Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "TIKhistory"
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@Alexander
Wrong.
American LendLease was already kicking in and influencing the Eastern Front by September 1942.
The Germans were giggling and laughing when they captured American jeeps at Stalingrad, still strapped to flat cars, still in USA markings, at that time, in the very beginning of the assault of the city proper.
Boston bombers* (A-20) were already actively frustrating Army Group A on its way to Baku. The Red Air Force instantly fell in love with this light bomber and used it to attack German bridging attempts and supply columns during the Summer of 42.
(That'd be a great title for a period military film for the Caucuses Campaign.)
(*) Boston bomber was the British slang for this machine. It was also labelled the Havoc by the USAAF. Thousands were sent to Russia.
LendLease aid was ESSENTIAL to the Soviet victory against Case Blue, aka Uranus.
The Americans rolled up and trans-shipped military grade land-lines to the USSR. (Western Electric// Bell Telephone) It was these cables that kept STAVKA in control of events while blinding Gehlen as to what was going on. Just as at el Alamein, the radio net was used to fake out the Germans. The Reds stopped using their command radios for their original purpose. Instead, phoney radio activity was used to totally spoof the German B'dienst teams. They lulled the Krauts to sleep.
This rush shipment of land-lines was so hush-hush that they travelled by oral command -- and were flown in. ( The first American - Soviet LendLease link was by way of Alaska to Siberia. This explains the crazed tempo of the ALCAN Highway construction.)
The land-line cables discussed here were removed from American infantry divisions only days after they arrived -- on the QT -- on the down low -- and without paperwork. We only know any of this because, more than half-a-century after the events, ancient GIs have detailed all of this because they, personally, did the work. They were signals troops.
The demand for these land-lines was so intense that the mobilisation of American formations was delayed for almost a full year. It took that long for Western Electric to 're-wire' the Soviet armies. They had priority.
American land-lines were the magic secret that faked out the Germans twice: el Alamein and Uranus. I would posit that they were significant military events... and they happened in 1942.
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@Ken McD
Gas economy. The 190 used more avgas. And, on paper, the Me109 looked VERY competitive with Russian planes.
The problem was that the 109 was NOT designed for field conditions. It really needed a paved runway.
In Russia, about 2% of the 109s would crack up with each landing.
Do the math, after X number of missions these planes have destroyed themselves. The Russians don't have to lift a finger.
This landing weakness also existed -- in spades -- for the Ju52.
The ENTIRE Ju-52 fleet lost its landing gear in Russia.
THIS ^^^^ is the REAL reason that Hitler turned away from Moscow. It changed the course of the war. The Luftwaffe general most responsible planted his brains on his office desk with a PPK later in December. EVERY HQ blamed him for ph uc king things up, royally.
Because the Germans were never able to repeat it, it has been lost to history: the magic solution in the early weeks for the panzers was re-supply by air, by Ju-52. This was totally novel.
Guderian's grand plan was to break-through and then just keep going. The popular idea that the panzers are circling around to the rear is total nonsense during these weeks. It, encirclement, was never tried, never intended. Blitzkrieg dictated that the panzers go ULTRA deep and attack the rail net -- and the truck fleet. Both were totally defenseless against panzers -- even ones armed with a pathetic 37mm gun. NOW you understand why OKH found that pop gun tolerable. A 37mm gun is actually BETTER for such a campaign. Each panzer could pack in some crazy amount of ammo. And each 37mm round would totally destroy one truck. Each round would ruin a steam locomotive. It would also ruin any small block house. Just aim for the vision slit. Eventually, you'll get a round inside.
Everything was clicking until the Jus52 fleet lost its feet. The landing gear could NOT take the abuse it suffered while landing in Russia. The Luftwaffe ph uc ked up Big Time. Then a TOTAL panic overcame the Luftwaffe. Up until the last, the Luftwaffe was LYING to the Heer! BTW, there are wartime photos of 'beached' Jus52s all over Russia at this time.
You might imagine that the Germans kept this a Top, Top Secret at the time. You'll not be surprised that the Germans KEPT this boner top secret straight through the Cold War. To reveal it would be to reveal that the Luftwaffe let EVERYONE down -- to include the dictator. No excuses were possible.
Repair kits were soon crafted, and repair crews were flown out to fix the fleet. This took about a month... just the repairs... so MANY planes.
The last time I Googled Ju-52 the first page detailed a Ju-52 with broken landing gear. Heh. Heh. Heh.
