Wartime simularities.
Michael Renjie Tom (renjie@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
Mon, 7 Oct 1996 01:56:12 -0700 (PDT)
Hey, I'm new so... don't mind me if this is kinda lengthy.
Think that the beauty of LOGH (the show since can't read Jp so can't read
the book) is that fact that its so well grounded in history. I mean, the
simularities seem to jump right out at you. As to the Napoleonic war bit
(which I've heard from my sis), yeah, I can see simularities in many of
the main characters. They all have the charisma. The look at the troops
and their plight seems more a substance of WWI since trench warfare was
hell and human lives were often expended in multiple engagements for small
parcels of land with no worth save for the name (in this case space).
That and the political situation of the Imperial Empire can be viewed as
either Germany or Russia with an aging aristocracy system in times of
hardship. Fredrick is very much a Kaiser Wilhelm or a very apt czar
Nicholas. THe US is the obvious parable to the Free Planets and its
ironic that during both World Wars was the times when the US came as close
as it ever has to becoming a police state. (should I footnote? :)
The tactics are so WWII that they jump out at you like crazy.
Flt Admiral Oscar Mittermeyer ("Gale Wolf") is the futuristic Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel ("Desert Fox"). Thats a given. The other ones are
ever so slightly more obscure but not by much. For those of you thats
been watching the Battlefield docudrama on PBS, these should jump out at
you too.
During the start of the war, there was a fortress in Belgium that
was considered impenatrable, Eben Email. It was this amazing garrison
that had several thousand men and was situated on a sloping plateau. The
side that actually sloped to sea level had several miles of barbed wire,
machine gun turrets up the but, guard towers, anti tank grenades/mines,
etc etc etc. The other side was this huge drop off that was like half
a km in the air. It was considered by the world as the most powerful
ffortress in the world.
The very Isherlohn Fortress of the Allied nations that was
to repel the German forces long enough that UK and France (US refused to
participate at the time), would be able to establish their respective
positions in Belgium (at least five days). To take Eben Email, Nazi
forces placed the task to some 12-24 (don't remember) elite highly
trained SS forces that flew over the impenetrable walls with hanggliders
in the wee hours of morning (they had anti aircraft guns so these guys
didn't use motorized planes). They took the central sects to the fortress
and kept the troops pinned down with their own machine gun tower turrets
until German troops arrived to take the area. Very Rosenritterish. that
force didn't even lose a man.
We all know that the Nazis would end up taking France right but
true to Yang Wenli form and style, the British, fearing their
expeditionary force sent into France would be cut off moved all their
forces to Dunkirk. Hitler at the time feared that Allied forces would
swoop down and seize victory from his grasp so he ordered his troops to
stop. (Hitler was the textbook bad general when compared to his staff.
He's like Yang's commander Pieta (?) Buccock, Lobo and all the dumb
blowhard LOGH admirals in one- which was why he lost the war) Anyways,
some British admiral
(don't remember who) brilliantly came up with Operation Dynamo. This plan
utilized almost all of the British home fleet and a whole lot of civilian
crafts- aNything that floated (~2000 in all), and pretty much took the
entire British Expeditionary forces along with three or four French
battalions on board these ships. By the time Hitler realized what was
going on, much of their forces had been spirited away except for one
British division that was cut off. All in all, a logistic hell but worked
brilliantly like Yang's escape at the Battle Amlitzer.
But yeah, some more references, the German mirrored trench to the Maginot
line was the Seigfried line. The plan to invade the Soviet Union was
Operation Barbarosa.
General Patton ("ol' blood & guts") was almost removed from duty for
punching a wounded soldier. Really interesting the characters of LOGH and
the chessmasters in WWII although much of the Imperial army alter egos
would be executed at Nuremberg (very disturbing to believe that they could
be such geniuses and such monstrosities at the same time). There would be
European hymns that would go "Oh, Lord, take away my sight. Turn me to
stone. For I no longer wish to be man...." Don't see nearly enough of
that in the show I suppose... Anyways, something to think about.
Mike Tom
renjie@uclink2.berkeley.edu