Youtube comments of David Himmelsbach (@davidhimmelsbach557).
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Garry missed one essential: The INJURED count for more than the dead. The latter can be honored -- and then, largely, forgotten.
No-one can look past seriously injured veterans -- who roam society telling their tales. Politically, they are dynamite.
Because Putin did not declare his project as a 'war' -- Russian contract soldiers are not held to war-time codes of conduct -- to wit -- they can quit.
They just can't quit while on operations within Ukraine. THIS is why every imaginable gambit is researched as to how to get back home.
Lastly, and this must be emphasized, Putin is not paying his boys Combat Pay. On paper, his boys are deemed to still be back in Mother Russia.
So, Putin has it going both ways: The boys can't quit, they're in Ukraine; the boys don't deserve Combat Pay because they're still in their barracks. (!)
See how that works? Cute.
Payments are due in rubles -- which Putin can print at will -- yet the cheapskate STILL does not pay off. (!)
Of course, the Russian medical system, as a whole, is now over-loaded with wounded veterans.
In the meantime, Putin's critical war plants are in hiatus because they can't obtain micro-chips. Oops.
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The 118th Brigade is a mountain unit trained for defense. See symbol. And, amazingly, it's standing on the hills that the RA has to fight through.
The lower ground is where the 17th tank brigade is slotted. In combination, they've stalled the RA for weeks and weeks.
While these two have been in place for weeks, the RA has had to rotate fresh units in rather constantly.
Hence, all of the pauses in activity, from time to time. Every single weird pause = a burnt out Russian unit.
That's the problem with the entire battalion tactical group concept.
With only ~800 troops, such formations can't remain effective for more than two-days of intense combat.
Swapping them out can easily take two-days. Result: Start - Stop; Start - Stop....
Weirdly, this is exactly what did in the Nazis -- eighty-years ago.
They'd punch through, Big, and then -- stop. ( No gasoline )
Their efforts now stand as military (dark) comedy.
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@ Bond ... 1) The SS documented the hell out of their activities straight through the war. They even went so far as to radio into Berlin (Himmler) about their liquidation numbers -- day after day -- especially in the Pale of Russia.
2) My Uncle was on the burial detail at Dora. At Dora, the V-2 works, execution was by way of truncheon... truly up close and personal. By the time he made it to the SS 'hospital' (irony alert) he was down 50% in body weight.
3) Denialists commonly run the math on Auchwitz crematoria -- as in there was no way that the facilites could dispose of so many victims. However, they've never read "Bloodlands." ALL of the evidence points to most victims being gunned down in the field. Later, after the Kaytn massacre was exhumed, the SD realized that it was bad public relations -- for posterity -- to leave millions of corpses in the ground. So, with extreme urgency and secrecy, the SD went all over occupied lands exhuming the dead -- to cremated them. Their technique has been written down. It consisted of using 2nd hand rails -- hoisted above the ground about five feet to create an open-field burning platform -- with an air-draft coming up from below. The fattest victims -- always overweight women -- were laid down first -- like cord wood. Leaner victims were placed high in the pile. Then a blaze would be started from below -- until the dripping remains ignited and over the next hours, every victim was reduced to ashes. A single grid was able to cremate over a thousand bodies per roast. These pyramids of crime eventually reached the size of a major soccer pitch.
4) The Big Problem with 'The Holocaust' is that even Jews are semi-denialists. Namely, that Hitler didn't restrict himself to Jews. He compulsively murdered:
All opponents -- with a very loose definition of opponent;
All elite Roman Catholics -- FIRST on his death list, BTW;
All visibly wealthy non-Germans in Poland -- and elsewhere -- his Socialism kicked in;
Millions of -- so called -- Partisans, that is, anyone running for the hills and hiding from his tyranny;
Straggling Red Army soldiers -- if caught solo -- you're a 'Partisan';
Gypsies -- again with the racial purity obsession;
Roman Catholic clergy -- to number in the hundreds-of-thousands;
Orthodox clergy -- vast numbers -- by definition all Soviet clergy were NKVD operatives... which was actually true by dint of Stalin;
Homosexuals -- if and only if -- they were flamingly gay;
{ Hitler's own personal body guard was 100% gay -- at his insistence! Rohm & his buddies were as gay as could possibly be, BTW. The SS was HEAVY with gay troopers. When Himmler wanted his boys to reproduce -- his boys rebelled ! Yup. }
5) Then there is the super abundant film archival record. Most is so repulsive that it has NEVER been generally released. No-one would care to sit through it. Even editing it would be traumatic in the extreme. There was one time it was released for popular viewing: in Germany. My own Father had to stand at the door, returning Germans for a second and third sitting until the horror sunk in. You'd be surprised to know that the hardest core Nazis were always young, unmarried women. (!!!) The theater had to be hosed down as every showing produced more stomach content. Later that afternoon, every backyard in town featured their Sunday finest being burned. All vere so soiled from vomit that they were unwearable.
6) And then there are the surviving Germans and their Holocaust accessories that even now can give oral testimonies. One in particular sticks in my mind: a very young Latvian witnessed an SS officer gun down 50% of the Jews standing in the ranks... as in every other one. The back splatter was so extreme that my witness had to dispose of the uniform of the SS officer. This shooting took every bit of two and a half hours... while this witness had to stand at attention. I can assure you that he HATED that SS officer. You might ask how in hell he got into the Freicorps? The bolsheviks killed his parents, he was an orphan. The bolsheviks involved were Jewish -- imagine that !
The Holocaust didn't involve 6,000,000 Jews -- but rather -- at least 12,000,000 souls: Jews, Gypsies, clergy, Poles, professors, capitalists, -- and anyone running for the hills.
The twin tyrannies created an ocean of blood: pot meet kettle.
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Germans didn't have cigarettes -- they had ersatz cigarettes -- these were NOTHING like American cigarettes.
The Germans also didn't have access to bona fide coffee or tea, either.
It's a fact that GIs blowing cigarette smoke and coffee fumes were able to get German troops to surrender on that basis alone. Bradley reported -- in total disgust -- that one GI got over a hundred German soldiers to surrender via this gambit. He, the offender, was taken-out by a German sniper called up just to stop his action. Things were getting totally out of hand. He was bringing back yesterday's surrenders and getting them to call their buddies on over... speaking through K-rations... munch... munch... munch...
Clueless Bradley slammed this GI -- in his second autobiography of the war. What a dunce!
There is a fair amount of footage of surrendering Germans (1945) to the USA. They are extremely relaxed. It's a wholly different vibe than Germans taken captive by the Russians. In such cases, the strain is plain to see. The Germans are terrified, at their wit's end.
BTW, at the end, half of most German combat formations are runts just entering puberty. They can barely tote their sleeping gear. But for the war, it'd be a funny sight.
&&&
The big unknown: how much access did the trapped 6th Army have to horsemeat?
I've read that by the time of Uranus, most of the horses had been withdrawn to the rear. Hauling fodder up to Stalingrad was murder on their fuel supplies and truck repair. Further, there were no stables that would shield the draft animals from the horrific weather. By now, the Germans had figured out that you just about couldn't use horses in such weather. Any such attempt sickens or kills the beast. Further, their feed tab goes into orbit... just like the troops.
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@David Briggs
I don't comprehend your lack of comprehension.
8th USAAF destroyed the refineries that were in Germany (not Romania) and their adjacent tank farms where the Luftwaffe held its avgas reserve stocks. It was from these tank farms that the Luftwaffe passed on avgas to units across Nazi occupied Europe -- primarily Germany, itself, at this point in time.
This period was branded the "Big Week" by the USAAF -- and many a propaganda film// newsreel was released shortly after its success. The burning avgas, and more, took days to cook off. The smoke cloud was visible forever into the distance.
These stocks were refined fuels -- not crude oil -- which is what the US 9th AAF ( Tidal Wave, North Africa) and US 15th AAF (many raids, Foggia complex) hit around Ploiesti.
Yes, Ploiesti had some refining capability, but its real claim to fame was the production of crude oil. Wiki has everything all screwed up.
[The primary goal of Tidal Wave was the Tank Farm. ( Which was adjacent to the refinery complex.) It was obvious from the start, that a tank farm is self destructive once it's lit, and that once things really get rolling, the burning crude oil and refined products will spill out and ruin the nearby refinery.
They also made for a Fat Target whereas the refinery, itself, is actually a pretty tough target. ( It's always made out of high quality THICK steel, commonly thicker than tank armor!) The sensitive and touchy components would be TINY. ( valves and pumps ) The electrical controls in a refinery are always inside rigid steel pipe as no sparks from the power system can ever be permitted to ignite gases or fuels.]
Yes, other German refineries could still produce avgas, but they couldn't re-form crude feed stock up into higher octanes. The Luftwaffe had to settle for that natural fraction of crude oil and synthetic crude oil that distilled off as avgas. For most feedstocks this was a pathetically low fraction. Such a process is know as a distillery -- not a refinery.
[ In the oil business, a distillery is derisively termed a 'teapot.']
It was just enough avgas to let the Luftwaffe limp along. It became common for the Luftwaffe to just sit on the ground and let the Americans do their worst, as the Luftwaffe couldn't put up enough fighters to even mix it up with the escorts.
Shortly after the Big Week, Ike took personal command ( ie redirected Spaatz) ordering the 8th and 9th AAF to ignore German industry and to concentrate on the the transport grid. This went on for months. (March, April, May, June... Ike didn't release these air forces until the Cobra breakout, itself a massive heavy bomber tactical attack.)
It was at this time that Speer and Galland made a MAJOR plea with Adolf to use the respite to train a whole new batch of fighter pilots while the sky over Germany was clear of USAAF fighters. But they lost the 'debate.' Both of them later published their tale in Reader's Digest. ( 1946, IIRC ) [ Strange... as Speer was in the docket at the time.]
Their pitch was basic: this is the last time that the Luftwaffe has any shot at re-blooding the fighter arm, and that all bomber pilots have to be re-tasked away from bombing the enemy. The US 8th AAF is destroying Germany's war industries. This must be stopped at all costs, or the war will be lost for lack of production.
Also, during the respite, Speer threw every man at rebuilding crippled refineries -- and he even opened up fuel plants inside hollowed out mountains. ( These cavities were originally dug out for other critical war industries (IIRC, radio tubes) -- but were taken over for liquid fuel production. )
Fortunately for the Allies, Speer was largely unsuccessful.
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BTW, something that the Standard History never brings up: Omaha Beach is the CRITICAL beach. None of the other beaches was as remotely important. Why?
It soon developed that Omaha Beach was an INSTANT PORT as well as the dream location for A-1 MASH airstrip. This was not foreseen -- except by Rommel. THAT'S why he shifted the 352nd Infantry Division and moved the prior formation off to VII Corps's beaches. If you recall, VII Corps sustained a few paper-cuts during its debarkation. Utah was a walk-over.
HALF of all British supplies were soon being landed at Omaha Beach and trucked over to 21st Army Group. Photos of said operation were quashed by censors. Being so dependent upon an American beachhead was very politically incorrect, visually.
The Instant Port worked because the sand there was astoundingly flat -- and the cargo ships used all had flat bottoms. So, the drill was to come in at full tide, drop anchor, and then let the tide fall. Fully laden cargo ships soon hit bottom. (They only had inches to spare when they floated to shore. ) Then, even before the tide fully withdrew, the DUKWs would begin their duties. Eventually, the tide dropped so low, that ordinary GMC 2.5 ton trucks could wade up and receive cargo. All of the cargo ships could self-unload with their organic davits, fore and aft. Omaha Beach was so big that it was easy to squeeze twenty-ships at a time onto its flats.
Naturally, the DUKWS would unload to an instant open warehouse and return to the water. The GMCs would take their loads all the way to the multiple army level stashes -- to be unloaded, organized, and then reloaded off to the front. All of this is exactly what Hitler was trying to stop with his Fortress-Ports grand scheme. This supply miracle is what drove the entire rest of the campaign. Naturally, it gets scant shrift from historians.
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@paavobergmann4920 Nope.
The European Union got started in PARIS.
The French and Germans finally accepted that to be economically competitive with the USA -- in iron & steel -- they'd have to buddy up. Thus, in 1955 -- the very year that Germany became free of post-war occupation -- the fetal EU was born -- as an Iron & Steel free-trade pact. Almost immediately Belgium joined in. (You can dig deep for the dates and particulars.)
As time went by, the pact started to include other industrial goods -- chemicals immediately come to mind. Again, all of these dealings were designed to hold off the Americans. (Quite the opposite motivation of Britain and its darling baby: NATO.)
The trade pact grew and grew until more nations, more trade goods, were involved.
Only later, it was decided that a full-on confederation was appropriate. Part of that deal was for the EU to have TWO HQs. One was in Brussels - yet the other was in France. (Strasbourg) (This will go to show you who was the originator of the whole scheme. German foreign policy was still in the dog-house.)
[ Yes, every single month, the EU operates from Strasbourg -- usually for just one week. I'm in the USA. The Strasbourg meets are just never brought up by our media.]
Once the EU really got rolling -- there has been no turning back. The Big Idea has always been to replicate the economic engine of the USA -- but in Europe -- of course.
It took the LONGEST time for the UK to join -- and yet, after the experience, it was finally rejected by Brits. (The EU was designed to thwart the British Empire as much as the American colossus.) When you ran the numbers, the EU did not advantage the UK. However, EU rulings did make every attempt at subverting English Common Law going back centuries. Surrendering the power of Parliament, law and tradition to Brussels proved too much for Brits.
Now, perhaps, you can see why NATO and the EU are not one and the same. The EU WOULD make perfect sense for Louis XIV. He loved top down authority over the common man -- especially, HIS.
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@averige
You're splitting dogmatic hairs.
Both of the tyrants wanted to run a despotic empire ... and run it on new-wave Socialist principles -- so scientific they would be.
Both rejected the idea of INTERNATIONAL Socialism/Bolshevism/Naziism/Hitlerism/Stalinism.
Both tyrants wanted total 'brand control.'
As for Marxism, no-one can really say what that is.
Out in the real world, it kept being re-defined by this or that tyrant: Lenin, Stalin, Mao, ... et. al.
In its essentials, Applied Marxism has always entailed massive coercion of the population. (totalitarianism) and centrally planned economies that opt for extreme militarism; usually directed internally at first, with it turned outwards the moment the correlation of forces are favorable.
Hitlerism was of this nature with a few personal twists. He was a Socialist that hated racially incorrect Socialists. Lest you not know, Hitler absorbed virtually EVERY Socialist in Germany into the Nazi Party. (They were given 72 hours to do so.) They didn't object. Other than a handful of fleeing Socialists, everyone signed on the line that was dotted. It was quite a sight to see. Today, this has largely dropped down Winston Smith's Memory Hole.
Conservatives fled the Nazi Party. They usually simply dropped out of politics. So long as they did, Hitler looked the other way. Many Weimar officials survived clean though the war, staying in retirement.
Many German Socialists rose to VERY high rank in the Nazi Party.
This is something that post-war German Socialists can't bear to admit, to see brought up with the younger generations.
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Margarine was never made from coal -- except as a pilot test. It was way, way, way too expensive.
Margarine was made from edible, but runny, vegetable oils: corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil... you name it.
The process involves HYDROGENATION. The hydrogen used is, itself, created from water by electrolysis. This is expensive hydrogen. It's used because of its reagent grade (absolute) purity. One simply does not need much for the chemical reaction is to simply add hydrogen to a fatty oil.
When such a food is packaged and labeled it reads: "Hydrogenated Oils." Look for that term, or something very close to it.
The net result is that the oils become 'butters' -- ie thick as butter. For presentation, such butters are COLORED with dye.
During WWII, if and when the dyes were not available, the product would ship looking like LARD. But it would actually taste just like today's margarine.
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BTW, both Soviet and German survivors now feel guilty about what they'd done when so young. One cute Russian lass admitted that NKVD utterly brutalized any captured Germans -- and then executed them -- every time. She admitted that doing so was immoral, but it was just the way things were done. The conflict was so barbarous and cruel, no-one questioned such matters.
The Krauts were every bit as ruthless. Don't you doubt that. From the start, Adolf laid out that this, Barbarossa, was to be a battle of extermination. He meant it.
I don't know why Jews keep limiting the Holocaust to just themselves. Adolf had a VERY extensive 'kill list.'
Partisans
Roma
Seventh Day Adventists (not so numerous)
Mormons (rare)
Bolsheviks (Commissars)...
AND
Slavs -- as many as possible in every circumstance.
Jews -- as viciously as possible.
Uppity Catholics and Protestants; indeed,
ANY anti-Nazi soul.
Uppity Junkers, too.
Yes, this list is quite incomplete.
Nazi treatment of PWs was atrocious -- even so for British, Canadian and American PWs.
Adolf had a fixation against young religions. So any religion much younger than 1650AD was on his kill list.
And to think Adolf's mother wanted him to enter the priesthood. (!!!) (when he was but a boy.)
Stalin's mother wished the same for him. (!!!) (when he was quite young)
The true reason that the Krauts wanted to surrender to the West: GUILT. The Ostheer was as guilty as the SS and SD. Postwar German diaries admit to as much.
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There was a study done decades ago. In it -- to the total shock of everybody -- the gals in corporate life were using even trivial materials at a rate 50% above that of their male peers --- and we're talking about pure office drones in the insurance industry. (They love statistics.)
In the study, it was discovered that the gals just burned through office supplies such as paper clips, rubber bands, paper, pencils,... on and on.
There was no petty item that they were not burning through at enhanced tempos.
Then the study showed that they, the gals, spent less time at their desks. (Smoking was already out, they sold life insurance.) The gals simply stretched their coffee breaks, etc., a few more minutes. This was easy to compile now that every soul has to tap the company computer system.
The final result: gals are simply more expensive to keep in their seats. In the overall scheme, the firm just ate the extra expenses. While interesting, and highly indicative, they were too small to justify sex based layoffs. (And boy, would that generate a lawsuit.)
But, on the whole, gals at work are slackers.
Their minds constantly shift back to the kids and to home life. This tic is impossible to stop, and who would want to even try?
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@vinylsp Monty largely ran on BRITISH supplies from British factories: food, small arms, etc. The only thing that both commanders really were fighting about was GASOLINE/PETROL.
