Tuesday, 11 Nov 2008

Ambition, Attrition, and Armistice

“At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, one minute of silence will be observed to mark the signing of the Armistice and to remember all those who fell in the cause of their nations.”

Most of us were raised to the myth that the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944 was an inevitable triumph that swept aside all opposition. Most of the books you read on the subject focus on paratroopers and weather forecasts and the bloody grind to get across the beaches. Yet that was just one day. The part that most people don’t think about is that the bloody grind continued… for months.

The Allied objectives for “D-Day” (a silly name, seeing as how every single military operation has a D-Day and an H-Hour) were ambitious; Caen, for example, was expected to be under by the end of the first day. Well, despite overwhelming firepower, it took almost 2 months to capture Caen.

They had planned on a campaign of movement, thinking of the experiences in the desert. Tankers today still dream about grand sweeping movements. But in close country, where a single defiladed anti-tank gun can wreak havoc on an approaching formation, tanks moving against defended positions without infantry support are easy pray, and yet those soldiers are likewise exposed to murderous fire. The inclination (can’t quite call it instinct) to go to ground when a gun opens up is incredibly strong. It’s even harder to get up again, especially when the officers attempting to lead by example are being mowed down.

Which is why the senior generals were increasingly terrified that the campaign was bogging down; they who had somehow survived the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele saw the attrition of the Great War happening again.

One veteran observed that his company had taken over 100% casualties. Another that his had seen 51 officers pass through it between Normandy and the Rhine. Given that in a company there are only an officer commanding, maybe a 2IC, and 3 platoon commanders, that is almost unfathomable. And this was only a shadow of what had happened 1914-1918?

The old blasphemies endure: “God loves the infantry”.

So we observe this day; these people are the ones who bought our freedom from the ambitions of those who took us into the maelstrom. And although the memorials name those who didn’t come back, we must think too on those who did, those who rallied to continue their advance, and carried the day.

And as you remember, perhaps spare a moment for those who serve still, who struggle in cold, dark, or scorching places, far from home.

AfC
11:00 hrs
11 November 2008

ambition-attrition-armistance, posted by Andrew Cowie in personal/remembrance at 2008-11-11T01:54:55Z

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