"jeremy" wrote in message
news:M5nSj.1101$To6.639@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...
> nightjar
>
>> In general, armies have a lot more soldiers in support roles than they do
>> in combat. I have heard figures of between five and nine in support for
>> every one on the front line for armies of the time. The differences may
>> depend upon whether soldiers in rest areas count as being in support or
>> not. It would therefore make sense for troops who were less well battle
>> trained to be put into support roles, at least when they first arrived.
>>
>> Colin Bignell
>
> In WWI the only training required was to be able to fix your bayonet and
> absorb as many bullets as possible from the Maxims before dying.
A nice sound-bite, but even if were true, you wouldn't get people doing that
without a lot of training in good discipline. I have a military training
manual from 1941 and, apart from the sections on tank hunting and the Bren
gun, it wouldn't have been much different from those in use in the Great
War. It is about A5 size and 1/2 inch thick, set in close type. Even digging
a trench has to be done in a specific order, with the spoil being built
carefully into a pa.t and a parados.
Colin Bignell
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