What had happened was that Adolf started hitting London with V-2s. Then Winnie demanded that Monty do something about same -- seeings how the launches were happening between Arnhem and Nijmegan in Holland -- on the island there -- in the massive river delta of the Rhine. Then Monty pitched Market-Garden to Eisenhower who said, "Yes." Ike did not staff out M-G for one-second. Tedder tried to stop the scheme, as he knew Monty all too well.
As part of M-G, Monty requested 2,000 GMC 2.5 ton trucks. Ike said, "Yes." Thus my own father lost his steed to Monty. He got a prompt vacation from the Red Ball Express. With the loss of these 2,000 machines, Patton and Hodges lost their gasoline supply -- for it was being trucked up to them.
Now you have the full picture -- that was kept Top Secret for Y E A R S after the war. Even C. Ryan did not know that M-G centered on stopping the V-2 bombardment of London... did not know that the island between the two cities was where the SS was firing said V-2s every night.
We ALL know that Monty had his entire army group sitting on its ass for a FULL week before M-G. If the normal ground campaign had simply continued, 21st AG would've certainly over-run the island LONG before M-G even started !
Winnie, Monty, and Ike stopped the war for a full-week. The Nazis considered this event to be a bloody miracle. That's why German morale came up out of the grave during this hiatus. This flip in the flow is not something that historians want to dwell on. Yes, the German armies in the West really DID collapse during August. This one-week delay extended the war into 1945. Prior to the halt, the Krauts were just throwing their rifles away. Aachen would've been surrendered as an open city. Yup.
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@averige
The scary thing is that Lenin had Stage IV syphilis by the time he gained power -- and died from it.
The Russians admitted this during Yeltsin's presidency. They coughed up Lenin's medical records. It's significant that Lenin's last personal physician was brought in because he was Russia's national expert on syphilis. He had a towering reputation based on his expertise with this killer.
The so-called stroke that Lenin had was nothing more than Lenin ranting and raving from the ravages of syphilis. These rantings continued until the day he died of syphilis.
As you might imagine, Stage IV syphilis is famed for triggering raving paranoia. Lenin was not only warning his Bolshevik pals about Stalin, he was warning Stalin about his Bolshevik pals.
By that hour, Lenin was paranoid about everyone and everything. His mind was collapsing.
By the end, the spirochetes just eat the brain alive, parasitically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis
MANY of Lenin's tyrannical decisions were obviously driven by his syphilis.
Other famous syphilitics:
Adolf Hitler -- with proof ( heart murmur ) in the American national archives + the testimony -- in writing -- of both of his last physicians. Like Lenin, Hitler sought out Germany's top expert in syphilis and made him his personal, attending, physician. (Dr. Morell ) Hitler not only went insane due to Stage IV syphilis -- he was addicted to meth ( speed ) courtesy of Dr. Morell. This addiction was totally out of hand during the summer of '42. Adolf's antics were so extreme that Himmler had his 'medicine' analysed by expert chemists. It was a frightful concoction. He was being poisoned. His addiction caused him to flip-flop his panzers all through Case Blue.
Napoleon Bonaparte -- with proof in the diary of his personal attending physician. This diary was kept hidden until late in the 20th Century. The sole and only reason that the French did not march on Waterloo, June 17, 1815 was because Napoleon's organ was on FIRE from a fresh syphilitic infection. It cost him everything. Later, he died from it on St. Helena. Penicillin hadn't been discovered yet.
Winston Churchill's father. He broke down from Stage IV syphilis right in front of Parliament. He was the Defence Minister at the time. No wonder Winnie had a life-long compulsion to become Defence Minister -- and Prime Minister. We tend to forget, but Winnie was his own Defence Minister. Of course, Winnies father died from the disease.
Just like Stalin -- who was his own Defense Minister, too.
And here I thought that the Spanish Flu was the big killer.
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The Chernobyl story is more twisted, yet. Until the USSR collapsed, the entire affair was still a state secret. This means that 'publicly available' maps were not up-dated WRT the disaster. When the 1991 revolution came, Moscow lost both interest and access to Ukraine's map updates.
When Putin invaded, he handed out the modern version of Esso road maps to his troops. (Reference to 1944 France & Patton's 3rd Army)
THIS is why the Russian junior commanders deployed their men in such an insane manner. They had pre-disaster maps.
As I type, Russia is having to deal with mass casualties of a radioactive nature.
(This was a major factor in Putin's northern retreat. It's Top Secret, so don't tell anybody.)
As for the 'Red Forest' -- Chernobyl was built in a swamp. The Soviets engaged in a massive reclamation project at the site -- moving mud and dirt all over -- driving piles by the hundred -- all to sculpt the terrain for its mega-project. (Four (4) world-scale atomic plants, side-by-side.)
Part of that sculpting included a drainage zone (mega ditch) to take away excess water -- assumed to be the result of intense seasonal rains -- always a possibility at Chernobyl. This massive structure was to be hidden from US satellites via planting trees native to the area. They can tolerate saturated soils.
This whole zone was flat, low and filled in with very diggable soil, even before the first tree was planted.
When the disaster occurred, the astounding amounts of water employed naturally drained straight into the Red Forest. THAT'S why it's so radioactive. Think of it as a septic tank for radioactivity (the plant, itself) ... with a leach field. (i.e. The Red Forest)
BTW, it's poor wording to describe the fiasco as an explosion -- much better to term it a reactor lit on fire -- the ultimate BBQ.
Fundamentally, the Soviet atomic scheme was a massive pile of charcoal briquettes -- with natural uranium riven through it.
After the first explosion -- a STEAM explosion -- the super-heated pile of carbon simply lit off. Plumes of radioactive nuclides went airborne, world-wide.
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The wounded stat is way low -- unless Russian medics shoot the wounded.
1% per day is the historical norm for any attacker/ invader versus a moderate defense.
(Ukraine is using a fluid defense, until a city is at issue. This accounts for the total lack of Big Battles, encirclements.)
You just know that every official account has to be a guestimate. No party has access to the both sides and the medical records.
Assuming history is repeating:
~ 7,500 KIA
~ 7,500 Deserted, wounded and captured, captured at arms, lost in the woods.
~ 25,000 Wounded (the severity is all over the lot; some are cripples many are just bandage cases, most can be re-habbed.)
~ 40,000 Total troop losses from where Putin sits.
No wonder he's compelled to bring in his strategic reserves... even from the Far East. He's brought in Syrians and Chechens, too.
Historical loss trends exist because troops are only willing to press so far, take so many casualties, before they back off to regroup.
If a particular unit is down 15% in combat manpower, it's should be out of action. In that 15% were the most aggressive troops.
Only in dire situations will a unit be pressed on and on -- taking brutal losses. Such losses defined Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa,... and Stalingrad.
You will read of Soviet infantry divisions that took far more than 15% losses during WWII / the Great Patriotic War.
But that process normally took months of fighting at the front. (Exceptions: Stalingrad, Yelnya Woods, the Great Kiev pocket...)
You can see why the Ukrainian Army is so up-beat. Its morale is sky-high due to smart ATGMs -- and tank-sniping tactics.
What this means: the Ukrainians are fighting squad by squad.
They are not (usually) ever concentrated enough for the Russians to employ their vast superiority in artillery.
Like Mel Gibson in 'Patriot' they pop-up as ghosts and then fade away.
NLAWs and Javelins are (justifiably) terrifying. The Ukrainians just can't BELIEVE how effective they are. Those boys are over the Moon.
They make the most advanced Russian tanks mere coffins. Their tanker morale is rock-bottom. They're the shootee, not shooter.
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That's not a 'broad front strategy' at all. Putin, at this point, is just fighting to stay fighting.
The Ukrainians are not, on the whole, counter-attacking. It's as the guest presented. The Russians are using canon fodder to expose Ukrainian strong points. In this, the fodder has replicated the role of penal battalions -- straight out of Stalin's Great Patriotic War.
Where and when the Ukrainians are counter-attacking -- they are doing so largely out of range of Russian artillery. But, of course. Notably, up east of Kharkiv, the UA stopped moving east as soon as it reached the Russian artillery defense range. Wow, just like magic.
The real problem with crippled units is that they are crippled in élan even more than TO&E. The entire 1st Guards Tank Army is so afflicted. That's why practically nothing has become of its Izyum bridgehead -- which surely figured large in Putin's Plan Z.
Reforming units -- on the fly -- is impossible. The RA has to pull crippled battalion tactical groups entirely out of the war. But Putin can't wait for them to be re-blooded.
Regardless, the imminent arrival of the American MLRS is the death of Putin's latest battle tactics. It eats artillery brigades for breakfast. When first employed in 1991, a single volley was known to have shredded a brigade. ('Steel Rain') Witnessing neighbors just fled -- officers, first. Destroying enemy artillery, rocket or tube, is job one for the MLRS system. The US Army did not use it for much else.
Keep in mind, the MLRS system out ranges ALL Russian artillery. Putin is going to find it hard to counter.
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@nationalsound7181 The players looked past the current state of politics -- off to the eternal.
Yeltsin was a national hero -- heck -- an international hero. He was undone by the clowns around him -- many of whom were out and out thieves.
Putin was a thief from the beginning. One story brings this out. Mr. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots (football team) was induced to show Putin -- in person -- his Superbowl (victory) Ring. In one-second that ring was running down the hall -- in the hand of one of Putin's uniformed palace guards. Now think: A ring (trophy) for a uniquely American sport can have no resonance in Russian culture. Such rings are not Faberge eggs. But, klepto Putin just HAD to steal it. Hell, his own KGB/GRU could replicate such a ring to his hearts desire. No-one would care. But, ahhh, to steal, 'tis to dream, to steal from a celebrity American. That hit the spot.
For Putin, theft, large and small, is but an art form -- his favorite sport. This time around, Putin intends to steal a nation, even the world's future.
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$61,000,000,000 => $21,000,000,000 for Kyiv; $40,000,000,000 for the Pentagon.
This split has caused no end of confusion all the way around.
It's why folks think that Kyiv is getting a pitiful amount of backing -- which was baked in with the original bill.
Zelenskyy made a catastrophic error, years ago, by not tapping the LendLease fund ~ $21,000,000,000 back in '22. It's expired.
He didn't think it wise to borrow from America; instead he depended on Biden's gifts. Oops.
Biden was never calling the shots. Jake Sullivan always was. Jake never wanted Moscow to fail catastrophically.
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Paulus was never going to break out. He was a deer-in-the-headlights kind of fella.
The ONLY shot that the Germans had was to cut the panzer corps loose right from the start, BEFORE the Soviets pocked them with the infantry. As necessary, the lesser valued panzers would've been left behind so that enough fuel was there for the best panzers to make it all the way to German supply heads near Rostov or west of the Don.
The Don bridgehead HAD to be priority. In the event, it wasn't. The Soviets even conned the repair troops there to advance forward into the Stalingrad pocket!
( German survivor's accounts.)
These repair troops were soon a priority to fly out of the pocket, being at the top of the list. They had to leave all of their tools behind, (weight)
Once the 16p,24p,29m etc were outside the pocket, they could immediately begin to rip the Soviet light infantry to pieces... totally frustrating the encirclement.
That the above was not done is a tribute to Paulus. He froze. Guderian, Hoth, Rommel, not one of them would've froze.
Panzers are useless on defense. Why Paulus let them stay with the infantry is a complete mystery. You would've expected Hube to be howling.
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Putin craves a bigger empire because of his imperial self-conception. Just read his words. Put shortly, Putin contends that the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 was the WORST event in the 20th Century. So, Just skip the end of the Russian Empire, 1917 -- WWI... WWII & The Great Patriotic War -- the fall of the Iron Curtain 1989, Spanish Flu (1917-1921) the Pacific War 1931-1945 the partition of India (1947-1948) the incredible sequence of wars in Africa -- nothing else was significant. Only Putin's dream-history counts.
Like Adolf, Stalin, Tojo, et al, this is all WAY beyond logic. So, stop using logic when discussing Putin's ambit.
It's not 'greed' as so commonly said. Like Adolf, it's a cross between coveting a dream and bitter resentment when that dream is ruined.
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@David
Because of telecommunications security, the Axis Allied armies were actually getting their orders via the German net -- namely that of 6th Army -- which was actually operating as an army group in its own right.
Even though the Romanians and Italians were organized as organic armies, complete, they still had to co-ordinate with 6th Army -- even if -- on paper -- they were directly subordinate to Army Group B.
As a practical matter, these Axis armies were hugely passive. The krauts were STEALING their heavy weapons on a systemic basis. This was the exact inverse of the American scheme.
{
The American supply system was so robust that entire Allied armies were supplied, off the cuff, based upon surplus// replacement heavy weapons. This is how the French 1st Army in the Rhone river valley came to be. It was originally intended to be just a corps of ex-territorial French troops ( read that to mean French led African colonial formations at the heart of de Gaulle's FFA ) As the American 7th Army drove up the Rhone, the local Frenchmen fell out to join their own reserve formations.
In this, the French entirely duplicated the Wehrkreis system -- which actually hails from Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. (1620s -- Thirty-Years War) [ Regiment = raised for the king ]
The US Army simply handed over all of the necessary weapons so as to re-create southern French infantry divisions. It didn't hurt that the 81mm mortar and the 155mm howitzer were French designs cloned by the Americans.
}
The Ostheer systematically stole all of the PAK sent by Italy and Romania to their forces in the east. They KNEW that these armies had absolutely no defense against Soviet tanks.
THIS was the height of folly.
OKH knew all about all of this. The Axis armies had been bitching about weapons theft for just about forever.
OKH should've adopted the American system where everyone at the front is being given the same stuff. The Axis armies just didn't need that much stuff, either.
Absolutely no modern army replicates the folly of OKH.
BTW, because of the Wehrkreis system, the Stalingrad fiasco caused Hitler political troubles. He, essentially, promised that the divisions that had been destroyed in the kessel would not have to serve in the east again. They were re-raised and then sent down into Italy and Yugoslavia and even southern France. This is why the Italian occupation army looks like the Stalingrad kessel. (305,76,44, on over)
The 14p, 16p, ... et. al. also had a 'vacation' in Italy. ( Being posted to 10th Army was deemed a dream vacation from the war by German troops. ( It was common for German units to be posted way up the spine of Italy as reaction troops lest the British-Americans land more troops. Italian winters may be wet, but they're mild compared to Germany. )
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@annamack5823 The Prince never paid her. IIRC that was never the scheme. Instead, the scene was Playboy Mansion East. All of the gals were playful, fresh and YOUNG.
It was Epstein that funded the project... and he did so without directly paying the gals for their performances. Rather, like Hef, he made all of them 'kept sluts.' They were feted in his golden prison -- until they were discarded. In this manner, Epstein was the ultimate super-pimp.
A "Long-Legged Mack-Daddy" in the American street lingo.
His larger gambit was to trade pedo-sex for insider financial information -- and political favors -- protection, especially. By the time he was murdered, he'd amassed $150,000,000+
Bill Gates and Bill Clinton have to be as guilty as the Prince. Indeed, Andrew is digging their graves with his big mouth. No wonder the Queen had to cut ties with her blabber boy.
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@Steven
Nope, Nazi Germany was already in a two front war -- had been since June 22, 1941
.
Von Rundstedt was right, Rommel was right.
The Americans were impossible to stop at the beachhead;
the Americans were impossible to stop once they got inland.
Yup. They were both right: you're not going to stop the Americans.
Neither FM was concerned about the British.
Their army was just too small.
It was landing in France only because Big Brother, USA, was landing at the same time. Shortly after D-Day the British Army just started to fade away. London just couldn't // wouldn't provide replacements for losses. Everytime you turned around, another British infantry division was being broken up -- entirely.
In contrast, the Americans needed the entire front, from the sea to the Swiss border to get all of their troops into action. This was finally achieved, April 23, 1945. ( Handshake day.)
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@John Burns
The US armies NEVER had to divert supplies in the manner described. General LEE and IKE were totally in charge of such matters, NOT Bradley, not Patton.
That's why they had to sit on their azzes and watch MG while doing nothing. If they'd had any say at all, they'd have kept on going.
Ike TOTALLY SHUT THEM OFF with a phone call to Lee.
He issued orders to General Lee, who ran the supply echelon.
The American system was unlike that of any other army's. All supplies were brought up by non-combat troops that the generals at the front had no control over. They were delivered to the various army-level supply depots, whence 1st, 3rd and 9th picked them up to haul them the last miles to the front. That's how the system really worked.
When Bradley was desperate for soldiers, he requested that Lee's boys be diverted to combat. He was shot down in flames. He didn't get ANYBODY. General Lee, of course, had a FIT.
Ike was trying to mollify Monty, nothing more.
Official histories are nothing more than azz wiping for the record. When you've read enough of them, it becomes baffling why anyone in any army ever put a footstep wrong.
( In this regard, Halder's revisionism is epic by any standard. )
NO WAY is the American official history -- or any other official document -- going to put the blame on Monty -- or the British, more generally.
Grow up.
As for 'Maxwell' (Taylor) -- you're looking at parachute DOGMA. No way is the school for parachutists going to opine that the biggest drop of the war was all goofed up because Browning -- its godfather -- phu cked up. Instead, the official line had to be: it could've worked, yes it could.
Well, who can argue against could'ves?
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As a side note: the original plan did not anticipate the existence of the French 1st Army -- at all. The French, like most European powers, organized their draft and reserve divisions around specific regions. (Provinces) As the US 7th Army moved up the Rhone river valley, French reserve troops that had never participated in the 1940 fiasco started reporting to the colors -- just as they had in 1940 -- until the Vichy government sent them home.
The American provisions for equipment losses -- which were, in fact, not being lost, the campaign was a roll over -- were then directed at these Frenchmen. Since the 81mm mortar and 155mm howitzer were French in origin, it took all of five-minutes for the French to train on them. Heh.
The 105mm howitzer was a German design -- so it took 15-minutes for the French to dope it out.
In the blink of an eye, out of nowhere, the French added a full sized army to the Allied order of battle.
Leclerc's 2nd Tank Division was shifted over from 12th Army Group into the French 1st -- shortly after it went on holiday in Paris -- for 72-hours.
The French 1st Army did spend the bulk of its energies fighting Frenchmen -- however. It's an ugly tale, suppressed by those in the know.
It, naturally, reported to de Gaulle, and he had other priorities than Eisenhower. His obsession: traitors, collaborators... and fleeing Nazis.
(The reservists soon out-numbered the Free French troops that had participated in Operation Dragoon.)
