I was surprised to learn this

[Cybermat47]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae_(1941)

 

Who would've thought that Australian and New Zealand troops fought in the same place as the legendary 300 Spartans (and 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans) :o

 

Even though I'm an agnostic atheist, I can't help but wonder if the spirits of those Greek warriors somehow helped the Australians and New Zealanders...

 

I'm passing this on from my Subsim.com thread. I'm somehow extremely proud that troops from my country were in the same place and situation as the 300 Spartans (and 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans) who I admire so much.

 

Now, back to watching the 1962 epic The 300 Spartans :D

 

EDIT: Say, I wonder what the chances of one of the Australian, New Zealand or German troops being related to a Greek warrior who took part in the battle are?

Edited March 11, 2014 by [AJSA]_Cybermat47

[Cybermat47]

Woah, I'm watching The 300 Spartans, and who I think is Demophilus has what looks like Swastikas on his armour. Make of that what you will :haha:

[AndyJWest]

There seem to have been repeated battles at the same spot. Wikipedia lists the following:

 

Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) during the Persian Wars - the famous one.

Battle of Thermopylae (353 BC), the blocking of the pass during the Third Sacred War by the Phocian allied Athenians against Philip II of Macedon.

Battle of Thermopylae (323 BC), a battle during the Lamian War between a coalition of Greek cities under Leosthenes and a Macedonian army led by Antipater.

Battle of Thermopylae (279 BC), the defense of the pass by the Greeks during Brennus' invasion of Greece.

Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC), an important battle where Roman forces defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great

Battle of Thermopylae (267), the unsuccessful defense of the pass by local forces during the great invasion of the Balkans by the Heruli.

Battle of Thermopylae (1821) or Battle of Alamana, during the Greek War of Independence.

Battle of Thermopylae (1941), fought between the Germans and the retreating British expeditionary force during the German invasion of Greece.

 

The reason for repeated battles on the same spot is obvious enough:

 

At the time [of the 480 BC battle], the pass of Thermopylae consisted of a track along the shore of the Malian Gulf so narrow that only one chariot could pass through at a time.On the southern side of the track stood the cliffs that overlooked the pass, and on the north side was the Malian Gulf. Along the path itself was a series of three constrictions, or "gates" (pylai), and at the center gate a short wall that had been erected by the Phocians in the previous century to aid in their defense against Thessalian invasions. The name "Hot Gates" comes from the hot springs that were located there.

 

Today, the pass is not near the sea but is several kilometres inland because of sedimentation in the Malian Gulf. The old track appears at the foot of hills around the plain, flanked by a modern road. Recent core samples indicate that the pass was only 100 meters wide and the waters came up to the gates; "Little do the visitors realize that the battle took place across the road from the monument." The pass still is a natural defensive position to modern armies, and British Commonwealth forces in World War II made a defense in 1941 against the Nazi invasion metres from the original battlefield.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

 

Map (480 BC) from http://web.archive.org/web/20070930030341/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Cities/Thermopylae.jpg

 

Edited March 11, 2014 by AndyJWest

[Bladderburst]

And there weren't really 300 homophobic spartans in leather underwear fighting hordes of hideously mutated persians there... just saying .

Around 5000 vs 50000 is more likely (very rough estimation).

[johncage]

 

 

Even though I'm an agnostic atheist, I can't help but wonder if the spirits of those Greek warriors somehow helped the Australians and New Zealanders

 

even if you were religious, this doesn't really make any sense.

[Feathered_IV]

700 Lesbians and they would have held.

[DD_Arthur]

   

[Finkeren]

Yeah the numbers in the hundreds for the Spartans, Thespians etc. likely only counts the aristocratic elite warriors. Modern estimates suggests at least 5000 lower class Helots as well. 

 

And yes Thermopylae was a pretty embattled area. Still can't hold a candle to Isonzo during WW1 though (I think we have 12 named battles over a 3 year period there)

[Cybermat47]

700 Lesbians and they would have held.

[MarcoRossolini]

Google the Theban sacred band, the truth is stranger than fiction.

[MarcoRossolini]

 

 

Even though I'm an agnostic atheist, I can't help but wonder if the spirits of those Greek warriors somehow helped the Australians and New Zealanders

 

even if you were religious, this doesn't really make any sense.

 

 

It's an Australian thing, we Aussies have some silly rubbish about an Anzac Spirit or Myth going around. Basically it tries to nick all the military "virtues" shown by Australian troops in their various wars and makes them all as if the Australian troops were the only ones who have ever displayed those values. I cannot help but notice that Greece was still conquered in its entirety by the Germans (a little like the "original" Thermopylae, in that the Persians still arrived in Athens as planned). 

 

[Cybermat47]

It's an Australian thing, we Aussies have some silly rubbish about an Anzac Spirit or Myth going around. Basically it tries to nick all the military "virtues" shown by Australian troops in their various wars and makes them all as if the Australian troops were the only ones who have ever displayed those values.

 

It's pretty romanticized, but as long as people respect our war dead, I don't really have a problem with it. What I do have a problem with is when people act like us Australians were the only people who did anything in the war (especially as most of the equipment, planes and ships we used were foreign imports)