Mons to Ypres, 1914
Around dawn of 23 August, 1914, the Imperial German Army fell upon the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Mons - covering the left flank of the French V Army which was in the process of falling back from fighting the day before.
The BEF was outnumbered roughly 3 to 1, and were barely considered competent to stand by the German High Command. By the time night came, German forces had suffered some 5,000 casualties for the 1,600 British - massive losses for a single day of fighting at the time. The German force had been thrown back several times, until they learned to spread out and make themselves harder targets for the British riflemen, machine gunners and artillery.
In a massive fighting retreat against over whelming odds, the British Army fought in Europe for the first time since the Crimean War and punched the Imperial German Army in their collective noses. The continued retreat of the French V Army forced the BEF to withdraw first to on position than to another.
Myths rose up not long after the fighting ended. Angelic warriors standing with the British soldiers launching flight after flight of arrows at the oncoming Germans. In short - people away from the fighting needed to attribute the remarkable victory to something - so divine intervention seemed like a fine reason.
The line soldiers knew they had been in a major battle against great odds and had won a huge tactical victory. Yes, they were retreating - but it was a fighting retreat. They had forced multiple units to drop out of the "order of battle" and reorganize, rest and regroup.
Some British units were badly mauled - 4th Fusiliers, 4th Middlesex and 1st Gordon Highlanders suffered serious casualties. Likewise, on the other side of the battle line, the 1st Royal West Kent and 2nd Kings Own Scottish Borderers suffered very heavy loses while keeping their lines in place until ordered to withdraw. An officer and Private from the Fusiliers were decorated with the Victoria Cross for their actions in the face of death. The officer's family was presented his medal posthumously. The private solider was presumed killed, but was badly wounded and taken prisoner. He was presented his medal by King George.
The fighting retreat that started that night continued for roughly two weeks. Pitched bloody rear-guard actions fought by small elements buying time for the main force to move to a new position was the norm.
Desperate fights by units with little or no artillery support, inadequate numbers of machine guns, not enough ammunition, no hand grenades, no entrenching shovels - yeah, they could not even dig a "fox hole" without using knives, bayonets or stealing some farmers tools. Fights that most Americans have never heard of, and many in Britain might respond "Oh, I saw something about that I think..." Fights at Étreux, Cerizy, Néry and other places where companies or single battalions fought against overwhelming odds - 6 to 1 in some places. Cavalry units charged with saber and lance. At Néry a single surviving gun of a single horse artillery battery kept up a steady fight against a 12 gun German artillery battery for 2 1/2 hours. Three soldiers were recognized with the Victoria Cross for this.
The lines stabilized as the combined British and French armies approached Paris. The Battle of the Marne sent shock waves throughout Europe when the invading German forces were soundly beaten, and forced to retreat themselves. The "Miracle of the Marne" it was called - again by people not there. This led to fighting at the Battle of the Aisne and the "race to the sea" as the armies tried to out flank each other after frontal assaults proved so costly and disastrous.
The fighting continued as the armies tried to out flank each other. Battle after battle and fight after fight. Many of these were "encounter" battles - where the armies stumbled upon one another. They were moving so fast the information about where they, and their enemies, were simply could not keep up.
By the time they reached Belgium lines were stretched across most of France and the beginnings of trenches were being dug to afford protection and stable positions to defend themselves.
When the tiny Belgian army, itself being pressed by German forces many times it's strength, retreated from Antwerp to the Yser river and established a defensive line, supported by French troops and the British Navy, the German hope of cutting off Belgium from the rest of the Allies, and turning the flank of the Franco-British lines "racing to the sea" ended in stalemate.
Fighting at Ypres in October and into November proved the end of the high mobility fighting and settled into the "trench warfare" most often remembered about the Great War. The First Battle of Ypres was marked by its own myth and folklore on both sides - as were all the fights from August to November.
