One thing most fictional accounts of historical battles and military encounters leave aout is war cries. Go back far enough and all battles were preceded by sound. Often drums to get the troops blood flowing and then a warcry before charging forward to scare the
$*&#@ out of the enemy for a psychological advantage.
One more modern example.
?It was the ugliest sound that any mortal ever heard?even a mortal exhausted and unnerved by two days of hard fighting, without sleep, without rest, without food and without hope.? That was legendary writer and Union army veteran Ambrose Bierce?s description of the ?rebel yell,? the notorious battle cry of Confederate forces during the Civil War.
Shaks's Zulus used war cries, as did the Spartans.
The New Zealand Rugby Union team, the
All-blacks perform the haka at all their away games. Recently Australian teams have responded with an Australian War cry.
Hearing a mob of armed crazies screaming at me as they thundered toward me with weapons in their hands would have scared the hell out of me!
Until WWI, which changed everything, it was traditional in Europe to have a drummer boy at battles.