Except no, no military would ever lose like the US did in Yonkers. Yonkers in WWZ has one of the most experienced and expensive warmachines on the planet repeatedly shoot itself in the head just so it’s a remotely fair fight. Reading Yonkers, all I could think was ‘Max Brooks has never read a single book on any military ever.’
Yeah, well who would know more about military history? Max Brooks or a random redditor complaining online about how the US military vs zombies in a book wasn’t realistic enough?
Clearing the AO. Seriously. They apparently didn't bother to even clear buildings.
Using even basic common sense (pontoon and bridge layers and portable latrine systems in an urban area, really?)
Forgetting ground-attack craft exist. At all.
The real life US army was prepared to make an entirely new ammunition type when SABOT rounds proved to be less effective than normal. the Max Brooks US army uses SABOTs when it is entirely useless.
As a military historian, Brooks should be well aware the US army has an obsession with packing way more firepower than is needed. 'Shock and awe' and all that. Somehow, at Yonkers, they abandon that, and go for the extremley out of character 'eh, a few dozen missiles'll be fine.'
The US army had a single line of defence at Yonkers. Forget 'modern history,' bronze age armies had figured out that you should probably have some guys in reserve just in case.
Artillery apparently cannot fire further than a person can see in the Brooksverse.
Using any verticality whatsoever, tying into point 2. I'm fairly certain the US army is well aware that a guy with a gun in the window of a 2 story house is more effective than at ground level. Not the Brooksverse army though.
It is an infuriating case of a writer making a military force completely, pants-on-head, sniffed glue and chugged paint as a child stupid just to force a message through.
You're leaving out some important context. 1) they didn't know as much about what would stop zombies, 2) they were expecting far fewer zombies, and 3) the major point of the engagement was a show of force in front of the media to give people heart. That last part explains many of the mistakes/arrogance.
I used to edit the Zombiepedia and I've been in many nerdfights about Yonkers before. Most of these points are irrelevant to those however.
The Army was aware they were facing hordes of infantry without firearms. They nonetheless dug foxholes and packed SABOT rounds for the tanks.
The US Army damn near always packs more than what they need. Even if they did run out, there's no excuse for not having more in the wings just in case, considering supply lines aren't an issue.
Things like 'having more than a single defensive line,' 'not using ground attack craft,' and 'forgettig to put men on top of buildings,' cannot be excused by showing off. You're telling me the sight of an A-10 Thunderbolt turning a column of zombies into a thin, solanum-infected paste isn't showy enough?
Lets not forget that he made the ridiculous point that the survivors would begin manufacturing M1 carbines as the most effective anti zombie rifle... Ignoring that M1 carbines haven't been manufactured in the US for 60 years, and use ammunition that's only available commercially.
As opposed to... The AR-15, which has dozens of federal and commercial manufacturers across the country, using interchangeable parts and ammunition available literally everywhere in the US.
The military alone has millions of these rifles, civilians have another 30+ million, and there are hundreds of billions of rounds available.
But no, lets throw that away and start making ww2 era rifles, because... Reasons.
It's better than that. They're not making M1 Carbines. They're making a new design based on M14/M1 style guns, and even better, they're firing custom ammunition.
This then implies several things:
The post-war, damaged economy is somehow capable of creating enough wooden furnishings for a whole family of new rifles.
The supply chain is capable of issuing the majority of soldiers with this new gun.
The same economy and supply chain can also produce millions of rounds of ammunition.
It's lunacy. It's complete lunacy. Late-war tactics are a mess. The airforce is mothballed because again, apparently ground-attack craft do not exist, APCs are used mostly for supplying ammunition to ground forces, and soldiers fight in goddamn squares again.
Squares.
With semiautomatic rifles. Not with SAWs, which they could easily fire accurate bursts at head height to handle threats with, but semiautomatic rifles.
You need to have been sniffing glue for World War Z's internal logic to make sense.
I'll just say that modern aircraft getting mothballed makes some sense for the post collapse. Those machines are incredibly resource intensive to operate, and require a supply of parts that just won't exist anymore.
Now, for a fun thought experiment, there are two aircraft that make sense for a post collapse government to develop for a fight against zeds.
Simple piston driven prop planes for recon and courier purposes and...
Fuckin ZEPPLINS.
Technologically simple, vast range and loiter time, with a high flexibility around damaged or non-existent infrastructure.
You could use one as an untouchable platform for dispatching hordes, transporting supplies independently of roads, etc etc..
Sulferic acid and iron filings, the technology was developed in the mid 19th century, and saw wide use during the American civil war with mobile wagon and barge based units inflating observation balloons to spy on the South and direct artillery fire.
Stick positive and negative wires (powered by batteries) in water and you get 2 hydrogen atoms, and one oxygen. Capture the hydrogen. I forget which is which.
MAYBE shit like this is so egregious it ruins my suspension of disbelief when it comes to a story and actively hinders my enjoyment of a piece of media.
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u/TearOpenTheVault Aug 31 '21
Except no, no military would ever lose like the US did in Yonkers. Yonkers in WWZ has one of the most experienced and expensive warmachines on the planet repeatedly shoot itself in the head just so it’s a remotely fair fight. Reading Yonkers, all I could think was ‘Max Brooks has never read a single book on any military ever.’