I once read a book written by a German soldier in Hitler’s 4th Panzer Army which fought itself to a standstill outside the gates of Moscow in the winter of 1941.
Machine Gun nest Eastern Front. wikipedia.
WW2 Moscow Battle. wikipedia.
Lamenting the dead. wikipedia.
Battle of Moscow. wikipedia.
The Wehrmacht soldier was desperately trying to sleep.
Wrapped in a blanket in a snowy foxhole just outside Khimki.
The last tram stop on the outskirts of that Greatest of Russian cities.
Something kept digging into his back. Pulling a frozen wood splinter out of the icy earth of his foxhole wall he realized he was in fact grasping a dirty old Golden French Eagle.
Distribution of the Eagle Standards by J.L David. wikipedia.
When Napoleon raised the huge number of new regiments for his massive army of the Republic he had to quickly engender esprit d' core within the ranks of this new army. He designed and distributed regimental standards based on the Imperial "Eagles" of the legions of Rome. These "standards" represented groups of troops of men raised in various districts of France and were intended to personalise a soldiers war focus. Creating patroitic feelings of "localised" pride and loyalty amongst competing regiments from the cities, towns and villages of France. This also ensured a man's steadiness and bravery in combat as he knew everyone back home would eventually hear the stories of his bravery or lack of it. Napoleon usually gave an emotional speech insisting that troops should protect and defend the standards to the last drop of their blood.
Over a hundred years later, holding the once proud battered frozen eagle in his hands, the Wehrmacht soldier had a terrible premonition. He was convinced, in that second, that the army he was fighting in was doomed to die in the snowy Russian winter... and that he was holding "external confirmation" of this fact in his icy hands.
Soldiers in the snow. wikipedia.
And he was right... sure enough Hitler's retreating army was annihilated like Napoleon's army before it.
Leibstandarte troops. wikipedia.
SS-Panzergrenadiers. wikipedia.
The German army had marched into Russia totally confident of its superiority. However they over extended their lines of communication and the Russians chopped them up. Cossacks and Partisans massacring them piecemeal on the dreadful retreat. German casualties are estimated at 400,000 men.
wikipedia.
This retreat was the beginning of the end for Hitler’s ‘Thousand Year’ Reich.
Like George W. Bush the Germans didn’t pay attention to the history books.
If they had they would have remembered that on June 24th 1812 Napoleon’s Grand Army of 691,501 men had also marched into Russia. The biggest army in European history.
The Russians only had a small army of 175,250 men ready to fight.
To raise reservists would take time and even then they would only be able to muster 488,000 men at best.
Bonaparte Crossing The Great St. Bernards Path by Jaques Louis David. Cranston Fine Art.
Meanwhile the French were supremely confident... And why not..? They had superior numbers and were being led by Napoleone Bonaparte one of greatest military commanders in history.
A Grenadier of the Guard at Elba by Horace Vernet. Cranston Fine art.
Like Bush’s campaign today things started out well… but did not go according to plan.
The Moscow Fire by Unknown Artist. wikipedia
Napoleon fought his way to Moscow and took it… but he could not hold it.
The city burned down... further hardening Russian hearts unifying Napoleon's enemies in their resolve against him..
As happened to Hitler… As happened to the Americans in Vietnam… as is happening today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Napoleon Retreating From the burning Kremlin Viktor Mazurovsky. wikipedia.
There are a nunber of famous paintings depicting "The unthinkable" Napoleon retreating from the burning Kremlin... Napoleon retreating from Moscow across the icy Russian steppes. They are looking at old news reels. You can see the pain in the pictures.
Napoleons retreat from Moscow by Adolph Northern. Cranston Fine Art.
The French had over extended lines of communication.
Russian Cossacks and Partisans chopped them up. Massacring them piecemeal...
The Russians employed a "scorched earth" policy burning everything edible in their path so there was nothing left to eat for the retreating and now cut off army. They did the exact same to the Germans a hundred years later.
The burning of The Eagles on the retreat from Moscow by Caton Woodville. Cranston Fine Art.
