Al Nofi's CIC
|
|
Issue #240, March 30th, 2009 |
|
|
This Issue...
- Infinite Wisdom
- la Triviata
- Short Rounds
|
|
Infinite Wisdom
"I would prefer dealing with a troop of lions commanded by a deer than a herd of deer under the leadership of a lion."
-- | Attributed to Hannibal,
among others. |
La Triviata
- While commanding the Italian Army during World War I
(1915-1917), Luigi Cadorna managed to subject a sixth of his troops to
military court proceedings, and had over 750 of them shot, officially
for alleged “cowardice” but most often in order “to encourage the
others.”
- In the course of a military career that
lasted about 30 years, Pierre Terrail de
Bayard (1476-1524), the Chevalier san peur et
sans reproche, earned 100,000 livres –
today perhaps as much as $250 million
in purchasing power – from the ransoms
of prisoners-of-war.
- In the early twentieth
century, ships of the German Imperial Navy were invariably christened
by men amid festivities from which women and civilians – even high
government officials – were virtually excluded, while those of the
Royal Navy were almost always sponsored by women (King Edward VII
occasionally took a turn), in ceremonies that mixed men and women,
civilians and military, workers and quality.
- Napoleon
sometimes became so angry with Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, his
chief-of-staff, that he physically assaulted the man, once banging his
head into a stone wall.
- As a favor to the Prime
Minister, during World War II, the R.A.F. provided Winston Churchill
with an oxygen mask that permitted him to smoke cigars while flying.
- While on campaign, the late Roman Emperor Julian
(360-363) often prepared his own meals, like a common soldier, making
puls, a polenta-like wheat porridge.
- In
1631 two Algerian ships raided the Irish village of Baltimore, and
carried over a thousand people into slavery in North
Africa.
- The U.S. Army was so small by
the end of the 1920s – 125,000 men – that then Lt. Col. George C.
Marshall once joked that it had barely enough combat troops to fill
Yankee Stadium.
More...
Portions of "Al
Nofi's CIC" have appeared previously in Military Chronicles,
Copyright © 2405 Military
Chronicles (www.militarychronicles.com), used with permission, all rights
reserved.
|