"Every Colonel,
Adjutant or Captain
knows well that no doctors,
learned-men or other God-fearing
people come to him,
but a mob of bad boys from
all sorts
of nations and strange people who
have left wife and
babe, food and everything to
follow the war." - - Adam Junghaus.
From several sources to include: "The THIRTY YEARS' WAR" by Herbert Langer.
“The most important qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only second; hardship, poverty and want are the best school for a soldier.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte.
As was noted by Napoleon so was noted before him by Gustavus.
"The Swedish soldiers were regarded as brave fighters who 'preferred to die chivalrously rather than flee'. The social background of such soldiery qualities was described by Gustavus Adolphus [King of Sweden] in a letter to Maurice of Orange, the outstanding Dutch commander. He wrote that he had not hired his soldiers for money nor had recruited them in taverns with handsome promises. On the contrary, they [soldiers as recruited] were raised from the peasantry, accustomed to hard work and toil. They could withstand cold and heat, hunger and guard-duty without difficulty. Unaccustomed to luxuries, the soldiers of the army were satisfied with less and became used to obeying their commanders."
"You must help God and Fatherland,
For protection and honour,
And often duck, hump your load and crawl,
Often sleep but little, lie uncomfortably,
Often hunger, thirst, sweat and shiver,
And everywhere to be ready
for your fate or fortune."
A FATE OR FORTUNE OFTEN QUITE GRIM!!
AND BE BRAVE!
coolbert.