The deep drive of the Summer was over. Suddenly Adolf became obsessed with BOTH flanks. The Ju-52's absence was the reason why. Every other tale is PURE BS -- put out to hide the fact that the Luftwaffe lost its ENTIRE logistical fleet -- due to stupidity and crappy engineering.
The fix was no biggie, BTW.
If the Luftwaffe had come clean from the beginning this war shifting fiasco would never have occurred.
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@myroseaccount Adolf PROMISED his western generals "a thousand tanks" and Bletchley Park found out about his assurance. German war production in 1944 totally eclipsed all that had gone before. So DON'T use 1941 metrics -- or even 1943 metrics. Speer had the numbers going through the roof -- right up until SEPTEMBER 1944. Yeah, the Krauts were building as many tanks in a month has they had in six-months earlier in the war. Next, the real worry for any parachute commander is not tanks -- it's HALF-TRACKS. They sport more machine guns... and their crews will have their heads on a swivel. Infantry HATE, HATE, HATE, attacking half-tracks for this reason. Adolf could've easily had 1,000 half-tracks sent to the fighting... given enough lead time. What Bletchley had picked up on was Adolf's pitch about his grand November counter-offensive against VIII Corps in the woods. He had visions of 1940 on his syphilitic brain.
Lost in all of the posts: the ONLY terrain that could support tanks was where Gavin focused his attention. His PRIMARY mission was to protect Browning -- his hero. If an Allied 3-star ARMY COMMANDER had been lost to the enemy -- that would've been the end of Gavin's career. Due to his rank, he was able to be read-in-on Ultra. No-one else was. So the 1,000 tank tale HAD to have come from Bletchley and HAD to have become knowledge via Browning to Gavin. Gavin's account was spewed out to protect Browning's reputation AND the existence of Ultra. Plainly, Browning let Gavin in on the Big Secret.
And, since you're asking: YES, Adolf DID promise his generals that they had priority #1 and that 1,000 tanks were to be given to them for the up coming counter-offensive. So Bletchley was not really wrong. They did not have a date-certain to go along with Adolf's pledge. He also pledged some crazy amount of fighter-cover, too. The counter-offensive was supposed to occur in November. In the event, it was launched in mid-December. The delay was primarily about GASOLINE. And yes, panzer production was insufficient to properly equip his attack force. For example the 12SS was never brought back up to strength. Elsewhere on YT there is a whole lecture on its problems. They were vast. The 12SS had been gutted by the Canadians and the fiasco of Falaise.
Browning was in charge NOT Gavin. It was HE who had received the estimate from Bletchley -- and Bletchley's track record was towering at this point.
The reason that Gavin was not so concerned about the magic bridge is because he believed British intelligence estimates -- and reasoned that 1st Airborne would entirely prevent German reinforcements from coming down from Arnhem. BTW, the solid ground was GERMAN ground. He, Gavin, had no Dutch spies telling him what was up in Germany, proper. He also figured that since this turf was the FIRST German soil to be occupied by any Allied force, that a stiff reaction just had to be in the cards. In this he was RIGHT. It's just that the Krauts couldn't do a very good job with an instant-outfit.
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@myroseaccount IF -- and that's a BIG IFF -- Bletchley Park DID get things right. They received inside dope -- but even Adolf didn't know WHEN his directive would be fulfilled. His intent was for his counter-offensive to go off in mid-November.
Bletchley merely gave Browning -- and SHAEF -- the heads up about where Hitler's head was at.
The idea, posted by TIK and others, that the G2 of the 82nd Division had access to or CLOUT enough to influence Browning and Gavin... well everybody rejects such an assertion... including TIK.
Gavin was BSing the public -- a job requirement for ALL generals.
There is ONLY one source that had total credibility WRT German intentions: Bletchley Park. Browning was the ONLY general read into Ultra. ( WRT to Market ) Corps commanders routinely doped out what was up -- but had to settle for suspicions.
When Bletchley tells Browning of the tyrant's directives, that intel HAS to be taken seriously.
FYI, early in the war, Winnie did not use the term 'Ultra' as a source. Instead, he conjured up a totally fictive agent. And that agent was purported to be stationed within Nazi high HQ. What then happened was that his generals REFUSED to believe that the agent was real, REFUSED to act on said intel, and walked straight into one fiasco after another. This blindness is the PRIMARY reason for British defeats in North Africa for quite some time. Winnie finally doped out that he would HAVE to somewhat come clean with his army commanders. The source of the intel was changed to 'Ultra' -- and Winnie informed his army commanders that anyone stupid enough to ignore Ultra would be on the chopping block PDQ. Suddenly, British fortunes in the desert war really picked up. But to keep the Ultra secret -- secret -- ONLY army commanders were read into the secret. Gavin, Ridgway, et. al were left in the dark. Ultra was the reason why Patton gained such an astounding reputation within 3rd Army. Ditto for Monty. Rommel's rep in North Africa also entirely turned on his intel. The British destroyed his B'dienst team -- and Rommel never was smart again. Heh.
