Interjection

“ If a man, in hand-to-hand combat with another, could turn the force of his opponent's assault back upon him, adding to it the strength of his own spirit, why couldn't a machine, or even a defense field, do the same? ”

“ Point A is out of the question as you have no view of the enemy. At B you can observe the enemy’s line and he can observe yours. However, the enemy can shell you at this point and observe the results. ”

“ See how the prostrate man plants his foot on the thigh of his enemy and note the tremendous energy he exerts to keep off the [Pg 91] foe, who, turning as upon a pivot, with his grip on the other’s head, exerts no less force to keep the advantage gained. ”

“ The conception of a force as something which pushes or pulls is familiar to every one. Equally familiar is the conception of an intervening link by which a force is transmitted from one body to another. If I pull a bucket of water out of a well the push exerted by the water on the bottom of the pail is transmitted to my hand by a very simple series of links. The bottom of the bucket pulls at its sides, these pull at the handle, the handle pulls the rope, and that finally pulls at my hand. We have here a transmission of force by links, all of which are in bodily contact. ”

“ The man does not live who can shoot so quick or hit me in a spot so deadly that, in such a duel as I mention, I can not—if with nothing more than muscular reflex action—shoot in return; and there are seconds when I can not miss. ”

“ The battle-spirit—for, despite his honest conviction, his forebears had been soldiers and sea-dogs—surged up within him. How splendid it was, this fighting down opposition! What was life, after all, but a fight? ”

“ A singular rule observed in these combats is, that whilst any two are preparing to fight, a third person may step in, and choose either of them for his antagonist, when the other is obliged to withdraw. ”

“ If one has taken the right position and attitude of the body, if one has directed the weapon rightly and firmly and has the aim well in the eye, but at the moment of discharge the hand is unsteady, the shot goes wrong, and all this trouble was in vain. ”

“ When you know the just Length of your Adversary's Thrust, you may break or steal out of measure, by leaning back the Body, without stirring the Foot.
If in the Field, you have the Disadvantage of the Ground, the Wind, or the Sun, or that in a School, you are exposed to too much Light, or, pushing with an awkard Man ”

“ An offensive order of battle should have for its object to force the enemy from his position by all reasonable means.
2. The maneuvers indicated by art are those intended to overwhelm one wing only, or the center and one wing at the same time. An enemy may also be dislodged by maneuvers for outflanking and turning his position. ”

“ For the use of direct or indirect methods arises out of attack and defence, and the perception of weak and strong points depends again on the above methods. Hence the present chapter comes immediately after the chapter on Energy.”
1. Sun Tzŭ said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle, will arrive exhausted. ”

“ The sections of the enemy's line that we are to cover with our fire have all been pointed out and each of us is familiar with same. We have located the enemy's loopholes and are doing our best to keep them under fire. ”

“ There is no Guard but has it's Thrust, and no Thrust without it's Parade, no Parade without it's Feint, no Feint without it's opposite Time or Motion, no opposite Time or Motion but has it's Counter, and there is even a Counter to that Counter. ”

“ A good practice is also to place the lead at the distance your adversary would be from you were you having an assault, and make attacks upon it, or forming a guard, give the various returns in the manner you would on a real opponent. ”

“ Now, a step farther into the battle which is raging before us like a scene in a theatre, we get to the nearest General of Division; here ball follows ball, and the noise of our own guns increases the confusion. ”

“ Ans.—In combat where the force is as large or larger than a division, a simultaneous advance against the entire hostile front is out of the question. Attack is made up of a number of local combats. Some where enemy is engaged with view to driving him out. This is called the assault. Other parts of attack with fewer troops simply to keep the enemy from coming to the support of those troops of the assaulted lines. The entire advance against the enemy is the attack. ”

