First in the line

[Kurokami]

Me and my brother have watched several war films in our time, and while I tend to enjoy the good ones (as one would), me and my brother have always made a laugh of the fact that the guys at the front lines, charging the enemies with no meat bags in front of them to use as cover, they have to know they're going to die. Apart from having a laugh at this however I thought, why do they do it? And if in a similar situation, what would I do? To answer that question, I've always felt that when meant to be charging onwards I'd pretend to trip up and let the others pass me, or try and blend into the crowd as speed gathers up.

Any thoughts? Comments? Insults?
Discuss.

 

[x0ny]

If you were at omaha beach you're fucked either way. Best decision would be to go over the side before the gates open, but take your kit off beforehand, otherwise it'll pull you underwater. But don't worry, I don't think we fight like that anymore.

 

[Mozza444]

It's a well known war tactic.. sadly
Run and get shot by the enemy hoping to break the defences, or get shot for being a coward and not doing your duty..

But like the above poster.. i think those days are over

 

[Layz92]

I think it was just something ordered so soldiers would have something to do back in the day. seriously though when I see those sorts of charges in shows/movies whether they be comedy or otherwise I just shake my head and the pointless waste.

 

[x0ny]

Yeah, not a whole lot of D-Days happening these days, and a lot of the time back in the day if you chose not to charge when you were ordered to, you'd be lined up against a wall and shot.

Yeah, World War 1 sucked. Did charging out of the trenches actually help the Allies win the war? Or did they just get totally owned by snipers?

 

[Raikov]

This is not as suicidal as it would seem at first glance, since being charged is about as unpleasant as charging. Of course, my 'experience' with this is only from playing airsoft, but charging an enemy position is ridiculously effective.
Chargers have one thing going for them, if they have planned it decently enough; they know exactly where the enemy is holed up.
The enemy being charged however, has alot of moving targets and very little time. And since they're probably dug in behind some sort of cover, their field of view is limited.

Again, this only applies to my airsoft games (effective firing range is around 40 meters) in heavily forested areas. It's probably a different story in scenarios like Omaha Beach, but there the Allies made sure to have plenty of guys charging.

And you would want to make sure that the ones charging are veterans and know exactly what they're doing, and you want the enemy to be newbies. Seriously, charging scares the shit out of newbies.^^

 

[Raikov]

Yeah, not a whole lot of D-Days happening these days, and a lot of the time back in the day if you chose not to charge when you were ordered to, you'd be lined up against a wall and shot.

Yeah, World War 1 sucked. Did charging out of the trenches actually help the Allies win the war? Or did they just get totally owned by snipers?

Not snipers, but machine guns. Against which they had no counter until the first tanks were invented.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Yeah, not a whole lot of D-Days happening these days, and a lot of the time back in the day if you chose not to charge when you were ordered to, you'd be lined up against a wall and shot.

Yeah, World War 1 sucked. Did charging out of the trenches actually help the Allies win the war? Or did they just get totally owned by snipers?

Not snipers, but machine guns. Against which they had no counter until the first tanks were invented.

Yes.

Unfortunately, the guy in charge of the British forces was the most incompetant prick in military history.

"The way to capture machine guns is by grit and determination."
Haig - 1915

"The machine gun is a much over rated weapon.."
Haig - 1915

 

[YouCallMeNighthawk]

Well to be fair you and your brother are pretty lame! having a laugh at the expense of the people on the front lines!!! (No offense)

People on the front line! the 1st ones out and charging have the courage of a thousand men in my eyes, running into waves of bullets to try and make an advance in you're line so other troops can move up safely!

If i was in that situation i would move up gradually moving from cover to cover trying to keep my ass alive! but if you're charging accross an open field just sprint as fast as you can and hope for the best i suppose.

But in all honesty i'm too cowardly to be on the front line, I was going to join the army a few years back and enlist for the artillery support of front line soldiers. Then atleast i would have felt i was helping out a little bit keeping the enemies head down whilst they advance or something.

 

[YouCallMeNighthawk]

Yeah, not a whole lot of D-Days happening these days, and a lot of the time back in the day if you chose not to charge when you were ordered to, you'd be lined up against a wall and shot.

Yeah, World War 1 sucked. Did charging out of the trenches actually help the Allies win the war? Or did they just get totally owned by snipers?

I'm pretty sure artillery and machine gunners did more damage to charging soldiers than snipers, they were more of "you're not even safe in your own trenches" killers.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Black Adder goes forth was all about this subject. And I would probably do as Captain Black Adder.

GTFO!

 

[Shockolate]

There's a reason why soldiers say being on "point" is a bad thing......but damned if I can remember it.....

 

[Kurokami]

Well to be fair you and your brother are pretty lame! having a laugh at the expense of the people on the front lines!!! (No offense)

People on the front line! the 1st ones out and charging have the courage of a thousand men in my eyes, running into waves of bullets to try and make an advance in you're line so other troops can move up safely!

If i was in that situation i would move up gradually moving from cover to cover trying to keep my ass alive! but if you're charging accross an open field just sprint as fast as you can and hope for the best i suppose.

