Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "The horrors of British & US Logistics in WW2" video.

10:20 Considering Wavell had to administer forces from Syria to Kenya, Libya to Iraq, it is hardly surprising that someone who started with about 30,000 troops to cover such a vast area would need more administrative staff. After all, he is not just in charge of the British Army in the Middle East, he is also in charge of governing and administering all the countries/regions located in this area as well.
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What TIK seems to acknowledge in passing, but really skirts around the issue, is that the rail system in Britain was asked to move people and materials in quantities it was not designed to do. It was designed to meet peacetime requirements, not wartime ones, so of course there will be inadequately sized train stations, issues with track repair and problems brought about by overloaded trains. The issue is how well they did with what they had, and how well they planned to have alternatives to, or handle deficiencies in, the system and equipment they were using. That is what military logistics is all about. And for that you need some centralization of control. Using the reduced efficiency of passenger service is not a good metric for examining the logistics in this case. Civilian traffic was a very low priority. Unfortunately in Canada, it still is. The passenger rail service has to buy time on the CPR (for which freight is top priority), which means delays, poor maintenance and lousy service on many passenger lines. And this is privately run. So no, private control does not automatically mean great service.
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Princess Elizabeth volunteered to serve in the ATS (Auxiliary Transport Service), as a mechanic repairing vehicles, of all things. Mary Churchill also served in the ATS in anti-aircraft units (probably working the radars), as did my mother.
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@General_Rubenski If you read the interview at all, she said the Queen was quite supportive. I would say that many in the royal family are more in touch with reality than many politicians. However, there are obviously others who aren't (whether it is staff or family members). I am sure everybody can name a relative you don't get along with. In this they are like any normal family, just with more responsibility and more media exposure. And in fact Meghan Markle had more negative things to say about the British media, which was completely warranted (as illustrated by Piers Morgan leaving in a huff when called to task about his repeated derogatory comments about Meghan). If you ask me, the British rags and commentators are more at fault than anyone else.
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15:00 Typical SNAFU. I haven't watched the video to its end yet, but here's another question. Why didn't the Allies properly consider the dire impact their bombing of the French Rail system and road bridges would have on their post-Normandy logistics? I have read somewhere that they didn't really take this into account, which is why they had major logistical issues at the front from September to December 1944.
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26:00 TIK, you should read some of the Darwin awards. Like the guy who killed himself while welding the acetylene torch cannisters to the tin roof he was working on. The guys who were juggling live hand grenades. Then there was the guy who almost got me and my fellow artillery crewmen killed by trying to tamp down the charge bags in a shell casing by hitting the base of the casing on the ground. Or the summer student who never checked the oil and destroyed the engine on one of my workplace's trucks. People do the stupidest things.
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