Rommels Regret

[Shogun Gunner]

3840 to Golden Bear

[Golden Bear]

3840 to Rommel.

[Shogun Gunner]

Why no avatar, Mr. Bear?

I fail to see the connection...

[Rommel2D]

3840

to that condiment of posters, the mayo on our spam, the one, the only...

[Golden Bear]

I'm hiding in my cave. The world has turned another notch and it is not as the bear expected. Perhaps the cub assumed things that were not as they appeared to be.

Spiraling down from a tiny little mote of rock - maybe the size of Cleveland - we see a smallish sort of world that is nevertheless inhabited by a wide variety of terrain and ecostystems. This rock orbits in space and is in all ways meaningless to the universe. Bare and lifeless, some millenia later it will find a larger mass, and in its Newtonian impact, change the existance of uncounted surface crawling organisms. That, is most definitely a different story.

In this one, four pathetic little clans of peoples, spawned from the same not-quite-monkey, not-quite-human, stock, struggle towards unreasonable and quite large visions of the future. In one edge of the land we find the people with the legend of the General, the Leader at the front, who nevertheless failed in an unhappy and dismal country far from home. In another we have the betrayer of friends who lives for subterfuge masked by humor. Far away is the bombastic capitol of the drill sargeant who brooks little disagreement. Of the fourth we will not speak, lest we open a window for disagreement. That view must come from the outside.

At first, tiny not-even-hamlets form. These people don't think of towns and cities. For most it is the first that they have lived close to other people. A nomadic sort, they had spent their lives moving with the seasons. In one such, when the trees bloomed and gave fruit, they would meet other groups and exchange seeds and fruit. From that, they grew to know each other and have relatives.

Over time, one peculiar person had the idea of settling and staying close to where food was always ready. The wandering travelers came to find them and saw the reason of this way. Houses, permanent houses, were built for the first time. But.... not too close. It was enough to know that relatives were only a day away - that much has not changed with time!.

However, their children wanted to stay close. They did not desire to wander and risk themselves and their offspring to the chances of nature. Naturally, they built new houses near the old. And so it went. A scattered settlement of some tens of people arose. Could this be the beginning of a mighty state? Or could it be only the semblance of a river leading into desert... one that begins as a torrent through mountain rocks but ends, spent, and all but invisible, amid sad and empty lands?

[Shogun Gunner]

I assume I am this description as I'm not a General nor a Drill Sergeant

betrayer of friends who lives for subterfuge masked by humor

Ouch. I had no idea I lived for subterfuge.

"con" and "bombastic" do go together nicely.

I see you held off saying anything really nasty about Rommel until he's emotionally too invested to walk away from it all. I guess that will come later.

Good stuff whoops, there I go masking betrayal and subterfuge with humor again

[Golden Bear]

No names were named. It is only art at its purest. The Chronicles are roaming and looking for a new nest.

hmm. pithy comments deleted. why waste on the xxxxxing xxxxterxxx maxxxx? keyboaxx ssuxxk.

[Rommel2D]

Hmm, been awhile since I brushed up on my WWII history, but I thought The General's failure came at a later date, closer to home, once he realized where the true enemy lie...

[Shogun Gunner]

I don't think the General failed at any point. Military setbacks were the result of issues beyond Rommel's control. He made the absolute most of what he got in North Africa. He was brilliant in France 1940. He was held back by Hitler in defending France in 1944.

In fact, he showed himself to be a very honorable man when approached regarding the plot against Hitler. A good example of a German patriot, but not a Nazi.

[Golden Bear]

Len Deighton in "Blood, Tears and Folly," does a great job of pointing out the fatal flaws in Rommel's generalship. The primary one that is noted is his absolute inattention to his supply lines which left him in a withered state for his ultimate battle.

There is a lot of rethinking of the history of WWII going on now. Much of it is driven by the ongoing declassification of documents that had been deliberately locked up for 50 years. That book is a good read for anybody interested in the period and looking for some new facts.

[conmcb25]

Lack of attention to supply is a common flaw amongst even some of the greatest Generals/Admirals of history.

The one biggest thing that limits operations is logistics. Thats why any good operations officer will make sure he understands logistics as much as operations, and he should be tied at the hip to his logisticians.

Been there done that, it works better when you have a symbiotic relationship with your logistics guy (or gal).

[conmcb25]

Oh crap almsot forgot

3840 to SSG

[conmcb25]

Originally posted by Golden Bear
No names were named. It is only art at its purest. The Chronicles are roaming and looking for a new nest.

hmm. pithy comments deleted. why waste on the xxxxxing xxxxterxxx maxxxx? keyboaxx ssuxxk.

You REALLY should get with snoopdog and volunteer to be a traveling minstrel for the CIV IV demo. As a member of the admin team. You can publish the history of the game thru your chronicles, and do some admin stuff for the game, like coming up with news items for MarkG.

That way you could participate, yet stay detached and do what you do magnificently well, which is write.

You should really and truely think about that. You don't have to put up with the emotional his and lows of a team, but you can do what you like, and thats write about it.

[Shogun Gunner]

I've read a lot of books concerning the North African conflict. Yes, Rommel pushed beyond the capacity of his supply network to fully support him, but the naval/air action from Malta really did him in. From my interpretation, Rommel felt there was a limited window to strike the British - waiting was not an option. So, his brilliant strategy included capturing Allied supplies in his advances. This occurred in many situations.

The battle lines of El Alamein were very constricted eliminating the war of maneuver he preferred. Plus, the British were very close to their supply bases in Eygpt -- supplied with fresh troops and material (thanks to US lend lease).

That flaw of "attention to supply" could have some merit. On the other hand, he made the most of the situation he was in. I doubt there was another general in World War 2 from either side that could have done what he did in North Africa. If anyone, maybe Patton or Zhukov, but no one else.

[Shogun Gunner]

3800 BC to GB -- the detatched one.