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@ben... the famous 'open door' issue occurred when Clark turned to Rome after everything was in motion -- June 4-5. Alexander instructed Clark to get 5th Army to block 10th Army's retreat. Clark should've been sent down for his stunt. It's been a sore point for the British (8th Army) ever since.
Once the Germans had even a few days of grace, they totally escaped the trap. Then, the blown bridges stopped the Allies from a rapid pursuit. This was totally unlike France, where Patton could sweep ahead without hardly worrying about bridges. The most critical bridges were in Paris and they were NOT blown. See the film "Is Paris Burning." For video of the 12th Air Force's systemic attack on Italy's rail system -- and roads, too visit YouTube and google for P-47s. It should come right up. These fighters had been operating since late December 1943. Specifically, the video explains that the P47s just about never see any German fighters. They had crushed them virtually from the start. Their entire campaign was north of Rome. This is shown on a map. The 12th, BTW, was operating from an ex-German series of air strips. These were massively expanded in no time by the USAAF. Sardinia was invaded precisely to obtain these bases. From them they could even participate in Dragoon. These planes were also a part of Anzio as they WERE expected to drive off the Luftwaffe... which is exactly what happened.
So Lucas had air cover, naval support, and rivers to his north and south (Tiber, Pontine marshes -- they had been re-flooded by the Nazis.) Both flanks were impassible for German heavy panzers. Lucas needed to rush forward and THEN dig in. If he was forward then the USAAF could've built instant air strips in the beachhead -- same as was done in Normandy. ( My Father built the first one there -- right on the bluff over Omaha.) Getting the USAAF to be based right over his back was THE solution for Lucas. However, Lucas never had enough depth for any air strips to be laid. What a fool.
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@Donald Hill
On the contrary, I'd rate Monty VERY high as a logistician.
The British Army was as good as it gets, logistically.
Proof: El Alamein. Monty 'logged' the hell out the 8th Army.
Indeed, one can easily maintain that Monty was TOO obsessed with logistics.
Let's all get this straight: Monty had an ego bigger than Jupiter.
Every single account agrees on this point, even Freddie.
But Monty is FAR from incompetent. He has some of the MOST significant battles and campaigns to his credit. He'll never be forgotten by history -- long after all of us are dust.
Ike, Tedder, Bradley, -- hell everyone -- found Monty's pre-D-Day lecture spellbinding -- just totally awesome. He knew is chit... down to extreme, even excessive detail. He was a remarkable general. It was this level of knowledge that he had, that FEW could ever hope to attain that led to his arrogance.
[ Patton was of the same stripe. In Patton's case the guy was a walking military history professor. You (literally) couldn't bring up ANY battle, modern or ancient that Patton didn't know more about than you. Then sit down for a major lecture -- like you're back at West Point. These would be spellbinding, BTW. ]
Lord Allenbrooke considered him the best field commander he'd ever had the pleasure to command. He LOVED the man.
Churchill loved Monty, too. Now THAT'S saying something. Winnie was hell on generals. IMHO, Churchill ruined the reputations of some of Britian's finest... starting with Wavell. I regard Wavell as tip top. He reached five-stars -- no thanks to Winnie. I think Winnie took years off his life, BTW.
I would've had a stroke if I had to work under Churchill.
Like Adolf and Stalin, Winnie would brook no rational argument.
We're talking about national heroes that have no peers. Yeah, they screwed up, really screwed up, but they never screwed up like the Russians, Germans, or the Japanese -- let alone the Chinese.
All four were colossal screw-ups compared to Britain and America. The graveyards are full of their victims.
The Russians didn't defeat the German Army.
The German Army defeated the German Army.
Halder & Co must have been high on crack cocaine and heroine in '41.
Lastly, what makes MG such painful reading is that Monty was NOT Monty for this operation. He'd come down with VICTORY DISEASE.
This damn illness had become pandemic across all Allied counsels.
If you think Monty was the only fella infected, check out the insanity that floated through 12th Army Group.
It was EVERYWHERE. For us, sitting 70 years after the event, it's impossible to wrap ones mind around how strange generals get when Victory Disease hits -- especially after a LONG war.
It hit the Japanese during early '42. It hit the Germans in late '42.
