| mosby65 | 17 Jun 2008 6:57 a.m. PST |
Japanese admiral in WWII: "Our island air bases are unsinkable, but not very maneuverable." Also, a Japanese POW on Okinawa being questioned: "What was your last order from your headquarters". "To hold out to the last man." Marine interregator, "Well?" Japanese POW, indignantly, "I was the last man!" |
| mosby65 | 17 Jun 2008 7:10 a.m. PST |
General Stonewall Jackson, at the Battle of Kernstown, was trying to rally retreating Confederate soldiers. Laying about with the flat of his sword and in a towering rage, he roared: "Damn your eyes! Why are you running?" One of the retreating soldiers replied: " 'Cause we can't fly, general." |
| plasticviking2 | 17 Jun 2008 7:45 a.m. PST |
French officer upon arresting the German commander of Paris
'Sprechen sie Deutsch ?' (German replied in perfect French – 'Yes, a good deal better than you' ) This was also said by a Canadian naval officer as he boarded and took control of a UBoat. Also Zhukov's famous reply to the suggestion that Russian artillery relied on massed guns rather than technical quality.
'Yes, but quanity does have a quality all of its own'. |
| plasticviking2 | 17 Jun 2008 7:47 a.m. PST |
aaargh. 'quanity' also shows the crap quality of my typing. |
 Virtualscratchbuilder   | 17 Jun 2008 8:01 a.m. PST |
"There seems to be something wrong with our ships today" |
| khurasanminiatures | 17 Jun 2008 8:18 a.m. PST |
Actually it was "Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today." |
| imrael | 17 Jun 2008 8:37 a.m. PST |
Was it Wittgenstein who's last words were "I told you I was ill!"? And somewhat of a rallying cry at our gaming club
"Engage the enemy more closely" |
| Frederick | 17 Jun 2008 8:48 a.m. PST |
Another Great Frederick quip – this time to his grenadiers at Koln: "Rascals – would you live forever?" |
| Byrhthelm | 17 Jun 2008 9:28 a.m. PST |
"You zig, I'll zag – one of us should get through…" But I can't remember where I found this gem!:-( |
| bogdanwaz | 17 Jun 2008 9:50 a.m. PST |
Napoleon's agents trying to flatter Polish nationalist leader Thaddeus Kosciuszko into supporting him: "You know the Emperor thinks of you every day." Koscuiszko: "That's odd. I try not to think about the Emperor at all." |
| aecurtis | 17 Jun 2008 10:15 a.m. PST |
>>> Sir Charles Napier's one word telegram: "Peccavi" Unfortunately, he didn't send that telegram. A No-prize to anyone who can identify the source of the apocryphal quote. Allen |
| Namvet | 17 Jun 2008 10:30 a.m. PST |
Drill SGT White, Fort Benning – July 1967
If you don't move your a--, I'm gonna stick my boot up your ass until it tickles your tonsils! |
| Klebert L Hall | 17 Jun 2008 10:44 a.m. PST |
I'm amazed nobody's come up with the one from Leyte Gulf yet – (paraphrase) "Keep it up, boys – we've almost drawn them into 40mm range!". -Kle. |
 John the OFM | 17 Jun 2008 10:52 a.m. PST |
>>> Sir Charles Napier's one word telegram: "Peccavi"Unfortunately, he didn't send that telegram. A No-prize to anyone who can identify the source of the apocryphal quote. Allen
Punch? |
| carne68 | 17 Jun 2008 12:00 p.m. PST |
A few more from H.L. Mencken: We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in. No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. |
| Altefritz | 17 Jun 2008 12:10 p.m. PST |
"I am not pregnant. Nor are my soldiers" General von Tauentzien, commander of the prussian Breslau garrison, to the austrian general Laudon which swore to pluck the very babes from the mother's womb unless Breslau capitulated at once. When Tauentzien died, thirty years later, was buried in the Breslau walls. |
| Bangorstu | 17 Jun 2008 12:15 p.m. PST |
From the Battle of Hastings… "Keep blinking H, maybe it'll come out…." And a couple of real ones from dear old Winston Churchill. On being told of the Italian declaration of war in 1940, he remarked: "well, it's only fair. We had them last time." And of course… "America can always be relied upon to do the right thing. Once she has exhausted all other options." |
| Last Hussar | 17 Jun 2008 12:28 p.m. PST |
When I thump the table and push my face towards him, what does he do? Thumps the table harder and glares back at me!" Churchill on Alanbrooke. C'est magnifique, c'est ne pas le guerre. This is a tale you will tell you're grandchildren… and mightily bored they'll be.
