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    @CWO:

    “This time the �����’s stuck his head in the meat grinder, and I’ve got hold of the handle.”

    • George S. Patton, during the Battle of the Bulge

    That’s good… but I still like the first one from Patton for what I’m trying to achieve.

    “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week” - George S. Patton

    It’s got a great fortune cookie vibe to it  :lol:


  • I gave Morshead’s full name and title because he’s not as famous as officers like Patton and Montgomery.  An even more extreme quote-to-name ratio can be found in Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe’s one-worder “Nuts!”  (There was a somewhat fictionalized version of this historical event in a movie in which McAuliffe delivers his famous statement verbally to some German envoys, who look at each other in puzzlement, then turn back to McAuliffe; one of them says, “What is this ‘Nuts’?  I do not understand.”  McAuliffe retorts, “Do you understand ‘Go to hell’, son?” The German nods and answers, “Ja, that I understand.”)

  • Sponsor

    @CWO:

    I gave Morshead’s full name and title because he’s not as famous as officers like Patton and Montgomery.�  An even more extreme quote-to-name ratio can be found in Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe’s one-worder "Nuts!"�  (There was a somewhat fictionalized version of this historical event in a movie in which McAuliffe delivers his famous statement verbally to some German envoys, who look at each other in puzzlement, then turn back to McAuliffe; one of them says, "What is this ‘Nuts’?�  I do not understand."�  McAuliffe retorts, “Do you understand ‘Go to hell’, son?” The German nods and answers, “Ja, that I understand.”)

    How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?

    The best ANZAC quotes are from WW1…

    “I can’t surrender, I’m in command of Australians… and they would cut my throat if I dared”

    • Unknown

  • @Young:

    How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?

    You may not need to include everything; it depends on what consistent practice you’ll be using for the other people you’re quoting.  Bernard L. Montgomery, for example, was known in full as Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – and that’s even leaving out his KG, GCB, DSO and PC designations.  A good standard form to use for everyone would be simply rank + commonly used form of name (including initials as just initials), without any knighthoods.

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    @CWO:

    @Young:

    How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?

    You may not need to include everything; it depends on what consistent practice you’ll be using for the other people you’re quoting.  Bernard L. Montgomery, for example, was known in full as Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – and that’s even leaving out his KG, GCB, DSO and PC designations.  A good standard form to use for everyone would be simply rank + commonly used form of name (including initials as just initials), without any knighthoods.

    Than I might need help with the ranks once I lock down all the quotes.


  • These are the US Army abbreviations…

    2LT 1LT CPT MAJ LTC COL BG MG LTG GEN GA

    …for these ranks:

    Second  Lieutenant
    First Lieutenant
    Captain
    Major
    Lieutenant Colonel
    Colonel
    Brigadier General
    Major General
    Lieutenant General
    General
    General of the Army

    These are the US Navy abbreviations…

    ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RDML RADM VADM ADM FADM

    …for these ranks:

    Ensign
    Lieutenant (junior grade)
    Lieutenant
    Lieutenant Commander
    Commander
    Captain
    Rear Admiral (lower half)
    Rear Admiral
    Vice Admiral
    Admiral
    Fleet Admiral


  • slightly off topic, but if you search for 15 quotes from Gen. Mad Dog Mattis, slayer of bodies, some of them are pretty funny


  • As YG has noted, there are plenty of rousing Italian military phrases available for the WWII period if we go by Mussolini alone (I once read an amusing one-liner that said “If slogans could win a war by themselves, Italy will be a world power”), but apparently not much if we look in the direction of generals and admirals.  One compromise solution might be to quote General Giulio Douhet, one of his era’s greatest experts on aerial warfare in general and strategic bombing in particular.  I’ve copied below various quotes from him; I particularly like the first one, which sounds like something Clausewitz might have said.  From the point of view of YG’s project requirements, however, there’s the potential problem that Douhet was mainly a theorist and that he died in 1930.  On the other hand, if nothing better can be found, he might do.

    Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the change in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the changes occur.

    • Giulio Douhet

    To conquer the command of the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat and acceptance of whatever terms the enemy may be pleased to impose.

    • Giulio Douhet

    The one effective method of defending one’s own territory from an offensive by air is to destroy the enemy’s air power with the greatest possible speed.

    • Giulio Douhet

    Тhe battlefield in the air will be the decisive one

    • Giulio Douhet

    Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence.

    • Giulio Douhet
  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    For ANZAC, you may want to consider a few quotes from Australia’s wartime prime minister John Curtin, for example:

    “The game is not lost - or won - until the last bell goes.”

    “Is not Anzac day a day that breathes the very soul of freedom?”

    (and there’s more to be found)

    While you specifically mention not needing anything for China (and how about France btw?), here are a few good ones from Chiang-Kai Shek:

    “War is not only a matter of equipment, artillery, group troops or air force; it is largely a matter of spirit, or morale.”

    and, especially applicable to A&A:

    “Give me fifty DC-3’s and the Japanese can have the Burma Road.”


    • I need something for the ANZAC card but everything I find was said in WW1

    That’s not a knife… this is a knife mate" Crocodile Dundee

    • I need something for the Italy card but most of what’s documented came from Mussolini

    “Manga. My Pizza is the best.salute”

    • I want something from Yamamoto for the Japan card, but most of his quotes seem pessimistic toward the Japanese situation

    " We go China east-side, but i think we’ll be taking a trip to the west-side" —Mo Howard

    in jest

  • '16

    Another from Robert Menzies for the ANZAC, this one from September 1939:

    “There can be no doubt that where Great Britain stands, there stands the people of the entire British world.”

    I pulled my copy of Hitler’s Italian Allies, so I’ll search that and try to get you something useful for the Italians.

  • '16

    Young Grasshopper, here is the result of my scanning the book Hitler’s Italian Allies, by MacGregor Knox.

    From Mussolini: “Either war, or let’s end this commedia of a great power.”

    “Men, our indisputable resource.” - General Armando Diax, 1923

    “The tank is a powerful tool, but let us not idolize it; let us reserve our reverence for the infantryman and the mule.” - General Parani, 1937

    There is not much else of value in there for optimistic-sounding quotes, I think, given that the thesis is that Italian industry, society, and high command were totally unprepared for war.

  • '19 '18 '17 '16

    The best quote of the war should be represented even if it doesn’t apply for your cards.

    When the Germans asked the 101 st Airborne to surrender at Bastogne, McAuliffe replied “NUTS”.

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