One if by land, two if by sea, three if by salamander

The husband just came across what may be the best misappropriation of language ever, ever: from Victor Davis Hanson's Ripples of Battle:

"The Okinawa landings may have been the most most ambitious amphibian assault in the history of warfare."

I know this is technically an okay use of the word, but I still find myself wondering how the attack on Okinawa compared to the story told in Across the Andes by Frog.