A Call to Arms: Sign Up to Become a Musketeer

Musketeers are the inspiration for the Captain James Cook’s (1728-1799) story when he sailed the seas to explore under the British flag. An armed band of pirates who terrorized the English and French shipping lanes, they were at war with the French and English trading companies. When the Captain Cook was captured by the French privateers, he was forced to become a slave. After being freed, he realized that there was a profitable market for muskets and subsequently invented a crude musket, called the Purd. This was crude because it used a chain to hold the powder charge in place. Because of this and because of King Louis XVI of France’s constant efforts to ban the muskets, the market was already flooded with firearms.

As history has shown, the muskets were not very accurate and were mainly used for bayonet charges or hand-to-hand combat. But the real breakthrough of the muskets took place in the Prussian army where a Corporal invented the machine gun and placed it on the battlefield. It was during this time that the term ‘en masse’ took place. The Corporal invented the gun by himself and it was the beginning of the machine gun era. These first guns were called thundercannons.

It was two German corporals who devised the simple infantry muskets. Because of their simplicity, accuracy and cassability, muskets soon became the main weapon for the German armies.

By mid 1916, following the entrance of Romanian troops into the war, the trend of the thundercannons took a significant turn. The efficiency of the German guns and the discipline of the troops, achieved huge victories against  the Russians. But, at this time, the corrupted and delinquent Romanians were very much a menace on the German troops and on the battlefield. The overall loss of the soldiers was huge.

Because of this, the German High Command ordered a complete change in the tactics of their soldiers. The soldiers were now to charge the enemy with their engineers and light troops, making use of the momentum of the enemy’s battle to encircle them. The purpose of these attacks were to deny the enemy access to the necessary supplies and communications.

With the implementation of the lightning and indoctrination, the guns were now to be the army’s key to victory. This assault technique allowed the Germans to use their complete armour for close combat. The Germans had heard of the Russian winter offensive, which consisted mainly of night attacks. Knowing that the snow was very difficult to pelter under the attacks, the Germans decided to wait for the enemy to come to them. The German assault was called Operation Granby.

The Attack

The Russians counter-attacked, turning the tides of the battle in Germany’s favour. Leonie Terrell was the Commander of Canadian troops fighting the Russians. She decided to send a message to Berlin, asking for more supplies. Because of the poor communications and the urgency of the message, Terrell’s men worked in close coordination, moving through dug-outs and minefields.

The German’s response was to organize an all-out assault. Their objective was to reach the Communications Centre, the political and military headquarters. The attack was launched on possible enemy territory. The Hindenburg Line, the Army of the North was under the centre attack. The defence of North Africa was now compromised. The commander of the Army of the South, Field Marshall Erich Lundendorff, decided to pull back his forces.

The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944. TheAdviceFor theTroopsand tankers of the Army of the South-West Frontiers.

-To theNLF-IndependenceNow you are surrounded, unlined, hungry and life is life. Surrounded, how do you stand?-Who will help you when you are cornered-Who will help you fight for your life?-forty-eight-year-olds-teenagers

The human spirit is always stronger than steel-The will is stronger than the wicked-The heart of a mother is as strong as iron

The enemy is dead, but the enemy remains alive!-Who will save us? The earth will rise from the ashes of war!-The spirit of insufficient Keith Richards

My father was a nurse and a very busy man. He retired when I was in high school. I thought it was the end of the world. I had a job to finish and I was very excited. I started writing a goodbye message to my father every week.

Then, one day, I got an answer. It was the answer for all the questions I had. “Nonsense, that’s not true!” “Yes, it is true!” “Of course it is!” As I started reading I started crying.