There is one painting potraying the burning of the Eagles and Standards of regiments lost on the retreat back from Moscow.
Napoleon and his staff looking sadly on. They look gutted... and so they were. The survivors of his once great army are preparing to cross over the last river out of Russia.
Tattered remains of a once proud army.
Out of 691,501 men only 22,000 made it back to France and this retreat was the beginning of the end for Napoleon. He'd waisted 669,501 men not to mention masses of equipment and thouisands of horses left along the way.
So do modern American military commanders not realize that history repeats itself?
In Afghanistan the Russians withdrew defeated and humiliated in 1989 after battling the Mujahideen for ten years at a cost of 15,000 men dead and 500,000 other casualties.
The Afghans lost over 1 million men and Afghanistan became Russia’s Vietnam.
For Vietnam read "the unthinkable" and there is one lesson the history of war constantly teaches us that there is no such thing as "the unthinkable" in war. That's what happened in Vietnam... The word Vietnam became a euphamism for "failure and defeat" showing us how massive military might can be totally defeated by the little guy with a bag of rice and an AK47... call it "David and Goliath..." call it "Kung-fu..." using the force and power of the enemy against him... and it's happening again... and the pompously self righteous new world order is too arrogant to see it... Wondering why I surfed on to Zogby International thinking about the question "Has George W. Bush's government not read any history books..?" and this is what I found...
"Although all of them are the right age, not one of Bush's cabinet members served in Vietnam... So why do vets and combat troops support an administration of combat cowards?" Sentiments expressed by R.D. Carey... a disabled UNSMC Vietnam Veteran.
wikipedia.
Even today the Russians say there is no military training on earth that can prepare soldiers for conditions in Afghanistan.
Even the Spetsnaz found it too tough for them and Russian Special Forces are as good as any on earth, physically tougher than the Americans for example.
Spetsnaz are very special soldiers trained in the mysterious use of "non contact" martial arts.
wikipedia.
A Soviet Spetsnaz (special operations) group prepares for a mission in Afghanistan, 1988.
Spetsnaz carry out reconnaissance and "social warfare" missions in "peacetime" as well as in war. For example, it is known that the assasination of Afghanistan's president carried out by Spetsnaz in December 1979 was under the direction of the KGB.
There were 20 Spetsnaz brigades plus 41 separate companies. Total strength of Spetsnaz forces committed to Afghanistan in the 1980s could have been around 30,000 "lethal" troops.
The Russians say they believe it’s impossible to pinpoint Bin Laden hiding in Afghan mountain terrain, territory Russian strategists know well because they fought there. They also know well that Afghanistan has never ever in all its history been controlled by outsiders.
Ahmad Shah Massoud Mujahideen military commander. wikipedia.
They also speak with great respect of the tactical skills of the Afghans particularly Ahmad Shah Massoud who was a prominent Mujahideen military commander who fought the Soviets to a standstill in the 1980s. Only to be assassinated by Al Qaeda on September 9, 2001 when they took over control .
Massoud became the greatest Mujahideen resistance fighter in the successful guerrilla war against the Soviet's Red Army. And is credited with having achieved control of terrain known to be difficult to defend militarily whilst under constant attack from the Soviet-Afghan Army.
They called him the Lion of Panjshir or Amer Sahib (Commander) expressing both affection and respect.
One of the most notable of Massoud's military tactics in the Panjshir was his tendency to perform ‘shocking’ manoeuvres against the Red Army.
Whilst the Red Army always outnumbered Massoud's men, they could never inflict enough damage on his forces or establish a prolonged presence in his territory.
The Russians believe it is impossible to win a war on Afghan soil.
That’s why they withdrew in 1988!
Pullout of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. 1988. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev. wikipedia.
Tanks left by the Soviet army during their withdrawal rusting in a field near Bagram Air Base. 2003. wikipedia.
Remains of Soviet trucks in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2002. wikipedia.
And therefore better matched to the style of warfare in Afghanistan.
Which leads us to ‘The Great Game.’
