Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history#World War II started in.E2.80.A6
:Please add requests for MILHIST participation to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/Requests for project input. This includes requests for comment, requested moves, articles for deletion, and more.
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Requests for project input
Please add requests for MILHIST participation to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/Requests for project input. This includes requests for comment, requested moves, articles for deletion, and more.
{{Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/Requests for project input}}
[[Battle of Hamek]]
This seems to be a legendary battle, one in which 11 to 12 soldiers beat an entire 8,000. However, all the sources seem to be in Kurdish, or if not, by pro-Kurdish sites. This is concerning, as for such a supposedly shocking and major victory, there is not a single source that's not pro-Kurdish speaking about anything relating to this (at least not in English). If I had to guess, this might be some sort of legend made up between Kurds for nationalist reasons. Any thoughts on this? Setergh (talk) 21:04, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
:I agree to some extent.
:Maybe keep the article but maybe add "a dubious battle used by the kurds as propanganda" Thehistorianisaac (talk) 01:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Hi, The article is cited by so many kurdish websites or sources, marked as a kurdish claim there isn't even a single book (English or western source) or academic source that is cited there, It talks about a battle that happened during the 1980s Which means During Iran Iraq War, There are so many scholars and plenty of books that described the war with it's operations, battles, etc.. and I don't think they have mentioned the "Battle of Hamek" in anywhere, Otherwise users would have added it in some redirect or a create a new page with it. On the other hand it gave off some type of Exaggeration, additionally one of Wikipedia policy is that you should use verified sources or scholarly sources, the article hasn't got any of that.. I suggest we nominate this article for deletion. Best R3YBOl (talk) 09:17, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::Would not suggest delete, but instead mark it as a propaganda myth from the kurds Thehistorianisaac (talk) 09:35, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Well this is not the first article that these sources were used, and it's not the first article that was made without Reliable sources, You can see these list of articles that also was made, For example this page Penjwen Revolt the Kurdish sources itself describe this revolt as a Suppressed revolt,I hope if some Administrators check this article additionally with these articles:Battle of Haj Omran (1966), Kirkuk executions (1991), Sulaymaniyah massacre, and Displacement of Arabs in Kirkuk under KRG administration. I am not trying to accuse anyone personally, but it's worth nothing that the user who created Penjwen Revolt and created other articles I mentioned, and there appears to be a possible pattern of battleground mentality or POV-pushing in their editing behavior, A closer review might be necessary. R3YBOl (talk) 09:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::::I agree. Tonnes of POV-pushing in kurdish related topics. Thehistorianisaac (talk) 09:58, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::::::Would like to state that I've seen the creator of this page on other sides, and it's clear why he makes them (nationalist purposes). Although this doesn't always mean that the pages are unreliable, in this case it seems to definitely be for Kurd nationalism purposes rather than helping out Wikipedia. Setergh (talk) 16:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Not exactly sure how one can do this though? I mean, I don't know any issue template as such, and we can't state this without a source. Setergh (talk) 16:48, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:@Setergh@R3YBOl Wikipedia:Dashboard
:Update:
:The creator of the article, User:Gueevkobani appears to be affiliated with the Kurds and may have potential COI. Thehistorianisaac (talk) 09:38, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Yeah, I see that. Setergh (talk) 16:47, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::{{ping|Setergh|Thehistorianisaac|R3YBOl}} There are several noticeboards where matters such as these can be posted to get administrator and even community consensus. One of the more general administrator noticeboards might be an appropriate one to report this. See: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard and subdivisions such as incidents for the right one. Note the guidelines for posting and user talk page notice to a user being reported.
:::In addition to administrator noticeboards, for more general information on other noticeboards, as well see Wikipedia:Dashboard. Many of the of the topics listed in addition to the administrator boards seem to be single topic notice boards. I am not sure whether these are directly related to the main administrator notice boards. I also am not sure it is appropriate to list on several of these with respect to several problems caused by the same editor. In any event, these appear to include Wikipedia:No original research/Noticeboard, Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard, and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard It seems to me that this is the type of situation where trying to resolve issues on talk pages would be futile.
