"BUFDRVR" a écrit dans le message de
...
That's a stupid position...
War is too serious a matter to be left only to military people
(Clemenceau, French stateman, 1914...)

Yeah, the French politicians really helped out at Verdun. If not for the
idiot
French politicians, Petain would have been allowed to fall back to the
west
side of the Meuse, or even further. The French would have given ground,
including the town of Verdun, but the casulties inflicted on the Germans
would
have been much greater and the French much less. After the German advance
ran
out steam (meaning men), the French could *then* have counter attacked.
Instead
the French politicians pressured military to hold the ground at all cost.
That
"all cost" was nearly 100,000 French KIA. Doesn't sound like the
politicians
involvement at Verdun was very productive......



You may be right about Verdun but don't misjudge Clemenceau, he was smarter
and more subtle than you seem to think.
His statement referred to "War", with a capital "W", and not to any specific
military operation. It does not mean that the politicians should elaborate
the tactics on the field, it means that the military commanders must never
forget that they owe their power and prerogatives to the politicians (and
therefore, in a democracy, to the people itself) who must keep them under
control whatever the circumstances.
For Clemenceau, the military is just a tool in the hands of the politicians.
Actually, it's not very different from Clausewitz's famous statement about
the political nature of war.

ArVa