Military Quotes

[Francis Urquhart]

Possibly apocryphal but in the same vein .. . .
"My left is retreating, my right has broken. My center is in disarray. The situation is excellent, I will attack." General Ferdinand Foch.

 

[Vargas Fan]

Admiral Cunningham at the evacuation of Crete where 16000 British were rescued, when told that the navy would lose too many ships.

"It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue"

 

[prinCZess]

Might somewhat stretch the 'military' portion, but seems appropriate:

Spoiler: Appeal of June 18

...
"Believe me, I speak to you with full knowledge of the facts and tell you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that overcame us can bring us to a day of victory. For France is not alone! She is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of the United States.

"This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not finished by the battle of France. This war is a world wide war. All the faults, all the delays, all the suffering, do not prevent there to be, in the world, all the necessary means to one day crush our enemies. Vanquished today by mechanical force, we will be able to overcome in the future by a superior mechanical force. The destiny of the world is here. I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who would come there, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the special workers of armament industries who are located in British territory or who would come there, to put themselves in contact with me.

Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.

-Charles De Gaulle

To continue the Frenchy-Frenchness with more directly military application:

"La garde meurt et ne se rend pas!" ("The Guard dies but does not surrender!")
-General Cambronne or General Michel (disputed) in response to English calls for the Imperial Guard to surrender at Waterloo

"Merde."
-As above--but much more apocryphal...but also much more French.

 

[PsihoKekec]

''It is easier to kill Russians than it is to defeat them.'' Frederick the Great after the battle of Zorndorf. He forgot this during battle of Kunersdorf

 

[Lanmandragon]

Flanks are something for my enemies to worry about not me. Before he finds out where my flanks are I'll be cutting the bastard's throat.
Gen. George S. Patton
U.S. Army

 

[PsihoKekec]

I think Patton is the most overrated commander of WWII, he was lucky he faced the Germans when Allies had complete supremacy, a year earlier they would have cut his bloated ego in pieces.

 

[Lanmandragon]

I think Patton is the most overrated commander of WWII, he was lucky he faced the Germans when Allies had complete supremacy, a year earlier they would have cut his bloated ego in pieces.

That's nice not a quote though. So why post it in the quote thread?

 

[PsihoKekec]

Because not worrying about your flanks is a terrible idea. Also it was a boisterous lie, if he didn't care about his flanks he wouldn't have ordered those idiotic assaults on Metz fortresses.

 

[Husky_Khan]

"Let's go, boys! We've got the damn Yankees on the run again!" - US (and former Civil War Confederate) General Joseph Wheeler during the Spanish-American War during the Spanish retreat after the Battle of Las Guasimas.

 

[Francis Urquhart]

Or.

"Don't worry about snipers boys! They can't hit an elephant at this dist . . . . . . ."
General John Sedgwick, Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

"If"- Spartan response to Phillip II of Macedon's threat.

 

[Deleted member]

Because not worrying about your flanks is a terrible idea. Also it was a boisterous lie, if he didn't care about his flanks he wouldn't have ordered those idiotic assaults on Metz fortresses.

Create a thread about it, surely? It would attract a lot of attention I think.

 

[Husky_Khan]

"I am in an old abandoned French trench bordering on the road leading out of your P.C. and 350 yards from an old mill. I have only two men out of my company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try and get it here as we are swept by machine-gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."

- 1st Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, USMC, June 6th 1918, Battle of Belleau Wood

 

[Deleted member]

"If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gorkha."
– Field Marshal Manekshaw, Indian Army.

 

[Husky_Khan]

"Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years, It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

-General Douglas MacArthur, Radio Address to the American People after the Surrender of Japan, September 2nd, 1945

Full Text: General MacArthur's Radio Address - USS Missouri (en)

 

[Deleted member]

"Habent sua fata libelli et balli," Ernst Jünger, In Stahlgewittern.

 

[Deleted member]

"This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't want to go along had better get off right now." -- Captain Ernst E. Evans (substantive Lt. Cmdr) on the commissioning of the USS Johnston.

 

[Captain X]

I'll be a bit stereotypical here:

"Hoka hey! Today is a good day to fight! Today is a good day to die! Strong hearts and the brave to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear!"
- Crazy Horse

 

[StormEagle]

“Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die.” - Mustafa Kemal

Orders to the 57th Infantry Regiment, at the Battle of Gallipoli (25 April 1915).

 

[Deleted member]

On a Muslim Invasion of India:

I very much lament for what happened to the groves in Madhura,
The coconut trees have all been cut and in their place are to be seen,
rows of iron spikes with human skulls dangling at the points,
In the highways which were once charming with anklets sound of beautiful women,
are now heard ear-piercing noises of Brahmins being dragged, bound in iron-fetters,
The waters of Tambraparni, which were once white with sandal paste,
are now flowing red with the blood of cows slaughtered by miscreants,
Earth is no longer the producer of wealth, nor does Indra give timely rains,
The God of Death takes his undue toll of what are left of lives if not killed by the Yavanas (Muslims),
The Age of Kali now deserves deepest congratulations for being at the zenith of its power,
gone is the sacred learning, hidden is refinement, hushed is the voice of Dharma,
— Madhuravijayam, Translated by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya