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cptroyce

OT- It's WW2 but..this is very well done..

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It says "You are no longer logged into AOL"

 

that in itself is a blessed relief!...who the hell would want to be?? :rofl:

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Can't get the AOL one either.

Then I watched Jarhead's video link instead.

Dammit - Carlin's an American who speaks from my very heart. My philosophy.

Good one, Jarhead!

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I'm not impressed.

 

No Battle of the Atlantic? No Norwegian campaign? No Dieppe? No St Nazaire? No Blitz? Malta?

 

North Africa also isn't in Europe. Clue is in the title.

 

Sorry, I'm all for better education, but this looks like a B- school project to me.

 

And a small personal gripe is Kasserine Pass, and in particular why it is never mentioned that it was Montgomery's British infantry and artillery, including the Coldstream Guards, which supported the Americans and held the line to turn back Rommels advance and thus prevent a serious US reverse becomming a complete rout.

 

I have no doubt such events would bug the hell out of Patton, who only took over II Corps after the damaging lessons were learned, and give Mongomery DUE cause to lack confidence in US capacity to fight UNTIL MORE EXPERIENCED, - the consequences of which burning resentment we are all more familiar with....

 

That's not an attack on Amercia, nor flag waving the Union Jack, there's no bigotry or criticism of US troops intended, it's just history, and simply reflects the difference between troops with experience in battle who happened to be British, French or German, and those yet to become experienced who happened to be US, - have the confidence to tell it like it is please. It's only yourselves whom you misinform.

 

Your allies are your friends. As Churchill said, the only thing worse than fighting a war with allies is fighting a war without them.

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There, there, Flyby PC - I am German, and I do know it was the British troops who stopped Rommel.

That it was the Royal Air Force, who fended off the German Luftwaffe successfully.

That it was the British Royal Navy, who sank the Bismark, the Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst.

And I believe, they did the right thing.

I hope that may comfort you a little.

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I'm not impressed.

 

No Battle of the Atlantic? No Norwegian campaign? No Dieppe? No St Nazaire? No Blitz? Malta?

 

North Africa also isn't in Europe. Clue is in the title.

 

Sorry, I'm all for better education, but this looks like a B- school project to me.

 

And a small personal gripe is Kasserine Pass, and in particular why it is never mentioned that it was Montgomery's British infantry and artillery, including the Coldstream Guards, which supported the Americans and held the line to turn back Rommels advance and thus prevent a serious US reverse becomming a complete rout.

 

I have no doubt such events would bug the hell out of Patton, who only took over II Corps after the damaging lessons were learned, and give Mongomery DUE cause to lack confidence in US capacity to fight UNTIL MORE EXPERIENCED, - the consequences of which burning resentment we are all more familiar with....

 

That's not an attack on Amercia, nor flag waving the Union Jack, there's no bigotry or criticism of US troops intended, it's just history, and simply reflects the difference between troops with experience in battle who happened to be British, French or German, and those yet to become experienced who happened to be US, - have the confidence to tell it like it is please. It's only yourselves whom you misinform.

 

Your allies are your friends. As Churchill said, the only thing worse than fighting a war with allies is fighting a war without them.

Flyby,

 

I remember reading about the North Africa Campaign during Marine Corps Command and Staff College. The book said that after seeing how the Americans performed in their first battles against the Afrika Korps, the British started refering to the US as "our Italians":grin:

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I'm quite relaxed Olham, but like I said, I have a small niggle when sources, typically US sources, run down Montgomery.

 

He had his faults, not denying it, but much of the criticism levelled at him isn't fair or accurate. Just mention the name Montgomery and see the ignorant bile and ridicule it prompts, even after nearly 70 years. He delivered victory after victory, and while criticised repeatedly for his caution, that caution saved many many allied lives. Everybody knows about El Alamein, but by then, the British had overwhelming superiority and victory all but assured before the battle began. Less is known about the battle of Alam Halfa, when Montgomery and Rommel first crossed swords. Both sides were then of very similar strength, and Montgomery's tactics were much superior to Rommels, and he won a striking victory. He was criticised at the time for not crushing Rommel in his retreat, but Mongomery had been reinforced with large numbers of green troops brought in from Alexandria, who were competent to hold ground, and lacked experience of mobile armoured warfare in the desert. Rommels weakness had been his inattention to his stretched supply lines, and Montgomery didn't repeat the error, but instead built up the strength of his forces to deliver the more famous victory two months later. That's what you do if you want to win the war, not just the battle.

 

Montgomery was also slated by Bradley and Patten for his failure to break out of Normandy during operation Market Garden. The perception is that Mongomery planned Market Garden to breakout of Normandy in parrallel with the US Operation Cobra, but when it failed, he claimed it was just a diversionary attack to hold German armour and prevent it reinforcing the German lines against Cobra. That wasn't the case. Taking Caen was planned originally, but after a review of German strength against them, prior to the 'off' the brits had greatly reduced their objectives. The didn't expect to break out. The Brits and Canadians at Market Garden faced 3 armoured divisions, including 1 and 12 SS Panzer Divisions, 21st Panzer Division, 2 heavy tank battalions with King Tigers, all backed with 4 seasoned infantry divisions, including the Panzer Lehr Division and 1SS Division Liebstandarte Adolph Hitler. Both the Germans and the British saw Caen as the linchpin to their defence strategy, and reinforced it accordingly.

 

To quote the famous Wikipedia, (so check the facts yourself)..., "......reinforced the German view that the British and Canadian forces on the Allied eastern flank were the most dangerous enemy. This resulted in the Axis committing their reserves to the eastern half of the battle, so the United States forces only faced one and a half Panzer divisions compared with the six and a half now facing the British and Canadian armies".

 

I'm not attacking the US nor seeking to belittle them in any way whatsoever, I'm just defending Monty, but the truth is he is a 'one of' and I don't think anybody else could have done what he did. Take Monty out of the equation, and the outcome of a number of important battles could very easily have been different. With all due respect to him, I'm not so sure the same could be said for Patton. I actually think the US had much better generals than Patton, any one of whom could have delivered the same if not more, and without all the fuss.

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