‘The Great Game’ was a vicious Victorian struggle between Russia and Britain for domination of Central Asia particularly Afghanistan.
The term was coined by Arthur Conelly, a flamboyant British Officer in the Sixth Bengal Lancers… who had been seconded to British Intelligence.
Conelly wrote ‘the beauty of the mission’ was Britain’s attempt to ‘civilize the Asian races’.
The Afghans captured him in 1841 as he attempted to rescue Lt. Col. Charles Stoddart who was being held captive in Bukara.
Nasrullah Khan, the Emir of Bukara had them both executed for spying... and probably for their arrogance too.
The First Anglo Afghan War in 1838 was a disastrous British attempt to stop Russian expansion into India.
The British imposed a puppet regime under Shuja Shah. A regime totally dependant on British military support. The Brits denied they were invading, claiming they were supporting ‘a legitimate ruler’ against ‘foreign interference and factious opposition.’
By 1842 mobs were openly attacking Brits on the streets of Kabul.
The British had occupied Kabul under the command of Major General William Elphinstone a highly decorated hero of the battle of Waterloo.
A hero in another time and place he may have been, but surrounded, trapped and afraid in Kabul in 1842 he surrendered to the Afghan leader Akbar Khan…Under a flag of truce… "A truce..." based on an understanding that his officers and men would keep their weapons and also receive a guarantee of safe passage during the long march back through the snowy mountain passes on the 90 mile journey to the nearest British outpost at Jalalabad.
16,500 British mainly consisting the 44th Essex regiment and Indian soldiers with some civilians and their wives and children marched out of Kabul.
Unfortunately this army travelled with it’s families and Akbar Khans guarantee was a devious trap. It was carnage...
The Last Stand at Gundamuck by William Barnes Wollen. Cranston Fine Art.
This picture portrays the last stand of the defiant remnants of the 44th East Essex Regiment at Gundamuck just before they were overrun by Afghan tribesmen.
During a series of ruthless attacks and treacherous ambushes the Afghan guerrillas massacred everyone over a seven day running battle fought in deep snow in rocky mountain passes along the Kabul river.
Assistant Surgeon officer William Brydon. Cranston Fine Art.
Only one man made it to Jalalabad on a dying horse.
Assistant Surgeon officer William Brydon. Immediately famous for being the only survivor of an army of 16,500. Part of his skull was missing.
The copy of a magazine he’d stuffed inside his hat to keep his head warm saved his life when an Afghan sword stroke fouled in the hat.
Brydons dramatic tale is recorded in this famous painting entitled ‘Remnants of an Army’ by Lady Elizabeth Butler.
This picture affirmed Afghanistan’s fearsome reputation as a graveyard for foreign army’s.
Afghan women castrated all the male captives before they killed them with knives.
Rudyard Kipling had this to say about Afghanistan:
‘When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, and go to your Gawd like a soldier!’
After this humiliating defeat the British curbed their ambitions in Afghanistan.
American Geo-strategy imperatives seem to advocate a new version of’ ‘The Great Game’ and look at the current difficulties Coalition forces are experiencing fighting the Taliban and Al Quaeda.
If History does Repeat Itself ... bigger casualty figures may yet be on the way... And there is another thing... karmic payback... because there really is something of the ignorant, facistic, nasty, "bully boy" about Bush's policies...
* * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** *
So why do Vets and combat troops support an administration of combat cowards?’ R.D. Carey. disabled UNSMC Vietnam Veteran.
***(Please note reference material for this blog gratefully taken from Wikipedia with the exeption of : Grenadier of the Gaurd at Elba by Horace Vernet. Officer de Chasseur Cheval by Theodore Gericault . Bonaparte Crossing the Great St Bernards Path by Jaques Louis David. The Burning of the Eagles on the Retreat from Moscow by Caton Woodville; all of which I found on http://www.directart.co.uk/.
Cranston Fine Art's amazing catalogue of military history prints and paintings.... really worth a look for any serious student of Military History.
No comments:
Post a Comment