Monty Python got some good alliterative mileage out of that term in their movie “And Now For Something Completely Different.” One sequence in the movie is a fake WWII British newsreel, in black and white, with suitably bombastic narration that includes the opening line “Yes, the war against the Hun continues – and as Britian’s brave boys battle against the Boche…” By the standards of genuine WWII newsreels, that’s actually not as over-the-top as it sounds to modern ears. And during a real WWII deception operation, the fake letter from General Nye to General Alexander which was the centrepiece of the “Mincemeat” disinformation scheme used such phrases as “We have had recent information that the Boche have been reinforcing and strengthening their defences in Greece and Crete…”
29th January: anniversary battle of Brienne(France)
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Battle of Brienne was fought today, 29th January, in 1814.
(I had never heard of this one.)
The town is in North East France and the battle here took place because the 6th coalition invaded France in the hope of overthrowing Napoleon.
As the roads were bad because of the weather, Napoleon was able to catch his old enemy, Blucher, with only one wing of his army: the Russian contingent under Lt Gen Baron Osten-Sachen, about 17000 men. Napoleon had 30000 on hand, but after his earlier reverses most were straight out of training camps.
Napoleon pinned down Blucher’s forces with Grouchy’s Cavalry and Horse Artillery, while Marshal Ney took the Young Guard into the town and captured the Chateau with the aid of Victor’s 2nd Corps. That night Blucher was forced to withdraw, after nearly being captured withGeneral Gneisenau. (Napoleon also narrowly missed capture.)
Blucher’s losses were 4000 casualties to Napoleon’s 3000.
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