History WorthyOpponent / RealLifeCombat

* The Battle of Borodino during the French Invasion of Russia. Both sides suffered vast causalties but neither achieved a decisive victory. Napoleon's own description of the horror of this "clash of Titans" is particularly apt: "Of the fifty battles I have fought, the most terrible was that before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy victors, and the Russians can rightly call themselves invincible".

** "If I had to take hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it." - Erwin Rommel
*** Origin of this quote is questionable though.

*** Karen von Blixen - who would later write the novel ''Out of Africa'' - actually travelled on the same ship with von Lettow-Vorbeck on her way to Africa. She would describe him as the strongest example of what the German Empire truly stood for.

** In the same vein as Erwin Rommel, the German WWII officer Hans von Luck (seen by Rommel as a sort of adoptive son) could count. He was all over the map in WWII, being first of the German Panzer forces to the sea, furthest into Moscow, in the Africa campaign (he even captured the founder of the SAS, who escaped during a lavatory break), on the defense during the battle of Pegasus Bridge, and eventually spent years in a Stalag before arriving back in West Germany. When he visited the site of Pegasus Bridge, the British commandoes, to a man, pretended he was Swedish to get him past the embittered old woman who had been liberated decades before. He also gave lectures to former Allies' military trainee officers, and generally was completely accepted. His opinion of the Allies in WWII was more of the same - he mentions that he and the Allied desert scouts had a ceasefire every night at 6pm, arranged prisoner exchange, and on one occasion, his car was attacked by a fighter - which refused to shoot until the Germans were out of the vehicle.
** Hasso von Manteuffel, a German panzer commander who later became a German politician and named the Bundeswehr, Germany's post-war armed forces. Eisenhower invited him into the White House and the Pentagon, and he worked as an advisor on many American war films. He was pretty badass too - when he served under Rommel, he commanded for several days without food or rest, beating back Allied attacks, before he collapsed. When he was defending Berlin, Soviet troops broke into his command post. He shot one and killed another in a knife fight.

** Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Wehrmacht commanders respect Patton even more than his colleagues. Mainly because he is using their blitzkrieg tactics against them and winning. Hitler called Patton "the crazy cowboy general." Erwin Rommel certainly return his archenemy's remarks to him, saying that he executed "the most astonishing achievement in mobile warfare." General Alfred Jodl compared him to General Heinz Guderian, who conquered France, Poland and parts of the USSR. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who fought, delay and harass Patton at Sicily, noted that "Patton had developed tank warfare into an art, and understood how to handle tanks brilliantly in the field. I feel compelled, therefore, to compare him with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, who likewise had mastered the art of tank warfare. Both of them had a kind of second sight in regard to this type of warfare." German officer Fritz Bayerlein said that, unlike the cautious British General Montgomery "I do not think that General Patton would let us get away so easily." and in an interview conducted for Stars and Stripes (American Military newspaper) just after his capture, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt stated simply of Patton, "He is your best."

** Exemplified by Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. To quote the other wiki: "Dressed in an immaculate uniform, Lee waited for Grant to arrive. Grant, whose headache had ended when he received Lee's note, arrived in a mud-spattered uniform � a government-issue flannel shirt with trousers tucked into muddy boots, no sidearms, and with only his tarnished shoulder straps showing his rank. It was the first time the two men had seen each other face-to-face in almost two decades. Suddenly overcome with sadness, Grant found it hard to get to the point of the meeting and instead the two generals briefly discussed a previous encounter during the Mexican-American War." Grant was surprised that Lee, a cavalry colonel from a famous military family, remembered who he was, as at the time, he was a very junior infantry lieutentant.

* "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casabianca_(poem) Casabianca]]", also known as "The boy stood on the burning deck", is a poem by British poet Felicia Hemans, first published in August 1826. The poem commemorates an actual incident that occurred during the Napoleonic Wars. In the 1798 Battle of the Nile, the French ship "Orient" caught fire while fighting the ships of the British Royal Navy. Giocante, the young son (his age is variously given as ten, twelve and thirteen) of commander Louis de Casabianca, remained at his post and perished when the flames caused the magazine to explode. Many generations of romatic young Englishmen were taught to admire the heroic young Casabianca and seek to emulate him, despite his having been an enemy who died fighting against their country.

