Infinite Wisdom

"The artillery must, in the first place hit, in the second place hit, and in the third place, hit."

La Triviata

• When they evacuated Kiev in September of 1941, the Soviets mined literally hundreds of structures, from the opera house and government buildings to factories and ordinary dwellings, with some charges running as large as nine tons, and many timed to go off weeks or even months later.
• The magazine of the U.S. Army’s Krag .30-40 rifle, issued in the late 1890s, could be loaded even when ready to fire, with the bolt was closed on a chambered round.
• Following a long, hot desert march in 46 B.C., while campaigning against Caesar in modern-day Tunisia, Marcus Porcius Cato – “Cato the Younger” – refused any water until every man in his army had taken a drink, down to the lowest camp servant.
• In the course of a six day exercise during the Carolina maneuvers of 1941, the 1^st and 2^nd Armored Divisions were ruled to have “lost” 844 tanks, more than their combined authorized strength, while attempting frontal attacks against defending infantry.
• When a Byzantine Emperor decided to go on campaign, the fact was announced by hanging his surcoat, sword, and shield on the Bronze Gate of the Imperial Palace.
• Between 1342 and 1399 the territory of the Italian city-state of Siena, in Tuscany, suffered no less than 37 times from raids by rogue mercenary bands, while during the same period the commune engaged in two full scale wars with some of its neighbors, in the process hiring many of the very mercs who were wont to ravage its lands.
• While most people, including most Britons, assumed that if Germany had occupied Britain in World War II, the government would carry on the war from Canada, apparently the decision had been made to relocate to India.
• Militiamen comprised about 88 percent of American troops on active duty during the War of 1812.

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