It was widely reported in Germany that a student reserve corps went into battle singing Deutschland über Alles - resulting in the Kindermord (massacre of the innocents) The reality was very different. Still, this became part of the mythic cycle from this period.
Likewise, reports of Angelic archers fighting alongside British riflemen at Mons arose shortly after the battle, in part to explain how a badly outnumbered force could turn back the massive German attack. Somehow, that fabrication still has some traction in segments of society. There were no Angels at Mons - just men. There were no Angels at Ypres, lifting soldiers to heaven at the moment of death to ease their pain. There were no flaming swords leading the way forward.
There were men, mostly.
Human terms
This rambling entry covers a time when most Americans and many in Britain have a vague notion or comprehension. Let me try and reduce it to simple numbers.
Between 2 August and 22 November, fighting in Europe alone, German forces suffered 800,000 casualties on what became known as the "Western Front." Of these, some 116,000 were soldiers killed. French forces suffered 454,000 casualties. British forces suffered 90,000 casualties (with 54,000 at Ypres alone.)
The Belgian army, on 2 August, consisted of 185,000 regular and active reserve soldiers. By the end of fighting at Ypres in November, roughly 50% of these were casualties. This does not include the militia or "volunteers" who joined the colours when Germany invaded Belgium. Their losses were staggering.
What does this have to do with software testing?
Consider two things:
1. Stories and myths and rumour of what was happening and what was done were circulated by people who were not there and had no real idea of what was done or being done.
2. The point of the fighting retreat conducted by the BEF was two-fold. First, to gain time for the main forces to move and maneuver. Second was something more humane and heroic - they were men fighting that their comrades - the rest of the section, company or battalion - could themselves be saved, even if it meant they could not.
Our purpose in testing is to support other people in their work. In the end, we help them by doing work that is often unrecognized and under appreciated by others not intimately connected with the actual effort of making software. As a result, it is not understood. The reasons why we test software, what is behind it are simplified to something that "makes sense"
People will tell falsehoods about testing - sometimes well meaning, but still falsehoods. Some of the falsehoods are simply malicious and undermine what we do as software testers. More on that, and countering that, in an upcoming post.
The BEF was outnumbered roughly 3 to 1, and were barely considered competent to stand by the German High Command. By the time night came, German forces had suffered some 5,000 casualties for the 1,600 British - massive losses for a single day of fighting at the time. The German force had been thrown back several times, until they learned to spread out and make themselves harder targets for the British riflemen, machine gunners and artillery.
In a massive fighting retreat against over whelming odds, the British Army fought in Europe for the first time since the Crimean War and punched the Imperial German Army in their collective noses. The continued retreat of the French V Army forced the BEF to withdraw first to on position than to another.
Myths rose up not long after the fighting ended. Angelic warriors standing with the British soldiers launching flight after flight of arrows at the oncoming Germans. In short - people away from the fighting needed to attribute the remarkable victory to something - so divine intervention seemed like a fine reason.
The line soldiers knew they had been in a major battle against great odds and had won a huge tactical victory. Yes, they were retreating - but it was a fighting retreat. They had forced multiple units to drop out of the "order of battle" and reorganize, rest and regroup.
Some British units were badly mauled - 4th Fusiliers, 4th Middlesex and 1st Gordon Highlanders suffered serious casualties. Likewise, on the other side of the battle line, the 1st Royal West Kent and 2nd Kings Own Scottish Borderers suffered very heavy loses while keeping their lines in place until ordered to withdraw. An officer and Private from the Fusiliers were decorated with the Victoria Cross for their actions in the face of death. The officer's family was presented his medal posthumously. The private solider was presumed killed, but was badly wounded and taken prisoner. He was presented his medal by King George.
The fighting retreat that started that night continued for roughly two weeks. Pitched bloody rear-guard actions fought by small elements buying time for the main force to move to a new position was the norm.
Desperate fights by units with little or no artillery support, inadequate numbers of machine guns, not enough ammunition, no hand grenades, no entrenching shovels - yeah, they could not even dig a "fox hole" without using knives, bayonets or stealing some farmers tools. Fights that most Americans have never heard of, and many in Britain might respond "Oh, I saw something about that I think..." Fights at Étreux, Cerizy, Néry and other places where companies or single battalions fought against overwhelming odds - 6 to 1 in some places. Cavalry units charged with saber and lance. At Néry a single surviving gun of a single horse artillery battery kept up a steady fight against a 12 gun German artillery battery for 2 1/2 hours. Three soldiers were recognized with the Victoria Cross for this.
The lines stabilized as the combined British and French armies approached Paris. The Battle of the Marne sent shock waves throughout Europe when the invading German forces were soundly beaten, and forced to retreat themselves. The "Miracle of the Marne" it was called - again by people not there. This led to fighting at the Battle of the Aisne and the "race to the sea" as the armies tried to out flank each other after frontal assaults proved so costly and disastrous.
The fighting continued as the armies tried to out flank each other. Battle after battle and fight after fight. Many of these were "encounter" battles - where the armies stumbled upon one another. They were moving so fast the information about where they, and their enemies, were simply could not keep up.
By the time they reached Belgium lines were stretched across most of France and the beginnings of trenches were being dug to afford protection and stable positions to defend themselves.
When the tiny Belgian army, itself being pressed by German forces many times it's strength, retreated from Antwerp to the Yser river and established a defensive line, supported by French troops and the British Navy, the German hope of cutting off Belgium from the rest of the Allies, and turning the flank of the Franco-British lines "racing to the sea" ended in stalemate.
Fighting at Ypres in October and into November proved the end of the high mobility fighting and settled into the "trench warfare" most often remembered about the Great War. The First Battle of Ypres was marked by its own myth and folklore on both sides - as were all the fights from August to November.
It was widely reported in Germany that a student reserve corps went into battle singing Deutschland über Alles - resulting in the Kindermord (massacre of the innocents) The reality was very different. Still, this became part of the mythic cycle from this period.
Likewise, reports of Angelic archers fighting alongside British riflemen at Mons arose shortly after the battle, in part to explain how a badly outnumbered force could turn back the massive German attack. Somehow, that fabrication still has some traction in segments of society. There were no Angels at Mons - just men. There were no Angels at Ypres, lifting soldiers to heaven at the moment of death to ease their pain. There were no flaming swords leading the way forward.
There were men, mostly.
Human terms
This rambling entry covers a time when most Americans and many in Britain have a vague notion or comprehension. Let me try and reduce it to simple numbers.
Between 2 August and 22 November, fighting in Europe alone, German forces suffered 800,000 casualties on what became known as the "Western Front." Of these, some 116,000 were soldiers killed. French forces suffered 454,000 casualties. British forces suffered 90,000 casualties (with 54,000 at Ypres alone.)
The Belgian army, on 2 August, consisted of 185,000 regular and active reserve soldiers. By the end of fighting at Ypres in November, roughly 50% of these were casualties. This does not include the militia or "volunteers" who joined the colours when Germany invaded Belgium. Their losses were staggering.
What does this have to do with software testing?
Consider two things:
1. Stories and myths and rumour of what was happening and what was done were circulated by people who were not there and had no real idea of what was done or being done.
2. The point of the fighting retreat conducted by the BEF was two-fold. First, to gain time for the main forces to move and maneuver. Second was something more humane and heroic - they were men fighting that their comrades - the rest of the section, company or battalion - could themselves be saved, even if it meant they could not.
Our purpose in testing is to support other people in their work. In the end, we help them by doing work that is often unrecognized and under appreciated by others not intimately connected with the actual effort of making software. As a result, it is not understood. The reasons why we test software, what is behind it are simplified to something that "makes sense"
People will tell falsehoods about testing - sometimes well meaning, but still falsehoods. Some of the falsehoods are simply malicious and undermine what we do as software testers. More on that, and countering that, in an upcoming post.
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