* Australians and New Zealanders respect the Turks, and vice versa, a lot. Why? Because they were the very embodiment of this trope to one another in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, during the Gallipoli campaign - Australia and New Zealand was Turkey's worthy adversary, and Turkey was Australia and New Zealand's. Though both sides fought with [[{{Determinator}} extreme tenacity and dedication]], they also fought one another with a great degree of honour. The Turks eventually renamed the beach where the invasion took place "ANZAC Cove" in honour of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; in return for this, the Australians established the only war memorial in the Australian capital ever dedicated to a former enemy - a tribute to the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

* Many of the old guard in the United States military regarded the Soviet Union as having been a fine and worthwhile adversary - at least when the prospect of nukes wasn't involved. The two superpowers stood toe-to-toe for decades without managing to get into a [direct] shooting war with each other, and often copied each others' tactical doctrines and combat innovations. Especially among the United States Navy and double among the submarines, now largely without a job, it's not unknown for senior American officers to lament the fall of the Soviet Union - fighting terrorists just isn't the same, and mileage varies on the idea of China as a replacement adversary.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Butler_McVay_III United States Navy Captain Charles McVay]] was court martialed after World War II in response to the sinking of his ship, the heavy cruiser USS ''Indianapolis'', during the final days of the War while delivering the nuclear material and other parts for the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Imperial Japanese Naval Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, the commanding officer of the submarine I-58 and the man responsible for the sinking of the ''Indianapolis'', testified on [=McVay=]'s behalf at his court-martial, and years later, joined the surviving crew members of the ship in a campaign to exonerate him.

** After the war, King Cetswayo was tracked down and captured by a cavalry detachment, having been literally running all over Zululand for weeks, yet retained his regality - when a trooper tried to seize him, he said, "Hey, British soldier, I do not surrender to you, I surrender to your commander." The detachment were also moved to spontaneously salute him. Hell, even Queen Victoria was impressed by him when she met him, and his admirers prevailed upon the colonial authorities to give him one of the thirteen kingdoms that Zululand had been strategically divided up into - though sadly he died only a few years afterwards in 1884, likely of poisoning. For his part, he was a great admirer of Britain and had maintained a policy of non-confrontation. Even when the British invaded, his army was given strict instructions to drive them back over the Natal River and then to go no further. Those who did, the troops who attacked Rorke's Drift, were fined five cows (a significant amount) and even those who had 'washed their spears' (a warrior could not marry until he had slain an enemy, which was the primary motivation of the attackers) were denied the right to marry.

* During the many war crimes trials following World War II, two notable incidents stuck out in which allied soldiers spoke on behalf of the imprisoned Germans. Admiral Chester Nimitz testified on behalf of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, who was facing a death penalty for unrestricted naval warfare. Nimitz pointed out that he did the exact same thing in the pacific. This admission not only forced the judges to drop the death penalty, but more or less cleared the Luftwaffe leadership for their raids because the USAAF and RAF not only did it, but did it on a grander scale. On a smaller scale, Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny was tried for his perpetration of Operation Gref -the massive deployment of captured American equipment and uniforms behind the Allied lines. When he heard about this trial, famed British commando F.F.E Yeo-Thomas -a man who spent a long period being tortured by the gestapo- volunteered himself to the defence, stood up to the prosecutors and told them that he murdered German troops to take their uniforms as well (Skorzeny's infiltrators mostly used uniforms confiscated from American [=POWs=]). When his testimony was complete and Yeo-Thomas stood up to leave, Skorzeny and every other prisoner stood up out of respect.

** Though nowadays overshadowed by Rommel, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (commander of the German forces in Tanzania during UsefulNotes/WW1) qualifies as well. So {{Badass}} was he that he surrendered ''after'' the war was over in Europe, despite being completely cut from any source of supplies and reinforcements. The British were so impressed that they paid his retirement pension. It also helped that he gained the reputation for giving Hitler the shaft. An anecdote had Charles Miller ask the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go fuck himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely."

