A General,s work is never done!!

Napoleon was first and foremost a military man and as such was the origin of some of the tenets of modern warfare.

My point here is not to debate if he was good or evil, a tyrant or something else.

I only want to use a little part of some of his military philosophy.

Among some his favorite phrases were “ De l’audace, toujour de l’audace, encore de l’audace » dear to Georges Scott’s Patton, “ un grenadier porte son baton de Marechal dans son havresack » meaning that even the lowly grenadier has a chance to accede to the high rank of Field Marshal (Many of his Field Marshal came in fact from the Rank)’ then there is the one I need for this story: “Une armee voyage sur son estomac” (An army travel on its stomach). Loosing sight of this truism was a major contributor to his 1812 debacle.

But enough with the little guy!

The image included in this blog shows that in fact if an army travels on its stomach, when the traveling is over, the focus point shift a bit lower.

The picture is an image of a General Order of Operation issued by the French General Brissaud-Desmaillet, Commandant of the 127^th Division dated of May 3, 1919. At the end of World War One that particular Division was occupying the Sarre before the government of this part of the German Nation was handed over to the League of Nation to be held from 1920 to 1935. The rest of course is History.

The order reads as follow:

127^th Division.

General Headquarter, 1^st Bureau.

Number 3,233/1 of GHQ

Order General Of Operation- 3^rd Section.

Monopolization of the Public Houses (1) by the Riflemen.

The General has received several anonymous letters from scouts, infantrymen and cavalrymen complaining about not being able to gain access to the houses of tolerance (2), monopolized by the riflemen operating in large groups. The later staying too long in exercise and causing frequent traffic jams.

The Administration Superior of the Sarre and our Municipal Authorities is in the process of augmenting sizably the population of filles de joie (3) but in the meantime while the population is being reinforced it is paramount that the riflemen demonstrate more expeditiousness in their endeavors. Instructions will be offered on this subject.

The General Commanding the Division

Signed: Brissaud- Desmaillet

(1) and (2) are elegant ways to avoid calling a cat a cat and refer to houses popularized by our House of the Rising Sun ballad.

(3) is also shooting for the same effect in regard to the ladies working in theses houses.

While it might not be of the highest moral standards I personally wishes that our Generals and assorted Defense Secretaries could have been concentrating on issues similar to the above instead of the massacre presently still unfolding.