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@jmarlow2153 I contend that the real turning point was the cypher-war. Signals intelligence decided the strategic game.
It was at Tel el Issa that the Brits FINALLY discovered how Rommel had been wrong-footing them... Same as how the Krauts had been wrong-footing the Soviets straight through to Uranus -- for the most part.
The Cambridge crew alerted Moscow PDQ as to what the Brits discovered WRT signals analysis, the B'diesnt teams, and Nazi code breaking. Tel el Issa turned to be quite significant for the Battle of the Atlantic. This is a connection that virtually all histories skip past. And with reason, the UK government has kept a tight wrap on the embarrassing details for decades after the war.
It was hard enough to reveal Enigma and Ultra. It is even worse to let the public in on the errors in British naval codes during the early years in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Both the British and the Germans had one fundamental problem, the grid co-ordinates when sailing across the Atlantic soon become too repetitive. They become a key into the cyphering scheme.
In North Africa, both sides were getting so many, many naval signals such that their encoding schemes began to break down.
Until Tel el Issa the British were wholly unaware of just how totally the Krauts were doping their movements out. The PAA never recovered from Tel el Issa. Suddenly, the 8th Army had signals security.
The exact same thing happened for the Soviets with Uranus. It was NOT a co-incidence. During the first hours of Uranus, KNVD commandos snagged the Enigma detachment that had been located up with the Hungarian Army -- during a white out!!! The Soviets/Russians are still staying mum about this astonishing feat.
The weather report is common knowledge -- yet buried in the military archives. How the Soviets pulled this gambit off remains a mystery. Uranus worked because this machine -- and its papers -- and its crew -- permitted Stavka to spoof Adolf's supreme command over-rides. They spoofed the 29th MD into stopping its counter-attack against the southern wing at the most critical hour. Until this order from "Adolf Hitler" came through, the 29th was just chewing up the light, leading infantry of the Reds.
There is the wrongful assumption that a division fighting in North Africa was approximately equal to a division fighting in the USSR. Such is not so. The desert destroys men and machines at SEVEN TIMES the tempo seen in Europe This burn-out in the desert is still true.
Translated: to support a single panzer division in the Sahara took seven-division equivalents of Eastern Front military gear.
Yes, the reason Halder hated Rommel's campaign was that it was sucking down enough men and gear to sustain two-panzer armies if deployed to the Eastern Front. Yup. It was that bad.
This horrific wearing rate was why Kaddaffy had such a huge tank force. He knew that if ever deployed, it would wear down at a fantastic rate. You might note that most of the dictator's tanks have been scrapped. The Sahara destroyed them even without any of them fighting.
Stop thinking about North Africa in terms of divisions and men -- and start calculating how many gallons of gasoline, ships and panzers are evaporating there. Adolf was actually supporting SIX panzer armies but only getting four armies + one corps. That's how it looked from OKH's desk.Losses to the RN and to the desert were EPIC.
Two extra panzer armies -- ALL panzer divisions -- none merely motorized -- would've changed everything in the East during 1942. Rommel's fruitless enterprise cost Adolf any chance at victory.
Even today the resource gobbling significance of North Africa is lost even upon British fan boys.
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TIK is falling victim to the Fraz Halder effect.
1) Paulus was a Halder boy going all the way back. Paulus was selected by Halder Precisely BECAUSE he followed orders -- which were supposed to be Halder's orders.
Hitler thought better on the equation -- and dumped the Catholic. Zeitzler was brought in. ( The hero of Dieppe could run panzer armies on thin air.)
2) Halder -- and Von Manstein -- wrote for the 'ages' ( as did Bradley, Monty, et. al. No-one wanted to make their armies out to be baffoons. )
Yet if you REALLY look at the German response to Uranus -- Paulus looks like a total fool.
3) The REAL story WRT Uranus is STILL obscured.
3a) The Soviet heroics in bagging the German Signals detatchment sent up to the Hungarian Army is STILL suppressed. It was as war-turning as the British super-success at the First Battle of Tel el Isa.
( Fact chance of finding anything about it these days. What used to be a Google snap search is now buried way down into the bowels of the Internet. )
4) In both cases, the British and the Russians pulled off the coups of the century -- and refuse to give any publicity to their master strokes.
I still can't figure out how the NKVD EVER bagged the Germans during at total White Out.
Bet you never heard a word about that.
Bet you never heard that the Soviets WAITED for the White Out.
Bet you never heard that Uranus was weeks late -- 'cause STAVKA was waiting upon IDEAL conditions.
Bet you never heard that Mars was DELIBERATELY compromised by STAVKA so as to paralyze OKH... to stop it from returning the panzer corps promised to Paulus. You read that right, STAVKA compromised its own massive offensive in front of Moscow so that OKH would be freaked out.
Bet you never heard about OKH having an entire reserve panzer corps waiting on flat cars for the inevitable Red Army Winter Counter-Attack. ( patent pending ) Yeah. EVERY German saw it coming.
Starting with Zeitzler - Chief of Staff at OKH. ( September 24, 1942 )
TIK, your 'problem' is that you're using BS that was cranked out during the Cold War -- BS that made every attempt to hide what had actually transpired.
Neither the Victors nor the Vanquished were willing to go on the record.
So you've got DECADES of BS from all parties.
The crypto-war -- the need for the Ostheer to go to Five Rotors -- Suddenly -- like overnight -- goes without comment. ( Heh. heh. heh. heh.)
[ The German Navy ordered the 5-rotor machines because they became concerned. Von Manstein ordered out NAVAL Enigmas -- in a total panic -- once he doped out that the Reds were reacting to German (four-rotor) signals.
This reality was hinted at in von Mellenthin's Panzer Battles. Even he would not admit the obvious: the Soviets were reading German signals in real time. THAT'S the reason why the rescue attempt at the Chir and Don went totally sideways. Von Mellenthin dances around that reality.
THAT'S why von Manstein gave up on rescuing 6th Army.
What you must understand: von Manstein is gagging on the fact that a four-star German general made horrific gaffs usually associate with Inspector Clouseau.
We all remember him. He told his superior that the organ grinder couldn't be the look-out for the bank robbery gang - because he was blind. This was the same French inspector that was found arguing with a monkey.
The FACTS are plain: Paulus allowed the Reds to rope and dope him -- LONG before von Manstein was called in to bail him out.
1) Omitted in virtually ALL (Halder tellings) accounts Paulus WASTED his fuel reserve by sending his panzer regiments thither and fro BEFORE the ring was closed.
2) Omitted from virtually ALL accounts: the southern wing not only started days late, it couldn't bring ANY heavy weapons across the Volga. Yup.
3) Omitted from virtually all accounts: the Soviets couldn't dig in... not for DAYS.
Yes, you read that right. The Germans -- in panzers -- could just mow the Russians down. They had NO heavy weapons, NO fox-holes, and minimal reserves of food and ammo.
When the 29th Motorized division moved against the southern wing, it was a SLAUGHTER. Who could stop panzers with their pricks? It took STAVKA spoofing to stop this German counter-stroke. If left as intendened, the 29th would've totally ruined Uranus -- all by itself.
Paulus actually believed -- and operated upon -- totally absurd Soviet spoofs that should not have fooled at four-year old.
Once von Manstein dopes this all out, he is stunned. Even years afterward, he can't lay this out to the general public. ( Get it? )
Like virtually ALL WWII commanders, his accounts are deliberate lies designed to not embarrass his nation's army.
In the case of Bradley, I just about had the heaves. ( A Soldier's Story. Gag, gag. gag.)
&&&&&&&
TIK is wrong:
By the time von Manstein is involved it's TOO LATE.
The 6th Army was fated to suffer the slings of the French of 1812-1813.
Von Manstein could see that, could FEEL it, by just walking outside his HQ.
Lost Victories is a weird read, no doubt.
1) The dude was serving to extend the tyranny of a mad-man.
[ Stage IV syphilis, jacked up on meth// speed ]
2) Day by day, he saw EVERY asset being pulled away:
He lost a panzer corps -- before he even showed up.
He lost 11th Army -- it was piece-mealed to the Ostheer.
He couldn't even get panzers up out of Army Group A.
( 13th Panzer particularly burns in his mind, see Lost Victories. )
&&&
OKH// OKW// Adolf should've had their hair on fire. Panzer divisions ought to have been recalled from Army Group A. But the WEREN'T.
%%%
Lastly, Paulus was FIXATED upon removing his ENTIRE 6th Army -- which was an ARMY GROUP.
I"ve never read of a signal scheme to merely shift the 4th Panzer Army.
It's ALWAYS the ENTIRE army.
That could NEVER WORK.
It's no wonder that von Manstein nixed every flight to the west.
It, such an attempt, would have been a fiasco beyond any imagining.
For some crazy reason, Paulus was fixated upon retreating the ENTIRE infantry army -- even though the numbers said that it was a total impossibility. The German army NEVER had the transport to shift an army in the winter -- so far.
Paulus didn't even see the significance of his position in terms of the prosecution of the war.
Astride the Volga, 6th Army was in a WINNING POSITION. STAVKA had to move heaven and Earth to shif it away from the Volga,
Yet, he didn't see that. (!!!!)
Everybody else did. ( Zietzler. (
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@aamnahere6250 Not quite. The male lion has one unique Darwinian advantage -- his mane.
The hyena has only ONE killing scheme -- going for the throat. The adult male has so much hair that hyenas are hence frustrated.
In every other sense, the mane is a genetic liability. It makes the male overheat -- and heating is a big issue for the big cats.
A male lion's power is so great that should a hyena manage to grab a limb -- it can't stand the counter-move.
The mane is the primary reason that male lions lay around all day. They dare not work up a sweat.
Further, hyenas much prefer to attack, in packs, at night. The male lion consequently gets no rest -- all night long -- 365 days a year.
With him around, the gals and kits can nod off. BTW, it usually takes two brothers to pull such duty.
BTW, ancient cave paintings, where and when hyenas didn't exist, show male lions without a mane... just his organ.
The mane is a pretty recent Darwinian adaptation. If its big and DARK, the gals go absolutely crazy for him.
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Lucas and Clark BOTH deserve scorn. Clark ought to have jumped all over Lucas within the first day. Clark should never have even made it to Korea. Amazing.
BTW, Bradley send down no end of American generals after only one screw-up. They were not kept in Europe but sent back to the USA.
Alexander had a killer rep with the US Army. At his level of command, he can't ride heavy on Clark. This is the same dynamic between Ike and Monty.
BTW, Churchill delayed D-Day by taking// holding onto the LSTs. Their lack was used by Bradley to convince Monty to delay D-Day by five weeks. Both agreed that they ought to wait for more LSTs. Sadly, both Monty and Bradley were wrong. The blame lies mostly with Bradley.
BTW, both the USN and RN hated operating off of Anzio. It was just too close to Nazi air power. The Krauts had already sunk two Italian heavies with their first generation smart bombs. Indeed, that's why Anzio was selected as the limit.
Further both navies were gearing up for D-Day. They wanted their crews at 100% - and at first they expected to be off Normandy May 1, 1944. That was not a lot of time. As it proved out, the navies just got stuck in the Med. This was NOT where they wanted to be.
Once it was obvious what the trend was, Dragoon was pencilled in.
Now Churchill didn't want a landing! He expected another Anzio! Oh, my!
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The actual term used by the SS/Nazis: General Government Area. This was that southern part of Poland DIRECTLY controlled, without intermediaries, by the SS/SD. This specific area was where ALL of the extermination camps were located -- not to be confused with concentration camps. Auschwitz was a combo facility -- being both a death camp, proper, and a extermination-labor camp -- producing synthetic rubber above all else. ( The synthetic rubber plant was just walking distance down the road. ) In a death camp, you lived a few hours, at best. In an extermination-labor camp you suffered for two-weeks and then were murdered, being utterly destroyed, physically. My Uncle survived the extermination-labor camp that produced the V-2, V-1 -- called Dora. I believe, for all kinds of reasons, that he was the sole survivor of Dora. The SS simply murdered all of the labor force before the American Army could liberate them. My Uncle had been moved to Buchenwald's 'hospital' -- which is why and how he survived. He was to be traded for Goering and Himmler's skins, along with 99,999 other souls.
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I could not believe Putin's timing -- because MUD was so soon to come.
I only realized that Putin's invasion was certain on 2-18-2022. He gave a 'tell.'
I flatly reject the crazy notion that the GRU was caught napping.
Putin simply would not hear contrary intel -- so his toadies didn't dare bring such naughty items up to their boss. Now they're under house arrest.
Because of levée en masse, Zelenzkyy has a larger army than Putin. It merely lacks training, uniforms, boots, helmets... and weapons. Heh.
So long as the West keeps sending in Smart ATGMs -- Putin is toast.
Mud + Smart Munitions => a sticky death for any mechanized army.
Sanctions have actually shut down Putin's two biggest tank factories.
They had become reliant upon Western imports. (microchips & bearings)
Reserve tanks have been revealed to be inert upon call-up. Oops.
For such a modest invasion army, Putin's boys have lost a very hefty fraction of their front-line combat power.
During Barbarossa, all panzer accounts stressed that the campaign was a 'road-war.' That's all that they controlled.
During Iraq, (2003) the American Army also conducted a 'road-war.'
Putin, right now, is stuck in his own 'road-war.' He does not control the vast expanses that all the maps show -- just the paved roads.
BTW, the Crimea is directly connected to the Kuban with twin bridges: rail and highway.
Putin does not need ports on the Sea of Azov, but they would be handy.
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Let's all remember that LPR and DPR 'forces' are entirely composed of reluctant Ukrainians -- dragooned into the ranks.
One is reminded of Poles in Normandy -- in German uniforms, German ranks, their own outfit -- one fine day they discover that the Allied force attacking them is Polish -- to the last man. With cries of 'brother' they dropped their rifles. Monty, somehow, had managed to use Poles to fight Poles -- just kidding. Within no time flat, the Poles in German uniforms received new ones courtesy of Monty. He'd stocked up quite a few right behind his own Poles. What a co-incidence !
What's happening here is that Putin, like his mentor Adolf, has gotten too clever, and has tried to get his enemies to kill each other off.
It's not working out that way. Given half-a-chance, Ukrainians in LPR/DPR uniforms are ditching them// dropping their rifles.
( Which is sad, since they are valuable antiques... Mosin-Nagant, they are. )
The Big Story is that Putin has flatly run out of infantry. He's on his way to running out of artillery, tanks and helicopter pilots.
Then what?
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@obligatoryusername7239 Since all three nations are furiously investing in this technology, you're not going to get ANYTHING in the open literature WRT hyper-sonics. But some essentials are so obvious that they can be laid out here.
1) The throw-weight atop any ICBM is drastically reduced. Your money goes towards a glide-craft instead of detonations. This is obvious even from the limited sketches released to the Press.
2) It's not a mature technology. Red China claims to have a Big Jump.
3) It bleeds energy/range by operating at fantastic speed within the atmosphere. A hypersonic warhead -- as sketched -- can't have intercontinental range. If you think about it, EVERY ICBM is hypersonic. What is new is the capacity to REALLY twist and turn -- within the atmosphere -- during final penetration. This can already be done if the trajectory is that of a traditional ICBM. But, a traditional drop spends so little time in the atmosphere there's not much time to put 'English' on the ball. What's being pitched is a warhead that can be notionally aimed at Denver and then - at the last second - deviated all the way to Austin.
A) What's the purpose of that? Either way it's an ICBM strike and Hell is to follow.
B) You've thrown 90% of your warhead away as now it's dedicated to 'skip-aiming.'
No.
The ONLY thing that makes sense is that your hypersonic warhead comes in undetectably. By the time the victim discovers the strike, he's already strategically castrated. In broad terms, hypersonic warheads are destabilizing. They entirely take away decision time from any national leader. This was the fatal strategic escalation loop that gave Europe World War One. Each player didn't know how to NOT escalate.
In the Cold War at least the adversaries were half-a-world apart. With Russia and Red China -- they are glaring across the world's longest common border.
And, BTW, the two super-powers nearly blew up the planet REPEATEDLY during the Cold War. False attack indicators had the Soviets all keyed up more than once. Yeah', they almost launched humanity into war over a technical malfunction!
Red China is the triggering power. She is busting through all of the arms limitation treaties signed by Moscow and Washington. ( With a focus on cruise missiles. These are inherently stealthy and cause limitless paranoia when the stakes rise. )
As it stands, Xi has Red China moving against EVERY SINGLE NEIGHBOR. These dust-ups are merely tune-ups for Global Atomic War... which is the end game for Xi's grand strategy. If interviewed, Xi would claim that he's going to finesse things. Adolf thought that HE was going to finesse the British and the French.
Bin Laden thought HE was going to finesse the Americans, too.
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@Mstislaw
BTW, EVERY army had penal battalions// formations.
In the US Army 'Graves and Registrations' was always a penal formation. It was a duty that absolutely no-one wanted.
Because every army needed troopers to staff out chit details -- like Graves and Registrations -- the infractions// crimes required to be sent down to a penal formation whipped all over the lot, by army, by nation and by recent history.
The film "The Dirty Dozen" , while highly fictional in every way, did touch on the fact that penal troops were routinely given Hell work.
One job out of many: clearing mines.
If captured German engineers could be found, they would certainly be pressed into such service. My own father stood guard over such details in Normandy. There are no end of photos showing this activity. Naturally, these photos are not now popularly reprinted.
If the enemy combat engineers could not be found, then ANY enemy trooper was set to the task. Indeed, they'd be thrown into the mix even if engineers were on hand.
Of note, German mines were designed to be lifted and re-set. The Heer was in no economic situation to leave mine fields behind that could be re-set all over again when the front shifted. Further, it was often the case that the Germans wanted to attack straight through their own existing mine fields. German engineers got to the point that they could lift mines at night.
Where it got tricky was when a German mine was set to be a booby trap. ( One atop the other. ) Boy was that exciting.
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Your pitch is totally screwed up. Schwab DIDN'T commit customer monies -- it committed its OWN monies. Period.
It bought DURATION. That's bond market lingo for going out on the maturity curve -- in any debt market -- especially Treasuries.
Schwab made the EXACT SAME bone head move as SVB.
They hold short term, even demand deposits, which are liabilities...
While holding long term, debt based assets that they can't accelerate.
This error is the subject of Banking 101 for Idiots.
It's ALWAYS lethal.
Schwab was not as crazy as SVB -- but is still destined to be burned.
