Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: MikeinIraq
yeah the battle really illustrated to all that the Napoleonic school of warfare was completely and suicidally outdated.

True, but I've always been fascinated by how long it took for people to understand this. Fifty years after Gettysburg, the British suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

5 posted on 07/03/2005 7:01:01 AM PDT by THX 1138
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies ]


To: THX 1138

they didnt march into the fire at the Somme like they did at Gettysburg. There wasn't any marching as such and it wasn't the Napoleonic school at the time....

at the Battle of the Somme, they used an early and horribly thought out version of the loose order drill that was used very successfully in World War 2.


6 posted on 07/03/2005 7:03:47 AM PDT by MikefromOhio (Sleep in peace, comrades dear...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson