A Good Blog Post: "Marching to War"

[Subdeacon Joe]

http://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2015/05/marching-to-war.html?showComment=1430574065890#c7593254611115974467

 

From the 11th Dynasty of Egypt to the invasion of Russia in 1941, a span of over 4000 years, armies marched to war, on foot and on horseback.

Long columns of men, horses and wheeled conveyances would stretch for miles, filling the air with dust in fair weather, churning the roads and nearby fields to thick, glutinous mud in rainy weather.

From Paris to Moscow is over 1750 miles, from Berlin to Moscow, a little over 1100 miles. Can you begin to imagine what it would have been like to travel that distance, on foot, carrying upwards of 60+ pounds of equipment, ammunition and rations? In all sorts of weather?

It boggles the modern mind. (At least it boggles mine!)

While many think of World War II as a fully mechanized war, it really wasn't, not for the most part.

The German Army of 1941 went into Russia much the same as their grandfathers did. Wearing a field pack loaded with their necessaries, brotbeutel with rations slung from their belt, steel helmet on head and a single shot magazine fed rifle in 7.92mm, the ubiquitous K98, virtually the same rifle their grandfathers had carried to the Marne back in 1914. (First fielded in 1898, the WWII version was shorter and lighter.)

 

 

 

 

'Tis a rare soldier indeed who does not dream of the end of war. Who prays to see the next dawn, to someday get home. Wherever home may be.

One thing though has never changed...

And probably never will...

Plato knew it over 2000 years ago...

Only the dead have seen the end of war.