A portfolio maturity beyond ten-years is INSANE.
To keep its depositors happy, Schwab will have to increase its payouts on deposits -- period.
The brokerage arm will HAVE to subsidize the bank -- for years.
It most likely can't get away with doing so.
In all of your talking, it's not made clear exactly WHAT Schwab is holding -- Treasuries or Mortgages?
If mortgages, at least there's the chance that compelled real estate sales will accelerate mortgage redemptions.
But, I wouldn't bet on it. During rising interest rate eras, folks stay put.
But, since Biden is hyper-inflating the money supply, strange things will begin to happen.
This entire affair could disappear into the rear view mirror.
Buying TD Ameritrade at this point was an insane act. You just know that the deal includes crazy amounts of "goodwill."
The stock is a short. Bury will take note.
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Von Manstein and Guderian MADE France fall. (1940)
Von Manstein was the brain. Adolf never forgot his contribution.
Guderian was the executioner. Dittos.
With a minor assist from Rommel. ( MUCH more Adolf's style )
Guderian was not enough of a Nazi to become a Field Marshall. Merely conquering France was not enough. ( he disobeyed/ faked out Adolf, get it ? )
He created the 116th Panzer Division for the expressed purpose of civil war against the Nazis. Yes, it was stuffed to the brim with anti-Nazi Germans.
Guderian gave it two Panther battalions + a Mark IV battalion -- ultimately the 116th was a Panzer Corps in its own right. It had THAT much magic stuff.
Right through until the last, the 116th Panzer was kept 'in reserve.' This formation is usually a mystery in most military histories.
When the Mortain counter-offensive was commanded, the 116th became the primary panzer force. It was the only panzer force that had -- essentially -- escaped the Normandy campaign -- until then.
For most readers, the question pops up: where the Hell did this oddly numbered super-panzer division spring from?
BTW, it, the 116th Panzer, was presented by Guderian to Adolf as a BIRTHDAY GIFT. ( April 20, 1944 ) Yeah, he was happy as can be.
Heh.
The 116th Panzer Division was entirely equipped with that gear that was a surge of production. ie Gear that was not previously projected. The extra tanks -- and much else -- were a tribute to Guderian, himself. ( He was working in tandem with Minister Speer.)
Yes, Guderian pulled two battalions of Panthers out of his azz. He was already trying to stop the formation of Panther brigades.
Adolf thought that he could inject these puppies to bulk up virtually every infantry assault.
[ Something like this happened against Elsenborn Ridge (Bulge) ... but that King Tiger assault didn't quite pan out. Crazy amounts of Nazi armor were employed in that micro-campaign. ]
Guderian DID have a sense of humor.
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You start off great and then drift off: THE problem with gifted kids is that they are destined to square off against their TRUE peers.
They have no hope of meeting such souls until very well along in their education -- typically prep school or college.
Then the 'non-habit' of study bites down hard. Feynman noted this sixty-years ago with his freshman class at Caltech.
As for myself, Wonderlic rated me +8SD. ( I was declared non-human. ) So some would rate me as gifted.
At the age of 6 1/2 I shot through the S-B IQ test -- perfect until I ran out of time.
If I had known it was a timed test, I would've completed it. As it was, I almost did.
The national HQ just HAD to phone my 1st grade teacher. This was my doom. (The Litte-Man-Tate track was strongly recommended by her.)
But, my parents were adamant against any accelerated education for me. (I was mystified as to why class instruction was always so slow.)
This conflict lasted through high school, by which time I had the thickest academic record in North America.
My teachers were venting their frustrations -- and amazements.
Only at the end, too late, did my high school counselor inform me that my 'cume' was off the charts -- truly incredible. It took two-days just to read.
Until then, at no point did anyone ever tell me that I was a smart kid. My boxed set followed me to college -- and caused an uproar there, too.
My situation is typical for about HALF of all geniuses. Yeah, it's that common.
After my Wonderlic score I was told that no institution would suffer me. This proved true.
This society-wide rejection is a chronic burden for the gifted.
None of the above has stopped me from changing the trajectory of science, finance and politics locally, nationally and internationally.
I just go entirely unrecognized.
So, yes, very bright kids are special needs children. There's no doubt about that.
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No nation actually paid back for LendLease aid. It was just too great.
They could only pay back with wildly inflated currencies -- Pounds or Rubbles.
The French didn't even make the attempt. ( de Gaulle )
Post-war inflation -- world-wide -- has been so great that modern readers can't scarcely comprehend its vastness.
In 1890, in the US, a day's wage for an adult man was $0.75. ( Farm country ) HARD/dangerous/talented wages ran all the way up to $1/day. (Cattle drives) Carnegie's Top Man earned $90 a month. (!) That was FAT money.
By 1913, Henry Ford was.paying $5/day for industrial assembly. That was double the previous norm.
By 1943, the US Army was paying GIs $22/month -- parachute troops got an extra $5/month! Glider troops got base pay, only. Death insurance, by the US government was $10,000. You could buy a couple of houses for that much, five homes in the countryside.
In the 1970s, a Good Wage could mean $22,000 a year -- for a top manager. By 1980s all of these figures tripled. (!)
Homes that sold for $50,000 in a nice neighborhood -- Santa Monica, (1971) -- sold for $1,500,000 by 2022. (!!!)
Modern girls figure that their beau ought to be earning $100,000 a year. (The national average is $60,000 a year.)
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Nope, ALL German accounts point to August 8, 1918 as THE black day of the German armies in the West.
And it was the American Army that triggered that assessment.
The French, British and German armies were all spent, hideous losses + Spanish flu did the trick.
Sergeant York & Company were that moment when Spanish flu was running wild -- explaining his astounding captures.
Whereas, here and there, individual British, French and German soldiers began rebelling.
Such rebellions are now erupting in Russian ranks, and here and there, with Ukrainian desertions.
Zelenskyy's crappy leadership is why. He has failed to fire loser generals, loser colonels -- failed to promote winners.
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I must disagree.
Putin HAS a corridor to Crimea: two bridges, built at (his) serious expense, link Crimea by rail and highway -- right across the Kerch Strait. (See: map.)
Trust me: a single rail line is more than sufficient to entirely meet the transport needs of Crimea. It's astonishing how much a one line can transport.
That's why railroads are all over our planet -- practically define modernity -- in economic terms.
Putin's objective is to entirely deny the Sea of Azov to Kyiv. Mariupol WAS a major grain exporting terminal -- since it streamed grains outward to the world -- grains grown in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's rail grid was entirely set-up for this purpose -- on top of Mariupol being Ukraine's INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND.
Mariupol = Pittsburgh = Nizhny Novgorod = the 'Steel City' of a nation.
To destroy Mariupol is to de-industrialize Ukraine -- as a whole. Its steel works are the biggest in non-Russian Europe. (!!!)
Yet, talking-head after talking-head can't wrap their minds around industrial reality. Western (TV) talking-heads are clueless. (!!!)
Odessa can keep importing/ exporting -- but it can't ever be a Steel City.
Mariupol is Steel City because it's directly atop one of the world's largest metallurgical coal deposits.
THAT'S why -- for a hundred-years -- the Donbass has been such a fixation for tyrants: Lenin, Stalin, Adolf, Putin.
Met coal from the Donbass has been sent -- by rail -- up to Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky, for Bolshevik fans) for decades.
Met coal (from the Donbass) was a HUGE trade item when Stalin enabled Adolf. (1939-1941) Yup. Look it up.
It's why Adolf was so obsessed with Ukraine -- even before attempting the oil fields of the Caucasus.
Yes, he started exploiting Donbass met coal -- straight off.
Say, did I mention nickel? Nat gas? Water?
Move along, now, nothing to see here, ... move along.
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Hoa Tattis Famously, the USA bought the British 105mm rifle for our M-60 series tanks. The USA never really spent large to even 'work on the problem' of a next generation anti-tank gun. (The US was already 'missile crazy' in the 1950s -- note the F-4 Phantom, etc., going up without guns. So the Big Bucks were going into anti-tank missiles that figured to be both smart and to outrange any tank cannon. )
BAE is actually a catch-all company. It's an amalgamation of high tech British (military electronics) stuff. It's unique. The US simply will not permit any significant support component to be manufactured overseas. All technological imports must be by license. [ The USA bought Italian pistols -- but the deal was that a new plant located inside the US would have to be set-up. And this was just for side-arms. ] So when the US bought advanced British
military arts, they were compelled to set up production inside the US. American law did not require that the creators give up ownership. So, as the years went by, the British ended up with more than a few -- this or that -- military production facilities located in the US. Such a tight relationship was pretty unique. ONLY long-term US Allies would even be considered for such a buddy relationship. But Britain was at the top of the list.
We can start with the F-35 fighter. Britain has a totally unique buddy relationship in its design... even though other NATO nations are in the picture.
What's true for the F-35 -- and quite public -- is just as true for other (military electronics) going all the way back to WWII and the Original Deal that I posted above.
This buddy relationship is also the cornerstone of the Five-Eyes scheme. At its foundation is military electronics -- for code breaking. The British tackled Enigma, the US broke Purple. It's with irony that Purple Machines (they looked like typewriters) were of primary utility to London -- not Washington. The Baron would listen for hours to Adolf winding off, and then the Baron would send massive Purple text to Tokyo spilling the beans. This was how a diplomatic code ended up with staggering amounts of strategic military intelligence. One such transmission told the West that Patton could NEVER be allowed to head Overlord's D-Day landings. For that's what Adolf assumed would HAVE to be true. He told the Baron that such a revelation would cause him to release everything to crush Patton. Patton never knew why he'd been sidelined -- and the general public still does not know this, either.
One aside: Britain and America were so tight after WWII that America adopted Britain's idea -- which was NATO. Yeah, it was dreamt up by Whitehall. London then pitched it to Truman, and both powers then lobbied France, et. al to jump on board. And who could say no? The US had the Bomb. Of interest to us historians, it was London that did most of the selling. From Norway, to Denmark, to Holland, these nations had governments in exile -- in London during the war. So Britain knew all of the players going way back.
I forget where I read it, but BAE admitted that they made more money dealing within the US than anywhere else in the financial press. Think about that. Much of their stuff has to be in Black Programs. Natch.
Radar, back in the day, was totally Black, too.
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@Koelebig
Stalin was willing to sell Hitler two or three times as much oil as previously -- just to buy him off in the Summer of 41.
The negotiations were under way June 22, 1941 -- and HAD been under way for some time.
The Nazis were able to explain away their panzer concentrations along the Polish partition line as being in context: they were there to pressure Stalin into making more concessions.
Stalin totally bought that interpretation. THAT'S WHY he was so stunned June 22, 1941. He'd told his negotiating team to give away the store -- do ANYTHING to keep Hitler sated.
The CRAZY idea that Hitler's fuel situation was going the wrong way is TOTALLY WRONG.
Stalin was going to ENTIRELY solve Hitler's fuel crisis.
For starters, Stalin had lost his oil sales to France. He couldn't even get his oil out through the Mediterranean See.
[ A primer: the Baku oil was developed by John D Rockefeller way, way back when. It, the oil, was exported by way of pipelines that went from the Caspian to the Black Sea. ( The terminals were in Georgia. )
IF -- and it's a BIG IF -- Hitler could restore the Baku fields, it would make perfect sense for him to draw Soviet oil out the exact same way. As we can all appreciate, there was no way that Stalin was going to let any of the oil infrastructure stay intact for the Nazis.
The ONLY shot the Nazis had was by way of a parachute drop. His paras would have to jump at night and get the drop on the Soviet detonation teams. That's why Crete was such a pivotal battle.
Indeed, Hitler needed a parachute CORPS by this time. Such a formation was also exactly what he couldn't fuel. Airborne formations are avgas pigs. It takes about 15,000 gallons to train each paratrooper... and that's if you're a fuel miser.
Lest we forget: Ploesti oil is crappy oil. It is no where near as easy to refine as Soviet oil... or American oil. Even Iranian and Venezuelan oil was still light and sweet at this point in time. ( The heavy oils extracted today didn't get tapped until decades after WWII. )
Crappy crude oil translates into crappy octane numbers or serious losses in the refinery stream -- plus major capital expenditures. The Germans were really behind the eight-ball.
Since coal-to-liquids produced mostly middle distillate, it's astounding that Guderian ever built up the panzer force with gasoline engines. Germany had the world's best Diesel technology -- and heavy tanks were already expensive as Hell. A Diesel engine would DOUBLE its fuel economy.
Nazi Germany was an economic Clown Show: cruel, despotic, but still a total mess. Stalin permitted Hitler to get a LOT further along with his empire than he ever could've done on his own.
Soviet oil produced the bulk of the Luftwaffe's avgas. All that was necessary was distillation. ( This was also true for Texas crude. )
All other German sources of liquid fuels required INTENSE refinery processing, so much so, that Nazi Germany could never compete.
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@Treblaine
Ike had standing, General Orders about how American officers were to behave with the British.
1) Absolutely NOTHING was to pass your lips that would insult or denigrate British military prowess or contribution to the fight.
2) Rule #1 goes double for senior British commanders.
3) When under the command of senior British officers, your role is to go along -- and provide absolutely no static -- don't even open your yap. Under no circumstances should you attempt to correct a senior British officer or to show him up.
4) It is forbidden to gloat about American technical excellence and production prowess.
Any SHAEF (USA) officer would be sent packing if Ike heard anything indicating that you've violated #1-4 rules. And, I might add, there was a steady stream of departures from SHAEF all through the war.
Ike wanted team players. The only folks allowed to blow off steam were our allies.
1) They'd been in the war years longer than the USA.
2) They were under far more stress back home than any American.
( V2s, V1s -- they'll do that. Rationing will do that.
Gavin knew all of the above. Ike was delighted with the performance of the 82nd and 101st.
Lest we forget, the Americans lost more men (dead) during MG than the British did. (!!!) The British won the 'captured para' sweepstakes, though.
The American Airborne ( nee XVIII Airborne Corps ) fought continuously pretty much from the second day onward. 15th Army just keep trickling in from the west, and scratch formations kept popping up out of Germany.
Which brings up another point, MG basically crippled 15th Army. The only route left to it required tip-toeing across the Dutch sea barrier, leaving all heavy equipment behind. It, the 15th Army was eventually slotted in north of 6th Panzer Army during the Ardennes offensive. (Bulge)
In all of the planning, this 'reflux' of 15th Army was not anticipated. It really bogged down the 101st.
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@John Burns
Can't you get ANYTHING right?
The Aachen story has been documented in both book and made for TV video broadcast.
The Germans were totally befuddled as to why the Americans didn't show up 'on time.' They'd been rolling right along.
The fact that 1st Army was stopped by Ike, at this time, in favor of Monty was something that you have to piece together, as neither the US Army nor the British Army want that connection made, then or now. It's evaporated from the narrative.
But the German general's plan would've put US 1st Army CLEAN over the Rhine within HOURS -- a full week before the Garden drop.
He, literally, expected to surrender Aachen to a jeep -- the traditional lead element of an American Armored Corps. By this time, Germans were accustomed to surrendering to jeeps.
[ It was common for the jeeps to announce themselves by way of 50 caliber machine gun bursts. This always terrified Germans, as the M2 machine gun usually required a closed coffin for the dead. Jeeps, of course, never travelled alone. They'd pack a tank brigade over their shoulder. ]
(Two jeeps took the surrender of Prague in 1945 -- an event that the Czech Republic honors to this very day. It refuses to acknowledge the Red Army is its liberators. Those monuments have all been torn down. A plaque thanking the US (3rd) Army was erected in their place.)
The jeeps were driven by Jewish Americans on a hunt for their cousins, BTW, and totally against orders. When they returned, their colonel told them, "Don't do that again." And that was the extent of their punishment for disobeying orders. Now contrast that with any other WWII army. Heh.
When Gavin rolled north to the Baltic, (April 1945) he just used two jeeps, with his mounting an American flag. That ended all resistance. The arrival of the US Army was a fantasy come true for northern Germans. They feared the British or Russians.
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@selfdo You are incorrect on one point: on paper, the Germans schemed to establish entire panzer divisions -- two battalions of Tigers ++++ and etc. However, once the man-hours were figured in, Speer (the source of this tid bit) realized that such a super-concentration of Tigers was just never going to pencil out. This then shifted over to heavy tank battalions -- to be assigned to higher commands. (corps & armies) Even so, even keeping a few heavy (regular count) battalions proved too much. So they were scaled them back down to 36 Tigers as a heavy panzer battalion. In practice, the Tiger was such a garage queen that in every account I've read, such battalions lost at least 50% of their strength after three-days. Such losses were not due to enemy action, just mechanical breakdowns in the drive train, suspension, engine.... That's why you keep reading about 'companies' of four-Tigers. The other eight are in the rear being repaired.
[The rotten gasoline consumed meant that mechanics were constantly changing out spark plugs. The more one uses tetra-ethyl lead to raise octane, the quicker the plugs foul. Cold weather starts were so problematic that crews were compelled to keep their engines warm. This became a plot minor element in Kelly's Heroes.]
Until the Tiger, the panzer force simply did not have independent heavy battalions. (They did have trick companies of Nashorns, etc. to spice up the panzer force. Such kluge ups were never expected to be more than a stop-gap.)
[ Kelly's Heroes was filmed in pretty cold weather. The actors were wailing about it. Any colder and they'd be filming in snow. The Tigers in the film were fakes based on T-34-85 machines. (Irony alert) So, they really DID need to keep such engines warm.]
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"Hitler took hours to reply: 6th Army could break out, he said, but it
still had to hold existing fronts north, east, and west of the city.
This was manifestly impossible. Paulus now showed his moral cowardice.
He informed Manstein that his one hundred tanks had enough fuel to go only twenty miles. Before he could move, air deliveries had to bring in 4,000 tons of fuel. There was no possibility of this, and Paulus knew it.
Drawn between Hitler demanding he stay and Manstein demanding he move, Paulus clutched at the straw of fuel to do nothing. Not even to save his army was Paulus going to buck his Fuehrer. Yet he and Manstein knew that the fuel could have been allocated to half his tanks, giving them mobility for forty miles—enough to break through.
In the week that followed, the fate of 6th Army was decided. For six
days Army Group Don had run every conceivable risk to keep the door open. But Manstein could leave 4th Panzer Army in its exposed position no longer."
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2016/05/04/manstein-saves-the-army/
Paulus has many detractors.