But in all honesty i'm too cowardly to be on the front line, I was going to join the army a few years back and enlist for the artillery support of front line soldiers. Then atleast i would have felt i was helping out a little bit keeping the enemies head down whilst they advance or something.

I'm having a laugh at the idea of being in their shoes and how I'd feel, I don't consider myself a coward in particular, nor do I consider myself brave but standing there facing an army, (note that in most of these situations I'm still talking back when armies had blades, or fought the ol' British way when you stand in lines with courtesy and take turns shooting the shit out of each other) I mean in those situations imagine you're standing there (or charging) essentially KNOWING you're gonna die and just kind of shifting uneasily waving your weapon in their general direction as they come. Sure it sucks, but it ain't even worth a chuckle for you to imagine? Sure tickled me.

 

[YouCallMeNighthawk]

Well to be fair you and your brother are pretty lame! having a laugh at the expense of the people on the front lines!!! (No offense)

People on the front line! the 1st ones out and charging have the courage of a thousand men in my eyes, running into waves of bullets to try and make an advance in you're line so other troops can move up safely!

If i was in that situation i would move up gradually moving from cover to cover trying to keep my ass alive! but if you're charging accross an open field just sprint as fast as you can and hope for the best i suppose.

But in all honesty i'm too cowardly to be on the front line, I was going to join the army a few years back and enlist for the artillery support of front line soldiers. Then atleast i would have felt i was helping out a little bit keeping the enemies head down whilst they advance or something.

I'm having a laugh at the idea of being in their shoes and how I'd feel, I don't consider myself a coward in particular, nor do I consider myself brave but standing there facing an army, (note that in most of these situations I'm still talking back when armies had blades, or fought the ol' British way when you stand in lines with courtesy and take turns shooting the shit out of each other) I mean in those situations imagine you're standing there (or charging) essentially KNOWING you're gonna die and just kind of shifting uneasily waving your weapon in their general direction as they come. Sure it sucks, but it ain't even worth a chuckle for you to imagine? Sure tickled me.

I find it quite the opposite of "even worth a chuckle"

If you knew what those people had to go through you wouldn't either.

 

[WolfThomas]

The problem is if everyone has the pretend to fall and trip idea, everyone will die. Never being in that sort of situation I can really say what I'd do, but I get the gist the only way for the most people to survive is for everyone to do their best and hope they're lucky.

It's like with a soldiers in the Napoleonic wars, you'd see men fall to either side of you, but if you didn't maintain discipline, keep firing and close the, otherwise if you routed you'd be probably all be cut down by cavalry. There was nothing polite about those wars.

Also bear in mind, you've probably spent weeks or months training with the men beside you, you would feel incredibly jack if you shirked or malingered and got your friends killed.

Plus there's adrenaline and everyone around you is going crazy, I read a psychological theory somewhere that the viking beserkers (the ones who went mad with bloodlust in battle) were actually the more emotionally sensitive people of the community, the sort of people who'd become depressed artists, social workers etc, it was that they pretty much feed of the emotion of everyone around and got super hyped up for killing.

Galipoli, look it up. We don't want to but we are still forced to. 'Nuff said.

I'm confused by this statement, do you mean you don't want to read about Galiopoli? Which would be some sort of un-Australian heresy or is that you mean, people don't want to be the guy charging at the front, but orders and duty forces them to be there? Which is very correct.

 

[DP155ToneZone]

Galipoli, look it up. We don't want to but we are still forced to. 'Nuff said.

Agreed.

This film says more than any of the posts here could.

 

[Devious Boomer]

Galipoli, look it up. We don't want to but we are still forced to. 'Nuff said.

Agreed.

This film says more than any of the posts here could.

The saying goes:
The most successful part of the Galipoli campaign was the evacuation.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Black Adder goes forth was all about this subject. And I would probably do as Captain Black Adder.

GTFO!

The end to that series was a genuine surprise for me.

It was such a downer to such a great show.

Still, I don't think it could have ended better. It was masterful.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Black Adder goes forth was all about this subject. And I would probably do as Captain Black Adder.

GTFO!

The end to that series was a genuine surprise for me.

It was such a downer to such a great show.

Still, I don't think it could have ended better. It was masterful.

It really was... The 4th season was definately my favourite. A while ago they were planning on a 5th, possibly following a rock band in the 60s. Wonder what happened to that.

Yeah, I read about that. Apparently Baldrick was the one who killed John Kennedy

 

[Shockolate]

It was basically used to map out a defending forces battle plan. Guy's on the right flank got mowed down by a hidden Machine gun nest. Lets get a demo team over there. Those artillery flashes that are shelling our troops? Bomb them to shit. If the attackers have enough numbers, the defenders have to use all of what they got to fight them off. Then the attackers know what their capable of, and plan accordingly.

Also, have you ever seen Enemy At the Gates? The entire first part of the movie was how 1 man gets a rifle, and 1 man gets a clip of bullets. When the man with the rifle dies, pick up his rifle and keep going.