Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberon
don't know why, perhaps each generation of general thinks that the laws of the previous are outdated, when in fact while the weaponry may have changed, the warfare is still the same.
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Precisely! 'Every general fights his last battle'; and if your
actually good, your enemy reads
your book and 'plays up'. Scipio read and
met Hannibal(ZAMA); Wellington knew Napoleon's tactics completely by Waterloo; "he's a pounder after all" and Montgomery had undoubtedly read his Rommel:
Infantry in the Attack, from compiled Potsdam lectures between the wars, and had his picture in his wartime command caravan. The rules of war never change; example: Ol' Boney's
Maneuver sur les Derriéres translated to von Richthofen's "no tricks flying, get on his
six and very close".(
Rotte Fleiger) The Spandau equipped blood red Albatross III might have supplanted a French Napoleon 12-pounder equipped brigade as to speed,
elevation and firepower, but the rules are the same. Oddly enough, Zama, El Alemain and Waterloo were won by competent military
lifers who faced more
highly regarded opponents who expected to win...but did not. The victors went on to become highly regarded in their turn after their history-altering encounters.