Et tu Brutè? (you Brutus?) were the last words of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. when he was assassinated by being stabbed in the back by his good friend, Marcus Brutus. One of the most shameful episodes in American history was the shameful betrayal of the brave men and women who answered their country's call to serve in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veterans were treated as common criminals would be treated. Returning Vietnam Veterans were not only not appreciated; they were despised. What makes this even worse is that the men, most of them, were drafted and served their country honorably in a war that could not be won. The war could not be won because American politicians put them in a box for which they could not get out of. In Vietnam, you could not go after the enemy in their home turf. You had to fight him within the confines of South Vietnam. Advantage, the enemy. The enemy could wait and attack you at their liking and at their advantage. If they lost an engagement, as they often did, they would re-group at their convenience in North Vietnam. No army can win with these conditions. The Vietnam war was lost before one soldier hit the ground in Vietnam in the Kennedy Administration in the early 1960s.
Today, whenever we see a soldier in uniform, most people go up to them to thank them and sometimes pay for their meal. This is great; that it the way it should be. The Vietnam Veteran had a very different reception. The returning vet would be spat upon or called "baby killer." Let me recount my experience, and my experience was not the worst, by any means. When I returned from Vietnam in May 1969, the commercial jet full of returning soldiers landed in Fort Lewis, Washington. No one was there to greet us. I remember thinking why the Army did not even think of welcoming us home? No one thanked us. No one talked to any of us. I felt totally abandoned and forgotten. All of us got out and disappeared on our own; most to other airports for flights to our home. When I arrived at LAX, the only ones waiting for me were my family. No one even looked at me, let alone thank me for your my service.
Prior to leaving for military service I was a college student and had worked part-time for Calavar Corporation, a Santa Fe Springs, California company that serviced the telephone company (Pacific Telephone), vehicles. I had not planned on returning to this type of work but since I had not found other work, I decided to ask this company if they had any work for me. Calavar hired me. Upon reporting for work I was not assigned any particular work; I just roamed around and helped out anyone who asked me; I had no supervisor. They basically left me alone; no one talked to me. After the first week, someone presented me with my first check. This person said absolutely nothing to me, just handed me the check without a word. Upon opening the envelope. I read the word Termination on it; nothing else. I never asked anyone anything; I just left.
Most people blamed the American soldier for losing the war, not the real culprit, the incompetent and self-serving politicians in Washington DC who's idea it was to send us there. I went to Vietnam willingly, never questioning the cause. As I think about it today, I recognize the absolute folly and idiocy of this war. This was a war not based on any facts but on what we would call neurosis. In those days, the West was afraid of the possible spread of communism. This developed into a neurosis about it. The "Domino Theory"was trotted out by our government as the reason to fight communism.
As for the Vietnamese, they were fighting for their freedom. They had been colonized by France for several hundred years. After World War II they fought and defeated the French with the final climactic battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The French fought brilliantly, but they were fighting, again, a war they could not win, no matter what. The United States learned nothing from the failure of the French. We ended up paying the price: 60,000 American dead and about 500,000 wounded; many wounded for life. Yet, when it came to thanking the American soldier for his sacrifices they spit in our face. In a recent article President Obama recognized the shameful treatment of the Vietnam Vet. Click here for the story.
There have been many wars where men lost their lives for no good reason and only for the folly, sometimes criminal folly, of such leaders as Hitler and Mussolini The Nazis, for example, condemned over two million of their own men to death and 3.5 million wounded in Russia alone for a war that they could never have won. Mussolini, condemned over 200,000 Italian soldiers to death in the Russian campaign of World War II supporting the Germans. The Hungarians, Romanians and Croats also sent troops to Russia and were eventually destroyed as well. In 1805, the ambitious and despotic Napoleon Bonaparte, sent 500,000 French troops to Russia; only 5,000 returned alive. All these men died in vain. All these men could say et tu Brutè? As my theme on this blog states: Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
Showing posts with label insanity of war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insanity of war. Show all posts
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Chasing the Wind: An Example of the Insanity of War
Whenever I visit my cousin Giovanni in Rome, Italy, we always discuss childhood stories from my home town of Geraci Siculo, Sicily. Such stories are full of nostalgia, laughter and one of the best ways I know of having a great time. One of the most poignant stories that Giovanni recalls is that of a young man ordered to war in 1940, at the start of World War II. This young man, I'll call him Cesarè, has just been called into the Italian military and must leave Geraci, his family, his farm and his goat herd. He approaches Giovanni's father and ask him to take his herd while he leaves for war. Not having the resources to take care of an additional herd of goats, Giovanni's father turns Cesarè down. Unable to find anyone else, he knocks on Giovanni's father's door at 4:00 AM to beg him to take his heard, since he must leave that day. Having pity on the young man Giovanni's father asks his 13 year-old son, Giovanni, if he would be willing to take on Cesarè's herd. Giovanni says he can and the problem is solved.