They went crazy, too.
One could well argue that the American and British armies had Victory Disease in the Summer of 03. Then things went sideways.
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@Sanders, nuisance attacks. Antwerp entirely replaced London as the strategic bombardment objective. Antwerp suffered FAR MORE than London. (!) That includes the record one-shot kill.
What had been a rain of terror became a propaganda stunt -- unable to arouse the British... though they were looking for some pay-back.
Bomber Command supplied THAT.
The Nazis even continued to fire off V-1s, too. But having lost their coastal bases, they were forced to use He-111 bombers as mother craft. These flew out over the North Sea to get around the British AAA along the Channel. However, again, it was a propaganda stunt. The Krauts had run out of gas. A trickle of V-2 and V-1-s looks great for the history books but totally lacks the umph that the Nazis wanted and the British feared.
Keep in mind that the British were reacting to intel they were getting from the French. They were being told that a MASSIVE expansion was in the wings. They were being told that a HUGE longer range rocket was deep into development. The Germans were going to gang together their engines to create a monster missile. ( This is actually true.) No-one knew just how fast this project would come along. No-one knew if the Germans were going to greatly improve their aiming accuracy. They'd ALREADY introduced the world's first Smart Bomb. They'd been experimenting with the world's first SAM, too. The prototype was massively instrumented -- and fell into Allied hands. If that guidance system had been retrofitted to the V-2 -- good grief. THIS is what the British were facing. THIS is what they are reacting to. Once V-2 launches halted, then trickled on, well, priorities had moved on. When it counted, the V2 'problem' was at the top of the list.
This is the ONLY explanation for why Monty got total priority and why the Scheldt fell to the back-burner. Once you accept these facts, everything else falls into place. Suddenly, Monty, Ike and Churchill don't look so stupid.
If you're going to take the island -- why not take the WHOLE ball of wax? So that's what Monty shot for. MG would kill two birds with one campaign. Indeed, getting across the Rhine would absolutely shut down even nuisance V-2 attacks. Driving on and on to Berlin was a pure fantasy. For by this point it was obvious that trucks couldn't provide that much strategic logistical reach. The rail system and ports would have to be restored. And the storms of Autumn would surely shut down the 35,000 tons per day coming over the beach at Omaha. Yes, it was still up and running. Omaha's 'instant port' didn't stop until the weather made it unworkable.
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@Sanders... you're not my college professor. These days we have Google. At my rate of pay, zero, I'm willing to post the facts as best I know them after fifty-years. I'm not willing to pull through half-a-century's worth of books and articles.
If you use your HEAD you'd understand that the V-2s sold the project to Ike. The idea that Monty was just going for the bridges would have been a total non-starter. Ike had shot down Monty's grand vision time and time again -- going all the way back to Normandy.
When Monty brought up the reality that V-2s were ruining London -- Ike was SOLD.
BTW, for your edification: the British -- with the highest secrecy -- got the Germans to recalibrate their V-1s so as to drop short. This was done by way of turned German agents in London. They just kept reporting that the V-1s were flying past the city -- and hitting empty farmland. Heh. Good one.
So the Nazis kept choking the range back -- such that they were now landing on Tunbridge Wells... which was where Ike, himself, was hidden away. (!!!!) The area was chosen because Kent was up-scale with lots of nice homes -- and had a low population density. It was this latter fact that had the V-1s sent its way.
There were so many V1s landing on top of Ike that he moved to France WEEKS early. This entailed a tremendous disruption as he insisted on this on short notice. By this time his HQ had the manning usually associated with a brigade -- if not a small division -- only most of the fellas were officers or high non-com officers.
NOW you can see why Monty's plea that the V-2s had to be shut down RIGHT NOW hit home. This is why Ike didn't even ask Tedder his opinion. Tedder tried to get the damn operation cancelled -- but it was too late. Ike would not go back on his pledge to Monty -- even though Tedder, Bradley, Patton, Hodges, and others were all howling. Tedder saw everything that was to come to pass. He knew the personalities -- and had outstanding judgment. When it was all over, Ike admitted to Tedder -- Tedder was right again!
Tedder argued, correctly, that it was MUCH wiser to just keep the pedal to the metal and never let Jerry get back on his toes. At the rate 21st AG was advancing, the V2 problem would take care of itself without the paras. Indeed, the paras ought to be saved for the Rhine.
Tedder never seems to get enough ink. Tedder was Ike's COO -- actual chief of operations. He let Ike take all of the limelight -- while he did plenty of heavy lifting, himself.
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@ The colonel...
