@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.
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.
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.
Тhe battlefield in the air will be the decisive one
Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence.
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.”
That’s not a knife… this is a knife mate" Crocodile Dundee
“Manga. My Pizza is the best.salute”
" We go China east-side, but i think we’ll be taking a trip to the west-side" —Mo Howard
in jest
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.
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.
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”.