:::Note that while I am familiar with the existence of these noticeboards, I have almost no experience in using or commenting on them in nearly 15 years on Wikipedia. I am just bringing these to your attention, especially since some further action may be needed and you may wish to, and to be in the best position due to your familiarity with the problems, to take the action by reporting with the facts and your observations. This problem seems to require administrator attention and handling to make any real progress with it.Donner60 (talk) 00:40, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
::::{{@MILHIST}} Adding this note in case anyone will want to add to or correct what I wrote above - or in case you may want to pursue this in some way. This type of problem is not novel, of course. Donner60 (talk) 03:32, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
::::Thank you for the advice! I had asked on the (biggest) Wikipedia discord and I was told to go here, hence why I did. Setergh (talk) 06:44, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
::A user on Reddit claims to have written this article: https://www.reddit.com/r/kurdistan/comments/1j8qah3/comment/mi0nzdg/ Fernweh0 (talk) 05:24, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Yeah, I see that. I also see posts like "Can someone gives me names of battle between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq which ended in a kurdish victory? I need it for an edit", so I find it quite clear that the user who made the article about Hamek may not be trying to serve Wikipedia's best interests to begin with. Setergh (talk) 08:39, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
I’ve taken a quick surveillance pass across the article; it does appear more as a minor footnote, and some of the language does suggest a particular point of view. That being said, unlinked articles from the battle article given in the header suggest some truth to what’s being reported, primarily within the greater context of the apparent Destruction of Kurdish villages during the Iraqi Arabization campaign which matches the year given. Under the circumstances, it may be more appropriate to redirect the article here for more context and better references. TomStar81 (Talk) 15:13, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
:May have misunderstood, but have you found any better references to be exact? I don't fully understand what you mean by matching whatever year given, and I still have no clue what reliable sources may mention such a battle. Setergh (talk) 16:39, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
::Apologies for the misunderstanding and apparent confusion here. The linked article in the header is given as Battle of Hamek, it claims that pershmergas fought Iraqi Baathist soldiers in 1982. According to the internet, Hamek is a village in the vicinity of kirkut. According to the article on kirkut, it was part of a major ethnic cleansing campaign from about the mid 70s to the late 80s (figure c.75-c.89). This fits the time frame the alleged battle occurred, suggesting that the battle may have been part of larger and then ongoing destruction of the Kurdish villages during the Iraqi arabization campaign. If so, then the article could be safely redirected to one of the Iraqi arabization pages to better cover the content. A further look back into the article history though shows that the article could have been hijacked, it’s first edits are about a more ancient battle, and a thread on Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/kurdistan/comments/1j8qah3/battle_of_hamek_where_11_peshmerga_massacred_an/] suggests there could be a copyright violation here as well. In short, we could redirect it, but if we are keeping it we need to roll up our sleeves and do a lot more work to either polish the article or better source the article. TomStar81 (Talk) 02:57, 30 April 2025 (UTC)
Category Query
I've come across some categorisation which is bothering me somewhat. For example:
- Lewis Halliday, a Royal Marine, is categorised as :Category:Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross. It looks like all Royal Marine recipients are included in that category—in my opinion mistakenly. Halliday's case seems to date all the way back to 2008.
- Ernest John Spooner, a Royal Navy rear-admiral I came across recently, is categorised as :Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II, despite not being an admiral. It seems that British flag officer of the era has been dumped in that category regardless of their actual rank—again, mistakenly in my opinion.
I know that American subjects have more specific categories, for example :Category:United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients (for the marine example) and :Category:United States Navy rear admirals.
So which is right? Or is their a third way? Comment welcome. I've had a look to see if there's anything on the project page on this or in the archives but did not get very far. —Simon Harley (Talk). 08:34, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:I think if there is a subcategory that would certainly be better. Thehistorianisaac (talk) 08:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
::On a historical note, before 1918, Royal Marine VC recipients had the blue naval ribbon rather than the crimson military one (agree that Marines ought to be in a subcategory of the RN recipients). Alansplodge (talk) 11:59, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
What should I name this article I plan to write?
(In case you are wondering why I am posting this question here and not WP:LE, it is because the Border defense corps was manned by PAP personnel(though it was under the command of the MPS), were treated as active service military personnel and were overall of a paramilitary nature. Also WP:LE is practically dead anyways.)
