ sure ended well. It certainly stands out as a shining example of American excellence.

Operation Suicide Mission, where I took a ragtag group of people into the Collector base and killed a human reaper before it could be formed, then escaped while the ship blew, saving the galaxy.

Good times.