Infinite Wisdom

"A wise commander will not engage the enemy in pitched battle unless a truly exceptional opportunity or advantage presents itself."

La Triviata

• The Reichsflotte, the first “German” navy, was formed by the revolutionary National Diet at Frankfurt n 1848, but went out of existence with the reassertion of monarchial authority the following year, though not before acquiring some ships, which were sold at auction in 1853.
•  The American troops who deployed to the Mexican Border in 1911 had just two motor trucks with them, a figure that by 1917 had grown to some 550, most of which hauled supplies for the “Pershing Expedition,” while some had been covered into improvised armored fighting vehicles.
• In 1694 the business agent for the Duke of Ormonde’s troop of the Life Guards, one Mr. Downes, absconded with £2,000 of the unit’s funds, today worth perhaps £3,000,000.
• The word “maxim” derives from the name of the Roman historian Valerius Maximus (fl. early First Century), author of Memorable Deeds and Sayings: A Thousand Tales from Ancient Rome, which includes many notable military adages and anecdotes.
• When the battleship Tennessee (BB-43) reached the Equator on May 18, 1936, she was found to have aboard no fewer than 1,116 polliwogs needing initiation into the secrets of Neptune’s realm, actually more than her official complement at the time, because she was carrying a number of additional personnel.
• During World War II the use of “V-Mail,” which microfilmed letters before shipment, reduced the transportation requirements for 150,000 one-page missives from 37 sacks weighing some 2,575 pounds to one of 45 pounds.
•  About 10,000 Britons – mostly Scots or Irish – served in the various Latin American Wars for Independence (1810-1825), but are today largely forgotten, in contrast to the approximately 1,000 who served in the Greek War for Independence (1821-1830), probably because Lord Byron was among the latter.
• In 1920, 64-year old Marshal Philippe Pétain married his sometime mistress, 43-year old divorcee Eugénie Hardon, to whom he had first proposed in 1901, after having been enamored of her, and vice-versa, since 1881, when he was 25 and she just 4.
• When Alexandre Dumas pere, decided to join Garibaldi’s “Thousand” for the liberation of Sicily from the Bourbons in 1860, he sailed for Palermo in his yacht, which was commanded by an attractive young woman wearing an admiral’s uniform.

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