|
Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 3, 2022 6:26:46 GMT
As a young kid, I used to think that countries had finite professional career soldiers at any point in time. I probably believed that WWII was won, for example, because more of the Allied soldiers survived than the Axis.
A war that started in 1939 & ended in 1945, I surely believed that a country was stuck with however many soldiers it had in 1939 & had to see which side could last the longest with numbers (or in the case of the US &/or others, got to start late with their finite forces).
I'd no idea of tours of duty or replenishing forces... I just thought that military was a career choice & any casualty of war was a way of keeping score on a battlefield.
|
|
|
Post by TheGoodMan19 on Mar 3, 2022 12:40:13 GMT
I always wondered how many soldiers who were in the Red Army on June 22nd, 1941 were still around to see VE day. Probably not too many. Also, when I see the films of the Wehrmacht in 1939 or the ones marching down the Champs-Elysses in 1940 lived to see May, 1945. Reading a book about the last days of the Civil War. Tennessee regiments that went to war in 1861 with 1200 men had less than 60 at the end (a lot of that was desertion).
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Mar 4, 2022 3:17:28 GMT
My early notions of war were shaped by the media, Hollywood, and pop culture. All Quiet on the Western Front was one step toward dispelling the myths.
|
|
|
Post by TheGoodMan19 on Mar 4, 2022 13:12:03 GMT
My early notions of war were shaped by the media, Hollywood, and pop culture. All Quiet on the Western Front was one step toward dispelling the myths. Most everyone's image of war is Hollywood. I actually avoided this. My love of history came from a tip to Gettysburg when I was 12. I was fascinated with the statues, the Cyclorama, stuff like that. Then we took a tour and the guide told us that there we over 50,000 casualties in three days. Even at 12, I was blown away by that number. Then my mother bought me a huge book of photos by Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner. I was blown away by the fact that I was walking on the same ground as this
Always grateful for that trip to Gettysburg. Changed my life
|
|