9 out of 10 countries on this planet.....

[DVV]

Yeah, but 30 pigmies wearing fox fur round their necks and whale teeth in their ears, running round with spears, are limited in the destruction they can cause.

Give them guns and they will use it.

[DVV]

Who??

Cadoudal. The Chouan. A hero of the counter-revolution, finally beheaded by Napoleon.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Cadoudal. The Chouan. A hero of the counter-revolution, finally beheaded by Napoleon.

Never heard of 'im. Presumably Cadoudal was disappointed with the outcome?

[lynn cates]

military strategy

Hello David. As every Scotsman knows, the key to success on the battlefield is haggis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kzYaIphbzU

Cheers.
LC

[Fleetwood Mac]

Hello David. As every Scotsman knows, the key to success on the battlefield is haggis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kzYaIphbzU

Cheers.
LC

No wonder the Germans called them Devils in Skirts.

[GUT]

Now those kind generous loving Aussie, never attack anyone.

Unless we're pushed like .0001 of an inch.

And so far only the Japs have been stupid enough to attack us and they got stopped dead at Kokoda after sweeping through the rest of the Pacfic.

And of course everytime the Poms got into trouble they called on us. Left us for dead at Gallipoli but now the Turks think we are the greatest because of the way we fought.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Now those kind generous loving Aussie, never attack anyone.

Unless we're pushed like .0001 of an inch.

And so far only the Japs have been stupid enough to attack us and they got stopped dead at Kokoda after sweeping through the rest of the Pacfic.

And of course everytime the Poms got into trouble they called on us. Left us for dead at Gallipoli but now the Turks think we are the greatest because of the way we fought.

Not just you, GUT, the Canadians, Kiwis, South Africans; anyone really, we were very much equal opportunity when it came to getting people to help fight our battles.

Wasn't Gallipoli a combined British/Aussie/Kiwi force? It's not a part of WW1 I know much about but from the bits I've picked up the planning was horrendous as the beach landings took place two weeks after the shelling due to some delay or other, which I suppose was a way of simply advertising we were there and giving them two weeks to get their house in order. To be fair, no one new how to fight wars with the technology available to them at that time, so everyone was just fumbling around in the dark hoping for the best and it was the British Army who developed the right tactics in the end (which was some feat considering our resources went into the Navy).

[Mayerling]

Now those kind generous loving Aussie, never attack anyone.

Unless we're pushed like .0001 of an inch.

And so far only the Japs have been stupid enough to attack us and they got stopped dead at Kokoda after sweeping through the rest of the Pacfic.

And of course everytime the Poms got into trouble they called on us. Left us for dead at Gallipoli but now the Turks think we are the greatest because of the way we fought.

G'day GUT,

Kokoda was in the New Guinea Campaign I think, wasn't it? Like the first major Japanese army defeat of the war, if I'm not mistaken. If I am right, the Australians won under General Blamey (I think that is the name and spelling).

As for Gallipoli, I'm still amazed at that WWI campaign. I read Alan Moorehead's book on it years ago. I still can't believe it was even planned (of course Churchill always was less than accurate about European geographic features - he still called the mountainous regions of the Balkans and Crete "the soft underbelly" of Europe in World War II!!). The real winners were the Turks, who paid a huge amount in lives to win. It did have one good effect. Mustafa Kemal (a.k.a. Kemal Attaturk) ended up totally distrusting the Germans because Von Sanders got the credit for the victory and it was won by the Turks. He and his associate Inanu agreed to maintain total neutratlity in the coming of World War II, despite efforts by the Nazis to get them to join.

Jeff

[GUT]

Not just you, GUT, the Canadians, Kiwis, South Africans; anyone really, we were very much equal opportunity when it came to getting people to help fight our battles.

Wasn't Gallipoli a combined British/Aussie/Kiwi force? It's not a part of WW1 I know much about but from the bits I've picked up the planning was horrendous as the beach landings took place two weeks after the shelling due to some delay or other, which I suppose was a way of simply advertising we were there and giving them two weeks to get their house in order. To be fair, no one new how to fight wars with the technology available to them at that time, so everyone was just fumbling around in the dark hoping for the best and it was the British Army who developed the right tactics in the end (which was some feat considering our resources went into the Navy).

Not too many Brits just as ANZACs [Australia and New Zealand Army Corps] but Kiwis are really just Aussies who haven't moved yet. The biggest stuff up was that the Poms landed us at the wrong spot, at the bottom of a cliff.

[Mayerling]

Cadoudal. The Chouan. A hero of the counter-revolution, finally beheaded by Napoleon.

Thanks for remembering Georges Cadoudal. Please explain how to pronounce his last name. I think it is "Ca Dow dal" (emphasis on second syllable), but it sometimes seems to be "Ca doodle" which sounds ridiculous.

The Chouans war in France lasted about a decade (1793 - 1803).

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Compared to the Italians the french were fantastic.

Despite whom you ask. Ethiopians (after 1935), Libyans, and Albanians may have their own opinions. But granted, the World War II Italians were not in the same catagory of warrior as the Romans or the private armies of the Renaissance (prior to 1480 or so).

[Fleetwood Mac]

Not too many Brits just as ANZACs [Australia and New Zealand Army Corps] but Kiwis are really just Aussies who haven't moved yet. The biggest stuff up was that the Poms landed us at the wrong spot, at the bottom of a cliff.

Not according to what I've just read, GUT.

21,000 British soldiers died; 8,000 Australians; 3,000 Kiwis. With another 198,000 British soldiers wounded.

Based on numbers killed it would seem two thirds of soldiers at Gallipoli were British.

But, yeah, the planning was a mess.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Not according to what I've just read, GUT.

21,000 British soldiers died; 8,000 Australians; 3,000 Kiwis. With another 198,000 British soldiers wounded.

Based on numbers killed it would seem two thirds of soldiers at Gallipoli were British.

But, yeah, the planning was a mess.

Should have also said 15,000 French soldiers gave their lives.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Brits-made-major-Gallipoli-sacrifice-too/2005/04/20/1113854234288.html

[Fleetwood Mac]

Not too many Brits just as ANZACs [Australia and New Zealand Army Corps] but Kiwis are really just Aussies who haven't moved yet. The biggest stuff up was that the Poms landed us at the wrong spot, at the bottom of a cliff.

The thing is with of all this is that it's very difficult to defeat the enemy when they occupy the best ground/position. It was like that on the Western Front. The Germans chose the ground where they dug in and basically said we're happy here you're gonna have to come and take it back. In many cases the Germans were on the high ground and could see right into British trenches without the British realising it. So, they knew all about the coming Somme offensive, and they built formidable defensive trenches. The British and French couldn't just sit there as they were supposed to be driving the Germans out of France and Belgium and so it follows the trenches were ramshackle by comparison as they were built to be short-term.

It was some feat that the British Army stayed the course as we had a small professional army who were pretty much all dead by the spring of 1915. So, what the British generals had at their disposal was the largest voluntary army in history made up of clerks, gardeners and accountants, who unlike other belligerent nations did not mutiny and developed and put into practice the early blitzkrieg tactics that ultimately played a significant role in turning the tide. When the Germans ran out of professional soldiers there conscripts deserted in droves going up to the front: not so with the British.

[GUT]

G'day Fleetwood Mac

Those figures are somewhat debatable but taking them as are.

Britain out of a Population of about 45 mil
Australia out of under 5 mil
NZ out of 1.5 mil

And Anzacs were at Gallipoli or ANZAC cove. Brits and French at Helles. And it was a European War, we could easily have sat it out, but that would be unAustralian when a mate was in trouble.