** Hasso von Manteuffel, a German panzer commander who later became a German politician and named the Bundeswehr, Germany's post-war armed forces. Eisenhower invited him into the White House and the Pentagon, and he worked as an advisor on many American war films. He was pretty {{Badass}} too - when he served under Rommel, he commanded for several days without food or rest, beating back Allied attacks, before he collapsed. When he was defending Berlin, Soviet troops broke into his command post. He shot one and killed another in a knife fight.

* A nameless variation amid the otherwise bitter and horrific fighting of the Eastern Front in World War II: the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raseiniai Battle of Raseiniai]] was a military disaster for the Soviet Union, with severe losses in manpower and materiel when compared to German losses. However, the Soviets would not go down without a fight; a lone KV-2 tank made an amazing LastStand against German forces over the course of an entire day. The German forces in question? ''The entire 6th Panzer division.'' One tank held off a division for the entire day while destroying supplies, blowing up anti-tank guns, and sending Panzers hurrying for cover away from its [[BFG 152mm howitzer]]. It was finally knocked out not by cannon fire, but [[InsertGrenadeHere by a grenade thrown into an opportune shell-hole]] that had been made by bigger guns. It ended up taking two grenades to finally kill all six Soviet tankmen and stop the KV-2. Germans typically left slain Russians to rot in their destroyed tanks, but the 6th Panzer division so respected the sheer depth of resolve of the lone KV-2 and its unknown crew that they instead buried the fallen Russians in the nearby woods with the full respect of military honors.

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and JosephStalin seemed to have had this for each other. Hitler often spoke positively of Stalin, and considered him to be far more honorable than pure opportunists like Churchill and Roosevelt. After the war, Stalin obsessively collected any information he could on Hitler's life.

* In the special features of one DVD version of ''WeWereSoldiers'', [[ColonelBadass Hal Moore]] says that he would like to meet the NVA commander.

* After the Zulu War, the British built a monument...to "the Zulu warriors who fell here for the old Zulu order."
** The Zulu themselves have noted that they felt much the same way about the fighting discipline the British troops; they were impressed at how the Western enemy soldiers stood their ground regardless of the overwhelming odds like stones while their older enemies of native nations were routed in the same situation.

** [[http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/609/815/941.png Summed up quite touchingly in this Polandball strip.]]
* Napoleon I of France and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, were this at least early in their life. Justified in that Napoleon's style completely transformed contemporary military science, teaching, and application. Curious in that it never was mutual; Wellington found out in 1814 that the Emperor had left money (which he didn't even have) to a man who had tried to assassinate Wellington in his will, which left him absolutely disgusted at this ungentlemanly behaviour. Napoleon meanwhile had never faced Wellington in battle and suspected his marshals were to blame for their losses in Spain. This changed after Waterloo, with the Emperor having nothing but praise for his defeater.
** On a larger scale, this was basically what the British and French armies in the Peninsular War were like. Both armies consisted of professional, relatively disciplined and regular soldiers fighting in a strange and hostile environment with little supplies. The only other people were Spaniards and Portugese, who hated the British almost as much as they hated the French due to the former being arrogant Protestant hooligans and the latter due to brutally occupying their country for five years, which sparked many brutal backlashes against French soldiers. Hence, it was only natural that there should be some kind of bonding between both armies. At one battle early in the war, thirsty soldiers from both sides rested at the same well in the centre of the battlefield and attempted to talk. This was much more widespread amongst the officers, many of whom would have spoken the other's language (mainly British officers speaking French). One anecdote relates that a British major had met with a French colleague for dinner at the latter's camp, and gotten so drunk he had to be carried home by four French soldiers.

