Day 13 - Normandy

The next port was La Harve, and we went to the battlefield of Normandy. Normandy was a battle during WWII when the Americans and British landed on the coast of Normandy, and began liberating Europe. It was the largest fleet in history, and it was a very important battle. Daddy and I got up early and got off the ship as soon as we were allowed and began walking to the car rental place. It was a several mile walk, but finally we got there. Then we drove back and picked up everyone but Grandma, because she went on a tour to Paris.

After a couple hour drive we arrived at our first stop, which was the village of Sainte-Mère-Église. I was the tour guide because I read about the battle before we came. There we saw the town in which some of the American paratroopers landed. The Germans shot many of the paratroopers as they landed in this town before they even got to the ground. One man, Private John Steele, was caught on the church steeple. They a dummy on the steeple to remember him.

The dummy of the paratrooper

Next we came to Utah Beach, one of the two American landing beaches. On this landing beach the Americans did very well. They actually landed in the wrong spot, but by God's providence where they actually landed was much less defended. They did not suffer very many casualties here. We walked around and there were several German fortifications still there, and Daddy bumped his head several times in one because the entrance was so low. There were also several monuments to the troops. Both of the landing beaches and the cemetery were given to the United States by France.

This is a replica landing boat, which carried the troops ashore

Utah Beach

A German machine gun post

A German gun buried in the sand

Next we went to Point Du Hoc. It was a very large battery built on a rocky cliff with six large cannons. Two hundred U.S. Rangers climbed the cliff and took the battery, and held on for several days until help arrived. When they got up the cliff, they discovered that the guns had either been moved or never put there, but they still had to hold onto the position until they were relieved. At the end, only 90 of the 200 could still fight. The area was covered by huge shell craters from the bombing before the attack. It was one of the only places where the bombs actually hit. This was probably my favorite stop of this entire day. It was misty, so we could not see the cliffs very well but it was still neat. The overcast weather gave a sense of why they had such poor visibility and could not find their way to their meeting location.

One of the German gun positions

Here you can see the land was covered in shell craters

This is the edge of the cliff

Me standing in a shell crater

A German position that was destroyed by a bomb

Our last stop was Omaha beach. That was the most difficult of all the landing sights. The troops there suffered very heavy casualties. Some platoons were destroyed before they even got off the boat. Finally, after many hours of fighting, they gained the bluffs overlooking the beach where the Germans had put their fortifications. Many soldiers died on this beach. The troops suffered 4,500 casualties here.

This was a picture taken during the fighting of the troops coming ashore

Wounded soldiers being brought up the beach

We walked on the beach for a little, then drove along it. It is about a mile long! We stopped part way down the beach and climbed the bluff where the Germans had their fortifications. It is much higher than the surrounding ground. When we were climbing up the bluff, we saw a German position that was covered in grass and vines. All you could see was a little hole leading into the ground. We wanted to explore it, but we did not have time. After leaving Omaha Beach we went by the American cemetery, but did not have time to go in. When we got back to the cruise ship, we still had to drop off the car. We walked very fast because we did not want to miss the ship! Fortunately, we got back in plenty of time.

Omaha Beach

A cannon in a bunker

The Most Common and Disastrous Military Mistakes of History

by Joshua Horn

From 100 Decisive Battles by Paul K. David

In the Bible we learn that God controls every aspect of history. He preordains every victory and defeat that has happened, and will happen, in all of time. God often uses the mistakes that military commanders make, to change the course of history. Now we will examine three of the most common mistakes of military commanders: the problem of relying on numbers too heavily, hesitating whether to attack or not, and not being prepared for an attack by the enemy at any time.

The first common blunder we will consider is relying on numerical superiority and prestige instead of their actual fighting power or tactical superiority. For example, in the battle of Crécy, in 1346, the French had more than five times as many men as the English, but the English longbowmen easily slaughtered the French knights. The proud French knights believed that they could not be stopped by archers, and so they charged headlong at the prepared English position. Another example is the defeat of the Russian fleet by the Japanese at the battle of Tsushima in 1905. The outdated Russian ships were easily defeated by the newer Japanese vessels. The Russians had relied too much on their prestige as having one of the most powerful navies in the world. This mistake of relying too much on numerical superiority has occurred during many battles in history.

Many times battles are lost because of a hesitation on the part of the generals. One example of this is in the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. On the first day of the battle, July 1, 1863, the Confederate army stumbled upon a few Union brigades. They attacked, and after a hard fight drove the Unions off of the hill. General Richard S. Ewell, who commanded the Confederate forces who were leading the attack, instead of attacking and pressing the retreating Federal army, could not decide whether to attack the Union position, which he probably would have carried. This hesitation on his part probably cost the Confederacy the battle, and possibly even the war. Another example of this same mistake is in the battle of Dunkirk in 1940 during World War II. For some reason, Adolf Hitler delayed pressing his attack on the British at Dunkirk, who he had surrounded, which allowed the British army to escape back to Britain. This allowed England to have trained troops to defeat Hitler's attack in the Battle of Britain. If Hitler had not decided to hold off on his attack on Dunkirk for three days, Britain might very well be part of Germany to this day.

