I know it's been posted here before, but an archive search turned up nothing, nor did a Google search.

It's from a ship's captain in the US Navy, during WWII (I think), a message he sent higher, detailing how his ammunition was depleted and his ship mortally wounded, and how he was carrying the fight to the enemy.

Anyone?  

Certainly not what you are looking for, but in the same vein for sure.

Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. - Ferdinand Foch at the Battle of the Marne

"Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight!"- John Paul Jones (the other one)

Not what you're wanting, but Capt. Jones had the "I've not yet begun to fight" cry when the Bonhomme Richard (sp?) was being hammered by the British ship Serapis (sp?) when the British asked him if he yielded. Capt. Jones eventually won the battle, captured the British ship & transferred his flag due to the damage of his ship.

If that wasn't balls, I'm not sure what is!      

" We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side." -- Commander H. R. "Pop" Healy, LEXINGTON Damage Control Officer, in a telephone report to CAPT F.C. Sherman, Commanding Officer. Shortly after this message, the ship suffered devastating explosions and had to be abandoned and sunk by torpedoes of DD PHELPS, Coral Sea, May 8, 1942.

members.aol.com/forcountry/ww2/quo.htm

"We are outnumbered; there is only one thing to do.  We must attack!"

Admiral Andrew Cunningham
(Before attacking the Italian fleet at Taranto, November 1940)

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
- Attributed to General George Patton Jr
(from "A Genius for War" by Carlo d'Este)
Click here to read the whole monologue
And here for the Patton Speech (Thanks to Mr. Scott Hann)

"An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team.
This individuality stuff is a bunch of bullshit."
- General George Patton Jr

"Prisoner of War guard companies, or an equivalent organization, should be as far forward as possible in action to take over prisoners of war, because troops heated with battle are not safe custodians. Any attempt to rob or loot prisoners of war by escorts must be dealt strictly with."
- General George S. Patton. ("War as I knew it" 1947)

“It is absurd to believe that soldiers who cannot be made to wear the proper uniform can be induced to move forward in battle. Officers who fail to perform their duty by correcting small violations and in enforcing proper conduct are incapable of leading.”
- General George S. Patton Jr., April 1943

“You cannot be disciplined in great things and indiscipline in small things. Brave undisciplined men have no chance against the discipline and valour of other men. Have you ever seen a few policemen handle a crowd?”
- General George S. Patton Jr, May 1941,
in an address to officers and men of the Second Armored Division.

"War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula"
- General George Patton Jr

"If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George Patton Jr

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

"Infantry must move forward to close with the enemy. It must shoot in order to move…. To halt under fire is folly. To halt under fire and not fire back is suicide. Officers must set the example"
- General George Patton Jr "War as I knew it" 1947

"Few men are killed by the bayonet, many are scared by it. Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts"
- General George Patton Jr, "War as I knew it" 1947

"All men are timid on entering any fight. Whether it is the first or the last fight, all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood."
- General George Patton Jr, "War as I knew it" 1947

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
- General George Patton Jr

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.
- General George Patton Jr

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.
- General George Patton Jr

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
- General George Patton Jr

Pressure makes diamonds.
- General George Patton Jr  

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.
- General George Patton Jr

If you can't get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?  
- General George Patton Jr

Never tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
- General George Patton Jr

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.
- General George Patton Jr

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.
- General George Patton Jr

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.  
- General George Patton Jr

I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.  
- General George Patton Jr

"We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit."
- General George S. Patton, Jr
(addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord, June 5, 1944)

"Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"
- General George S. Patton, Jr
(addressing his troops before Operation Overlord, June 5, 1944)

"Make your plans to fit the circumstances."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Take calculated risks."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"There's a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"You're never beaten until you admit it."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"All glory is fleeting."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Success demands a high level of logistical and organizational competence."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Perpetual peace is a futile dream."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"The test of success is not what you do when your on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"If I win I can't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Audacity, audacity, always audacity."
(English translation of the French Proverb)
- General George Patton Jr's Favorite Saying

"Magnificent! Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.
God help me, I do love it so!"
- General George Patton Jr

"A good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite point in the future."
- General George Patton Jr

There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
- General George Patton Jr

"Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended...then go forward on foot!"
- General George Patton Jr

"It is the unconquerable nature of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses that ensures victory."
- General George Patton Jr

"Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man."
- General George Patton Jr

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do... the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
-General George S. Patton

"I dont give a damn about the color of your skin,
just kill as many sons of bitches wearing green as you can."
- Attributed to Patton

"Just drive down that road, until you get blown up"
- General George Patton, about reconnaissance troops

"You must do your damdest and win."
-General George S. Patton

Patton in my opinion was the last great general

Retreat? Hell, we just got here! - Floyd W. Williams

Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland, skipper of the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, said to his crew on that fateful day that "this will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can."

