hawk@oliven.UUCP (Rick) (09/18/84)
>Then there's always the Chinese (I think) saying: > > "There is great chaos under heaven, and the situation is excellent." During a world war, there was a French (I think) Field Marshal who sent back a message to the effect of: "Enemy to the North. Enemy to the South. Enemy approaching on East. Enemy closing in from west. Situation excellent. I'm attacking." not only that, but he won! rick -- [hplabs|zehntel|fortune|ios|tolerant|allegra|tymix]!oliveb!oliven!hawk
jrrt@hogpd.UUCP (R.MITCHELL) (09/20/84)
I can't speak about French Field Marshalls, but in World War 2, Gen.
Lewis B. Fuller (USMC) became famous when he told his troops:
The enemy is in front of us, behind us, to the left of us, and to
the right of us. Men, they can't escape us this time!"
-- and of course, he won.
Rob Mitchell
{allegra,ihnp4}!hogpd!jrrtcej@ll1.UUCP (Chuck Jones MMOCS) (09/20/84)
[Ahh, war... Oh...] How about the W.W. II Army commander (who's name escapes me, but just ask my brother, he'll tell you) who was cut-off by the Jappenese on a small island. He and his men were making a last stand, and he knew that supplies nor personnel were ever going to make it through. When asked over the radio if there was anything they could send him, he replied "Send more Japs!" He, however, lost. ...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Chuck Jones
renner@uiucdcs.UUCP (09/24/84)
> "Enemy to the North. Enemy to the South. Enemy approaching on East. > Enemy closing in from west. Situation excellent. I'm attacking." Reminds me of a story told about this armor battalion that spearheaded most of Patton's drive in 1944. The CO is supposed to have said, "Well, they've got us surrounded again...the poor bastards!" Scott Renner ...ihnp4!uiucdcs!renner
mwm@ea.UUCP (09/25/84)
All those talkative commanders. The classic is of course from the WWII Bulge battle. The poor guy holding Bastogne was asked to surrender. His answer was (everyone join the chorus, now) "Nuts!" <mike
scw@cepu.UUCP (Stephen C. Woods) (09/25/84)
In article <391@hogpd.UUCP> jrrt@hogpd.UUCP (R.MITCHELL) writes: >I can't speak about French Field Marshalls, but in World War 2, Gen. >Lewis B. Fuller (USMC) became famous when he told his troops: > Actually Gen'l Puller ('Chesty') became famous during WWII for winning 2 Navy Crosses (one on Guadacanal, and one on Okinawa (I think)). He already had 1 from the 1934-1937 Nigeragua Campaign. > >The enemy is in front of us, behind us, to the left of us, and to >the right of us. Men, they can't escape us this time!" > > -- and of course, he won. This was actually said "at the frozen Chosin, in the Freezin' season". That is durring the winter of 1950(1?) durring the retreat from the Chosin Reservior (in North Korea) after the Army bugged out. Puller turned the 1st Marine Division around (south) and fought through 7 Chi-Com Divisions (Actually about 1.5(total) US infantry Divisions in real strength) bringing ALL of their Dead, wounded and equipment (the marines have to be real careful about equipment, as we never know how long it'll be before the Army decides that somthing is obsolete and therefore just right for us). He got his 4th Navy Cross for this feat. What he is really supposed to have said is:"So we're surrounded Huh?, Well now we got the bastards right where we want 'em, No matter which way we shoot, we can't miss!". -- Stephen C. Woods (VA Wadsworth Med Ctr./UCLA Dept. of Neurology) uucp: { {ihnp4, uiucdcs}!bradley, hao, trwrb, sdcrdcf}!cepu!scw ARPA: cepu!scw@ucla-cs location: N 34 3' 9.1" W 118 27' 4.3"
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (09/27/84)
This is a correction to the Bastogne story. The guy who made the remark was a Colonel at the time. I later served under him when he became Commanding General of the 1st Division. The remark has always been reported through the media as having been "nuts". The real remark, from a guy who was standing less than ten feet away who I also served with was "F__K YOU!". The media changed the remark to fit home consumption. The German Officer to whom the remark was made was confused as to the meaning and had to have it explained. I rather like the original myself.
scw@cepu.UUCP (Stephen C. Woods) (09/28/84)
In article <274@ll1.UUCP> cej@ll1.UUCP (Chuck Jones MMOCS) writes: >[Ahh, war... Oh...] > > How about the W.W. II Army commander (who's name escapes me, >but just ask my brother, he'll tell you) who was cut-off by the >Jappenese on a small island. He and his men were making a last >stand, and he knew that supplies nor personnel were ever going to >make it through. > > When asked over the radio if there was anything they could >send him, he replied "Send more Japs!" > > He, however, lost. > >...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Chuck Jones Close, but no cigar. (1)It was a Marine. (2)His name (as I recall) was Major Deveraux(sp?) (3)It was Wake Island. (4)The 'send more Japs' was padding put after the message to make the message up to a standard length.The actual contents of the message was a report that the defenders had beaten off the first attempt at a landing. Another example of misplaced padding was a message sent to Hasley during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Hasley had taken TF 58.1 (the fast carrier group) and TF 58.1.5 (the Fast Battleships) off after the Japanese Carrier TF (a semi decoy, they had very few planes),the major Japanese strike force (a Battleship/Cruser group) was approching the landing beaches (at Leyte) and the Admrial commanding the landing force wanted to know where his Battleship support force was. INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH [marker] WHERE IS TASK FORCE 58.1.5 [marker] ALL THE WORLD WONDERED When the message was decoded, the decoding officer neglected to strip off the trailing 'ALL THE WORLD WONDERED'. This produced ,naturally, a great uproar, with hurt feelings on both sides. -- Stephen C. Woods (VA Wadsworth Med Ctr./UCLA Dept. of Neurology) uucp: { {ihnp4, uiucdcs}!bradley, hao, trwrb, sdcrdcf}!cepu!scw ARPA: cepu!scw@ucla-cs location: N 34 3' 9.1" W 118 27' 4.3"