Comments on: Tired Infantry https://www.isegoria.net/2014/05/tired-infantry/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Fri, 19 Jun 2026 16:52:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: T. Beholder https://www.isegoria.net/2014/05/tired-infantry/comment-page-1/#comment-3713762 T. Beholder Thu, 03 Oct 2024 16:02:24 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=34808#comment-3713762 Introduction of field fortifications greatly changed the game in this aspect too.

The infantryman can compensate for troublesome march with tenacity in defense. That is, the soldiers could run in the open, but as long as cover is not obviously useless, they naturally don’t want to leave it when the situation is bad enough as it is. So it may take much more of motivation to attack, but retreat is also inhibited.

Of course, exhaustion on a march still matters. The first iteration of “Defence of Duffer’s Drift” probably was not a rare failure before infantry was trained to start digging the moment they stop walking.

]]> By: Ed https://www.isegoria.net/2014/05/tired-infantry/comment-page-1/#comment-1265358 Ed Tue, 27 May 2014 16:07:18 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=34808#comment-1265358 “They were officers of cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable.”

— The Duel: A Military Tale, by Joseph Conrad

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