I don't know - Nelson's tars got a prodigious ration of rum at least once a day. And look how they fared at Trafalgar against the French.
You have a good point there... I don’t know I guess it’s just the image it conjured in my mind of a bunch of French soldiers sipping on warm wine, getting all toasty at the front with the ladies’ auxillary juxtaposed with what we know happened next that makes it sound so idiotic to me. I mean with how they eventually surrendered France they might as well have had their wine at home!!!