In "Patton", the movie, Omar Bradley explains to Patton that SHAEF has new priorities.
1) Churchill demanded that Monty stop the V-2 attacks.
2) 12th Army Group would NOT get its normal supply of gasoline, etc.
3) Because it had to go to 21st Army Group. ( Monty, his peer )
4) Patton, you're a pain in the neck.... Obey orders... I do.
Elsewhere in Bradley's memoirs and biographies it's repeatedly established that 2,000 GMC trucks were promptly diverted to 21st AG. My own father drove one... until it was taken away for for MG.
Yup. So he had a week's 'vacation.'
The movie is relevant because Bradley -- basically -- wrote the script. For financial reasons, the money went to his wife. (!) The scene where Bradley tells Patton he's a pain in the neck is straight from the actual event.
The credits are inverted. The actual author is BRADLEY. He used ghost writers -- and then un-ghosted them -- so as to ghost himself.
Bradley wrote the grosser script for "Patton" but did not want that fact publicly know. Note how many scenes in the film turn ENTIRELY upon Bradley and Patton. Yup. Those scenes were not fiction. They constitute a docudrama.
The scenes that don't involve Bradley came from well established records.
For you Brits: officers are NEVER to strike an enlisted man -- and vice versa. So, regardless of the condition of the GIs -- Patton had REALLY crossed the line. A lesser figure would've been busted out for such a stunt.
You'll never convince me, or anyone, that an AG Commander was not totally in the loop on strategic thinking. That was their primary task.
The total absurdity of crossing the Rhine// Waal into Germany must be evident: it's NOT tank country. Holland is like Switzerland: before airpower and parachute troops, Holland was impossible to invade.
The French were stymied during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Strangely, DD tanks were at hand -- hundreds of them. Jeeps in their thousands were to hand. DUKWs were to hand, too. Monty and Browning didn't ASK FOR THEM.
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@Burns
Can't you get anything right? Generals LIE. Check out Bradley and Manstein -- et. al.
In his writing Monty is HIDING all of the Allied intelligence and discussion that had been rolling along for MONTHS. The true nature of the V-2 peril came from the FRENCH. Their spy was sleeping with the SS General in charge. The RAF had been all over the V2 project going back many months.
For the last time:
CHURCHILL called the tune;
Monty obeyed orders;
Ike was INSTANTLY persuaded -- didn't even pass it by Tedder. (!)
The trickle V2 fire AFTER MG was merely an irritant. Before MG, Churchill, Monty and Ike all thought that the V2 could reverse the course of the war. Nazi propaganda claimed it was so. They also KNEW that the island was launch central. The entire launch procedure was replicated by the British after the war - with captured SS rocket troops. You can view it on UTube.
Moving their parade to a new launch zone was quite a production... since they had virtually no gasoline... and were running low on locomotion. The RAF had flown no end of recon // reccee missions over the island, day and night. The insane level of FLACK at night is what caused Browning to lay out the terrible drop zones for MG.
The tale of soft turf is a ruse. Parachute troops LOVE soft ground. In the whole scheme of the Airborne -- gliders were deemed BACK-UP. Somehow, in the heat of the moment, they were brought in during the original drop. Just dumb!
FINALLY -- IKE shot down Monty's single thrust idea at every other point of the war.
BTW, if you think about it, Sicily was a Monty single thrust -- until Patton threw away Monty's over-write of his own plan -- which entailed him marching east from Palermo. Monty was truly pissed to see Patton get his way. The blow-back came as soon as Salerno. Monty deliberately got the S L O W S. Gallipoli Narvik Winston had his back.
The critical problem for 21st Army Group -- the LOWER Rhine is a bitch -- it defeated virtually every army in history. ALL successful commanders -- once the word got out -- took the southern route. Longer was QUICKER. In the era of trucks, the distance difference was meaningless. Terrain was critical.
Patton and Bradley were flipping out because they KNEW that they had to get into the super fortresses before Hitler corrected things. Even with scrub formations defending, taking Metz was a first class BITCH.
C. Ryan spent years in research -- and never discovered what you Brits tell me was plain in your face obvious. In the film, you have to love the way the ferries evaporate from the tale. The Grenadiers were WISE to not advance into the night after Nijmegan. (SP?) The Jerries were ferrying over heavy equipment EVERY night.
Monty began MG with total confidence in Browning. After MG, Monty fire him. The ultimate humiliation: being sent to a desk job in India... not any part of the final campaign.
In both the American and British armies, to be sent out of theatre was the supreme burn. All of their peers knew that they were skunked.
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