Praise the Lord

The Sacrifice of 155 Battery, Sidi Nsir 1943
In North Africa during WW2, there was a significant battle fought between the British and the Germans at a wide spot in the road called Sidi Nsir. The small force of Brits was wiped out by the much larger and more powerful German force. However, the defense put up by the British gun battery at Sidi Nsir delayed the German advance long enough that the main British force was able to prepare for the German attack. So prepared, they were able to repulse the German attack which put an end to Operation Ox Head. This was the beginning of the end of the German campaign in North Africa.

This video is longer than what I usually post, but Lindybeige is pretty great and it was Sunday afternoon and I was feeling relaxed so I was able to watch the whole thing. Okay, I had to pause once or twice to check out some things, but I did watch it all the way to the end. He does an advertisement (about three minutes long at the 26:45 mark) and it is a hilarious interlude in an otherwise very serious story.

If you want to get a feel for the terrain, Google Maps 3D view of the area shows the hills in the area very well.


Praise The Lord & Pass The Ammunition - Kay Kyser
Lindybeige mentions that the guys manning the guns were singing this song (Praise The Lord & Pass The Ammunition). I've heard it mentioned before, but I never knew the origins. Seems it was an offhand remark made by a chaplain on board the USS New Orleans during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a number one hit back in 1943.

I just recently figured out that one of the reasons people join the army is because they might get to kill some people. I, and I suspect most people, are brought up to believe that killing people is wrong, so the opportunity to kill other people shouldn't be any kind of attraction. However, people are basically animals and we got to be the top of the food chain by killing. In the beginning it was animals, either for food or to avoid being food. But after we killed off enough of the other predatory animals and our population got large enough, we started killing other people. That probably started 100,000 years ago, give or take a zillion years, and we've been doing it ever since. 

So killing is in our blood. It is something we can enjoy, especially if social circumstances justify it. It is only because of extensive training and social conditioning that the streets are not constantly running with blood. The only time killing people is permitted is when you are killing an enemy.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just want to reiterate what I've said before about the large number of people being shot every week in Chicago (the same situation probably exists in most other major cities, it's just that Chicago gets all the press). I suspect some areas of Chicago are essentially war zones where the combatants are competing drug distribution gangs. Members of other gangs are the enemy, so killing them is permitted and sometimes ordered. Some people are making a boat load of money off of the drugs being sold, they have armies of soldiers fighting over the best areas for sales. 

On the other hand, people are protesting about the police killing people, and other people are pointing out that the number of people killed by police pales in comparison to the number of people being killed by other people people who are not the police. But we are talking about two different worlds. It's like comparing the number of people killed in Los Angeles to the number of people killed in the Vietnam war.

So, some parts of Chicago are a war zone. How is that possible, here is this great country? Simply because some people are making a boat load of money, and that is made possible by our draconian drug laws.

Basically, this country has a bad case of schizophrenia. On one hand we are striving for truth, justice and the American way, and on the other we are engaged in animal-level jungle combat.