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PS: Once again, Italy wins on style points! Way kewl. Didn't actually see a whole lot of use.
I sit in awe. Wondering only, "what in the world engendered this?" :)
ReplyDeleteThis is what she was nattering about when she came out of the shower yesterday.
ReplyDeleteEvery morning, I await the post-shower non sequitir with no small amount of trepidation...
Somewhere there is a site that shows wonderful pictures of various Swiss Bomb Shelter, Bunkers, etc. Wish I had the link for you.
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't you teaching history at the local college? Oh, ya. Selection Committee wouldn't understand what the Hell you were talking 'bout.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what archaeologists of the year 4000 will make of those Italian pillboxes. "Religious shrines," no doubt--that is the all-purpose explanation for what you don't understand.
ReplyDeleteWeren't some of the Maginot forts turned into luxury villas? Maybe they appeal to the same sort of people as those who remodel missile silos here.
"I wonder what archaeologists of the year 4000 will make of those Italian pillboxes. "Religious shrines," no doubt--that is the all-purpose explanation for what you don't understand."
ReplyDeleteOh, man, don't get me started...
Have you read Motel of the Mysteries?
Those Italian pillboxes are way cool!! They would make a great background for a Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie.
ReplyDeleteAs my history teacher described it, "The Maginot line was the most impressive static defense in the first industrial war of maneuver."
ReplyDeleteGotta wonder how that was planned, surely they won't go through Belgium...again.
The French military planners clearly never read the Evil Overlord List.
Well, actually, I thought its purpose was to make the Germans go around it, to a place where the French mobile forces would be waiting for them. Oh, Belgium. Dang!
ReplyDeleteBrown trousers recommended.
ReplyDeleteJustthisguy: actually... The Belgians had pretty good forts, too; and why not let them soften up the traditional foe? The French actually did have some fortification well in from their border with Belgium, too.
ReplyDeleteI love the way the Italian fortifications echoed the helmets of gladiators, those empty, determined eyes staring down the foe.
ReplyDeleteAs my history teacher described it, "The Maginot line was the most impressive static defense in the first industrial war of maneuver." Heard it before. I'm sure it was a great comfort to the GIs bleeding trying to break through the Siegfried Line.
ReplyDeleteSo, Tam - you're saying that warm water beating on Bobbi's skull washes these fascinating things loose?
ReplyDeleteHmm...maybe I should rotate the daughters through the shower BEFORE homework, rather than after..
Tam, yes, I treasure Motel of the Mysteries.
ReplyDeleteBobbie,
ReplyDeleteAs I work my way through the whole thing, marveling at the way you managed to put that all together, the thought pops into my head...
Hey didn't I last see emplacements like those Italian ones on "The Guns of Navarone"?
That is, before it wanders off in other directions like Patton's thoughts on fixed fortifications:
"Pacifists would do well to study the Siegfried and Maginot Lines, remembering that these defenses were forced; that Troy fell; that the walls of Hadrian succumbed; that the Great Wall of China was futile; and that, by the same token, the mighty seas which are alleged to defend us can also be circumvented by a resolute and ingenious opponent. In war, the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it." - General George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It. 1947.
Which then led to another string of thought...apparently I suffer the same type of "frog in a blender internal dialogue". It drives the officers I supervise a little nuts.