Only the ignorant dare call french cowards

[Donut]

Originally posted by Memnoch: "Spit the dummy" - It's an Australianism. This should give you an idea:

The british equivalent would be "throw the toys out of the pram"

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Donut: Without wishing to inflame things here I would poit out that it was Normandy that invaded Britain. William, Duke of Normandy had already repelled invasions by the King of France in 1054 & 1058. (That's AD rather than am or pm!)

[img]graemlins/doh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/doh.gif[/img] AND [img]graemlins/doh.gif[/img]

Sorry!

Originally posted by khazadman: And to get back to the original post..... yeah, it was bravery on the part of the soldiers who fought at Verdun. But the commanders who forced these men to fight this way were nothing short of evil. I for one hope they are burning in hell!

as a left-leaning, tree-hugger [img]tongue.gif[/img] , it pains me to say that sometimes what must be done, must be done.

i dont know enough about verdun, the strategies available, the troop strengths, mobility, tactics, etc., but i will trust that the generals made the best decision they could. for whatever reasons, they made the call that this was the place the germans had to be stopped.

which is really my point - is it the commander's fault that he said we stand here and we die or is it the german's fault for starting a war?

more broadly, did any of them have any idea of the forces they were unleashing on their fellow man? trench warfare, chemical weapons, machine guns that were meat grinders...? this doesnt remove fault or guilt, and perhaps only shows how dumb we are - we cant learn anything without an object lesson.

anyone with kids knows you can tell a child not to put their hand on a hot stove, but they wont learn it until they do it and find out for themselves.