IMHO, Paulus and his panzers had to squeeze the trigger way back in November -- before the ring was closed. The infantry had to stay put.
Somehow, Paulus and von Manstein didn't see the strategic need to stay on the Volga as a war-winning -- and ending -- move.
It's just that you didn't need the panzers staying inside the pocket to block the Volga.
If put back in full supply, the 24p, 16p, 29m, 3m, 14p would've shredded the Red Army. Its lead elements were light infantry. They didn't even have heavy weapons. That stuff was so difficult to move that it took days to get it across the Volga and up to the front.
The Volga's river ice has to be seen to be believed. It's one compression ridge after another.
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Someone should've told the Luftwaffe that most of the fuel in air flight is used to come to altitude.
Instead of landing their Ju-52s and the occasional Go-244 and He-111 (the Luftwaffe did some crazy stuff) they should've just parachuted the goods down to the boys.
I read somewhere that one T-34 brigade was sent straight across the steppe to a Luftwaffe base that was supporting this airlift. He tore the place up, so the story goes, and was given the medal: Hero of the Soviet Union.
If anyone knows the truth about this tale, speak up.
The plane in TIK's video that's all shot up looks like a likely victim of a ground attack, perhaps the one I've read of.
The story went that the brigade caught the Germans totally by surprise and that the tanks just rolled down the flight line shooting everything up with machine gun fire. The Germans were so far to the rear, that they assumed that they were safe. They'd not even put up a perimeter defense of any kind. The base didn't even have ground troops.
That was the story.
&&&
TIK, when you're talking such huge plane numbers, one has to ask: Where could the Luftwaffe station such a large fleet?
The typical Luftwaffe air strip was a tiny operation able to handle less than 40 planes.
Further, just hauling avgas to the various bases would've been a first class bitch. The German rail head stopped at the Dieper. ( European gauge) Then they humped the goods across that river by truck. ( a 100,000 prisoner operation I've read ) and either trucked it all the way, or -- if lucky -- transferred the goods onto Russian scaled flat cars for further transit.
If anyone knows more about the zany German logistical solutions for Case Blue -- this is the place to pipe up.
I've read nothing but conflicting tales: trucks all the way or trucks to steam locomotive trains east of the Dnieper. I'm corn fused.
But, I'm convinced that this is a big part of why Case Blue went totally off the rails. (Heh)
The Nazis just couldn't afford to burn that much motor fuel... but they tried... anyway.
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@Rampart NOPE. In large modern engagements -- that are active -- as this one is -- 1% losses in men and material are to be expected each day -- even in light combat operations.
So, by now, Putin's invasion strength is down ~ 25,000 souls. (KIA, Wounded, MIA, deserted, captured, and just lost in the woods)
No small number in that tally are deserters -- to be expected in a conscript army with loads of noobie troopers.
Many of these kids had just been called up. (!) Yes, they are phoning home to momma. Their morale is shot, of course.
That Putin HAS taken such losses is revealed by his (obviously panicked) call up of reserves, far and wide.
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@wandameadows5736 You are INVENTING history. Yeltsin made it crystal clear a generation ago that WWII in Europe was started by a Contract for War between Stalin and Hitler -- with STALIN the initiating party. Don't get this wrong: Hitler wanted to wage war in the world's worst way. But France and Britain and Poland and Czechoslovakia had him boxed in. Especially because France and Britain controlled the world's freely traded rubber. And you can't get your armies to roll without tires.
Stalin drafted the Contract for War to his own specifications. Hitler didn't actually have any say! Yup. He was so bloody minded that he was willing to sign ANYTHING Stalin pitched.
The result was that Stalin had the original M-R Treaty -- and Adolf merely got a copy. (!) It was STALIN that specified 9-01-1939 as the launch date of the war. It was Stalin that dictated the division of Poland. It was his own crayon that marked Brest-Litovsk as being East of the demarkation. This was to have a huge impact during Barbarossa.
Polish politics had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Contract for War. Stalin's intention was to get Hitler to bleed out fighting France and Britain, repeating World War One. Yup. This brain-fart was circulating at the highest levels of the USSR -- its think-tanks.
It's of record that Stalin then proceeded to invade: Finland, the Baltics, Romania -- and he'd already snapped up the Eastern passes of Czechoslovakia back in 1938 -- much to Hitler's ire.
All of these aggressions occurred BEFORE Hitler moved West.
What a guy. Hey, we should make him our ally ! We'll call him Uncle Joe.
Your post is hog-wash. Poland was invaded so as to turn Adolf WEST. Nothing else mattered.
AFTER the Contract for War was signed, Stalin initiated Lend-Lease style aid to Adolf Hitler. It was Soviet oil that did in France. It was turned into Nazi aviation fuel -- which turned into un-ending Luftwaffe sorties in May 1940. Neither Britain nor France figured on the Luftwaffe being able to fuel up so many, many flights. Without Soviet oil, the Luftwaffe would've been drastically cut back in effect. Its air cover really decided he Battle for France. The Luftwaffe blinded the West's generals as to what was going on below.
Thank you Uncle Joe.
BTW, Stalin hated Poland much more than Adolf. Screwing up there, twenty-years prior, nearly ended his advancement in the Bolshevik ranks. Soviet occupation of Poland 39-41 was brutal. So much so that many Poles actually were happy to see the Nazis invade in 1941. (!!!) Not many, but some. They soon changed their minds, of course.
When you post drivel, you're going to be hit with a clue bat. Such is life.
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@bill
Your analysis is fact-free, I'll give you that.
1) Grabner was ACROSS the Arnhem bridge BEFORE Frost arrived.
That meant that MG was DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.
Arnhem bridge was ALREADY lost before Frost showed up.
Interdicting the northern approach is ALWAYS conflated by British eyes with taking the Arnhem bridge. Such is not so.
2) Once Grabner was on the island, he proved to be too much for both the 82nd and the 1st Airborne. He'd brought FLAK with him.
Yeah, he had both 88mm & 20mm FLAK.
XXX Corps accounts tell of 4 88mm guns. Which would ring true, as that was the standard deployment for such guns. ( They were simply not deployed singly or in duos. Back in 1940, a quad-set destroyed the British counter-attack at Arras. a quat-set destroyed the British ( Indian ) attack at Hell Fire Pass. ( North Africa, see TIK's video on that campaign.)
Once Grabner was across, Frost, Urquhart, and Gavin -- and BROWNING -- were all screwed.
2) Even without Grabner, the SS had continuous access to the island and to the southern end of Arnhem bridge.
Consequently there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to stop the SS from dropping the Arnhem bridge into the lower Rhine -- it didn't mater what Horrocks// XXX Corps did.
THIS ^^^ is the REAL reason why the Irish Guards didn't charge off into the night after rolling across the Nijmegen bridge. All other tales are BS.
Not only would the Irish Guards have to blindly roll up a solitary causeway at NIGHT but they could absolutely COUNT ON SS Panthers showing up before they reached the approaches to Arnhem bridge.
Regardless of the opinions of this or that para, the Irish Guards knew from bitter experience that the SS was sure to pull a rabbit of their helmet and slot four more 88s some place further down the causeway. They were the #1 killer of Allied tanks. Nothing else comes close. The Irish Guards had just destroyed four of them around the southern approach to Nijmegen bridge, and that took ALL DAY with both their grenadiers and the 82nd paras.
[ A single 88 could wipe out a platoon of Shermans faster than you can drop your underwear. This was a known fact. ]
The Germans had routine access to the island by way of a ferry that the RAF never put out of business. For some reason, the RAF is given a pass on this matter -- while TIK and jingoist John Burns tees off on Gavin.
If Gavin were such a boob, why did he get a prompt promotion?
If Browning were such a whiz why did he disappear from WWII history?
It takes a LOT to disappear a national hero with three-stars -- an army commander. Browning attained this distinction; yeah he was sent off to INDIA.
( Good grief, what a demotion! )
"In December 1944 he became Chief of Staff of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten's South East Asia Command. "
Considering the travel time, Monty had him hustled out of England ASAP.
( Americans would call that the MG Lloyd Fredendall 'solution.' If you'll recall Lloyd was even 'promoted.' Well, that's what the paperwork said. Heh. )
His trip to India kept Browning away from Fleet Street, that's to be sure.
&&&
You Brits, knock it off with the Gavin thesis.
Browning blew it with the drop zones. Monty, Ike, Urquhart, Gavin, Horrocks ALL saw that to be true -- after the battle was decided. The after-action report must have been BRUTAL.
( Frost didn't comment: he was in enemy hands, wounded. )
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@JohnCaliston-e3h There are films of P-38s landing in Alaska -- with the strip flooded with water. What the viewer is not told is that particular plane is then grounded. It's engines have been so contaminated they must be replaced. No-one would take them into the air again.
It's not just a case of landing. The issue really is -- 'can you take off again?' The honest answer is NO.
The C-47/ DC-3 was originally designed to survive landing in farm fields. Think what was normal practice circa 1931. Douglas wanted civilians to know that their plane could survive any trouble by just landing -- dang near anywhere. This notion is now utterly alien to passengers.
But, we do see, in Russia, in Siberia, that modern jets CAN land all over. They just can't fly again. (!) That does get expensive.
In the Pacific Campaign, mud was a nightmare almost everywhere. Which is why the landing mat was given such a priority for the Pacific.
In Europe, the 'landing mat' was repurposed chicken fencing. (!) My own Father delivered same to the British in 1944. He was in an engineering battalion whose primary mission was none other than these landing mats.
If you Google around, you can find a training film on instant road construction where sand is an issue (North Africa) that shows EXACTLY what this matting entailed. Its original purpose was road construction for TORCH. Then it was discovered that it proved most useful to hold down sand back at the air strip. Because of its flimsy ( incredibly cheap ) construction, the boys had to stay at the strip, repairing it over and over.
The Krauts were landing on fields that had been plowed -- but not harrowed. The dunces in the German Army kept cracking up their Ju-52 fleet all during the first weeks of their campaign. I don't think Guderian realized what was up. Field grade officers dared not tell Heinz the bad news.
In all of their wargaming, the Krauts had totally forgotten traffic jams. In peacetime, Germany had so few motor vehicles, that it had never witnessed a traffic jam that turned into a parking lot. Yes, the phenomenon was that novel... for Germany. Not the USA.
This situation occurred during Market-Garden. It's why the British dared not land their gliders on the island between Arnhem and Nijimegan. It's even brought up in the film.
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You must understand that ALL of the generals so quoted are hiding the fact that Bletchley Park is decoding German radio traffic. It would've been signals intelligence, human intelligence and flat out paranoia and miscalculation that created the 1,000 panzers.
Further, most of those panzers would've been HALF-TRACKS. Even half-tracks would've been nightmares for the paras. Germany was still producing half-tracks at quite a clip -- and the key factories were only a two-hour drive from the battle!
And the Germans WERE pouring half-tracks, Tigers, Panthers, you name it into Arnhem to rebuild 9&10 SS divisions.
Further, American tank factories produced X amount of tanks per month. Intelligence simply assumed that something like that number, say .3X, would spit out of Germany's tank factories in the Ruhr. They assumed that most of Germany's production was going to the east -- but now that Monty was knocking on the devil's door -- that ALL of the Ruhr's production would be vectored their way.
Adding it all up, you start to see where Big Numbers come from.
( For paras, half-tracks are just as deadly as panzers, and perhaps even worse. Look what happened to Frost ! )
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@at6686 One additional point: no-one knows how much petroleum is out there to be extracted. VAST areas are politically impossible to explore: Russia, Red China, ... and a slew of 3rd World nations. Libya could've been discovered when the Italians ran the joint. But hole-punching had to wait until the 50's... and American firms. Then Libya was discovered to have as much, perhaps more, crude oil than the USA. It took until the late 50's for the industry to even scope out the size of KSA's reserves. Then, further exploration was STOPPED by royal edict. Once publicized, said discoveries caused the price of crude oil to crash in international trade. It was THIS price drop that caused OPEC to be formed -- by Venezuela and Iran -- not the Arabs. KSA and Kuwait jumped on board PDQ once they got the sales pitch. (The common man thinks that OPEC was an Arab creation.)
We now know that Russia sits on top of an oil strata that runs from the Urals to the Baltic and off to the Black Sea that has dreamy light crude oil. It's not economic without fracking. Even though its total volume utterly dwarfs that of Venezuela and KSA, it's a pretty thin strata. (1,000x as large! ... Centuries of global demand. )
When Ukraine brought in Americans to frack her slice of the pie -- Putin was furious. He invaded Eastern Ukraine as a result. (Check the time-line.) The Ukrainians have aimed their fracking effort at natural gas, because for them, natural gas is their big import deficit. They were importing more gas from Russia than crude oil from anyone.
When Putin went to shut off oil exports to Ukraine (they were dead-beats) the Saudis stepped up -- big time.
Putin subsequently countered with a charm offensive with the Saudis -- which has led to them dickering back and forth about production volumes -- so much in the news.
The whole NordStream II dust-up is so that Putin can totally cut-off natural gas deliveries via Ukraine.
BTW, Putin, PERSONALLY, is the largest single owner of Gazprom. So the completion of said NordStream is putting billions into his wallet. Thank you slow ol' Joe!
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@michaelhart7569 You alluded to it up-thread, but PLANTS a starving for carbon dioxide. It's the RATE LIMITING compound for plant growth all along the tropical zone. There, there is sunlight aplenty, water aplenty and soil aplenty. So, at the margins, atmospheric carbon dioxide -- the ultimate plant fertilizer -- determines yield per acre of everything vegetative: wood, crops, weeds, grass, -- and that which eats them.
If the Greens have their way, more souls will die from starvation than those consumed by WWII. For it is in this belt that poverty is concentrated. Note how it is from out of the tropics that the US is being invaded by the poverty stricken.
In Biblical times, Sodom was a filthy rich city. Why? it was raising crops just north of the Dead Sea -- by canal irrigation in the desert -- and the local Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide there is the highest on Planet Earth. Think about it. It just took far less effort to grow food, and Sodom was at the cross roads of trade -- being right next to the world's first 'highway' -- meaning International Road. Traders were not compelled to pay off locals to transit it.
They were getting their cut by being hoteliers. (Actually, running RV parks. Bring your own tent.)
And then, out of the blue, Sodom was hit by a meteor that terminated in an air burst. Green trinitite micro-spheres are now to be found all over Sodom's ruins.
( For centuries, folks had been looking at the wrong end of the Dead Sea for Sodom. Isn't that a hoot? The pile of rubble that is Sodom is glaring to the eyeball. )
The whole Biblical tale is just that. A morality saga laid on top of a cosmological tragedy.
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@at6686 I can't argue with that. Europe is doing absolutely everything wrong. But then, they have their legacy from the first fifty-years of the 20th Century.
What's happening is that smart phones are broadcasting back to Nigeria, et. al what a cruise it is up in Paris, London, Berlin. The Africans have absolutely no conception of Winter. They do identify with living in hovels on the street, though.
Europe, as a whole, is NOT a net food generator. France exports a lot -- but it's to Germany, Britain and Italy -- and just a touch to the USA. Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain are net food importers -- and have been for quite some time. (More than a century.)
France is directly headed for civil war -- and even though the generals have told the politicians -- the latter do not want to listen. The result: carmagedon, and car-B-ques. Most young Africas simply go on the dole, pimp out women, or distribute hard drugs. As you can imagine, the social service bureaucracy LOVES them.
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@nicholaskelly6375 My counter argument is that coal is super-strategic. It rarely travels across the seas -- unless it's met coal. But each nation that industrializes does so on the back of its own coal mines:
Britain
America
Germany
France
Japan ( It invaded Korea and Manchuria to steal coal for steel.)
Red China
India
What this means is that it never appears as important as it really is because outside powers can't effectively throttle the coal mining and distribution of other countries -- until NOW.
Yes, the Red Chinese and Arabs and Russians are doing their damnedest to stop the West from burning coal. Without government intervention, coal produces the cheapest electricity on the planet -- unless you're blessed with hydro-potential. (Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela -- and such)
This lowest cost power impacts the entire national economy. So, it's super-strategic, but it can't be fought over -- except by religion. For the faith in Global Doom by Global Warming is based entirely on pure faith. The statistics so often proffered have been revealed to be frauds -- time and time, again.
What really kills me is that carbon dioxide phobia is derived from the Montreal Convention WRT Freon. This was the first man-made global atmospheric pollutant ever discovered. Three chemists got the Nobel in Chemistry in 1995 over this matter.
As for myself, Rowland was MY professor. Freon was MY research white paper presented to him -- all those years ago. Rowland dropped EVERYTHING to follow my advice: that he'd get a Nobel if he pursued Freon, Fluorine chemistry, generally. It was I that spent countless hours going through Chem Abstracts - - 1906 to the time (1974) tracking down EVERY SINGLE abstract on Fluorine. (!!!)
Freon research was what I wanted to do. That was supposed to be MY Nobel.
Instead, Rowland has written me out of (chemistry) history. His (fake) history is up on the Web. He got his Nobel for starting the research, Molina was his grad student, and in my same class. I was the only Junior undergrad in that class. To attend, I needed Rowland's specific permission. Since I was the smartest kid he'd ever seen, I was in.
[ I held the thickest scholastic record in North America coming out of high school. It ran two reams and could not be filed in the cabinets. It took two-days to read. Wonderlic rated me +8 SD up. This was so high that Wonderlic spent Large to prove test fraud. They gave up upon getting my academics. So you can see why Rowland dropped all other suggestions to pursue Freon. He even pulled strings to get on a cruise ship convention entirely dedicated to atmospheric research. Yeah, he was a nationally known chemist even back then.]
I coughed up my project to Rowland KNOWING that he'd get a Nobel. I told him so. ( The number and quality of my predictions would totally freak you out. The less said, the better. No-one can handle such truths.)
So here I sit watching the West going pagan-religious over carbon dioxide because the reverend al Gore is preaching from his bullpit. This is the idiot that had to attend three-universities -- Animal House style -- to get a degree. So, he gets global attention for the "sky is falling" while I'm unknown now... and forever.
The idea that a melting Arctic ice cap can raise sea levels is nonsense on stilts.
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@Worthian
The Ju-52 had EVERYTHING going against it.
The DC-3// C-47 was adopted virtually world-wide by 1938 -- and was the obvious choice for the Luftwaffe. But the Nazis wouldn't have it.