So, I plan to make an article on People's Armed Police {{Ill|Border Defense Corps (China)|lt=Border Defense Corps|zh|公安边防部队}} Private Yao Yuanjun (姚元军) and police dog K9 "Big Wolf"({{Zh|c=大狼|p=Dà láng}}). Story is, in August 22 2011, Yao Yuanjun was killed in action after he drowned while fighting drug traffickers in the China-Myanmar border. He was formerly the K9 Handler of "Big wolf", and Big wolf became famous on social media after he was seen wandering training grounds, waiting for Private Yao to return.(very similar to the Hachikō story.) Currently, the story is already on the Border defense corps section of the PAP article, on the List of Individual dogs list along with Private Yao being on the List of people's armed police personnel killed in the line of duty. (Skip to bottom for article name ideas)
For notability, this story has been covered by a lot of Chinese media, such as [https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_13547220 The paper], [https://news.sina.cn/2021-07-12/detail-ikqcfnca6452649.d.html City daily] [https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2011-09-01/182823090320.shtml China National Radio], [https://m.cyol.com/gb/articles/2022-09/30/content_9OOAxHa3M.html the Communist Youth League of China], [https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1712113988129790.html The beijing news], [http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0626/c70731-27209927.html People's Daily], [https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s67efeb85e4b08edd28f72868.html Beijing daily], [https://www.163.com/dy/article/JD89U0UN0514JPDH.html?f=post2020_dy_recommends the Chongqing municipal anti-narcotics office], the [https://www.mps.gov.cn/n2253534/n4904351/c5062423/content.html Ministry of Public Security], [https://www.guancha.cn/politics/2025_04_05_771041.shtml Guancha], and [https://www.sohu.com/a/476909010_267106 Xinhua]; It also became pretty famous on chinese social media(at the time at least); additionally, Private Yao also received martyr status(which is a pretty high military award in china).
Now for the main question:
What should I name the article(and how should i refer to K9 Big Wolf)? I currently have several ideas:
Names related to Yao Yuanjun
- Yao Yuanjun (since a lot of coverage is also on the border defense policeman/soldier himself and per articles like Nathan Bruckenthal and Frank S. Reasoner)
- Death of Yao Yuanjun (per Murder of D. Munusamy and similar articles)
Names related to K9 Big Wolf, and how I should refer to him in the article
- K9 Big Wolf (K9 is used by police as a title for police dogs, similar to how we call policemen "Officer"; Big wolf is his name translated)
- K9 Dalang (大狼 or Dalang is the K9's name directly in Pinyin)
- Big Wolf (Police dog)
- Dalang (Police dog)
Not-so-Perfect Compromise
- Yao Yuanjun and K9 Big Wolf
- Yao Yuanjun and K9 Dalang
My personal opinion
I would prefer Yao Yuanjun or Death of Yao Yuanjun, as even without the tragic part involving his K9 he would still be rather notable. As for how I should refer to Big Wolf/Dalang, I would prefer using the english translation of "Big Wolf". Sounds much better, and unlike human names, dog names can usually be translated. Thehistorianisaac (talk) 13:50, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
:If nobody objects or proposes any other ideas within 2 days I will go with Yao Yuanjun for the article name and refer to the police dog as K9 Big Wolf Thehistorianisaac (talk) 06:14, 5 May 2025 (UTC)
::Yep I will be going with the above here Thehistorianisaac (talk) 00:22, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
[[Kadyrovites]] screwed up
See Talk:141st Special Motorized Regiment#Screwed up. --Altenmann >talk 04:35, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
[[Marine expeditionary force]]
What constitutes a "Tank Battle"?
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A debate has arisen regarding what is the proper definition for "tank battle" over on Talk:Operation Brevity#"Tank Battle"?. There appear to be two competing definitions up for selection. Which of the following definitions should be used when deciding whether to classify a military engagement on Wikipedia as a "tank battle"?
:(A) A "tank battle" should be defined as any military engagement where tanks are employed by at least one side.
:(B) A "tank battle" should only refer to military engagements where tank-on-tank combat constituted a significant proportion of the fighting.
Emiya1980 (talk) 03:56, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:C: A tank battle is what reliable sources describe as a tank battle. It would be WP:OR to apply a label that isn't supported by reliable sources. Curbon7 (talk) 04:55, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
::How do RS define a "tank battle" though? Is said definition closer to A or B? Assuming that A and B are not sufficiently broad to cover RS's definition of a tank battle, what do RS say it is then? Emiya1980 (talk) 04:56, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
::The trouble with RS is that 'tank battle' seems like an alien post hoc construction. They don't have a concept of 'not tank battle' either. Keith-264 (talk) 08:42, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:::If an RS calls it a tank battle so can we, As you say, it's not really clearly defined, and we can't use OR to define it. Slatersteven (talk) 12:06, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
:Yes C seems the safest, we go with what RS say. Slatersteven (talk) 08:44, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
::: In terms of how RS define a tank battle, doesn't this misunderstand RS? These are independent sources, who do not need to have a shared definition of anything. The best you can hope for is "widespread consensus", and this may not exist in all cases. From my own reading I'd guess most histories think of a tank battle as one in which tanks played a significant role, as opposed to simply being present, but beyond that vague idea I don't feel qualified to venture. Monstrelet (talk) 11:01, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:Support B
:was on the fence but Monstrelet point convinces me - not every reliable source is going to use the exact words, this is only a category I think some common sense needs to prevail and allow us to categorise according to reasonable understandings of English and sense.
:Also in support of North8000, A is far too inclusive to the point of not being useful as a category LeChatiliers Pupper (talk) 22:29, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
Invited by the bot. Of course if the sources give guidance that's the best. But you don't need a source for every word used. "B" is pretty safe for this. "A" is far too inclusive to support using the term unless there is a good source which characterized it as such. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 12:31, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
Tank losses aren't always a good criteria for this determination, either (and although no one is mentioning that here, it does feature in the linked discussion that prompted this query). The Germans in particular had excellent maintenance and repair units operating very close to the front lines, and it took quite a bit for them to declare a tank as having been destroyed. Tanks engaged seems a far better benchmark, especially if you're not using RS. I would support "B" if it came down to it.Intothatdarkness 12:45, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
What does "significant proportion of the fighting" mean? Consider the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. This was the first time that one tank fought another. (Three German tanks engaged three British tanks.) For that reason, it passes C, as many sources tout it as the very first tank battle, but passing B requires "a significant proportion of the fighting" to refer to the historiography. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 23:06, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:Clearly there will be exceptions. This appears to be one. But once you leave, say, World War I B becomes more viable. Intothatdarkness 02:13, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
::With regards to Villers-Brettoneux, context is important. During World War I, armored warfare and tank production itself was in its infancy so it naturally follows that tanks didn't play nearly as big a part as in later conflicts. However, even considering that tank-on-tank engagements in World War I played a smaller role in warfare and were smaller in general compared to later wars, it was Villers-Brettoneux which witnessed the very birth of that kind of combat. The fact that it set the precedent for all future tank battles to come merits its inclusion. Emiya1980 (talk) 03:19, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
Until someone can adequately explain how B is going to be enforced (and you will not be able to), it's a dead letter. "Well, Battle A is a tank battle, because 20% of the forces engaged were tanks, but Battle B isn't, because only 19% of forces were tanks." Hard pass, thanks. Parsecboy (talk) 13:25, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
Discussion on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ships/Guidelines on use of definite article before ship names
There is an ongoing discussion on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ships/Guidelines#Usage of definite article "the" about the use of definite articles before ship names that might be of interest to editors of this wikiproject. Llammakey (talk) 17:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
New article needed
Looks like India and Pakistan just went hot -- not sure if we have an article of the appropriate scope but given that this is now an active shooting war, presumably there's going to be one created shortly that could use the eyes of this WP. ⇒SWATJester Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat! 23:23, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:2025 Indian missile strikes on Pakistan is already live. Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 23:26, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
::Thanks -- article names are such a tricky thing these days, that I had no idea what to search for exactly. ⇒SWATJester Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat! 01:27, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Well, if there's an obvious tittle among what you searched, make sure to create those redirects. CMD (talk) 02:05, 7 May 2025 (UTC)