This truly shows how detached the upper echelons are from the men in the field. They look at maps and pins on paper, and do not regard these as human lives being expended for nothing. Any commander, worth his salt, would never send his men in on suicidal "Burnside Bridge" or "Fredericksburg" type frontal assaults, without support. Kirby, Caje, and Little John are excellent soldiers, and have no problem obeying orders. But neither are they fools, and know when the odds are stacked heavily against them. You also have to feel bad for Hanley, because he's the intermediate between the "Brass" and his men. I do not envy his job, as a failure would fall directly onto his shoulders.
I totally understand. They are not detached. In Combat most times your leaders are right there with you. They know. Even at the General Level they know. Patton, Bradley, Sprague, Halsey, Abrams. Puller, and many others were all front line Leaders. Same in Vietnam. Hochmuth lost his life on the lines there. There is an objective then it must be taken and it is left to the Leader in the field to do it. That particular story was based on a compilation of many incidents including Mt Cassino. I was a Platoon Sgt. I know.
Arthur, I could go back in history and see commanders like Douglas Haig, responsible for approximately 2 million British casualties. He threw human beings into battle like rifle fodder to be slaughtered. He would not embrace any tactic or technology that could possibly limit the number of casualties, and still achieve an objective. Thus, he was called, "the Butcher", which he truly was. He was indeed not seeing his men as men, but rather pieces on a board. He was far cry from another Allied commander, Phillippe Petain, who was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his men, and didn't unnecessarily risk their lives. Yes, there are good front line commanders. Patton was definitely an example. But historically, there were many who were not. And it was those who I refer to as being "detached", needlessly throwing away the lives of their men. A good World War II example could be the 8th Air Force. Because stubborn "brass" would not embrace fighter escorts carrying drop tanks, so many bomber crews lost their lives having to repeat bomb runs on the same targets. They were fodder for anti-aircraft guns, and German fighter aircraft. The aircraft commanders were tearing their hair out from frustration, if they managed to survive their last mission. I do thank you for the discussion, so interesting! - C.J.
+PatriotNC1 Nonsense. From Washington through Lee and his Grandson as well as Grant, Sherman, Lejeune, Pershing, and many others they were right there. Field Grade officers have no choice they are front line. Company Grade are on the point. No they are not detached. Those few who are rarely survive and are ignored. This particular episode did not show a detached Company Grade Officer. Tactic devolve to the unit commander. Strategy is the upper echelons.
Combate serie de tv.años 60 me recuerda mi adolecencia cuando yo tenia 12 años salia de la escuela para ver mi serie favorita Combate con Vic Morrow por el canal de tv. telecuatro Guayaquil..............Ecuador gracias a los amigos de you tube por subir estos videos la serie Combate bendiciones................
At least 4 of these guest soldiers were guests with significant roles in various Star Trek Original Series episodes, in the 2nd Pilot or other 1st season episodes.
1:40 "You can quit thinking, just follow orders" WOW There should be a rule u loose more than 5 people in a attack of such a small troop of men, then u need try some other means of attack or wait for more fire power. Supposedly they said they had a bazoka available why didn't they use it to blow it up. Or go around them and attack from the sides or rear. Walking into machine guns direct fire is not war, but murder by the person in charge. If i was Henley i would of told that bossman i'm not sending my men to die, we'll have to wait for some heavier artillery. I wouldn't care what there time schedule is or if other troops have gone far past there offenses, so what. Wow that's the most realistic death i've ever seen at 13:00, it reminds me of some of my grand mal seizures. When it happens u hope and pray that you will survive it if u have an aura.
What ever happened to air support, They did have air supority at this time in the war 1 p-51 anything. Just seems like a real waste of lives something this fortified.
My favorite episodes!....They should have been a full length season finale, it was good enough for it; and directed by Vic. ....Of course the show was a ripoff of the great movie 'Hell is for Heros' starring the great steve Mc Queen and an all star cast. You Know the outfit is in trouble when the Sarge gets hit. He already has a whole steamer trunk full of purple hearts. The leutinant reminds me of a cigar store indian, nobody can be that tough. A great story,
If they wanted to tell a story on how a frontal assault was enacted in WW1, this was the one; but this was WW2 and things were different, particularly when the officer in the field had a degree of flexibility. It would appear that our Lieutenant was not permitted that luxury of independent action. Even so, the producers/director (wasn't it our Sgt character directing?) obviously didn't learn anything from his combat role: one bunker on each side of the road, each commanding a whole forward view, so you would have thought "flanking maneouvre," but oh no, that would be too obvious, in spite of the fact that to the right of the r/h bunker - and blind-side to it -there was a lovely little hill complete with covering bush and tree. The hill also overlooked the bunker, thus providing an excellent opportunity for an attacking position....I mean, a blind man on a galloping horse would have seen it!!! That said, they had to attack the bunkers, but we're expected to believe they didn't have access to rifle grenades and competent riflemen marksmen/sniper rifles - come on! The episode began with about thirty-or-so soldiers advancing, but somewhere along the line we were back down to a mere squad; what were the others doing? OK, we know the series is a bit (only a bit???) far-fetched, but I personally think most of it is a direct route into fantasy-land. Certainly, there seems to have been little or no military advisor input, which is a shame. I've also seen lot of comments on how brilliant the main actors were, but I have to disagree. Vic Morrow is passable in parts, but Rick Jason is pretty awful - most of his acting lies in how he uses his eyes - like in the old 1920's-style of acting. Still, if you like this amateurish level of entertainment, I suppose it's a bit of harmless pleasure!
It’s Morrow who was the director. The only way he felt he could project Lt Hanley’s internal agony was to use Hanley’s eyes - and those eyes were Rick Jason’s asset! They were expressive because they were translucent. I read somewhere they were green. Morrow flashes a distant light on them when he wants to project a “flash of enlightenment” or a “peak of emotional turbulence” to show the inner agony Hanley was experiencing. I had been noticing this because I thought Rick Jason could emote convincingly until I kept noticing that flash of light that suddenly shines in Jason’s eyes in certain moments of his crisis. That’s Morrow behind this.
Today's "Army" wouldn't dare expend men in attrition. We'd spend 3/4rs of a Million Dollars and have a couple of F16's or an A10 Warthog fly over with 1,000 pounders. Back "in the day" we did things that our modern Army wouldn't even consider. We drive around in "up-armored" Hummers with massive air support. Our soldiers now cringe at a dead goat on the side of the road because it might have a bomb (IED) inside. If we ever get in a war with a worthy opponent today's "Army" is SO screwed...
Amazing how all the red shirts buy it but none of the regulars. They should have at least had pieces of armor plate on wheels they could push ahead of themselves as cover.