Hungary already had built DC-3s under license, BTW. Their version used Daimler liquid cooled motors -- essentially the same ones needed by the BF-109. When the war came, further access to these engines ended. The total run of Hungarian DC-3s was tiny, BTW. You'll only find them as a footnote.
Airliners of the period did not have cabin pressurization. IIRC Howard Huges brought that into being with his Lockheed machine.
What this meant in practice was that airliners// cargo planes just didn't fly above 12,000 feet. ( The average Joe is going to need oxygen once you pass 15,000 feet. Some Sherpas can take it, but not the average guy. )
The USAAF produced a training film for heavy bomber crews compelled to face German FLAK.
( FLAK = AA or AAA depending upon the period. During WWII the major combatants started adding radar control to their AA -- with the British leading the way -- just as you'd expect. All British advances were kept top secret, so don't expect to find any contemporary documents until well after the Cold War was over. )
In this USAAF film it is asserted that -- at working altitudes -- pilots must assume that 1,000 feet of altitude buys them one-second of FLAK flight-time. The Luftwaffe was so proficient -- with all the practice the USAAF was giving them -- that they could project// predict where the bomber stream would be if they stayed on a given heading for more than X seconds -- with X = (feet in altitude) / 1,000)
What this meant in practice was that Ju-52 and C-47 had to jink all over the sky every few seconds.
This reality goes a long way towards why USAAF pilots were staining their underwear June 6, 1944. They were WAY too low, and were not permitted to jink. The experience of flying through a fire storm of FLAK just has to be experienced to be believed.
One of my old business pals was the SINGLE most off track 82nd paratrooper on the night of June 6, 1944. He was Lieutenant in charge of his plane. His pilot was so whacked out that that he couldn't bring himself to punch the GREEN light. This led this particular stick of paratroops to land right in the middle of the 17SS Motorized Division. He fluttered down straight into a motorized company of SS men, with lights ablazing. If you grab a map, then you realize that my man was dozens of miles south of his drop-zone. He had to surrender before he even hit France.
[ Events have reached the absurd when an entire SS company is surrounding one lieutenant in the middle of a French wheat field. Gavin mentioned my pal in his tome: "On to Berlin." Yes, they met. Gavin chuckled that "Al" had won the booby prize. He was an instant legend among captured American paras, BTW. ]
Later as a PoW he was put on starvation rations. That's where the German guards threw out three potatoes to a hundred prisoners. That was chow time.
In the days immediately preceding his liberation by the Red Army, his pals were fed nothing. The German supply system had broken down. Even the guards were not getting their proper rations. (!!!) All of the roads had become clogged with fleeing German citizens -- all headed west.
Al never had a nice thing to say about the German prison system. He felt that "Stalag 17" got everything wrong, too light.
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What most viewers don't get -- because the videos don't emphasize it -- is that the expenses are ALL front-loaded. You have to commit, then dig, dig, dig, dig the overburden -- which is a killer -- and only then can you sluice, sluice, sluice like a maniac -- and by then, the ice is closing in -- every damn year. THIS is why even veterans like Tony and Parker are all wound up about how things will turn out. They've both been burned. They are still in the game because they've pulled more than a few Hail Marys.
Even so, every last project has the same daunting demands. No-one with a decent claim is letting them go for cheap to either Tony, Parker, or anyone else. The killer in every case -- it's the OVERBURDEN. Every advance in earth moving craftsmanship is met with ever lousier prospects.
Parker made a killing because his risk was very, very high. Mud Mountain had to be terrifying. Just look at that wall of mud! The competition looked at it and just ran away. One fine year, Parker is going to get burned.
In this case, Rick just got away with his skinny skin, skin. Check out the towering overburden next to his final pay layer. That just freaks me out. You're putting your life on the line. The boys get outrageous returns -- because these deals usually blow-up. Someone goes to the poor house.
When Tony finally leaves the business, his heirs are going to have a TON of equipment to sell. No-one else in that clan can run his operation. Tony really is unique. Check out how often his family is paralyzed -- waiting for his decisions, his comprehension, his connections. He figures things out in seconds that totally stump his kids. No wonder he's the King of the Klondike.
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@Benedict... Adolf phucked up in the Ardennes. Other than the trite influence of the British 43rd division, and the preening of Monty, the Ardennes was a purely American show.
In the eyes of Germany -- and history -- the Americans crushed the offensive -- throwing it totally off the rails within 72 hours -- the single fastest reversal of a Nazi offensive during that war.
Famous for a time, but now lost to the kids, American engineers totally derailed 6SS Panzer Army -- its spearhead in particular. These were not front line assault engineers. They were trained in bridge building. Which also meant they knew where all of the bridges were and how to blow them up.
Strategy & Tactics magazine cranked out a Wacht on Rhein simulation that used the US Geological Survey of that battle zone. If you should ever obtain a copy -- it's an eye-opener. With it you can follow company level movements during every account -- both sides.
( Wacht on Rhein is the tune being sung by Germans in Casablanca, for you film buffs. It was written in the 19th century as an honor to the Germans that fought against Napoleon. Hence, the Casablanca scene is irony compounded many times over. The French anthem is the aggressive one. By the time of Hitler, what had been a totally defensive ode had been transformed into an opus of offense.)
It is Bradley that smeared Patton as Blood & Guts. Under Bradley's leadership, 1st US Army suffered crazy high casualties -- especially to include the Hurtgen Forest. He OWNED it.
In contrast, Patton was parsimonious with blood. He correctly understood that you can't allow the Germans to get their bearings back. You must keep driving them like a broken herd of sheep.
The second the Germans recover their wits, they become Hell to shift.
THAT was Monty's epic mistake. When his own subordinate commanders brought this fact up -- he had them canned. ( retired, sent to India -- something that happened to Browning. )
The fact that Browning was CANNED by Monty is not something that Burns & Coy can bear to face.
In contrast: Monty and Gavin had a (military reputation) love affair to the ends of their careers. Monty 'forgave' Gavin -- yet NEVER forgave Browning. ( Gavin was absorbing the blame truly belonging to Browning and Monty knew absolutely everything about the events. )
The 1,000 panzers came from BROWNING and Bletchley intercepts. No British general would put ANY faith in brigadier general Gavins strategic insights. No-one tossed off Bletchley's transmissions.
Bletchley was not wrong. They got the timing off. The panzers were for the BULGE. Adolf really expected Speer to crank out that many panzers in time for his dream counter-offensive.
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@ DParry
You've missed your reading assignment.
1) Grabner had crossed to the southern side of the Arnhem bridge BEFORE Frost even closed up to the northern approach.
As a direct consequence, the battle was already LOST.
Arnhem bridge was NEVER captured... and barely interdicted.
MG can't work with Arnhem bridge in SS hands.
2) Both bridges were built with explosive charges -- hidden inside -- no-one could possibly see them -- nor remove them -- with detonation cables that ran off to their south sides.
This was a COMMON feature of Big Bridges in that era. The Germans wired their Rhine bridges the exact same way. That's why the bridge at Remagen was such a shocker. It had been built strictly as a railroad bridge to support the Kaiser's armies during WWI. It was constructed in such a rush that no thought was given to building in explosive charges. At that moment (1916) the Kaiser's armies were heading west, so there was no way that a French army was seen as a risk.
3) A DUTCHMAN severed the detonation circuit at Nijmegen bridge. Stories you hear from Brits or Americans must be laughed at. They are either totally made up ( most likely ) or are things that came in their sleep. The detonation circuit and the explosives were a Dutch national defense secret. Everything about them was highly classified. The detonation cables were encased in concrete -- the usual habit for key electrical circuits even now -- and led off to bunkers right close to the bridges.
The Nijmegen bunker was built into the telephone and post office complex. ( one building with a divider ) The Dutchman who cut those critical cables did so while the Americans were still floating down from the sky. I'd bet your life that he was an out-of-uniform Dutch soldier ( officer ?) who knew the lay of the land, instantly. I figure he'd have a high profile but for the fact that his kin lived on the wrong side of the lower Rhine. The SS would whack his extended family if they knew what he'd done. After the war, no-one cared, no-one believed. And to let his story out would embarrass both Britain and America, as both nations had soldiers taking credit for saving the bridge.
&&&
So, to keep it IDIOT simple for you: MG was DEAD, dead, dead, the second Grabner got onto the island with his recon boys.
They not only screwed up Browning's and Gavin's assumptions -- they RUINED any chance for 1st Airborne to complete its mission.
If 1st Airborne fails, then the whole enterprise fails.
The Poles, XXX Corps, 101st Airborne, even the 82nd Airborne -- they are all irrelevant. Monty needed EVERY bridge -- and Arnhem was NEVER TAKEN.
The northern approach does NOT equal taking the Arnhem bridge.
Grabner & Company HAVE to be driven away from the southern end of Arnhem bridge before he drops it into the river.
Lastly, the RAF never took out the German controlled ferry that was shifting additional panzers, half-tracks and whatnot onto the island straight through the battle -- every night.
This means that even if Grabner didn't get there first, some other SS formation would've crossed over on the ferry and blown the 1st Airborne off of Arnhem bridge. There is absolutely NO COVER for the paras on the south side of that bridge. They'd be standing there with their peckers in their hands, for heaven's sakes. XXX Corps would be days too late.
Browning's scheme was HOPELESS -- deal with it.
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@TIK
But Stalin DID start WWII -- all the way back in August 23, 1939.
The war was rolling right along even before Barbarossa.
We know this is true because of releases from Soviet archives. (Yeltsin)
These clearly show that it was Stalin that wrote the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact -- especially to include the start date of the attack and the demarcation line between Nazi spoils and Soviet spoils. Specifically, Stalin made sure that Brest-Litvosk was in Soviet possession. That alone, it may be argued, cost the Nazis victory. ( Their rail road links to the east could not be rebuilt for a solid three-weeks. The pressure was so great that work started before the fighting stopped. All during this period the Germans had to burn gasoline something crazy to shift their supplies past this bottleneck. )
Stalin pledged to invade eastern Poland on September 1st. That's what the treaty called for. He begged off with excuses for Adolf.
'His army was not able to mobilize all that fast.'
This excuse was to have fateful results when Barbarossa was contemplated. Between Poland, Finland, et. al. Stalin really sold Hitler on military ineptitude.
Instead, Stalin delayed his invasion until the Polish government fled. This fig leaf was bought hook line and sinker by the West.
(And fighting both despots at the same time was too daunting. Churchill rightly figured that there was no way that these two tyrants would not fall out within a couple of years -- if not sooner.)
Stalin proceeded to invade more nations than Adolf Hitler -- who had to play catch-up in the tyranny department -- starting April 1940.
Lest we forget, Stalin even nibbled off eastern Slovakia when Adolf swallowed up the balance of Czechoslovakia. ( He grabbed the critical eastern pass. )
Stalin managed to drive nations into the Axis that didn't even like Hitler: Hungary, Romania -- both were reluctant allies. Finland could also be put in this category, too.
1941 and the Suvorov thesis is actually irrelevant. It's all too late by 1941.
Lost in all of the rancor: FDR pledged to aid Nazi Germany if Soviet Russia attacked westward... in mid-June 1941.
That's how obvious it was to America that both sides were gearing way up to have at it.
Exactly how FDR could aid Germany if she was invaded from the east? Beats me!
I'd say that FDR was talking out of both sides of his mouth. ( A common feat for him. )
And that he always expected that the USSR would end up in the anti-Nazi camp.
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@David
All during MG, the Germans started shelling the highway with heavy artillery. (150mm guns)
Any successful hits would cause pure chaos -- as the British not only had to attend the wounded, but they had to haul the crippled trucks away.
Doing so was a first class bitch... with no tow trucks to hand, the Brits had to improvise with Tommies and tow cables.
BTW, the film leads to the wrong impression: it shows British lorries.
Whereas, Monty received 2,000 GMC trucks from Ike for this battle. This was a Big Deal. They were off the essence -- specifically demanded by Monty. The whole op was delayed by three-days just for these 2,000 trucks.
It's a pretty good bet that Monty wanted them for their 4x4 capability in the polders. British lorries were dead meat should they leave the highway. They didn't have limited-slip differentials. So when the ground got soft, they totally lost traction.
In 4x4 mode, GMC trucks would LOCK UP their differentials so that all wheels received power. ( This mode could not be used on a tarmac as it'd tear up the transmission, duh. ) Monty saw this problem coming a mile away, of course.
The Germans did more than shell the highway. They penetrated it with ground assaults, too. Such interdictions cut the highway for as much as a day and a half at a stretch. (!!!)
This is why I contend that Monty screwed up by not requesting jeeps. Jeeps would've permitted British grenadiers and infantry the luxury of establishing a distant defense of the highway. Jeeps had such a light foot-print that they could roll ANYWHERE. And, when it counted, there were no Germans to run into. All that was necessary was to drive on over and set up your machine gun positions, your OPs, etc.
Even Universal Carriers ( aka Bren Carriers) could not compete with 4x4 jeeps. Jeeps were simply a faster, lighter machine. And the enemy could barely hear them until they were pretty close. Tracked machines put up an awesome racket: it's the track itself that does so.
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@mPky1
Britain was broke no later than July 1940.
Absolutely NO-ONE would trade with them. HMG had totally tapped the till.
LendLease, from the very start, was a total give-away.
On paper, Britain ran up a Fat Tab.
Then the 'debt' was thrown away... rolled perpetually into the future -- eventually to be cancelled ENTIRELY... ie after the war was won.
Until then, it looked great on paper that the USG was collecting quite an IOU from the UK and from the USSR. What a hoot.
This way both British and American politicians could hide what was really going on. FDR could never have gotten away with saying," America is just going to give away billions of dollars in war aid on my say so to my pals in England."
As for the UK, it was embarrassing to admit that she was BROKE. So, HMG didn't admit it. This made it MUCH easier to collect taxes from British citizens. Imagine trying to collect taxes in grand style -- at the same time admitting that HMG has totally blown everything ever collected. Yeah, it wouldn't work. You just NEVER hear of a government admitting they're broke. I give you Venezuela.
Europe was so broke that America had to extend Marshall Plan aid to it. Britain was the number one taker, IIRC. Being able to speak English really helped with the Marshall Plan paperwork. Everyone else needed a team of translators roaming all over the place.
Your proffered stats are total garbage, of course. The USA sent more than 3,000 Sherman tanks, alone. You must suspect that something's off when Britain's shipment comes remotely close to that of the USA. And the other joke is that Britain's own tank divisions were re-equipped with Shermans, en masse. She then sent her rejects ( rejected by the British Army ) off to Stalin.
The Russians were pissed at Britain's crappy stuff. -- Stuff like USED fighter aircraft -- the retired models of Spits and Hurricanes. Yup. That's what Churchill sent off to Archangel. What a jolly joker.
Britain even sent on used tanks, too. When the American Shermans arrived, out went the old crappy stuff -- off to the USSR. Well, beggars can't be choosers.
Most modern Brits are totally unaware that used gear was being sent on to Moscow.
The Americans never sent used crap. We didn't have any laying around, and no-one was sending US LendLease aid.
During a crisis, the US took first rate gear out of USA hands and shipped it on to our Allies: Britain received Shermans that were originally supposed to go to Northwest Africa. They ended up at El Alamein. The Soviets received Western Electric land lines that were rolled up only days after they had been delivered to new American infantry divisions. This happened in secret -- without ANYTHING being committed to writing. We only know about this because of memoirs written fifty-years after the event by the very guys that had to execute this order. The Russian and British panic need for land lines was so great that it delayed the deployment of American infantry divisions. It took a whole year of panic production to supply the Russians, Brits -- and then finally have enough to roll out fresh sets to the US Army.
It's been 75 years, and Brits and Russians STILL can't stand to learn of their economic and military dependencies during WWII.
I still read of Russians and Brits that think they actually paid for all that LendLease stuff. No doubt this myth was generated by the KGB. It's the kind of lie that the KGB was famous for.
It sits along side the KGB lie that the US invented AIDS as a biological weapon against Blacks, Africans, the Third World, etc.
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@mPky1
But LendLease aid WAS free you knuckle-head. It was like a credit card that had no limit, and never required any payments. Then the 'tab' was simply torn up. It doesn't even show up on Britain's ledgers as a debt. That's what the rest of the planet calls FREE stuff.
America didn't take any gold from Russia, either. Quite the reverse was true. America paid IN GOLD to Sweden so that Sweden would ship tungsten carbide tool bits to Russia. Stalin wouldn't buy his own tool bits even with the gold he DID have, not even to save his nation.
The TC bits WERE the production miracle of wartime Soviet Union. THEY were the source of the astounding production increases. Tool bit speed had ALWAYS been the limiting production factor with High Speed Steel tool bits. HSS is fine for final beauty finishes in softer metals, but it is totally uncompetitive with TC and other cutting edges.
This tool bit revolution is lost on most modern citizens. All that they've ever known is TC bits. They are totally unaware of the speed difference between what was before (HSS) and what was new. (TC)
This explains why the general public -- and the propaganda media -- actually BOUGHT the Soviet production miracle BS -- both then and even now.
BTW, when the Soviets removed their factories in a total panic, MOST of the stuff was tossed off of flat cars straight into the snow banks. When everything thawed the next summer, most of the stuff was RUINED. These were all scrapped out, to be replaced by LendLease, brand new, American motors, sheaves, wiring, -- everything. We know this to be true from personal testimony from Russians that were DIRECTLY involved in this panic action.
When it counted, there were absolutely NO warehouses to receive the immense volume of factory equipment that had been unmounted and placed on flat cars -- with the occasional tarp to cover said equipment from the rain and snow -- if lucky.
Everyone but you has figured that out -- over 75 years ago.
As for Australia supplying the USN in the Pacific -- she didn't.
All USN food supplies left the port of Alameda -- which lies next to Oakland, California. That supply depot was not shut down until the mid 1990s and the end of the Cold War.
You can see a bit of the Alameda Air Station in the Ball-Fonda film: "Mine, Yours and Ours."
America has a STERLING reputation with our Allies.
Britain, Canada, Ausralia and New Zealand went on to be founding members of the Five Eyes -- or Echelon system. It still functions today.
Good grief, you are literally ANTI-informed.
You've got every specific detail ack bass wards.
