Talk:Battle of Mullaitivu (1996)

questionable guns
"including a few 120 mm artillery guns." There are almost no such guns in the world. 120mm came out of favor as artillery caliber before the First World War. It's a tank gun caliber, but that doesn't seem to fit in this context (and Sri Lanka has no such guns/tanks). A handful of Swedish naval guns don't fit as well. 120mm MORTARS are extremely common and the much more likely weapon in this case. Finally, a 122mm caliber exists (Russian standard), but "Jane's Armour & Artillery 2005-2006" lists the tanks and artillery types of the nations and does not tell about a 122mm gun (only 122mm multiple rocket launchers). I just looked at the Jane's list and the most likely ARTILLERY ordnance for the scenario are 75mm and 25 pounder (something like 86mm) guns. MORTARS are infantry weapons, though - and covered in "Jane's Infantry weapons 2004-2005". That book lists the 120mm M43 (Russian heavy mortar) as in Sri Lanka's inventory. I'm going to replace "artillery guns" with "mortars". Lastdingo (talk) 04:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC)


 * SLA uses both 122mm artillery (Chinese T-60) and 120mm mortar (Chinese T-86 or W-86). I believe guns of both types were captured in the battle by LTTE. I remember there was a bit of an outcry in the media and public about the artillery guns. I will see what I can find.  C h a m a l  talk 05:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

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Addition of unencyclopedic content by Cossde
Two years ago Cossde added a lot of unsourced content and removed sourced content. Recently, prompted by the maintenance templated added by Dl2000, I removed the unsourced content and reinserted the sourced content but Cossde has reverted my edit, reinserting the unsourced content and removing sourced content. Some examples of the unencyclopedic content added by Cossde include:
 * Replacement of "rescue" with "relief" - Cossde has replaced references to "rescue" with "relief" even thouhg the source provided states "rescue".
 * Removal of sourced paragraph and insertion of unsourced statements - Cossde has removed a paragraph where every sentence was soured and instead added
 * " After much delay, the infantry reinforcements from Jaffna peninsula reached the high seas off Mullaitivu at dawn on 19 July 1996. By evening of the 19th troops from the merchant vessel had been transferred three Landing Craft Mechanized and began moving towards Mullaitivu protected by an escort made up of the Shanghai class fast gun boat SLNS Ranaviru and six Dvoras of the 4th Fast Attack Flotilla under the command of Lieutenant Commander Parakrama Samaraweera on board Ranaviru. As the flotilla reached the Mullaitivu coast it was swarmed by over 200 small boats including suicide boats heavily laden with explosives of the LTTE Sea Tigers which where targeting the landing craft. Ranaviru and the Dvora maneuvered to protect the landing craft and intercept the LTTE crafts. Around 5:30 pm a suicide boat rammed Ranaviru. The large explosion knocked out the engines of the ship and she began a list. Although without power and dead in the water, Ranaviru continued engaging the Sea Tigers crafts with its guns until a few minutes later a second suicide boat rammed her resulting in another massive explosion causing her to sink instantly with her entire crew of 36 including Lieutenant Commander Samaraweera. Only seven bodies could be recovered from the seas in the ensuing gun battle. "
 * He has not provided any sources for any of the statements he has added.
 * Casualty numbers: The lede and infobox state that 1,400 Sri Lankan troops were killed. This was sourced by in the main body of the article by two sources - Kloos and Mukarji. Cossde has removed this and replaced this with "During the battle the Sri Lankan military lost at least 1,300 troops most missing in action. Eighty were lost from the relief force" and has failed to provide any sources.
 * Massacre of prisoners - Cossde has added a paragraph on the massacre even though this is mentioned later in the article in the "Censorship and losses" section.
 * Lafir's Parama Weera Vibhushanaya award - This was sourced from the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Leader. Cossde has removed the source.
 * Lafir's promotion to colonel - Cossde has added this but the two sources he provides makes no mention of the promotion.
 * Aliba's promotion to lieutenant colonel - Cossde has added this without providing any sources.
 * Fernando and Gunaratne's injury - Cossde has added that these two officers were part of the rescue operation, were injured and evacuated. He has not provided any sources for any of these statements.
 * Fernando and Gunaratne 's later career - Cossde has added that two became a major general and lieutenant colonel respectively and that Fernando was Chief of Staff of the Army. He has not provided any sources for any of these statements.
 * 6th Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment and 9th battalion, Sinha Regiment - Cossde has added that these two units were reformed from survivors, officers and men who were on leave. He has not provided any sources for this.
 * Suresh Raj - Cossde has added that Raj was posthumously promoted to major, that he was 27 and that he was the artillery officer who commanded the artillery detachment. The source he has provided make no mention of any of these facts.

It is clear from the above that Cossde is not here to create encyclopedic content but rather to push a particular WP:POV narrative.--Obi2canibe (talk) 11:03, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

Once again Cossde is adding the same unencyclopedic content without addressing any of the issues detailed above.--Obi2canibe (talk) 16:01, 7 March 2021 (UTC)