Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "The Armchair Historian" channel.

  1. How is obtaining the best available fuel cheating? Perhaps you consider developing an integrated radar defence system cheating, or inventing advanced anti-submarine techniques and weapons cheating? Britain, by the way, was the last outpost of democracy in Europe at the time. Why shouldn't Churchill seek aid from another democracy with the largest manufacturing economy in the world? Incidentally, the correct term is 'seek aid' not 'beg.'
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  2.  @garyseeseverything8615  'If you can take a hit like a man and want the raw truth it’s called begging.' What a childish comment. WW2 was a huge conflict between Nation States, not a game. Perhaps when you attain a little more maturity you will, hopefully, come to understand what the concepts of diplomacy and alliances between nations actually involve.
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  3.  @garyseeseverything8615  All the historians of my acquaintance, whatever their various nationalities, have something in common, which is that they are able to express themselves in a reasoned, literate manner. Your post does not meet this requirement, which is why I suggest that, if you are an historian, then I am the Elector of Hanover.
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  4.  @garyseeseverything8615  Why do you feel the need for privacy? If you wish to present an argument, do it publicly. where third parties can come to their own conclusions.
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  5.  @garyseeseverything8615  Exactly what sort of a question is that? Are you referring to how it was fought, what strategies were pursued, how important it was, what was the outcome, what use Churchill made of it or what? Your question is about as foolish and general as asking ' what do you think about the Franco-Prussian War.'
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  6.  @youraveragescotsman7119  But the little chap is so amusing! He is, apparently, 'a historian' albeit a semi-literate one.
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  7. Just out of interest, are you aware that, commencing April 1917, there had been 'acts of collective indiscipline' (i.e., Strikes) in 68 of the 112 French divisions on the Western Front, following the catastrophe of the Nivelle Offensive. For a time, until Petain restored order, the only army defending France was that of the British Empire. In 1940, a French & British rearguard made possible the evacuation of 338,000 men from Dunkirk, over 100,000 of whom were French, and when the British attempted to land a 'Reconstituted BEF' in Cherbourg, they were told by General Weygand that the French army was no longer capable of 'organised resistance.' By the way, how many casualties did your enemies, the United States, Britain, & Canada, sustain in freeing your country from German occupation in 1944?
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  8.  @genesis2936  Do you understand sarcasm? Hitler did not let anyone escape. Von Rundstedt halted the tanks because they needed servicing for the second stage of the campaign, and Goering had already promised that the Luftwaffe would destroy the troops in the Dunkirk pocket. Hitler wasn't, by the way, much into 'appeasement.' Could you please explain how allowing the BEF to escape would have persuaded the British to make peace, when, presumably, locking it in German PoW camps would have had less effect?
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  9.  @sichere  51 Highland Division surrendered at St. Valery on 12 June, over a week after the Dunkirk evacuation had ended. Moreover, 51HD at the time was detached from the BEF and operating as part of the French 10th Army. St. Valery is 280 kms. from Dunkirk, by the way.
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  10.  @sichere  You can post as many documentaries as you like, but they won't bring St. Valery en Caux any nearer to Dunkirk. Simply check it on any map of France. Dieppe is 229 kms from Dunkirk, and St. Valery en Caux is 34 kms further along the coast from Dieppe. Even if you had mistaken en Caux for the 'other' St. Valery, sur Somme, that is 151 km, or 93 miles from Dunkirk. On 3 June, 51st Highland was at Abbeville, well south of Boulogne and nowhere near Dunkirk. The rest of your post, with references to shootings, etc., is simply nonsense. Why not just read the 51st Highland Division website for yourself?
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  11.  @sichere  What has 'Crow Flying' distance, right or wrong, got to do with anything? By road, Abbeville was, and is 153 kms., from Dunkirk using the modern A16 or D941, or 189 kms. on the A25. If Abbeville is less than 60 miles from Dunkirk, and St. Valery is also less than 60 miles from Dunkirk, how is it that St. Valery is 101 kms. south west (i.e., in the opposite direction from Dunkirk) of Abbeville? 51st were under the command of the IX Corps of the French 10th Army, and retreated with them across France via Varennes, Abbeville, and Erondelle, arriving at St. Valery late on 10 June. Read any book on the campaign; the facts are stated in all. The initial hope had been that Dieppe could be used for the evacuation. Part of the division, Arkforce, was placed in a defensive position at Fecamp, by the way, and avoided encirclement as a result.
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  12.  @sichere  Have you finally accepted that St. Valery & Abbeville are both not 'less than 60 miles from Dunkirk?' 'Artillery rounds take the shortest route and their range would be up to 20 miles.' Did either 51 HD or the Germans have a battleship with them? The range of a British 25 pounder was 13400 yards, and of a German 105mm field gun 11700 yards. Not that that is relevant, in any case. 'Ignoring the actions of the 51st is the same as suggesting the RAF did not influence the events at Dunkirk.' I don't think anyone is ignoring the actions of 51HD, but don't you think that making up false claims, as you seem determined to do, is rather disrespectful?
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  13.  @sichere  The Dunkirk defensive perimeter was determined on 27 May. It was 25miles long and approximately eight miles deep and it made the best use of the canal and waterways around Dunkirk to aid defence. In addition, low-lying areas such as Les Moeres on the eastern side of the perimeter were deliberately flooded to help impede the German advance. The French-held line ran from Mardyck – Spycker – Bergues. The British sector ran through the axis Bergues – Bulscamp – Furnes – Nieuport. There was no such thing as a Dunkirk defensive line as early as 21 May. If you wish to fantasise, please carry on.
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  14. How would Operation Sealion have succeeded? The Royal Navy was overwhelming supreme at sea, and had the bulk of the navy in Home Waters.
