Quote:
Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b
I think the idea is to illustrate the incredibly fragmented nature of military forces in general, and secondarily illustrate that these fragmented military units regard themselves as separate entities with their own aims and goals.
|
You know I thought about it a bit after I'd posted and that dovetails into another (few) thoughts I'd had, to sort of answer my own questions:
Firstly, as you say, differing goals. A commander in charge of the "901st AD brigade" might believe fully in prosecuting the war, while the CO of the "2nd Armored Company" (and all 1 of their tanks) might be more interested in being friendly to Polish civilians and neutral to Soviets.
Second: the civil war. Getting an order from CivGov to stay put and another from MilGov to go somewhere would be a surefire way to create real confusion at higher ranks which brings us to point three...
Thirdly: big fish, little pond. While it can't be overlooked that
every rank has suffered horrendous casualties - I mean, 11 generals or admirals died in WWII as a direct result of combat - there's probably going to be a lot of top-heavy organizations out there. Imagine being a general and surviving from 1997 to late 2000, pulling your "division's" ass out of the fire (probably winding up engaged in direct combat yourself, repeatedly) and making it back to Germany only to be told that some other general was now in command, making you a line trooper!
Yeah...I think it'd be way, way more difficult than I thought. If not impossible.