Urquart opening the briefing to Market Garden and while we are on the subject of rolling '1'.
Whilst using Warmaster Fantasy for WotR I pointed out to Mark that the organ gun rules said if he rolled more 1s than 6s the gun explodes, and at that range he would only get 1 die. His reply "I don't intend to roll a one!" Guess…
"Any Hussar who isn't dead by the age of thirty is a blackguard…."
hold on…. oh  . |
| Lee John Ayre | 17 Jun 2008 12:53 p.m. PST |
>>> Sir Charles Napier's one word telegram: "Peccavi" Don't know the source but the comment is a play on words.
Peccavi means "I have sinned" Napier allegedly used it to announce his conquest of Scinde in India. |
| Matsuru Sami Kaze | 17 Jun 2008 12:57 p.m. PST |
Butch to Sundance: You can't Swim? The jump will probably kill us. |
| ebsc82 | 17 Jun 2008 1:40 p.m. PST |
One liners in being OVER confident. Aldof hitler speaking too his General staff "Cant wait for the rally boys, too discuss my thousand year reich plan" Lord Cardigan= "I'm pretty confident he said charge THOSE guns over there" " Dont look so worried mate their only zulus" General Mario Menendez speaking too his bank manager in 1981," I would like too set up a morgage with a payment plan for over 25 years. My wife and I have spotted a lovley little cottage on a remote island" |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 2:36 p.m. PST |
General Patton: "Now some troops can move, and some troops can shoot, but when you have troops that can move and shoot….now you and Napoleon are ing through the same straw." |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 2:45 p.m. PST |
Some of my favorite Lincoln phrases and quotes: In response to McCellan's slowness during one of his campaings in 1862: "If General McCellan will not use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time." In response to the rumors of Grant drinking while on campaign: "I'd like to know what General Grant is drinking, so I can send some to my other generals." Some of his humorous terms applied to the military: He called the US Navy "Uncle Sam's Webbed Feet" When discussing outmarching and outmaneuvering the enemy, he called it "a question of legs"
…And one of my favorites – In response to the overwhelming and unceasing stream of politicians, officers, civilians, etc. seeking an audience with him to request favors while he was in office:
"There's too many pigs for the ." |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 2:50 p.m. PST |
General Ulysses Grant before the 1864 campaign against Lee: "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." And indeed he did. |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 2:54 p.m. PST |
One of my FAVORITE Grant phrases. This might not be a direct quote, but it's very close to this. In response to one of his generals expressing concern about what Lee was going to do in the upcoming campaign: "Bobby Lee, Bobby Lee! I'm tired of hearing about Bobby Lee! You speak as though he's going to a double somersault and land in our rear. Stop worrying about what he's going to do to us, and start thinking about what we're going to do to HIM. Bring some guns up here." |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 2:59 p.m. PST |
General Gordon G. Meade's outburst to General Daniel Sickles (in command of the Third Corps at Gettysburg), in response to Sickles' move to higher ground near the peach orchard on July 2nd which exposed his corps and the whole Union army to a flank attack: "General Sickles, this ground is in some respects higher than that behind you. And if you keep moving forward, you will continuously find higher ground all the way to the mountains." |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 3:04 p.m. PST |
General Hancock, commanding the 2nd Corps at Gettysburg, in response to some of his staff expressing concern over him exposing himself to enemy fire to help bolster the morale of his soldiers, just before Pickett's Charge: "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count." |