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  15. The High Command on Crete was more or less entirely New Zealand & Australian, in point of fact.
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  16. How? With the BEF's 13 divisions?
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  17.  @chubskii  Because the German population in 1939 was 87 million. The British was 41 million. The Germans had no navy to speak of. The British were operating and manning the largest navy on earth.
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  18.  @lordpolish2727  Eventually yes. Britain was able to draw on troop numbers from the Empire in order to deploy substantial field armies in North Africa, Italy, Normandy, & Burma. But these took considerable time to assemble and mobilise. How long did the German invasion of Poland take? About 35 days, I believe.
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  19. Which war or wars do you think Churchill actually mongered?
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  20. Quite right. After over 100 French & Belgian divisions collapsed, the British should have carried on with the BEF's ten divisions.
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  21.  @georgedelanoy9548  Quite true. The contributions of the Americans, British, and Canadians to the liberation of western Europe were completely unnecessary.
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  22.  @paganphil100  True. The British also tried to build a 'Reconstituted BEF' based on Cherbourg, until General Weygand told Alan Brooke, the commander, that the French army was no longer able to offer organised resistance. That was on 14 June.
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  23.  @Wolfgrand  You see. This is what happens when people base their ideas about history on Hollywood rather than reality. They post foolishness like yours.
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  24.  @Wolfgrand  I haven't actually defended anyone, old chap. I am simply ridiculing you for confusing Hollywood & fact.
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  25.  @Wolfgrand  Well, you quoted a scene from 'A Bridge Too Far.' Wasn't that Hollywood, or did you think it was a documentary?
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  26.  @Wolfgrand  Oh well. If you think that 'A Bridge Too Far' accurately depicted the facts of 'Market Garden' then perhaps you shouldn't read any history books on the action, but remain firmly rooted to your clearly firmly held prejudices.
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  27. Perhaps you should read up on Bradley's opinion of Patton's activities in Sicily.
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  28.  @jaewok5G  Hitler was not at war with either the Soviet Union nor the United States in 1940.
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  29. Britain has always been a sea power precisely because of the existence of the Channel. The primary role of the Royal Navy was always to ensure that Britain was secure against invasion.
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  30. How could the British not agree that the French should take the lead on land when the French had over 100 divisions and the British had 12?
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  31.  @securityforce3789  How is he brainwashed about how three of the five beaches at D-Day were assaulted by British & Canadian troops? Two of every three men who landed on 6 June were British & Canadian, most of the aircraft were RAF, more than two thirds of the warships were British/Canadian and 3261 of 4127 landing craft were British manned.
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  32. How would letting the BEF go, potentially (and actually) to continue the fight, help to avoid a war on two fronts? Wouldn't 350,000 British troops (from the failed Dynamo, Cycle, & Aerial evacuations) in German prison camps have been more likely to bring the British to terms?
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  33. If you want to do the humane thing, then perhaps attacking other countries is not the best way to go about it?
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  34. How do you reckon that?
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  35. Eight Panzer Divisions, & three Independent Tiger Battalions, became bogged down against the British & Canadians in the Caen area.
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  36. After signing up to Argentinian citizenship, presumably it would then be legal to throw them out of aircraft?
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  37.  @terpfen  Except that Bradley made the comment about Patton in 1944.
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  38.  @terpfen  'You are thinking of the scene in the Patton movie.' I most certainly am not. I saw that comic nonsense of a movie long ago, and immediately trained myself to forget all the errors and inaccuracies it contained.
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  39.  @terpfen  As I wrote I believed no such thing. The movie was almost as bad, in terms of accuracy, as was U571.
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  40. Perhaps not then, but certainly now. The current BBC, had it existed in 1944, might well have had a special edition of Panorama broadcast on 2 June with full details of intended landing beaches and units involved in Operation Overlord.
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  41.  @gloria3098  51HD actually surrendered a full week after the Dunkirk evacuation had ended, and only then because the French Corps of which it had been a part ceased resistance. A RN evacuation fleet of 67 merchant ships and 140 smaller vessels had been sent to lift 51HD out, but had been unable to do this on the night of 11 June because of fog. The intention to attempt the lift on the night of 12 June was abandoned when the French Corps commander surrendered at 0800 that morning. General Fortune, left with no alternative, followed suit at 1000. 2137 troops from the Division, together with 1184 French troops, were lifted from the beaches at Veules. All this information is on the 51HD website. The claim that 51HD was sacrificed is at best a myth, and at worst an outright lie.
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  42. You should read what Bradley said about Patton in Sicily, before believing that the movie was accurate.
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  43. Not a patch on the Hurtgen Forest or Patton's Lorraine catastrophe.
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  44. Because the British had the largest navy in the world. Moreover, at Crete the New Zealanders & Australians were evacuated as well. At Dunkirk, the British lifted over 120,000 French troops. The British then began landing new troops in Cherbourg, until told by General Weygand that the French army was no longer capable of organised resistance.
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  45. As over 100 French & Belgian divisions surrendered, what would you suggest the 12 British divisions should have done?
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  46. It was entertaining, but factually hugely inaccurate. The 'Spitfirefest' into which it degenerated was overwhelmingly false.
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  47. Actually, a false fact.
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  48.  @wielkopolak76  I am simply stating a fact. Sosabowski was not the only one blamed for the failure of Market Garden. Browning was to have been effectively demoted, in order to become commander of VIII Corps, but was instead sent to SEAC to become Mountbatten's Chief of Staff. After Market Garden, he never again held a command in the field.
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  49.  @utkarshchoudhary3870  Not even an historian at all, let alone an academic.,
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  50.  @tomk3732  How were the British trying to 'control' the French?
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