Agree regarding Pincer Movement
Agree that pincer movement is timeless and still of great value in places like Afghanistand and Pakistan.
That's a two by four which Hacksaw was / is astute enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tom Odom
Anyone who really knows Ken knows that you can't show him anything without a club...:D
to realize...
I dunno about this Tureen guy, okay general at best. Had it not been for Gus the Second and his reforms and Maurice teaching the young Henri his trade, we might never have heard of him. Pity he wasn't as sharp as that other Maurice who also later became Maréchal Général des Camps et Armées du Roi -- and did so without benefit of having French royal blood...
The two Morries were among my better pupils (Tom, OTOH, had a bad tendency to launch himself with the Lance... ;) ).
Gus, OTOH, taught me a lot.
What! They finally stopped teaching...
Sun Tzu and Saint Carl...say it ain't so! :D
In light of this newly revealed paradigm should I trash my copies of Machiavelli, du Picq, Freddy The Great, Musashi, Herodotus, Maurice of Nassau, Tacticus, Vauban, Thucydides, Vegetius, Xenophon...
Seriously, by tossing out all those pre 20th Century dude's books I could free up two shelves in one of my bookcases. :)
I draw the line at getting rid of my 1st Edition copy of Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon. Toted that beast around too many places to part with it. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.
1 Attachment(s)
A frank and honest discussion is requisite ...
to dispel the inaccuracies - nay, perhaps even culumnies - recited of that noted serjeant atte arms Ken de Alba, which are circulating with reckless abandon within the hallowed halls of our Inns of the Court, particularly amongst the middle benches of the fledgling barristers. Indeed, the tale is an old one - are not all truths and falsehoods old ? - of de Alba's use of a club in battle to dispatch Cirroc (a fate, which if true, was far too good for that wretched creature, allowing him admittance to Valhalla).
Nay, as revealed by our oldest pipe rolls, the facts are quite different. For Cirroc, amongst his clan and others, plied the trade of a divorce lawyer. It was in the course of de Alba's little-known first divorce that, what could have been a mutual and acceptable settlement between the man and the woman (represented by Cirroc), became a shambles because of Cirroc's abusive verbal tactics in resolving the question of custody of the Family Club. Driven beyond all reason by that divorce lawyer's antics, de Alba did indeed smote Cirroc with that honorific club - a clear case of irresistible impulse.
So, while de Alba did smote Cirroc with the club, it was not an act of war, but one of excusible assault. Perhaps, it was that story that impelled some in literary circles to claim that de Alba, by then known as White, caused the Bard to write the famous phrase "kill all the lawyers". Again, we know that also is inaccurate because the military rolls are explicit that White was then advising Lord Essex in his campaign against the Irish insurgents.
Another inaccuracy concerning de Alba (perhaps an enlargement of the Family Club tale) is that he used a club in battle. We know in fact that de Alba kept abreast of advances in military technology and wisely selected those weapon systems and associated tactics that would yield him the best advantage. Why do we know this ? Not because of the vagaries of hearsay, but because of demontrative evidence - the graphic of the blood feud battle between de Alba's clan and Cirroc's clan.
We see that de Alba employed a wedge formation - he leading the wedge; and all combatants used bows and arrows. His sense of tactics led to his now famous doctrine: "One up, two back; effective suppressive and supporting aimed fires - and hit them in the flank."
Cirroc's clan was, of course, outnumbered in this contest; for it lacked Cirroc. Not that that wretched creature would have added much as a warrior; but it was truly said that he had the voice of 10 or even 100 men - the first PsyOps officer.
PS: Wilf, the attachment is especially for you. :D
Gussy Dullfish and the Blowfinns
Gussy, my mom's leading figure in pre-20th century Finnish history - not because of his strategies, operations and tactics (of which, she knew naught); but because he recognized the importance of Finland.
As such, he promoted Finns[*] who did know those things military: Gustaf Horn (Realm Marshal; his farm name was Kankas); Ake Tott (Field Marshal); Torsten Stålhandske (General of Cavalry); and the little-known figure in the supply services, Erik Trana (Commissioner General of War). And, he introduced to continental Europe Stålhandske's Hakkapeliittat, whose concept of normalcy was that of "total war".
So, the prayer in RC German churches during the 30-Years' War:
Quote:
"A horribile Haccapaelitorum agmine libera nos, Domine".
("O Lord, deliver us from the terrible army of the Haccapelites")
Study of these combined rulers-generals leads one to question of how useful even Gussy Dullfish was to his nation. Were the often transitory gains worth the long-term costs from lost opportunities?
In the case of Charles XII of Poltava, we know the answer to be negative.
Is a nation better to have a policy formed by such as their ancestor Gussy Vasoline, who was a very reluctant warrior - either because he was too cheap, because he was sick of the slaughters that placed him on the throne, or both ?
Schmedlap, thanks for the reminder of one important use of history.
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[*] The English Wiki articles call these generals "Swedish" - checking the birth places, where they lived and their genealogies prove they were Finns (e.g., Gustaf Kankas, aka Horn). They spoke Swedish (probably as well or better than Finnish), which was simply the norm for anyone connected with the Swedish Crown at that time.
And, there we have it folks, ...
the true scoop - and proof that even the ancient pipe rolls were sometimes inaccurate. Essex's military rolls were known to be very inaccurate (serious fact, not funning).
And, Ken, I'm so happy that you were on the right side - thought mention of Essex would get your Ulster going. :)