Battle off Samar, Battle of Leyte Gulf, WWII

Quoted: Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland, skipper of the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, said to his crew on that fateful day that "this will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." Battle off Samar, Battle of Leyte Gulf, WWII

Ohio, thanks that's it - although clearly my hazy memory of it was way off.

Quoted: Patton in my opinion was the last great general

You should Tommy Franks then.  There are plenty of great and courageous leaders, not all of them get to fight a war such as WW2.

Captian Gridley, Manila Bay 1898 -  upon being told each gun had less than 20 rounds after decimating the Spanish Fleet:

"Retreat. for breakfast"

If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

NUTS






Roy

How about Oliver Perry? His own ship sinking, he transferred his flag and went on to defeat the British.  He modestly reported: "We have met the enemy and they are ours..."

If it's USN in WW II, how about Halsey who was asked about possible kamikazes after the Armistice with Japan.  "Shoot them down in a friendly manner."  Gotta love Bulldog Halsey.  The sailors certainly did and it showed when two jr. officers (Lt.) pulled rank and stepped to the front of the ge-dunk (ice-cream) line.  Suddenly from the line of sailors rang out an angry, "Get to the back you assholes!"  Angered, the officers stepped out and demanded to know who said it and threatened to put them on report.  Halsey then stepped out of the line with a look of disapproval.  Cowed by the admiral, the officers meek went to the back of the line to the amusement of all the swabbies.  Halsey was leadership personified.

Perhaps you're thinking of Wake Island.  Their airplanes shot down, cut off from naval resupply, they had repulsed one Japanese attack.  When asked for what they wanted, they defiantly replied, "Send more Japs!"

One of my faves...

"They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us. They can't get away from us this time!" - Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

Makes me wish we had more men like these today.  We will need them.

Quoted: Certainly not what you are looking for, but in the same vein for sure. Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking directing one of my staff officers to telegraph an attack order to the front, 25 miles away. - Ferdinand Foch at the Battle of the Marne

Just helping out the long dead Marshal Foch by fixing his quote for him.

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Quoted: One of my faves... height=8 "They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us. They can't get away from us this time!" - Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

it's just not a quote thread without Chesty.

"Paper-work will ruin any military force"
- Lieutenant-General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

"You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em."
- Lieutenant-General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

When an Army captain asked him for the direction of the line of retreat,
Col Puller called his Tank Commander, gave them the Army position, and ordered:
"If they start to pull back from that line, even one foot, I want you to open fire on them."
Turning to the captain, he replied "Does that answer your question?
We're here to fight." At Koto-ri in Korea
- Chesty Puller at Koto-ri in Korea
(From "Marine: The Life of Chesty Puller" by Burke Davis)

"The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the
Air Force has accomplished during the war."
- Chesty Puller in a letter to his wife while in Korea

"Don't forget that you're First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!"
- Chesty Puller motivating his men at Chosin Reservoir

"Our Country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't
be any AMERICA because some foreign soldiery will invade us and take our
women and breed a hardier race!"
-Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

"Take me to the Brig. I want to see the "real Marines". "
Major General Chesty Puller, USMC - while on a Battalion inspection.

"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem."
- Attributed to Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC
(I have found three versions of this one)
The  quotes may not be Chesty Pullers,
but may instead have been said by General O.P.Smith

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of
us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

"They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an
enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!"
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC
When the Marines were cut off behind enemy lines and the Army had written
the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22
enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty
ratio on an enemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the
process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men.

"They are a damn site better than the U.S. Army, at least we know that they
will be there in the morning."
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller
when a journalist asked him about being surrounded by 22. enemy divisions

"there are not enough chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment
from going where ever they want to go"
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

height=8

Quoted: I know it's been posted here before, but an archive search turned up nothing, nor did a Google search. It's from a ship's captain in the US Navy, during WWII (I think), a message he sent higher, detailing how his ammunition was depleted and his ship mortally wounded, and how he was carrying the fight to the enemy. Anyone?

and to add: the vast majority of Military Quotes can be found here.

"Where'd all these **** indians come from?"- Armstrong Custer

See my sig line.

and find yourself a copy of "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors"  by James D Hornfischer

I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right.

I will hold.

--1st Lt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC, in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918