| Virtualscratchbuilder | 17 Jun 2008 3:37 p.m. PST |
The dying Admiral Goto, thinking his flagship had been shelled by his own squadron mates: "Stupid Bastards". |
| ArchiducCharles | 17 Jun 2008 3:48 p.m. PST |
Governor Frontenac, to Admiral William Phips' request to surrender Québec in 1690 : "Je vous répondrai par la bouche de mes canons!" (I will reply from the mouth of my cannons!") |
| brass1 | 17 Jun 2008 4:18 p.m. PST |
Another DI quotation, from an instructor at Ft Benning who came upon a group of Ranger trainees taking shelter from a rainstorm: "It's got no soap in it so it ain't gonna hurt you!" LT |
| Honcho | 17 Jun 2008 5:40 p.m. PST |
Was it the marines in Korea that came up with the one about 'Poor bastards, they have us surrounded?' or something to that effect? |
| Honcho | 17 Jun 2008 5:46 p.m. PST |
Here We Go! Chesty Puller, USMC from Wikipedia, maybe someone can clean up my post. Unfortunately the page did not give the circumstances, so these are out of context. * All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us…they can't get away this time." * "Great. Now we can shoot at those bastards from every direction." * "We're surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them" [1] * "Remember, you are the 1st Marines! Not all the Communists in Hell can overrun you!" * "Take me to the Brig. I want to see the real Marines." * "Alright you bastards, try and shoot me!" (to Korean forces) * "Where do you put the bayonet?" (upon seeing a flamethrower for the first time) * "You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em." * "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often." * "Retreat! Hell, we're just advancing in a different direction." (Also attributed to Major General O. P. Smith) |
| Honcho | 17 Jun 2008 5:47 p.m. PST |
I think I like the flamethrower quote the best |
| Campaigner1 | 17 Jun 2008 5:50 p.m. PST |
Ack, I spelled General McClellan…….is that right? It always trips me up. |
| Jim McDaniel | 17 Jun 2008 5:54 p.m. PST |
Allen your quote refers to the suppposed one word report on the conquest of the Indian state of Scinde, because "Peccavi" is Latin for "I have sinned." You can blame that one on a classically-trained staff officer for General Gough? |
| Defiant | 17 Jun 2008 6:15 p.m. PST |
An oldie but a goodie in my war games group : "I am going to make a full frontal flanking manouevre from the rear" |
| Man of Few Words | 17 Jun 2008 6:21 p.m. PST |
MeroMero, Thank you for correcting my memory. I apologise for putting Chivington's words in Sheridan's mouth. His own will do when I find them, again. I have been using these too long without refreshing my research.
I hesitated to hit the Submit originally, thought it might be too nasty. But I said, what the heck, it's only Sheridan. |
| andygamer | 17 Jun 2008 6:53 p.m. PST |
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| Aloysius the Gaul | 17 Jun 2008 6:55 p.m. PST |
Arthur Wellesly, 1st Duke of Wellington: I don't know what effect these men will have on the enemy, but by God, they terrify me. (On a draft of Irish troops sent to him in Spain, 1809 ) Phil Barker (of DB* fame) on the training of officers in general: "The Duke of Wellington once said that anyone could march 10,000 men on to
Horse Guards Parade, but not 3 officers in Europe could get them out again.
Untrue. All you need is the single order "Carry on, sergeant major"." |
| CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 17 Jun 2008 9:13 p.m. PST |
Peccavi= Punch I always read Sedgewick said "They could hit an elephant at this dist-" but maybe that's embroidery "Wars are not won by dying for your country, they are won by making some other poor bastard die for his country" – was that Patton? I read a Korean War memoir where a British officer was blazing away with a revolver and cackling "If you could see me now, mother!" |
| BlackWidowPilot | 17 Jun 2008 9:24 p.m. PST |
"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - Ferdinand Foch, Message to General Joffre, Battle of the Marne, 1914.
"Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bulets."
- General George S. Patton, Jr.
"In war, as in love, we must make contact, ere we triumph."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"All men from 15 to 70 years of age are ordered to come: not even a monkey tamer will be let off."
- excerpt from mobilization orders issued by Hojo Ujimasa cir. 1560.
Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net
|
 Wolfshanza | 17 Jun 2008 10:13 p.m. PST |
Give me 80 men and I'll ride through the whole Sioux nation ! ---Fetterman a bit before he disobeyed orders and took 81 men across lodge pole ridge and was sushied by Red Cloud  |
| Covert Walrus | 17 Jun 2008 10:17 p.m. PST |
The last words of the possibly mad military man, William Erskine-Browne, while lying on the pavement in front of the building whose second floor window he had just leapt from;
"Now, why on Earth did I do that. . . ?" "Pish! A woman might p*** it out"- The Lord Mayor of London, viewing a small blaze on 13 September 1666 "The French people are incapable of regicide"-Louis XVI of France. "The slow neutron is . . . efficient in causing transmuttaions with a large evolution of energy, but the nuetron itself can only be produced by very inefficient processes, so that there appears to be no chance of gaining more energy from the reaction than has to be supplied." – Lord Rutherford's last lecture, 1937. |
| highlandcatfrog | 17 Jun 2008 10:23 p.m. PST |
Hope I get these quotes right… "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."
- Captain John Parker, commander of Lexington militia 4/19/1775 "Fire, men, fire. For God's sake, fire!"
-Captain James Barrett, commander Concord militia 4/19/1775 (no offense to folks in the U.K., I just like those quotes) And here's one I use frequently in naval games (even if it is apocryphal) "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
-attributed to Admiral David Farragut |
| bsrlee | 17 Jun 2008 10:57 p.m. PST |
Another paraphrase I'm afraid, don't have a reference at hand. Attributed to Lt. Col. Winston Churchill of the Guards, formerly Lord Admiral, during WW1 upon being chided by a group of senior officers for being at the front with his troops. 'In case you haven't noticed, this is a War, and its supposed to be dangerous'. In fact a goodly number of senior British Officers shared Churchill's view, and paid for it with their lives. |
| Byrhthelm | 17 Jun 2008 11:07 p.m. PST |
In the same spirit as "Peccavi": Sir Francis Drake (attributed) after the defeat of the Spanuish Armada, "Cantharides," (The Latin and pharmaceutical name of the drug known as "the Spanish fly." Lord Clyde (1857 Indian Mutiny),after the capture of Lucknow "Nunc fortunatus sum," i.e., "I am in luck now." Lord Dalhousie after the annexation of the state of Oudh in 1855,"Vovi" ("I vowed" = "I've Oudh"). |
| Ivan the Reasonable | 18 Jun 2008 1:10 a.m. PST |
BYRHTHELM,"You zig, I,ll zag", Michael Caine and Cliff Robinson in Too Late the Hero. (1969) Oh! and LAST HUSSAR Horrocks to you sir! |
| CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 18 Jun 2008 1:34 a.m. PST |
Davy Gam's comment on French numbers pre-Agincourt:
"Enough to be taken, enough to be slain and enough to run away!" |
| Artilleryman | 18 Jun 2008 2:55 a.m. PST |
If I've got this right…… Desaix at Marengo when asked about the chances of turning things around by a desperate Bonaparte, 'It's too late to win this battle, but there is time to win another'. |
| Khevenhuller | 18 Jun 2008 3:37 a.m. PST |
At Potsdam in '45 a US diplomat approached Stalin, congratulating him on the Soviet Union's triumph and saying: "You must be very proud, Marshal Stalin, that your armies now occupy Berlin." Stalin replied: "Czar Alexander got to Paris…" K |