“ Letting their arms fall, they enclose a boy, and ask him to which side he will belong, and he is disposed according to his own decision. The parties being at length formed, are separated by a real or imaginary line, and place at some distance behind them, in a heap, their jackets, caps, etc. They stand opposite to each other, the object being to make a successful incursion over the line into the enemy's country, and bring off part or whole of the heap of clothes. It requires address and swiftness of foot to do so without being taken prisoner by the foe. ”

“ We doubt if more vivid pictures of war were ever drawn. The incidents are detailed with such lifelike force, that to any one who had ever felt the enthusiastic frenzy of battle, they bring back the sounds of the shells and the shout of advancing columns. They are lifelike as the pages of Tacitus, and stir the blood to a fever heat of warlike enthusiasm. They are strains to make soldiers. ”

“ If the direct attack on the foe’s broadside fails, there is another maneuver. Run down upon your enemy as if striking bow to bow; the instant before contact let your aim swerve—a little. Then call to your men to draw in their oars like lightning while the enemy are still working theirs. ”

“ This is a dodging or deceiving your Adversary, making him believe you give back in earnest, and make an offer to Thrust in one place when you really design to do it in another.
Beating.
This is no other than striking the Feeble of your Adversaries Sword with the Edg and Fort of yours, either with your Right-hand only, or the help of your Left, joyned to the Blade, about a foot [Pg 69] from the Hilt; and so you will cause the Beat to have the greater Spring or Force. ”

“ Let none presume to shoot off a piece of ordnance but in discovery of a ship or fleet by night, or by being in danger of an enemy, or in danger of fire, or in danger of sinking, that it may be unto us all a most certain intelligence of some matter of importance. ”

“ Then follows a test of strength, a sort of tug-of-war reversed, for each strives to push the other to his knees, and succeeding, to deal a deadly sideways thrust at the kneeling adversary’s heart with the spike-shaped brow-tines. ”

“ To watch the approach of an enemy, to see him move up and display his massive columns, his long array of military equipments, his fascines and scaling-ladders, his instruments of attack, and the professional skill with which he wields them, to hear the thunder of his batteries, spreading death all around, and to repel, hand to hand, those tremendous assaults, which stand out in all their horrible relief upon the canvass of modern warfare, requires a heart at least as brave as the professional warrior exhibits in the pitched battle. ”

“ That the use of hard substances, such as stone, or stick, or of resin, in the hand during the battle shall be deemed foul, and that on the requisition of the seconds of either man, the accused shall open his hands for the examination of the referee.
28. That hugging on the ropes shall be deemed foul. That a man held by the neck against the stakes, or upon or against the ropes, shall be considered down, and all interference with him in that position shall be foul. ”

“ For all fighting, whether at long range or at close quarters, is very much alike, from schoolboys’ games to the most elaborate military operations; and all the advice of the world may be summed up in the eternal law of attack and defence, which is stated in these four words:—cunning, caution, energy, audacity. ”

“ Hit first—hit hard—and keep on hitting, is a good rule, but what I want to impress on you is that in this war the last part of that rule is the most important. The enemy shoots remarkably well—at a target—but he does not appear to stand punishment well himself. ”

“ Picture for yourselves two men fighting.—You see them at one moment standing their full height, the next bent double, swerving to right and left, colliding violently, and entangled in a furious encounter; suddenly they break away, recoiling from each other with a bound, rest for a moment, panting and glaring, till suddenly they renew the struggle. Do you suppose that all these intricate evolutions, and the subtle application of muscular force that they imply, can be systematically analysed and taught? ”

“ Tactics, in fact, in accordance with a sound and inevitable law, having tended to become too recklessly offensive, were exhibiting a reaction to the defensive. If the enemy had succeeded in forming his line, it had come to be regarded as too hazardous to attempt to divide his fleet unless you had first forced a gap by driving ships out of the line. ”

“ He lay pressed hard against his adversary, his body adjusting itself to its one pure purpose of choking the other man, resisting exactly at the right moment, with exactly the right amount of strength, the struggles of the other, silent, intent, unchanging, gradually pressing its knuckles deeper, feeling the struggles of the other body become wilder and more frenzied. ”