The third common strategic blunder is not always being prepared for an attack. Many times generals feel too secure and do not set out guard to watch for an approaching enemy. One example of this is in the battle of San Jacinto in the war for Texan independence. Santa Anna, the commander of the Mexicans, believed that he had the Texan army trapped between two rivers, and so he allowed his army to take a nap during the midday heat. Sam Houston ordered his outnumbered army of Texans forward against the Mexicans. They were completely surprised, and were easily routed and defeated. George Washington used a similar tactic during his attack on Trenton in the winter of 1776. He chose to attack on the day after Christmas, when the Hessian garrison was sound asleep from parties the night before. He crossed the icy river when no one expected him to be able to, and his army easily overcame the surprised Hessians. This victory at Trenton gave a moral boost to the Americans, and it gave encouragement to soldiers to join the American army, so that they could continue the war. Many surprise attacks such as these two have changed the course of wars, and ultimately of history. One of the most important principles of war is to not let yourself be surprised, and battles and wars have been lost by not paying attention to it.

We have just looked at three of the most common mistakes in military history. These are relying on numerical superiority, not being always prepared for an attack, and hesitating at the critical moment of the battle. God has used them many times in the course of history, and many battles and wars have been lost because the generals did not consider what military mistakes God had ordained to happen in the past, and did not watch out for those mistakes in their own generalship. These mistakes have occurred many times throughout the course of history, and God will probably use them many times more before the end of the world.

Buy the Book - 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present

Scotland - Day 8

On Monday we first went to Urquhart Castle, on the shores of Loch Ness. It has an incredible history, which includes the friends of Wallace, of the covenantors, of Cromwell and Bonnie Prince Charlie. When we arrived Mr. Phillips gave a speech on the Loch Ness monster, Nessie. He said that if we did find a Loch Ness monster, it would be a very serious problem for the evolutionists, because if their worldview is correct, all dinosaurs would have been dead for more than a million years. After this speech, we explored the castle. We went to this castle, and several of the other sites on our trip to Scotland two years ago. You can read our blog posts on it here.





After the castle we went to a little town about a mile away for lunch, and a Loch Ness exhibit if the families wanted to. We went to the exhibit, which is the 'original' exhibit that gives a more favorable view of Nessie's existence. We enjoyed this, as we had gone to the 'new' visitor's center on our previous trip. At the visitor center they had a couple bookcases of used books for only one pound each. ($2.17)

Our next stop was Culloden battlefield. Mr. Potter told us what happened there, Mr. Zahm sang, and we did a reenactment charge. After visiting the battlefield, we walked to the visitor center, which was updated since two years ago. One exhibit was a 360 view of the battle, and a map that showed the movements of the troops. We really enjoyed this, and could have spent more time there, but it closed.



After this we drove back to Fort William, and tried to find a place to eat, and we went to a bad Chinese restaurant, and then we back to the hotel.

Scotland - Day 12

Today we went to Culloden and Fort George. The battle of Culloden was part of the 2nd Jacobite Rebellion. That rebellion occurred in 1745. Price Charles Edward Stuart, also called Bonnie Prince Charlie, was in the family of Stuarts. He wished to become king, and was trying to convince the French that they should help him. They sent him with a fleet of ships to England in 1744, but it was scattered by a storm. If that fleet had landed in England, they would probably have took over England and Scotland.

The next year he left for Scotland with only two ships, one of which was attacked and forced to return home on the way. He landed in Scotland and raised his standard at Glenfinnian on April 19, 1745. He moved south and his forces grew to 3,000 men. He began a march to take over the capital, London. His army came within 125 miles of London, but the generals decided to return to Scotland.

They fought the 2nd battle of Falkirk Nairn on April 14, 1746. The Scots planned a night attack, which failed. The English came out on the 19th of April, 1746. Their army was about 9,000, and the Scot's was about 5,400. The Scots formed 2 lines, and the English 3. There was a short exchange of artillery, and then some of the Scottish clans decided to charge. Charles gave the order, but the McDonalds on the left refused to move because they were not positioned on the right. Those who did charge were forced to avoid some boggy areas, and were defeated when they hit the English. The Scots lost about 1,250 killed, 1,000 wounded, 558 captured and the English only 52 killed, 259 wounded. After the battle the English killed all Scots that they could find.

A flag Jacobite at Culloden.

This is the Battlefield looking towards the Scottish line.

This is what the soldiers would have looked like: British (left) and Highlander (right).

This was the last Jacobite Rebellion. After Joshua told us about the battle at Culloden and we walked to all the corners of the battlefield, which took about 3 hours, we left and went to Fort George. The building of Fort George was started in 1748 by William Skinner, who was the king's military engineer of North Britain. By 1757 the main defences were completed and the internal buildings were starting to emerge.

A cannon at Fort George.

The whole fort was completed in 1769, well behind schedule. Fort George was made to have all the provisions of a small town. Fort George is very large, 42 acres. Joshua enjoyed it very much.
The walls are very thick:Fort George is still in use today. We saw some snow flurries even though it was very sunny, but it was cold and windy. We spent about 2 1/2 hours at Fort George, then we went back to the condo.