BTW, NZ and Australia, to the best of my knowledge, traded with UK regular way during the war. They didn't ship ANYTHING to Britain for free. They couldn't afford to do so. The flip side was that both were a part of Britain's trading network -- and so would import back from Britain manufactured goods in payment for food -- the primary export for both nations... plus wool.
Sober up, buddy.
Essentially EVERYTHING you think you know about LendLease is wrong... which stands to reason. Stalin lied to his nation about every aspect of LendLease. He was ashamed. His Capitalist enemy was bailing him out. Everything HE touched turned to chit, no exceptions.
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@mPky1
Inventing facts is no defense.
LendLease was a give-away program from the first.
Check out its name. LEND....
One of its provisions was that any 'debts' incurred would be voided when the military equipment was returned, returned to be scrapped out, that is.
And this actually happened.
Ship loads of Soviet Shermans WERE sent back to the USA.
We picked them up in identical Liberty Ships. (Vladivostok)
This confused the locals. A myth arose that Sherman tanks were being loaded up one day, to be shipped out -- and DUMPED INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN -- thence the same ship to return in a few days to pick up more Sherman tanks. Heh, heh, heh.
The Russians had NEVER SEEN identical freighter ships. They assumed that it was the same ship coming back, and back, and back. Whereas, by that time, the US had hundreds of identical Liberty ships in the fleet.
Go with me on this: the US never collected a thin dime from Moscow -- EVER... as if Stalin were a good credit. Heh.
Moscow even turned down Marshall Plan aid -- free money.
Britain took BILLIONS of Marshall Plan aid. This was ANOTHER one-way wealth flow from the USA to UK. No nation took down more Marshall Plan aid than Britain. Speaking English, they all knew how to fill out the paperwork, and they all knew the American commercial game... typically having American trading partners going back many, many years.
Some Marshall Plan funding was a pure gift. Other Marshall Plan funding was extended as a loan -- at an artificially LOW interest rate.
Because all currencies have been fulsomely debased since WWII, it became easy for such ancient debts to be 'repaid' by the great-grandchildren of WWII.
IIRC, even Germany recently repaid some super old debts.
In real terms, the Europeans paid off about $0.04 on the dollar. The rest had been inflated away to nothing.
No European nation could possibly really pay back LendLease aid. The numbers were too astounding. The gear was sent based upon military urgency, not on the basis of whether an allied power was a good credit risk. ( the USSR was deemed a total zero from the start )
No other nation in the history of the planet EVER extended such largesse to allied powers...
LendLease during the war, Marshall Plan after the war.
One of the tragedies of the Marshall Plan was that Whitehall used it as general funding to carry on the business of Empire. Big mistake.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/marshall_01.shtml
" This is utter myth. Britain actually received more than a third more
Marshall Aid than West Germany - $2.7 billion as against $1.7 billion.
She in fact pocketed the largest share of any European nation. The
truth is that the post-war Labour Government, advised by its resident
economic pundits, freely chose not to make industrial modernisation the
central theme in her use of Marshall Aid. "
[Back then $1,000,000,000 was an ASTOUNDING amount of money.]
"As he [Keynes] pointed out, the entire British war effort, including all her overseas military commitments, had only been made possible by American subsidies under the Lend-Lease programme. If the Americans stopped Lend-Lease, Britain would face a 'financial Dunkirk' - his words - unless Washington could be touched for a loan of $5 billion. Keynes wrote that such a 'Dunkirk' would have to be met by: ... "
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@milanradovanovic3693 How in the world can you know such facts?
None of the players is ever going to spill such beans.
Even if an S-400 is never launched, it's in the nature of electronic warfare that the players joust with each other's technology.
Can you imagine the consequences of an S-400 launch that fails? The S-300 has been shown to be defeatable by the IDF.
BTW, the US and IDF... et. al don't fly their F-35s without adding noise-makers during peace-time operations. True stealth mode is only entered during true combat operations -- and only if it is actually necessary.
The same gambit is used with USN attack subs. The intent is to hide -- at all times -- just how quiet, quiet can be.
Similarly, the F-15 flew for decades with throttle restrictors. It did so even when it was flown against friendlies ( Indian Air Force ) in 'jousts.' The only time the Indians witnessed just how dynamic the F-15 was -- was when it flew inside the USA -- during synthetic warfare exercises. When that happened, the Indians spun their opinions around.
The Russians are of the same bent. They never actually reveal their true combat capabilities during synthetic warfare exercises.
At such times, the pilots are being trained, but true capabilities are not to be revealed.... even to the pilots, themselves.
I just can't believe you're in a position to know what's going on over Syria. You sound like a salesman for the S-400 system.
BTW, all SAM systems have one weakness: they eventually run out of missiles. And those missiles are hardly cheap.
My gut feel is that Putin wants to sell the S-400 a lot more than he wants to use it. How else to explain selling it to Turkey, a die hard NATO nation? And you know that that particular system can't be more than a 'monkey model.' No WAY can Moscow turn over a critical asset to the West. The USAF couldn't turn over the F-35 to Moscow, either.
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@KaikanoSei It's actually MUCH WORSE. Yeltsin brought the Soviet Archive documents before the world press in his last years to debunk Stalin.
In those documents was the Soviet-Nazi Pact. What shocked everyone was that STALIN started WWII in Europe. It was HE who drew the boundary. Hitler and his FM had no part of negotiations. (!) They merely signed on the copy that Stalin handed them! The Original stayed in Moscow. On it you can see how Poland was divided up by Stalin's crayon! Ripping Idiot merely initialed the original -- and requested a copy! The original pact specified that Stalin and Hitler were to invade on the exact same day: 9-1-1939. In real life, Stalin DELIBERATELY held back Soviet mobilization -- kicking excuses to Berlin. Stalin waited and waited until the full onus fell upon tyrant Hitler -- and dis-informed London that he was entering eastern Poland to STOP the further nastiness of bad guy Hitler -- who had 'started a war.' This was how Britain and France flipped Stalin from villain, which he was, to emergency humanitarian. (!!!) This was all exposed to the West -- and the source documents were laid in front of them on ranked tables for inspection right then and there.
Yet still, a full generation after, most historians and video accounts still place the onus on Hitler. Don't get me wrong: Hitler WANTED his war. But until Stalin enabled him, Hitler was thwarted at every turn. Yup.
When Goering scotched Adolf's invasion of the Czechs at Munich -- actually siding with Chamberlain -- behind the closed doors -- so no video -- Hitler was so furious he wouldn't speak to Herman for many weeks. Only after reading army reports about the Czech tanks and defenses -- strong enough to have destroyed the Nazi armies -- all by themselves -- did Hitler realize that Goering had actually saved his bacon. Suddenly, Goering was his best buddy, again. He had saved Nazi Germany from prompt destruction. Recall that the Mark III panzer had JUST begun production. Hitler only had TRAINING panzers during Munich. The Mark IV panzer had just begun production, a handful, in 1937. The Czech tanks would've blown everything the Nazis had totally apart. (47mm vs 20mm -- no contest at all.) Chamberlain and Paris had Hitler boxed in... economically. No rubber... on down the line. [ In whacky Nazi Germany, trucks were purchased for their tires. After their removal, the carcass was sold to a junkyard to become repair parts. Yup! So much for Nazi efficiency. The British refused to sell Hitler more than a trickle of rubber from Malaya, so too the French and the Americans. Like the Iranians today, the Nazis were forced to buy from third parties all the time, on the sly, to obtain anything like Hitler's dreams.
In sum: Hitler simply could NOT go to war without Stalin. Von Rundstedt's diary tells all that he figured to permanently retire only 24 hours before he got notice that he would HAVE lead an army group! That's how shocked the German generals were. Nazi mobilization for invasion began before Rippin Puppet even got back to Berlin. You can see that the 'negotiation' was not so. Adolf was like a sailor getting ashore at a brothel after ten-months at see. He was pre-sold on the product.
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@TIK
Stalin's post-war behavior supports the thesis, in a general sense.
The problem is timing. Stalin wanted to move west only after Germany was so ripe it'd fall into his lap. THAT'S his style.
In 1941 there is NO WAY that Stalin was intending or set to move against Germany.
I figure that it'd be 1943 at the earliest before Stalin would get the itch.
All of which is why I regard Hitler's push in '41 mighty insane.
The hand you cannot bite, you must kiss.
All during this period, Hitler was NOT short of fuel -- as Stalin was supplying Germany plenty.
Forgotten by most, Hitler was stashing away Russian oil at a furious tempo -- limited only by his ability to build storage tanks -- all during the November 1939 - June 1941 period. That policy made for pretty expensive oil ... crude oil tanks don't come cheap. Once they were tapped, Germany was not able to re-fill them.
Of course, Hitler was importing every manner of strategic materials during this period.
He was absolutely crazy to attack the USSR when his strategic reserve was so pathetic.
The smart play was to just kiss Stalin's azz... and build up his navy, his panzer force... etc. But Hitler, being Hitler, just couldn't do that.
Suvorov's thesis -- was 'written from hunger.' That is, the boy needed to sell books, grab attention, get on the rubber chicken circuit. It doesn't pass the smell test.
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This critique is over broad. The UK didn't cut Kyiv off -- and London has the exact same intel as Washington.
They're joined at the hip. The French didn't cut Kyiv off, either.
The tactical stroke that reversed the Ukrainian logistics took DAYS to unfold.
Yet, Kyiv didn't respond as it unfolded. Why? Bad generalship. Putin's advance was so obvious.
Putin made it crystal clear that he couldn't 'negotiate' so long as Kyiv shamed him, personally, in Kursk.
Trump reasons that since no-one inside Russia can get rid of the bloody tyrant, he must be endured.
The only game plan left is endurance -- which did in the USSR if you recall.
In the meantime, Putin is sure to bleed out the rest of his army, never daring to touch Moscow, St Petersburg.
Kyiv's play is to stay on pure defense, tactically, and gut Putin's economy back at the pump.
In all of the above, everyone ignores the fact that Trump has stepped on Putin's wallet. The EU can't send him digital cash.
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@Mstislaw
It's a composite history built up from survivor's accounts, German accounts, the staggering number of "Hiwi" that were gained this way, etc.
This scheme was also used by the ChiComms in Korea 1950-53.
What an AMAZING co-incidence!
Obviously, they picked up this brainstorm from Stalin.
( For those unaware, ALL of the early (Korean) war pilots came from the USSR. It takes years to become a proficient jet pilot. No way did Mao or the Norks have ANYONE able to fly Migs.
I've been told by USAF Korean fighter pilots that it was forbidden to admit that they were shooting down Russians. Even though they could be clearly seen -- the flying being so close.
Now that the Cold War is over, they all 'fess up.
The USAF and USN also fought Russians over Hanoi, too. Same story, of course. )
During the Korean War, ENTIRE DIVISIONS were marched into American guns for the express purpose of suiciding them. You see, these formations were SOUTHERN Chinese boys. The very formations that had just been defeated in the Chinese Civil War. (1949) Mao wanted them all dead.
So, not only did the Bolsheviks use penal battalions, the ChiComs did them one better. They destroyed entire armies by the time it was all said and done.
Americans could NOT comprehend what they were looking at... even though this went on for THREE-YEARS.
[ Mao did NOT use his Northern boys. They stood behind the front, rather like those imperial guards of old.]
[ Think Mandarin vs Cantonese. ]
[ China is STILL split between the North and South -- and historically such splits can go on for centuries at a time -- with the North and South organized as separate nations. ]
See "Pork Chop Hill" for Hollywood's take on this befuddlement.
The Germans were just as corn fused at Stalingrad. It was only when the Heer realized that Stalin was suiciding these Russians that they learned to lift their fires.
Naturally, the survivors promptly 'volunteered' to be Hiwis. Heh.
These Hiwis were normally sent to the divisional artillery battalion. Most of the German artillery battalions soon became over-run with Hiwis. It was an astonishing sight, BTW. The Hiwis couldn't scarcely wait to load guns aimed at the Red army. (!!!)
Later, Hiwis became so numerous that the Heer started to organize light infantry formations out of Russians. (!!!) Such formations would be a company by company affair. ( A pretty rare thing, but still it was done -- on the down low.) These had to be hidden from Hitler, as he was totally against what was going on here.
( Something about the glory and honor of the Heer.)
Unit commanders determined that it takes a Russian to really fight a Russian. The fighting was that feral.
Penal battalions could only be used in major offensives. (Kursk) Their existence REALLY stiffened the spines of every other Red trooper, let me tell you.
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On paper, at one point, the USN intended to build a fantasy fleet with four Montanas and eight Iowas. There was a problem: the cost and time of construction was in orbit -- and there'd be no remotely equivalent opposing navy to thwart. In retrospect, one imagines that such a fleet was intended to counter Germany, France and Britain -- and Italy -- all at the same time. The supposition being that Hitler had conquered France AND Britain. In early 1942, this was not deemed excessive speculation. Remember that virtually everyone expected Hitler to conquer the the Soviet Union during the Autumn of 1941. Once it became obvious that carriers were the new capital ships, this paper fantasy went into the circular file. The Coral Sea and Midway ended all battleship fantasizing... as if prior events weren't enough. The Iowas were saved because of their carrier equivalent speed. During Halsey's venture north, his BBs attained 35 KNOTS in full battle readiness, something the British noted at the time -- and included in wartime media releases. Subsequent USN media never claimed that the Iowas could obtain more than 32 knots. Cute.
All during the Cold War, the USN always under-claimed the statistics for is ships. Ditto for the USAF and USA. For example, the M1 tank, all variants, is the highest horse-power tank in the world. To obtain fuel economy -- stop the boys from sporting around -- a throat restrictor is in front of its turbine. US jets also fly with throat restrictors. These were removed for 1991 combat over Iraq. The gap in engineering and performance between the US and its NATO allies is great. It's why US military gear costs so much and seems to deliver such modest performance. Yet look at how long some US gear stays in service... starting with the Iowas -- deemed effective -- after upgrades -- into the 1990s -- and the end of the Cold War. (!!!) The Iraqi Campaign is what destroyed the USSR, BTW. The Red system of government turned on itself as the KGB, CP, GRU, and Red Army began the blame game -- something so predictable that I forecast the end of the USSR for mid-August of 1991. I got that one on the nose. (Gorby had to be in Sochi -- on vacation -- for the Revolution to begin. Pretty obvious, when you think about it.)
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@cianakril No, losing their trade barrier was a sure fire way to stop the production of Ladas,
Russia is a low cost exporter of food -- and many of those exports are rather unique to Russia. ( Siberia has wild fruits so tasty that none make it to Moscow. The locals just shove it in their mouths -- and that's that. ) Ukraine was never known as a food exporter of vegetable crops, or much else, just grain. Back in the day, grain was about the only food stuff that could be shipped long distance, could be stored effectively.
Fracking, in the US, continues to work, and work well. BUT, only certain companies do it well. They are not revealing their techniques to their rivals. This fact is why American drillers were ever even invited in by Kiev. Firms like Chevron, ExxonMobile, Shell have proved to be duds at fracking. They are experts at deep oceanic drilling, however.
It is FALSE that fracking doesn't work. Putin, and the Arab oil ticks spent large to politically stop this rival technology. In the fullness of time, fracking will produce about 100 times as much petroleum and natural gas as classic technology. The general public is never told that, all along, drillers have been punching through thin strata -- loaded with oil/ gas -- that is too tight and thin for their technology.
Russia sits on (probably) the world's largest oil deposit. It's never in the news because it's thin. It stretches from the Urals to Poland, from the Arctic to the Russia's southern border. It even ties into (Baku's 'thick' geology.) Discovered in 1953, this zone had been kept a Soviet state secret until the end of the Cold War.
It's also why Putin has placed such a huge bet on being a petroleum exporter. Fully exploited, this zone could produce 20,000,000 bbls per day for centuries. Of course, none of that will occur in our lifetimes.
The epic error of Putin: infuriating European NATO would terminate his cash cow -- and make Moscow a vassal of Beijing. Forget geography. Russia is too small to compete with Red China and NATO. It's her economics.
Putin's entire mind set is in the past. Russia's future is bright if she integrates with Europe. She's totally screwed if she embraces Red China -- a polity that lusts for Siberia.
Right now, Putin is on track to lose everything Russian east of the Urals. It just won't happen in his lifetime. Check out Beijing's lust for Kazakhstan. Xi is already trying to 'salami' that nation.
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In all of this, no mention of the going rate of interest charged. The System established by the crown, so many centuries ago, became a back-handed way of financing the monarch. Money was generally never lent to peasants. They had absolutely no fungible assets, certainly no land. They toiled more as serfs -- something that lasted until 1866 in Russia -- but was ubiquitous so long ago. The Black Death was still centuries into the future. Only then did the common man become valued for his toil. Of course, he still could not borrow a lick.
So who DID borrow Jewish money? The nobility, that's who. It was the royal custom for the King and his entire entourage to drop on in -- as a 'favor' to his lords of the land. These 'guest drop-ins' could last for MONTHS. These impositions went so far as to impoverish the lord forced to host the king and his knights. These stop-overs functioned to elevate a lord in prestige at the same time he was impoverished. After the king left, the lord would have to scrape the barrel to raise the vig and principal to get his lender(s) off his back. Because of the rate of interest charged, it was hardly rare to see the son still working to pay off the lender, though even years may have passed. The extreme financial crisis of the lord and master was promptly communicated to his serfs by way of increased rents. This could well devolve to the zany rent collection scene in "Rob Roy."
Famously, Henry the VIII took the mansion and lands away from his own Cardinal, holder of the ESSes, just on a whim. The Cardinal, knowing that Henry was a chronic murderer instantly proffered his brand new home, seeing Henry's property lust.
The above tale can never be told without going into the numbers, the social and royal traditions and the fact that, collectively, the Jewish community was give the Royal Permission to charge extremely high rates of interest -- to a captive audience -- who HAD to borrow -- effectively on pain of death or injury -- should the lord run short on $$$ and embarrass the king. In the larger picture, these visits -- repeated in France, elsewhere, broke the back of the peerage over the centuries. THIS was how the English and French monarchs actually unified their lands. Ivan the Terrible used more drastic, bloody techniques -- towards the same ends. He was Centuries behind the English and the French. The monarchs were picking off their nobles, one-by-one. They had to carry themselves at court like spending insane monies was nothing big.
The Pope worked the same routine, himself. Which ultimately ended up creating the Papal States in across middle Italy. Souls were saved while pockets were utterly drained. Many an heir was to find his family's lands were gifted to the Pope to save his father's soul. Cute, no?
