HKB
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Often appears with: supply, logistics, and encampment · siege and fortification · ship sinking · royal engineers · naval warfare and sea power · military duty · imperial labor · fortifications and logistics · essling · ebersdorf · danube crossing · birkenhead drill
Usually: curiosity (2) · argument (1) · commentary or gloss (1) · wonder (1)
“The passage of a river like the Danube, in front of an enemy knowing perfectly the localities, and having the inhabitants on its side, is one of the greatest operations of war which it is possible to conceive.” Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 · observation
The narrator explains tactical and logistical issues in Napoleon’s Danube crossing at Ebersdorf after Essling, noting unexpected river rise, bridge damage, and quoting Napoleon’s claim about the operation’s difficulty.
No. 5. *Ebersdorf.*--Written five days after the murderous battle of Essling. Montgaillard, whose temper and judgment, as Alison remarks, are not equal to his talents, cannot resist a covert sneer (writing under the Bourbons) at Napoleon's generalship on this occasion, although he adds a veneer by reminding us that Cæsar was defeated at Dyrrachium, Turenne at Marienthal, Eugène at Denain, Frederick the Great at Koli…
“Sappers” mythologizes the origin of military engineering in Bible stories (Noah’s pontoon, Babel’s confusion, Joshua stopping the sun), arguing engineers have always shaped war and even peacetime.
an' knew; Yes, barrin' an inch in the chest an' the arm, they was doubles o' me an' you; For they weren't no special chrysanthemums -- soldier an' sailor too! To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about, Is nothing so bad when you've cover to 'and, an' leave an' likin' to shout; But to stand an' be still to the *Birken'ead* drill is a damn tough bullet to chew, An' they done it, the J…