“ Everyone, especially the little fellows in the school, delight in watching such a fight. They clap and shout "trèsbien" if a shell bursts near the enemy's plane and if it finally escapes they console themselves with "Just wait, we will get him the next time." ”

“ When we happen to see a fight taking place in the forum, we go into the midst of it, and reconcile the combatants! But why do I speak of a fight? If, perchance, we see an ass fallen down, we all make haste to stretch out a hand to raise him up. ”

“ Then there has been a skilful and successful attempt to distract the enemy's attention, to conceal from him the nature of the movement and the force to be employed, and last, but not least, there has been the suddenness and the rapidity of movement essential to surprise. ”

“ In the preface to the French regulations, it is emphasized that intrenching a position ought neither to impair the spirit of the offensive nor hamper the movement to the front. “Intrenchments are a means to an end, but not the end itself. ”

“ Whether to attack determinedly or only as a feint, or to assume the defensive, depends upon the strength of the advance guard, the terrain, the character of the hostile force encountered, and the mission and intentions of the commander of the whole. ”

“ The face and those parts of the body whose defence in the assault we unjustifiably neglect have blood which your enemy may cause to flow. Your adversary is not picked out by yourself. The choice of chance, he may be short or tall, strong or weak, your inferior, your equal, or your superior in physique. ”

“ They get along very well together, none the worse for their differences, until all at once the tender spot of one or the other is carelessly handled in utter unconsciousness on the part of the aggressor, and the exclamation, the outcry, or the explosion explains the situation altogether too emphatically. ”

“ Throw your head well back, and watch your opponent’s eyes, for there you get the earliest indication of his intentions, and therefore you are able to make your arrangements for circumventing his plans. When you strike let it be from the shoulder and with all the weight of your body pressing the right foot upon the ground and making a kind of spring. Do not draw back your hand to make a stroke, because that gives your adversary warning. ”

“ The combatants then advance, not upon each other, but in the direction of the line that has been traced for them; and, therefore, whether one of the adversaries has advanced or not, he will, find himself placed at fifteen paces from the other. ”

“ When an interdict is issued respecting acts of violence, they were aware that there are two descriptions of causes to which the interdict had reference: one, if a man had been driven by violence from the place in which he was; the other, if he was driven from the place to which he was coming; and either of these may take place, and nothing else can, O judges. 87Consider this then, if you please. If any one has driven my household away from my farm, he has driven me too from that place. ”

“ After a few of these alternate turnings have been made, the next thing to do is to imagine that the opponent intends to attack him on one side,—say the right,—and then, by a vigorous twist, to rise to the left, at the same time dodging and crouching, ready for the next move of attack. ”

“ We have now reached a point from which we may survey the thrilling spectacle of the assault, as fencers call the mimic combat, in which desperate and brutal fighting is controlled by skill, the hazardous duel, full of fire and fury, between two combatants, who summon to their aid all that they know or all that they think they know. ”

“ I was wondering if I should have enough bullets, when a pal shouted, “Up, Guards, and at ’em!” The next second he was rolled over with a nasty knock on the shoulder. He jumped up and hissed, “Let me get at them!” ”

“ Interdicts and excommunications, weapons in themselves so terrible, would, he foresaw, be armed with double force, when employed in a cause so much calculated to work on the human passions, and so peculiarly adapted to the eloquence of popular preachers and declaimers. ”

“ Also, knowing that each other’s hitting was so scientific as to be harmless, they would sometimes deliberately put their eye in front of their opponent’s stylish left, in the hope that the blow would raise a bruise. ”

“ A far-discerning eye might see the skirmishers of both armies approaching close to each other, each man with well-directed aim looking along the deadly tube that sent the intended messenger of death to the opposing adversary. ”