* During the many war crimes trials following World War 2, two notable incidents stuck out in which allied soldiers spoke on behalf of the imprisoned Germans. Admiral Chester Nimitz testified on behalf of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, who was facing a death penalty for unrestricted naval warfare. Nimitz pointed out that he did the exact same thing in the pacific. This admission not only forced the judges to drop the death penalty, but more or less cleared the Luftwaffe leadership for their raids because the USAAF and RAF not only did it, but did it on a grander scale. On a smaller scale, Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny was trialed for his perpetration of Operation Gref -the massive deployment of captured American equipment and uniforms behind the Allied lines. When he heard about this trial, famed British commando F.F.E Yeo-Thomas -a man who spent a long period being tortured by the gestapo- volunteered himself to the defense, stood up to the prosecutors and told them that he murdered German troops to take their uniforms as well (Skorzeny's infiltrators mostly used uniforms confiscated from American [=POWs=]). When his testimony was complete and Yeo-Thomas stood up to leave, Skorzeny and every other trialed prisoner stood up out of respect.

* pphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton#As_viewed_by_Allied_and_Axis_leaders George S. Patton]] himself earned the admiration of Josef Stalin (pre-Cold War) stating that the Red Army won't be able to match his aggressive advance in the French countryside.

* WWI German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, better known today as the RedBaron, was greatly admired among the Allied powers. Upon his death, he was given a full military funeral by his Australian opponents. Erwin Rommel, the Wehrmacht Field Marshal from World War II, known as the Desert Fox by his enemies, was similarly praised by his opponents, especially his legendary archrival, George Patton. Both the Red Baron and the Desert Fox were the living {{Magnificent Bastard}}s of their time (in fact, the trope MagnificentBastard was ''named'' after Rommel). Rommel, while not a member of the Nazi party, was still under the command of Adolf Hitler. However, he had Jewish friends and consistently defied orders to execute both Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners of war. In fact, his Afrikakorps was well known for being fairly humane and were not charged with any war crimes under his command. Though not directly involved, he knew enough about the German Resistance's July 20 plot to kill Hitler to become entangled in the aftermath and was given the choice of suicide over execution. The fact that he managed to become the only German general from the Second World War with his own museum just shows how well he exemplified both Magnificent Bastard and Worthy Opponent.

* George S. Patton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton#As_viewed_by_Allied_and_Axis_leaders himself earned the admiration of Josef Stalin (pre-Cold War) stating that the Red Army won't be able to match his aggressive advance in the French countryside.

** UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant was similarly well respected by Lee, who, after the war, never, ever tolerated an unkind word about Grant in his presence. Joseph Johnston was similarly disposed towards his rival. Considering that the rival in question was the oft-villainized William T. Sherman, that's saying something. Johnston even served as a pallbearer at Sherman's funeral, and refused to cover up despite poor health and the bone-chilling cold. Because of this, he caught pneumonia and died shortly afterwards. When a friend advised him to at least put on his hat (hats aren't worn at military funerals as a sign of respect), he told him "If I were in his place and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat."

* Darius III of Persia to AlexanderTheGreat. Read this ancient passage describing his reaction to Darius' death:

** Also, Napoleon greatly respected the Russian commander in chief, Mikhail Kutuzov, even considering the only genetal capable of defeating him. In fact, after the inconclusive clash at Borodino Kutuzov would proceed to do just that, defeating Napoleon's invasion through superior strategy.

** Also, King Porus to Alexander. [[spoiler: While it's debatable whether Alexander even won]], in the legend, after Alexander defeated Porus' army in the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander asked Porus how he wanted to be treated. Porus' answer, "like a King", impressed Alexander so much, that not only did Alexander allow Porus to remain a king, he even enlarged Porus' territory.

* In December 1914 the British Royal Navy won decisively the Battle of the Falkland Islands, sinking all but one of the German ships opposing them. Afterwards, the civilian British Governor of the Falklands held a dinner for the victorious British captains. The governor proposed a toast "Damnation to the German Navy!" but the captains remained seated, none of them joining the toast. Then the senior Naval officer present proposed an alternative toast: "We drink to the memory of brave sailors who had gone to the bottom" and was joined by all the other captains.

