Comments by "Ben Wilson" (@benwilson6145) on "The Changing WW2 Historiography... and More! TIK's Q&A 10" video.

  1. I think you missed the meaning of Allan Brookes Diary, it was written only for his wife's reading not a political comment, he knew the officers killed in WW1 and his comment in his diary on the lost officers was a personal lament. I think that you can easily see from your research that Britain, France , Soviet Union, Italy and Germany all suffered from poor leadership that may have been contributed to by WW1 loses. The Germans Generals of course were able to write there own histories after the war and blame Hitler. Churchill did similar and blamed his mistakes on the Generals. You need to read Allan Brookes Diary. The reason that all the Desert Generals were from the Indian Army as they were used in East Africa to defeat the Italians, Britain could not send troops in 1940 to the Desert War as they were needed to defend the UK. The other great Indian Army General, Slim was fighting in Somalia as well, shot in the bottom by the Italians. O'Connor was a brilliant General, born in India, Indian Army trained, no tank experience, but he learned and excelled. Auchinleck was another who learned to integrate tanks, infantry, artillery and aircraft. Allan Brooke ran what was the best British Military college, in Quetta, before WW2. Montgomery taught there as well. Please do not dismiss these men, the Indian Army had many capable men. Cunningham was worn down and should not have been given command of the Eight Army. Ritchie was given a temporary promotion and while a good Divisional General could not lead the Eight Army, a mistake by Auchinleck, for this he was sacked by Churchill. Brooke commented that Auchinleck "could have been one of the finest of commanders" but lacked the ability to select the men to serve him. Please also note that Auchinleck was another who had a great deal more to command than North Africa. Iraq, Iran, Syria, Palastine, Italian and British Somalia, Ethiopia eg Montgomery to his credit gave both Ritchie and O Connor jobs in the invasion of Europe after D Day. The leadership shown by the England based Generals in the BEF under Gort was not great in many cases, both Allan Brooke and Montgomery were among the better. Some others like General Fortune were captured.
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