So, you know that feeling, the one where you are an avid student of military history, and you have this episode where you think about a certain period in history like it's a movie building up to a big climax, and you see the protagonists in it doing something that might have seemed like a great idea at the time, but which in retrospect turns out to have been really, really, really fucking stupid? As in this kind of stupid?
Yeah, this is one of those.
So, let's imagine that you're a member of the general staff of a relatively new country that's been sort of hanging around, being inoffensive, for a few decades. For the sake of argument let's pick one...hmm...which one...oh I know, how about Belgium.
Now let's suppose you've just watched your massive, incredibly powerful, scary neighbor just get the living shit kicked out of him by his upstair nouveau-riche twirly-mustache comic book villain neighbor. As in, 100-to-one odds, nobody saw it coming, what an upset, oh the humanity. Let's also suppose that the kicking involved the bulk of the powerful neighbor's army holing up in a bunch of big forts, since they've up until this point pretty much been the undisputed kings of fortress-building. And yet, this happens. And you're standing there, going "oh, ugh, ow, ow, oof, yikes...ow, oh ow ow ow" in sympathy, thinking, "I never want this to happen to me."
What do you do?
And this, kids, is where the gradual train wreck that is Western European military strategy in the early 20th century begins to tragically, hilariously unfold.
Back to our example student, little Belgium. What does Belgium do, not wanting to avoid the fiasco of having a highly mobile, artillery-equipped goose stepping horde smash the crap out of your forts?
Why, build forts of course! Super modern awesome high tech forts!
Yeah. Basically the Hun, rather than bothering with the traditional niceties of siege warfare just walked up a bunch of really heavy Krupp Arschkaputt Mk. IV artillery and started bombarding...nay, plowing these poor heroic bastards in their concrete caves.
This is one of the few that remains in somewhat recognizable shape. They're pretty easily accessible, with a bit of research, not much left to see besides some cool murals on the wall, and remarkably little trash and graffiti inside.
I'm not terribly happy with these pics - but thought the wall paintings were cool enough to share for those who've not seen them. Bring boots, lots of flooding. Bring better lights than I did while you're at it.
And after all that, guess what they did?
That's right, kids, they built them right up again, just in time for round two.
Oh, Belgium.
Yeah, this is one of those.
So, let's imagine that you're a member of the general staff of a relatively new country that's been sort of hanging around, being inoffensive, for a few decades. For the sake of argument let's pick one...hmm...which one...oh I know, how about Belgium.
Now let's suppose you've just watched your massive, incredibly powerful, scary neighbor just get the living shit kicked out of him by his upstair nouveau-riche twirly-mustache comic book villain neighbor. As in, 100-to-one odds, nobody saw it coming, what an upset, oh the humanity. Let's also suppose that the kicking involved the bulk of the powerful neighbor's army holing up in a bunch of big forts, since they've up until this point pretty much been the undisputed kings of fortress-building. And yet, this happens. And you're standing there, going "oh, ugh, ow, ow, oof, yikes...ow, oh ow ow ow" in sympathy, thinking, "I never want this to happen to me."
What do you do?
And this, kids, is where the gradual train wreck that is Western European military strategy in the early 20th century begins to tragically, hilariously unfold.
Back to our example student, little Belgium. What does Belgium do, not wanting to avoid the fiasco of having a highly mobile, artillery-equipped goose stepping horde smash the crap out of your forts?
Why, build forts of course! Super modern awesome high tech forts!
Yeah. Basically the Hun, rather than bothering with the traditional niceties of siege warfare just walked up a bunch of really heavy Krupp Arschkaputt Mk. IV artillery and started bombarding...nay, plowing these poor heroic bastards in their concrete caves.
This is one of the few that remains in somewhat recognizable shape. They're pretty easily accessible, with a bit of research, not much left to see besides some cool murals on the wall, and remarkably little trash and graffiti inside.
I'm not terribly happy with these pics - but thought the wall paintings were cool enough to share for those who've not seen them. Bring boots, lots of flooding. Bring better lights than I did while you're at it.
And after all that, guess what they did?
That's right, kids, they built them right up again, just in time for round two.
Oh, Belgium.
More, as always, at kosmograd dot net.
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