I am still thinking of the men who survived Galipolli and with reinforcements tried to take the town of Passchendaele, after an attack on 4 Oct Brits advanced into mud and craters on 9 Oct and were mostly killed but still Haig thought that the German 4th Army was close to collapse,
and with seven days of rain and already 30,000 dead or missing, and the few men who made it, together with artilliery took 5,000 German lives,
Brigadier Generals wanted to stop... but on 12 Oct we with nothing but looking after ourselves were sent over the top into mud and craters still under rain... Haig ruled.
and this is where Sasoon wrote of poppies, because these was the first to grow in the craters where nothing grew.. no trees all ruined by shells, cold rain and mud. The few who wanted to break the wire were killed or injured. The Artilliery was spares grounded on mud, and inaccurate. /mud an craters/ 60lb packs/ later, Canadians took the town with huge losses.
and we call ourselves civilised, that we come from such war?
America was not much involved.
This single [Passhendaele] action in WW1 took 450,000 casualties. 310,000 Brits.
After the three 1916 battles of the Somme the keen guys were cut down, the French at Verdun, altogether over a 1,000,000 of the fittest keenest men were dead. The whole war cost maybe 10,000,000.
I have absolutely no idea what this means. But I don't like US 'tough guy' ...
It might be better to move the mind into the 21st Century or, at least, the last half of the 20th. Or, perhaps go back to a much earlier date, perhaps the Inquisition or the Reconquista? Maybe the Maori whop were lost during the ethnic (?racial) cleansing?
There are plenty of others who got dead who could use a tear or a whine.
In any case, the WWI stuff is boring, I heard it all while growing up.
Boring or not I think WW1 explains a lot of current Euro politics.
So you are going on record suggesting that Euro politics lends itself to explanation?Originally Posted by robmcg
I thought it was just, "Georgie and Nicky didn't get along with Cousin Willy."So you are going on record suggesting that Euro politics lends itself to explanation?
Europe is quite handy for holidays. I cannot think of any other useful purpose. The more aggressive of them need to be curbed from time to time, too.
That's why God invented rugby.
We were informed at our Volvo Owner/Operator Council meeting last week that Volvo will be taking us to Sweden next summer.Europe is quite handy for holidays. I cannot think of any other useful purpose. The more aggressive of them need to be curbed from time to time, too.
That's why God invented rugby.
I'll tell you about it when I'm not so tired, but I got a personal tour through the Hagerstown Mack/Volvo engine plant. Fascinating.
I'll never understand America.
Werner were good people by the sound of it.
Wisconsin Central were good after they bought our railways, under Ed Burkhart, but they were messed up by merchant bankers, who were seriously immoral, if not illegal, by talking prices up then decamping. These guys are still in Asia. Fay Ritchwhite. Fay even got knighted.
What happened to Werner and what are the prospects?
I have always admired your view of the transport industry.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote