Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "Churchill’s Most Evil Operation: The Colossal Failure of Operation Colossus" video.

  1. Thje title is ludicrous. The target was an aqueduct which supplied water to a major element if rhe Italian civilian population and armed forces. The hope was that destruction would hamper Italian military operations in Albania & in North Africa. Yes, it failed. Casualties were 1 killed, 1 wounded and 35 captured. Those captured were victims of the failure of a submarine, HMS Triumph, to be sent to the intended pick up point Triumph had a crew of 64, and her mission was aborted after a Whitley bomber had reported that it was ditching, co-incidentally at the recovery point. Naval commanders feared that the Whitley's distress signal had been picked up by the Italians, and Triumph might, had she been allowed to continue with the operation, have walked into a reception committee. Churchill's only involvement in Colossus was at second hand, in that it was upon his initiative that a British Paratroop arm was created in the first place' Do the fools who made this seriously think that Churchill was trying yo micro-manage every single British military operation at the time/ They say ignorance is bliss, but stupidity is unforgivable!
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  2.  @charactersmoreorthree  None of these were Churchill's operations as a military officer.
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  3. They weren't 'abandoned' by Churchill. The lift was called off by the Royal Navy because of the risk to a RN submarine.
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  4. Colossal! Do you think that it was on a par with Stalingrad, perhaps?
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  5. If it wasn't the job of people such as Roosevelt or Churchill to determine strategy, then whose was it?
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  6.  @mattwordsworth9825  Wrong, I fear. Generals are responsible for the campaigns, but political leaders determine where those campaigns will take place. Roosevelt at the outset determined on the Germany First policy for the US, and that US troops in the west would first see action in North Africa. George Marshall had argued for a 1942 landing in France which, fortunately, Roosevelt was smart enough to realise was totally impracticable.
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  7.  @Weasel_Face333  The concept was. As First Lord it was his duty to euggest ways in which the Royal Navy could contribute to the war effort. However, the operation was authorised by Herbert Asquith, and the poor planning was down to the allied naval and army commanders of the operation.
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  8.  @pixelpatter01  Churchill was a war reporter on the armoured train. He did not convince anyone to do anything. He simply grabbed a lift on the train.
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  9. Gallipoli was intended to avoid the unfolding carnage on the Western Front, relieve Turkish pressure on Russia's southern flank, and bring uncommitted eastern European powers into the wae on the Allied side. Churchill proposed it, as a use of Britain's sea power, but he neither authorised it, nor planned it.
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  10.  @ochomunna270  Really? Churchill became War Minister in late May, 1940. He was a politician, not a time traveller. At the time of Gallipoli, he was First Lord, and his job was, in conjunction with the First Sea Lord, John Fisher, to devise means by which the Royal Navy could make the greatest possible contribution to the war effort. Once the authorisation had been given (by Herbert Asquith, not by Churchill) the planning and execution of the operation was undertaken by the military. Certainly Churchill was the chosen scapegoat, as Asquith protected his own back, but David Lloyd George knew the truth and brought Churchill back into government almost immediately after succeeding Asquith. The commanders in France in 1940 were in post well before Churchill became Prime Minister, which, as I assume you didn't know. was 10 May, 1940, which was, ironically, the same day as the German Blitzkreig was launched. In fact, his comment on Dunkirk was 'wars are not won by evacuations.' Do you consider Wavell or Auchinleck to have been 'awful' commanders. assuming that you have even heard of them? Before you accuse others of lying, perhaps you might find out a few facts. There are heavy paper things called books. Perhaps you might obtain one or two and try to read them?
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