![]() The late-Roman army was particularly fond of the “Barritus,” a guttural cry that had been borrowed from Germanic warriors, many of whom had joined their ranks. The ancient Roman legions usually marched in silence to maintain order in their ranks, but once they encountered the enemy, their lines would erupt with intimidating war cries that some described as resembling the sound of a stampeding elephant. Getty Images / Independent Picture Service / UIG The famous “no land beyond the Volga” battle cry was later inscribed on a monument to the defenders of Stalingrad. The Germans surrendered only a few months later, sealing what many historians consider the most important Allied victory of World War II. This was due in part to the brutal policies of Joseph Stalin, who instituted a “Not One Step Back” policy and executed thousands of his own men, but it was also thanks to the grit of the Soviet soldiers, who announced their intention to fight to the last with the rallying cry, “There is no land for us beyond the Volga.” The stalwart defenders endured months of frantic block-to-block combat until late 1942 when a Soviet counterattack encircled the Nazis and boxed them inside the city. The Nazis hoped to steamroll their way through the city in a matter of weeks, but they soon found themselves locked in a cataclysmic fight with the Soviet Red Army, which yielded ground reluctantly and only at great cost to the invaders. In the summer of 1942, German forces closed in on the Soviet city of Stalingrad, an industrial hub nestled along the banks of the Volga River. “There is no land for us beyond the Volga.” “Hear me, Alala,” he wrote, “daughter of Ares, prelude of the spears, you to whom men fall as offerings for their homeland in death’s holy sacrifice.” 4. When voiced by thousands of spear-wielding hoplites, these cries were said to resemble the sound of flocks of screeching birds, and they were so well known that the ancient writer Pindar even addressed them in a 5th-century B.C. ![]() Once within striking distance, however, they would cease their singing and break into a full-throated battle cry of “Alala!” or “Eleleu!” while banging their weapons against their shields to spook enemy horses. When they marched toward their enemies in their organized phalanx formations, Ancient Greek troops typically belted out battle hymns, or “paeans,” designed to invoke the god Apollo and help calm their nerves. A corps is sometimes spoken of as a ‘good yelling regiment.’” 3. Fremantle, a British observer at Gettysburg, noted that, “Confederate officers declare that the rebel yell has a particular merit, and always produces a salutary and useful effect upon their adversaries. Whatever it sounded like, the yell was considered an indispensable tool on the battlefield. Later recordings of elderly Southern veterans seem to indicate that it was a shrill yelp that resembled the call of a coyote, though it may have varied from unit to unit. This banshee scream was the Confederacy’s calling card for most of the war, but its sound has long been the subject of debate. “It was the ugliest sound that any mortal ever heard-even a mortal exhausted and unnerved by two days of hard fighting, without sleep, without rest, without food and without hope.” That was legendary writer and Union army veteran Ambrose Bierce’s description of the “rebel yell,” the notorious battle cry of Confederate forces during the Civil War. “Remember the Alamo” lived on even after the United States annexed Texas in 1845, and was later revived by U.S. General Sam Houston and others used the rallying cry “Remember the Alamo” to whet their troops’ appetite for vengeance, and in April 1836, the Texans routed a superior Mexican army and captured Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. The defeat was catastrophic-Travis, James Bowie and famed frontiersman Davy Crockett all died-but the Texans’ courage under fire helped galvanize their compatriots. ![]() The Texans were outnumbered and outgunned, but they held out for 13 grueling days until March 6, when the Mexicans stormed the fort and killed nearly all its defenders. Travis and some 200 Texas independence fighters at a former Franciscan mission known as the Alamo. On February 23, 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna besieged Colonel William B.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |