Vlim and Mauro,
I enjoyed reading your posts. Thanks for posting. Yes, I was thinking more, but not entirely, of American soldiers. I remember someone once talking about the Americans and our BAR rifles. The Americans would shoot off a magazine and, when it was empty, just throw the magazine away. Then when they went to get some more ammunition, they found that the ammunition came loose in crates but the wasn't any more magazines for the BAR. So I assume that the BAR rifles were then useless.
Vlim, you may be good at it, but I sometimes struggle to get that stock cup off of the stock. Maybe thats because I am trying very hard not to damage it.
I have numerous audio tapes about WW1 that I listen to while deer hunting in Northern Michigan and I can't help but wonder how those poor soldiers fought that war in the way that they did. Right now, I am thinking of one battle where the British bombarded a German position for days. Then, thinking that nobody could live through a bombardment like that, The British ordered their infantry to attack at half pace.
Well, the Germans knew that the bombardment was coming and pulled back before it started. When the bombardment ended, they went back to their positions. Over 43,000 British soldiers died in a matter of hours. I just can't believe that soldiers thought that they could possibly live through the war.
Then there was a German general on the Eastern front who had a reputation for disobeying orders. He had a French sounding name that I can't remember right now. When the Russians sent two armies toward Germany, this general was a long way away from where he was supposed to be. But he was in perfect position to attack the Russian first army. He virtually annihilated the Russian first army. The Russian second army was forced to retreat.
An interesting side note is that the Russian general of the first army went into the forest and committed suicide when he realized that his army was destroyed. Later, that generals wife received permission from the German general staff to safely go to the battle area to retrieve her husbands body for proper burial in Russia. Yes, that was a different sort of war.
I am sorry that I cannot document better what I just said and I can only give approximations. I hunt in rain, snow and sleet and it is impossible to write notes about what I hear on the audio tapes. The purpose of listening to these audio tapes is to help me forget how cold I am while hunting and to keep me awake while I sit totally bored for hours when no deer come by.
Big Norm
|