The " revolutionary army " legend is a dangerous legend.
Does any person with experience of actual warfare really believe that Rommel's men, when they found themselves surrounded and it became obvious that their enemies possessed overwhelming air" superiority, really comforted themselves by the thought that they were fighting for the New Order or that they were selling their lives for the Rawer, Reichsmarschall Goering, Herr Hinunler and Doctor Goebbels? They thought nothing of the sort. They were fighting for the honour of the German Army coupled with the additional inducement that if they retreated Unneces,,arilY they would be shot. Did the men who surrounded the Germans at Starya Russa really inspire themselves, as they slipped through the darkness upon their skis, with the truculent portrait of Stalin? Not in the least. They thought only of surrounding the Germans with greater skill and courage than their enemies possessed. And did the men who swayed down upon Bruneval in the moonlight really consider deeply the comparative merits of Winston Churchill and Stafford Cripps? Again, not in the least. Battles are not won by sociology, still less are they son by excuses.; they are won by discipline, skill, confidence an° courage.
Previous page