* In December 1943 after spending a year harassing the Arctic Convoys, the battlecruiser/light battleship Scharnhorst was cornered by The HMS Duke of York - A Battleship, a Cruiser, three light cruisers and nine Destroyers. Blinded by a snowstorm, the Scharnhorst returned the attack. It took twelve hours, 52 salvos and four direct torpedo hits to capsize the Scharnhorst. of the 1,968 men on the Scharnhorst, only 36 survived. Upon the mission debrief, commander of the taskforce, Admiral Bruce Fraser said: ''"Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today."''
* During the many war crimes trials following World War 2, two notable incidents stuck out in which allied soldiers spoke on behalf of the imprisoned Germans. Admiral Chester Nimitz testified on behalf of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, who was facing a death penalty for unrestricted naval warfare. Nimitz pointed out that he did the exact same thing in the pacific. This admission not only forced the judges to drop the death penalty, but more or less cleared the Luftwaffe leadership for their raids because the USAAF and RAF not only did it, but did it on a grander scale. On a smaller scale, Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny was trialed for his perpetration of Operation Gref -the massive deployment of captured American equipment and uniforms behind the Allied lines. When he heard about this trial, famed British commando F.F.E Yeo-Thomas -a man who spent a long period being tortured by the gestapo- volunteered himself to the defense, stood up to the prosecutors and told them that he murdered German troops to take their uniforms as well. When his testimony was complete and Yeo-Thomas stood up to leave, Skorzeny and every other trialed prisoner stood up out of respect.

** Happened during this battle. Unlike the modern practice of "taking cover," Napoleonic tactics stressed the importance of maintaining formation. This meant, unless ordered to move, soldiers were expected to just ''take'' incoming enemy fire. [[note]]This led to one situation in which a squadron of French cavalry was placed out in the open and then seemingly forgotten about. The Russians started blasting them with artillery. One French soldier even recalled being able to literally ''see'' the Russians in the distance meticulously sighting their guns on his position, and, because his battalion hadn't been ordered to move, being able to do nothing but sit there and wait for it.[[/note]] The French soldiers storming Russian positions maintained their discipline, as they were continually blasted with Russian artillery. Blasted, reformed, blasted, reformed. Russian General Bagration was so impressed he started to rise and shout, "Bravo! Bravo!" (and almost immediately he was mortally wounded by shell splinters to his leg)

*** When Indianapolis survivors met Hashimoto in 1990 during a memorial service at Pearl Harbor, they were very disturbed at meeting the man who had killed so many of their shipmates and put them through such an ordeal. But after he explained that he was praying for the spirits of the men whose deaths they had caused, they forgave him on the spot. Due to this and Hashimoto's work to exonerate Captain McVay, his passing in October 2000 was met with genuine grief.[[http://www.ussindianapolis.org/hashimoto.htm The full story.]]

*** Since the ''askaris'' generally didn't still have their military IDs to prove they were entitled to the pensions, they were instead asked to perform their rifle drill. Which they did, perfectly. After 40 years.

* During the Battle off Samar in WWII, a powerful force of Japanese battleships and cruisers (including the ''Yamato'', the biggest, most-powerful battleship the world has ever seen) stumbled upon The American task force "Taffy 3", consisting of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts (jokingly called "The Tin Can Navy") as the Japanese closed to attack the American landing beaches on Luzon Island. With Taffy 3 outgunned almost immediately, was a real life DavidVersusGoliath battle, in which the American escorts closed to almost-point blank range with the Japanese heavies, launching torpedoes, dodging return fire, and firing so many 5-inch shells some ran out of ammunition in a desperate attempt to fend off the Japanese fleet to allow the slower, unarmored escort carriers to escape. The destroyer USS ''Johnston'' was finally sunk after nearly sinking a Japanese cruiser and setting several other ships aflame (''Johnston's'' commander was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his daring). As she was going down, a Japanese destroyer passed close by, her captain standing out on the open bridge, saluting. The crew manned the rails in salute.