Recently, a good friend asked me to read a book he had just read, The Red Horse, the tragic story of the Italian Army in Russia during World War II. In 1941 the Italians committed 235,000 soldiers to the Russian campaign to aid the German invasion of Russia. The Italians were joined by 200,000 Romanian and another 200,000 Hungarian troops. This allied force protected the east flank for the Siege of Stalingrad. All three armies were destroyed by vastly superior Russian forces, aided to a large extent, by the brutal Russian winter that killed more troops than did bullets. Again, the Europeans failed to learn from history. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 with 500,000 troops and was defeated by the Russians, aided by the brutal Russian winter. Only 5,000 of Napoleon's French troops survived. The same exact thing happened to the Germans, Italians, Romanians and Hungarians armies. All of these men were basically condemned to death by incompetent and foolhardy despots at home who wanted personal glory at their expense. There never was any hope of military victory given the circumstances.
The Italian troops, and the Romanian and Hungarians were ill equipped, ill trained and ill led. The Russians had tanks and Katyusha rockets. The Italian and allied forces had nothing close to this. They fought tanks with rifles and ineffective cannons. The coup de grace was the Russian winter. Italian and allied forces suffered from inadequate equipment such as vehicles, arms and fuel, with no hope of reinforcements. The common soldier slept wherever he could in -26 C degree weather where your hands and feet would freeze if you exposed them to the weather. Many battles took place at night where the Russian forces had the decided advantage. If you were not killed by gunfire or by artillery, you were killed by starvation or the brutal winter weather. Wounded soldiers could not be aided and if they did not die from their wounds, they died from the immediate freezing of their bodies. The Red Horse is a compelling story of men at war and men who were thrown into a war without any preparation, plans or the needed resources; in other words they were condemned to die as if you had lined them up against a wall and shot them. Theirs was a hopeless cause.
This is the insanity and total futility of war. Here was a young farmer who just wanted to work his farm and feed his family. All of the sudden, he's in Russia with people hunting him down as he were a rabid dog. Additionally, he goes from a mild weather area, where the temperature never goes below 45 degrees to an area where the winters are the coldest in the world and where you not only have to worry about being killed by a bullet but also by the weather. What were they fighting for? Russia never attacked Italy. They were sent there by the folly and insanity of their political leaders. In the Italian case Benito Mussolini. In the German case, the insanity of Adolf Hitler.
For those who feel like you want to praise soldiers or armies for their accomplishments, that is fine and fair, but to make jokes about an army that lost a war they could never win, no matter what? That is a different matter. Being Italian by birth, I was subjected to many ethnic jokes and especially jokes about the performance of the Italian Army in World War II. People I knew would tell me such sick jokes to my face. If you are one of these naive people, I ask you to read The Red Horse and then see if the joke applies. I expounded on this situation in my last post on this blog.
Recently, a good friend asked me to read a book he had just read, The Red Horse, the tragic story of the Italian Army in Russia during World War II. In 1941 the Italians committed 235,000 soldiers to the Russian campaign to aid the German invasion of Russia. The Italians were joined by 200,000 Romanian and another 200,000 Hungarian troops. This allied force protected the east flank for the Siege of Stalingrad. All three armies were destroyed by vastly superior Russian forces, aided to a large extent, by the brutal Russian winter that killed more troops than did bullets. Again, the Europeans failed to learn from history. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 with 500,000 troops and was defeated by the Russians, aided by the brutal Russian winter. Only 5,000 of Napoleon's French troops survived. The same exact thing happened to the Germans, Italians, Romanians and Hungarians armies. All of these men were basically condemned to death by incompetent and foolhardy despots at home who wanted personal glory at their expense. There never was any hope of military victory given the circumstances.
The Italian troops, and the Romanian and Hungarians were ill equipped, ill trained and ill led. The Russians had tanks and Katyusha rockets. The Italian and allied forces had nothing close to this. They fought tanks with rifles and ineffective cannons. The coup de grace was the Russian winter. Italian and allied forces suffered from inadequate equipment such as vehicles, arms and fuel, with no hope of reinforcements. The common soldier slept wherever he could in -26 C degree weather where your hands and feet would freeze if you exposed them to the weather. Many battles took place at night where the Russian forces had the decided advantage. If you were not killed by gunfire or by artillery, you were killed by starvation or the brutal winter weather. Wounded soldiers could not be aided and if they did not die from their wounds, they died from the immediate freezing of their bodies. The Red Horse is a compelling story of men at war and men who were thrown into a war without any preparation, plans or the needed resources; in other words they were condemned to die as if you had lined them up against a wall and shot them. Theirs was a hopeless cause.
This is the insanity and total futility of war. Here was a young farmer who just wanted to work his farm and feed his family. All of the sudden, he's in Russia with people hunting him down as he were a rabid dog. Additionally, he goes from a mild weather area, where the temperature never goes below 45 degrees to an area where the winters are the coldest in the world and where you not only have to worry about being killed by a bullet but also by the weather. What were they fighting for? Russia never attacked Italy. They were sent there by the folly and insanity of their political leaders. In the Italian case Benito Mussolini. In the German case, the insanity of Adolf Hitler.
For those who feel like you want to praise soldiers or armies for their accomplishments, that is fine and fair, but to make jokes about an army that lost a war they could never win, no matter what? That is a different matter. Being Italian by birth, I was subjected to many ethnic jokes and especially jokes about the performance of the Italian Army in World War II. People I knew would tell me such sick jokes to my face. If you are one of these naive people, I ask you to read The Red Horse and then see if the joke applies. I expounded on this situation in my last post on this blog.
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