Infinite Wisdom

"In battle, those who are most afraid are always in most danger, but courage is equivalent to a rampart."

La Triviata

• In 1940-1941, German plans for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain, included the landing of about 4,500 horses in the first wave, and 23,000 within the first three days.
• At the Battle of Trafalgar (Oct. 21, 1805), the 30 admirals and battleship captains in the British fleet suffered three killed and seven wounded, while of 21 equivalent French officers, nine died and two were wounded and of nineteen Spanish, four died and nine were wounded, or nearly half of the senior officers present, among whom were, of course, Lord Nelson himself and Spanish Adm. Federico Carlos Gravina, who died of wounds some months afterwards.
• Some 10,000 mule teams were reportedly required to sustain Lucius Cornelius Sulla's forces during his siege of Athens in 87-86 B.C.
• During the First World War the King's African Rifles fielded 22 battalions, a figure nearly doubled during the Second World War, to 43.
• In 1758 the net expenditure of the British government was £13.2 million, of which slightly more than £3.8 was spent on the Royal Navy, of which about 17½ percent was spent on transports for troops and supplies.
• Although in the years prior to World War I France’s naval infantry was tasked with the defense of coastal installations, upon mobilization these troops were to form part of the XX Army Corps, with their place being taken by Territorials – Landwehr – who during a trial mobilization in 1900 proved incapable of distinguishing an ocean liner from a battleship.
• In mid-1780 the British troops stationed in the Leeward Islands received a larger than normal daily rum ration, of one pint, perhaps to compensate the men for the heightened danger of death from tropical diseases.
• In 1936, when the Japanese army totaled about 750,000 men, just 388 new lieutenants were commissioned, and although the number rose to the mid-400s the following year, it remained there for two further years, while manpower rose to nearly 2 million; not until 1941 did the annual contingent of newly commissioned second lieutenants rise to 1,200. 

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