* During the Battle off Samar in WWII, a powerful force of Japanese battleships and cruisers (including the ''Yamato'', the biggest, most-powerful battleship the world has ever seen) came under attack by a force of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts (jokingly called "The Tin Can Navy") as the Japanese closed to attack the American landing beaches on Luzon Island. It was a real life DavidVersusGoliath battle, in which the American escorts closed to almost-point blank range with the Japanese heavies, launching torpedoes, dodging return fire, and firing so many 5-inch shells some ran out of ammunition. The destroyer USS ''Johnston'' was finally sunk after nearly sinking a Japanese cruiser and setting several other ships aflame (''Johnston's'' commander was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his daring). As she was going down, a Japanese destroyer passed close by, her captain standing out on the open bridge, saluting. The crew manned the rails in salute.

* Australians and Turks respect one another a lot. Why? Because they were the very embodiment of this trope to one another in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, during the Gallipoli campaign - Australia was Turkey's worthy adversary, and Turkey was Australia's. Though both sides fought with [[{{Determinator}} extreme tenacity and dedication]], they also fought one another with a great degree of honour. The Turks eventually renamed the beach where the invasion took place "ANZAC Cove" in honour of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; in return for this, the Australians established the only war memorial in the Australian capital ever dedicated to a former enemy - a tribute to the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

* George S. Patton himself earned the admiration of Josef Stalin (pre-Cold War) stating that the Red Army won't be able to match his aggressive advance in the French countryside.
** Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Wehrmacht commanders respect Patton even more than his colleagues. Mainly because he is using their blitzkrieg tactics against them and winning. Hitler called Patton "the crazy cowboy general." Erwin Rommel certainly return Patton's remarks to him, saying that he at leas

** Happened during this battle. Unlike the modern practice of "taking cover," Napoleonic tactics stressed the importance of maintaining formation. This meant, unless ordered to move, soldiers were expected to just ''take'' incoming enemy fire. [[note]]This led to one situation in which a squadron of French cavalry was placed out in the open and then seemingly forgotten about. The Russians started blasting them with artillery. One French soldier even recalled being able to literally ''see'' the Russians in the distance meticulously sighting their guns on his position, and, because his battalion hadn't been ordered to move, being able to do nothing but sit there and wait for it.[[/note]] The French soldiers maintained their discipline, as they were continually blasted with Russian artillery. Blasted, reformed, blasted, reformed. Russian General Bagration (who was mortally wounded by cannonball fragment a few hours later) was so impressed he started to rise and shout, "Bravo! Bravo!"

** Happened during this battle. Unlike the modern practice of "taking cover," Napoleonic tactics stressed the importance of maintaining formation. This meant, unless ordered to move, soldiers were expected to just ''take'' incoming enemy fire. [[note]]This led to one situation in which a squadron of French cavalry was placed out in the open and then seemingly forgotten about. The Russians started blasting them with artillery. One French soldier even recalled being able to literally ''see'' the Russians in the distance meticulously sighting their guns on his position, and, because his battalion hadn't been ordered to move, being able to do nothing but sit there and wait for it.[[/note]] The French soldiers maintained their discipline, as they were continually blasted with Russian artillery. Blasted, reformed, blasted, reformed. Russian General Bagration was so impressed he started to rise and shout, "Bravo! Bravo!"

* Happened during the Battle of Borodino during the French Invasion of Russia. Unlike the modern practice of "taking cover," Napoleonic tactics stressed the importance of maintaining formation. This meant, unless ordered to move, soldiers were expected to just ''take'' incoming enemy fire. [[note]]This led to one situation in which a squadron of French cavalry was placed out in the open and then seemingly forgotten about. The Russians started blasting them with artillery. One French soldier even recalled being able to literally ''see'' the Russians in the distance meticulously sighting their guns on his position, and, because his battalion hadn't been ordered to move, being able to do nothing but sit there and wait for it.[[/note]] The French soldiers maintained their discipline, as they were continually blasted with Russian artillery. Blasted, reformed, blasted, reformed. Russian General Bagration was so impressed he started to rise and shout, "Bravo! Bravo!"