British Officer Don't Duck!
Are the stories true about British officers striding about under heavy fire without an apparent care in the world?
Comments (4)
Is it the case that ONLY British officers tend to behave like this?
Not ONLY, no, but they seemed to do it commonly in WW2. To some degree officers in all armies had to be sure not to spread panic, but observers referring to officers as 'mad' because of their behaviour seemed to be more commonly British than others. I can say that British officers behaved this way because I have read so much evidence for it. Spanish officers in the civil war are said to have behaved in a similar way on occasion, although the British seem to have had a different style. They would be calm and suggest that everything about being shot at was normal. Others would be ostentaciously heroic, if descriptions can be believed.
But it seems you would want your MEN, the enlisted troops, to duck, right? 'Cause you need them for the fight! (You need officers, too, but they're busy being brave...) In the days of the big infantry charge, men needed to stand up, but in more recent warfare (WWII and after), it's running from cover to cover, isn't it? Shouldn't the officers do the same, to set an example?
Even today, the British doctrine is different from, for example, the American. A British officer is supposed to keep advancing calmly until 'bits of kit are being shot off him' (i.e. enemy fire has become effective) rather than go to ground and call in air-strikes.