Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part III: On the Move
Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part III: On the Move
Indeed, getting lost in familiar territory was a real hazard: Suetonius records that Julius Caesar, having encamped not far from the Rubicon got lost trying to find it, spent a whole night wandering trying to locate it (his goal being to make the politically decisive crossing with just a few close supporters in secrecy first before his army crossed). In the end he had to find a local guide to work his way back to it in the morning (Suet. Caes. 31.2). So to be clear: famed military genius Julius Caesar got lost trying to find a 50 mile long river only about 150 miles away from Rome when he tried to cut cross-country instead of over the roads.
Apparently, Gulf War 1 was sort of a big deal in that even in 1991, you couldn’t just start randomly driving across sand dunes through the desert like that.