Al Nofi's CIC
|
| |
Issue #60, December 1, 2001 |
|
| |
This Issue...
|
|
Infinite Wisdom
"A rational army would run away."
--Montesquieu
La Triviata
- In the course of World War II the Japanese claimed to have sunk the carrier Enterprise (CV-6) on six different occasions.
- The average American soldier in World War II was 5'8.4" tall, just a tad over the 5'8.25"average height of Union troops in the Civil War.
- A shortage of cannon balls caused a bright young artillery officer in the Continental Army before Boston during the winter of 1775-1776 to offer a cash reward for turning in enemy balls, which led to an epidemic of broken ankles and occasional smashed feet in the patriots' ranks, until George Washington ordered that no one attempt to stop a cannon ball in motion.
- The last state to redesignate its militia as the "National Guard" was Massachusetts, in 1905, more than 40 years after the new term had come into use
- When, in 1610, the Russian people stormed the Krelmin to depose the "False Dimitri," they not only torutured the bogus tsar a bit before killing him, but then burned his body and fired the ashes off in the direction of Poland, which had supported the usurper.
- Andrew Jackson appears to have held only two ranks in Federal service, as a private during the Revolutionary War and a major general from 1812 until 1819.
- During the Mexican Revolution, most colonels in Pancho Vila's "Army of the North" commanded regiments of about 50 men, while most brigadier generals were doing well if their commands totaled about 250.
- Of about 24,000 muzzling loading rifles and muskets salvaged after the Battle of Gettysburg, 12,000 were fund to have double charges, and 6,000 more to have three or more charges, the maximum being twelve.
More...
|