Taken as a whole, the king with his army drove the whole matter. He, in every case, made the Jewish community complicit in his plundering travels. It was by this craft that the king went from being merely the first among equals to the absolute monarch who didn't have to listen to anybody. King John jumped the gun, and so ended up signing (and re-signing) the Magna Carta. Yes, he tried to back out. Then his nobles came back and forced it on him one more time! Elsewhere, kings noted what had happened to John -- and played the long game -- to absolute power.
When the debts became too astounding, kind of like $27,000,000,000,000 -- and a default was in view -- then the monarchs, in every case made every attempt to just cancel the debt -- the hard way. The worst of the worst was Phillip II of Spain. He kept defaulting -- over and over. But, he ultimately did pay off in gold and silver -- stolen from the New World -- the hard way. (Belgium king Leopold gets second place.)
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@gdiwolverinemale2745 When you're at that level of wealth,... well, even Putin doesn't know how great his stash is.
Famously, Fidel Castro died a billionaire -- while Cuba was in poverty.
This is typical for despotic tyrants. The mullahs, Xi, Kim -- who can know how much they've stolen.
They do live the gangster life style, there's no question about that.
Biden is flamingly corrupt, there's absolutely no doubt about that, but he's a boy scout compared to Putin, Xi, Kim... et. al.
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You ought to know that the Germans stopped re-gauging their rail net at the Dnieper: right nearby Zaporozhye. That minor city was the base camp for the construction of the big hydro-electric power project, the Dnieper dam, which was blown to ruin by the retreating Soviets.
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=52940
This was also the spot that von Manstein met Hitler as it was the most eastern major HQ that the Heer ever used. During the Manstein counter-offensive and Stalingrad relief, this was his HQ.
Further east, the rails were left with the traditional Russian gauge.
At Zapo, the Germans used 100,000+ Soviet prisoners to hump supplies off of European gauge trains and onto trucks... thence to cross the river. ( the rail road atop the dam had been blown to bits )
To an astonishing degree, the German army DID NOT use rail road locomotives to shift supplies. They stayed with trucks -- way too long.
Late in the campaign, the Germans FINALLY started to bring a rail line down towards Stalingrad. This spur was LONG.
The Germans were able to capture some Russian locomotives, but for the most part, brand new German locomotives -- gauged to the Russian scheme had to be brought forth so that the eastern rail net could be used. There were plenty of captured Russian flat cars -- and they could be easily augmented with brand new German flat cars.
This whole project deserves a video. The Germans repeatedly used flat cars for every purpose -- notably to include shipping Russian soldiers back to Germany in the dead of winter. Naturally the prisoners all froze to death as the wind chill put them down at 40C below zero.
Any idea that the Germans were in a position to shift troops, prisoners, supplies by rail during the Stalingrad campaign must be dismissed.
One would think that Rostov-on-Don and points south would've been well served by barging over locomotives and flat cars. But, AFAIK, the Germans never used the main line that ran from Bake to Rostov. What a goof.
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Yeltsin's health had been failing for YEARS. (booze) Putin was one of MANY Yeltsin picks as he was trying all the while to find a successor. The in-fighting was intense. Stalin had utterly destroyed the talent pool for national leadership -- with his SYSTEM. One is reminded of Imperial Rome when you'd spin the wheel to figure out who the next Big Boss would be.
Putin has only put a gloss on the decline of Russia. He has NOT addressed any of its fundamentals. Rather, he's been a vulture-tyrant. The tales of Russian resurgence are strictly from Putin's media laboratory.
On its economics, Russia's play should've always been to become a commodity exporter -- just like Kuwait and the oil states. It should've also unloaded its money bleeders: which Yeltsin tried to do.
But like Britons, Russians just could not let go of empire -- even when it was clearly dragging them under.
BTW, Red China has the same addiction -- and is headed for WWV is I post.
Russia is still a prison of nations. Many are destined to remain two-to-three generations (culturally, economically) behind modernity as far as the mind can conceive. They are economic parasites. Naturally, they blame Moscow for their backwardness. And there is a lot of truth in that assertion. Moscow inserts a lot of internal tariffs -- which makes for vey strange economics.
( Keep in mind that the US Federal government was established expressly to stop internal tariffs. I the 1780s Pennsylvania and New York nearly came to blows over their tariffs and counter-tariffs -- against each other ! They were minting their own coins and conducting their own foreign policies ! Before it got entirely out of hand, the First Constitutional Convention was triggered. It was NOT meant to establish a totally new form of government. Instead, its remit was to merely paper over the commercial war between New York and Pennsylvania. Once the players took their seats they all realized that nothing less than a whole new structure was essential. Moving the deck chairs around would accomplish absolutely nothing. With this in mind -- check out Putin's Russia. )
Vladivostok is alienated from Moscow by time and distance -- and economic policy. Moscow -- essentially -- has an export tariff regime that bleeds Siberia, Vladivostok in particular. Without it, the Russian Far East would simply explode with economic growth. It sits on the Russian gateway feeding the fastest growing economies in the world -- and it's stuck in the mud.
Thank you Putin.
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The economic 'logic' of Inga III is up-side down. Forget hydrogen. It's too costly to ship.
Instead: reduce alumina to aluminum, mass produce ammonia and ammonium nitrate, run chlor-alkali plants -- direct reduction of iron ore to sponge.
"Simandou, a 110-kilometer range of hills deep in the hinterland of Guinea in Western Africa, boasts the world's largest untapped iron ore reserves."
These are all economically rational projects that would, obviously, massively stimulate local employment. (Daughter industries)
If extra power is available, sell it as electricity to neighboring nations.
All of the industries detailed above ^^^ are power pigs that would otherwise consume traditional fuels when produced elsewhere.
The plants, themselves, could easily be erected near the coast and along the river.
Iceland built an alumina reduction plant and its associated hydro-power dam. It's a money spinner -- all the way around.
"Karahnjukavirkjun is a Hydropower plant in Eastern Iceland, designed to 4600 GWh annually to serve Alcoa's aluminium smelter east of Reydarfjordur..."
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@josephking6515 FORGET? !!! My Uncle is likely the ONLY survivor from DORA -- the hell factory that manufactured said wonder weapons.
You'll see it named anything BUT Dora because it was so secret that the Allies didn't even know its name !!!!
Typically it'll be termed Nordhausen, after the nearby smallish town. This is flatly wrong.
It was 'Dora' because it was Camp D of the Buchenwald Camp. ALL of its paperwork was addressed to Buchenvald, Camp D, and then a motorcycle courier would bring the mail up the road to Dora. Dora had no lights at night, no outside lights at all. It had no phone connection to the outside, either. No-one in Dora was EVER in contact with Nordhausen. This is why the civilians there played totally dumb to the US Army interrogators. They really didn't know anything. (!)
No guns were worn in Dora. All death was by TRUNCHEON. Yeah, real up-close-and-personal. Most of the time, there were no huts for the labor force. You slept on open ground -- under the trees. I could go on and on. I'd publish, but there's no market for a book that just makes you throw-up and then have nightmares -- forevere.
My Uncle was in the USAAF and because he was hiding in civilian clothes waiting for the US 1st Army to advance, he was given a RED triangle and sent to die at Dora. Specifically, he was a compelled grave digger. No bodies were burned at Dora, lest the RAF spot the factory.
)Yes, the RAF had largely figured out where Dora was, but not to the point of knowing enough for a bombing strike.)
The RAF was Super-Motivated to stop the V-2. But, of course.
His life was saved because of the bridge at Remagen. When it was captured, Goering and Himmler knew the Americans could not be stopped at the Rhine -- and would be in Berlin PDQ. So they mutually began negotiating to trade 100,000 camp victims for their own skins. Yup. At the end, Adolf found this out. He whacked his brother-in-law over Himmler's betrayal. He sentenced Goering to death -- by radio. He was only days from death, himself.
So my Uncle was transferred out of the death detail -- over to Buchenwald. There he was rescued by the US Army Medical Corps under Patton. He was so weak that he could only whisp his name rank and serial number. He was the ONLY American in that - so-called - hospital.
It took him half-a-year in England before he was well enough to even travel to the USA. (!!!!!)
He did send one French traitor to the gallows -- with his testimony. She'd killed off all other witnesses to her Gestapo collaborations. (!!!!)
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Even before things got brutal at Yelnya, the 7th Panzer Division was down to FIVE (5) Mark III tanks -- ZERO Mark (0) IV tanks -- TWO (2) Mark II tanks. Its corps 'buddy' at the time, Das Reich had no tanks at all, so once some tanks were repaired, the 7th had to send a clutch of tanks, a task force, north to help DR with its immobile defense.
The pop history notion that the panzer force was in ANY condition to drive on to the East is false. Adolf was right. Guderian had totally run beyond Germany's logistical ability. The idea of going north with Hoth, south with Guderian was inspired by un-destroyed logistics -- the railways -- to the north and south. Along the main axis, Stalin had replicated the defense schemes used against Napoleon, scorched earth. To do this, the Red Army had to totally focus its manpower. The zones to the north and south were thus, untouched; the Red Army was still using them. This was that early in the campaign. THIS is why Guderian was the ONLY general who seriously advocated going further east. In his accounts, he never mentions this little detail.
This meeting occurred primarily because of the utter destruction of the Luftwaffe's Ju-52 fleet! Kept top secret for years, even after the war, the Germans had destroyed their cargo planes as they attempted to land on scarcely prepared farm fields -- crushing their landing gear! Hundreds of these planes were now sited all along the route of advance, unable to fly. [ On a total panic basis, the RLM designed a field-fix kit. It took weeks for these to reach the front, repairing the Ju-52s, bringing them back into service.* ] These landings were the sole reason for Guderian and Hoth's rapid advance. Fuel trucks were actually unable to get through the perpetual traffic jams to refuel the tanks -- and everything else. To keep the jump going, Guderian had been flying in an amazing amount of fuel -- and spare parts -- such as oil for his air filters -- just to keep his tanks rolling. [ For modern readers, the air filters you know of from your automobile did not exist in 1941. The technology had not been invented. Engines of that period used induced/forced air flow through a wire mesh wicking oil -- because of engine vibration. When such engines roll through Russia/North Africa -- they gobble up this oil -- it is plain motor oil -- same as in the crankcase. THIS is what is causing the mechanics to stay up all night. By the time of Yelnya, the Krauts had diverted so much motor oil to their air filters that their engines were being ruined by tardy oil changes. I'm talking about the entire tank force, all at the same time. Any tank with a dead engine is itself a dead duck.
No wonder the Kraut generals sought a pause in operations. All engines at the front were on their last legs, nothing could be flown in, and the boys were utterly exhausted. But Guderian was ready to rumble! From this point forward, everything was being held together with bailing wire and chewing gum -- sometimes, even duck tape.
* The RLM then designed a total replacement air cargo plane. (Ar 232) When Stalingrad called for air supply, it was still in prototype. The US Army/ US Air Force studied Stalingrad, the Chosen fiasco and so Lockheed (Kaiser & Hughes) designed the C-130 -- which is still flying, today. The USAAF never attempted to land on unprepared strips, inventing the landing mat, instead. ( Biplanes COULD land on pastures -- so light -- so slow. )
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@feliscorax In what world do you live? The Democrat Party is THE party of:
Wall Street
Big Banking
Big Pharma
Big Academe
Big Tech -- Silicon Valley -- NSA contractors
Bill Gates
Warren Buffett
Zuck
Twitter
The CIA -- Leftist from its origins
The FBI -- it's all political, now
Most recent arrivals// immigrants
Blacks, Mexicans, Everyone southwards
On and on it goes
Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Hawaii, New England
These are all one-party states... and that party is the Democrat Party
The Federal bureaucracy -- all of them:
EPA, DoS, Social Security,
The Federal Reserve Bank, too
The Quangos: US AID ( It's a CIA front )
AND
Ford Foundation -- and every other foundation nationally active.
The GOP solely draws from small businessmen. Since Evangelicals are rejected by the Democrat Party -- they swing to the GOP. The GOP also gets a plurality from Indians and Cubans.
That's some under-dog you're posting about.
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@John Burns
It STILL does not sink in. From the first hours the II SS Panzer Corps was in sole possession of the southern end of Arnhem bridge.
That RUINS MG.
It means that even if every other player executed perfectly, the SS would merely blow the Arnhem bridge -- from the south side -- and escape via the ferry.
Browning's // Monty's plan did not have ANY provision to guarantee that the entire bridge would be captured.
We now know -- for a certainty -- that the recon elements of British Airborne had absolutely NO CHANCE of getting past the pill box at the north end of Arnhem bridge.
We now know -- for a certainty -- that the II SS Panzer Corps had access to the south side of that bridge -- and could NOT BE STOPPED as the Allies had NO TROOPS on the island. No-one to stand in the way -- and no provision for TAC air to sink the ferry.
The Germans were going to get to the south side -- even if Captain Grabner had not rolled over the bridge before Frost got there, others would still do so.
In the film, a PIV is shown advancing north across the bridge. Whether that actually happened in real life, it certainly could have happened -- as the PIV was light enough for the ferry.
There would've been Krauts crawling all over the south end of Arnhem bridge if the Nijmegan bridge was lost on day one.
So, the MG scheme was hopeless from the first.
Half of a bridge would never get XXX Corps across the river. Indeed, if Nijmegen were lost Grabner would've spent all of his energies -- right from the start, pounding the daylights out of Frost. He still would've set up his 88s to frustrate XXX Corps.
If he brought even two 88s with him, he could've blown Frost to heaven from the south side of the river, too. All of these things would've been 'automatics' for the SS.
Browning HAD to drop paras on the island the first day. Failing to do so sunk the entire enterprise. When you think more on it, Browning can't even allow Grabner to cross the bridge in the first place... he can't even be allowed to get onto it... not even the north side.
He actually blew it by not leaving a rear guard to frustrate Frost.
That error made MG look like a closer run than it was.
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@John Burns
Ike prioritized the entire front. About the only Army Group he didn't favor was 6th Army Group. He had a grudge with Devers.
Earlier in the war, Devers -- in England -- denied Ike's demand that additional B-17 squadrons be sent to him in Africa.
Devers justified this denial because he'd received explicit orders from Marshall and Arnold. Left to his own devices, Ike would've delayed the 8th Air Force bomber offensive just about forever.
Ike NEVER forgave Devers.
Naturally, Bradley and Patton sucked up to Ike and froze out Devers, too. By the end, Patton laughed and giggled, he'd trapped two German armies and 6th Army Group. Ike, Bradley and Patton thought that was just a riot.
The idea that Ike favored Monty -- and you believe that, too -- tells us all we need to know about how un-grounded you are.
MG proved -- to Ike's satisfaction -- that Monty's scheme was lame, hopeless, in fact.
1) Hitler could ALWAYS vector elite troops against such a spearhead, whether it was British, Canadian or American. It didn't matter.
2) The German army was losing its azz when its infantry had to fight against Allied infantry. Battles with German panzers were never that lopsided. In fact, they were a bitch. ( Goodwood )
Ultimately, Patton was right. The traditional invasion route to Germany was the BEST invasion route. Everything further north proved to be brutally difficult to pull off.
Bradley's fiasco in the Hurtgen was even worse than Monty's during MG. It ran MUCH longer and had a MUCH higher blood price.
Think of it as the Somme in slow motion -- and in the forest -- the Allies' version of Stalingrad.
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@MrTang British aid to the USA is hugely famous in American histories of the period: penicillin, radar, crypto, Merlin engine, sonar, etc. so you're incorrect that it's hardly mentioned. Entire films have been dedicated to the topic. British atomic contributions were actually trivial, inconsequential. The Big Assist came from European genius refugees.
The British delivered tanks in time, but the crews could not be trained in time for Moscow. So you have the weird situation where, on paper, it looks like British tanks were a serious factor; whereas they had crews so untrained that they scarcely knew how to start the engine.
Keep in mind that Russia had NO motor culture. The boys were peasants. Horses they knew; motor vehicles they were absolutely clueless. This also included motor repair, maintenance. This factor was to dog them most of the war. The ultra high breakdown rate of the T-34 was hugely due to such ignorance. Many crews reported that they'd had a couple of laps around the training field and it was off to action. It was OJT all the way! During winter 41-42 it was common to see Russian tanks that had not even been properly painted white! They didn't even slow down to shoot white wash!
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@Xander Turon
Let's stick with the facts. WHEN IT COUNTED, Hitler held back his armies and let Goering's Luftwaffe have bombing practice. THIS is when most of the French and British soldiers escaped.
There was VERY low cloud cover, and both armies were largely fleeing at night.
This gambit fooled the Germans very well.
ONLY AT THE END, when it finally became apparent that the BEF was getting away, did Hitler send in the infantry to mop up.
Yes, he still held the panzers back. They were needed to get to Paris.
The above sequence entirely explains why Hitler let the BEF escape... he actually didn't... he thought that they were hopelessly trapped from the first... that they COULDN'T get away.
Later, after their escape turned into a PR disaster for Hitler, he came up with "I was not really interested in capturing the BEF."
[ I really didn't want that cookie, mother. ]
Another in a LONG line of patented Adolf Hitler lies.
Ever since analysts have imputed to Hitler some bizarre desire to see the BEF get away. That thought NEVER crossed his mind.
To repeat, the BEF snuck away, right under his nose; something that he could not possibly imagine. It's not for nothing that the whole escape was then and now regarded as a national miracle. That's how SHOCKING it was that the BEF got out of Dunkirk.
Worse, the French army replicated the British escape. This is something that is normally new news to moderns. Today's man-in-the-street has no idea that the French escaped the Dunkirk perimeter, too.
The problem was that they had to leave ALL of their weapons behind. Even their rifles.
France simply didn't have enough weapons to re-equip all of the men who had escaped. And all of the best gear had been captured by the Germans in that pocket. ( front line tanks, artillery, FLAK, etc. )
Consequently France threw in the towel June 22, 1940.
22 is, of course, the magic number at Rick's Cafe. Heh.
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@paulpeterson4216 Not quite. The Mark III wasn't really retired from front-line service until the M-4 Sherman showed up. Rommel sent word: the M-4 made the Mark II and Mark III death traps. This conclusion was NOT reached upon meeting the T34c. BTW, it's a fact that most T34c losses during Barbarossa were via the 37mm pop-gun mounted on a Mark III panzer. (!!!) That model simply so greatly out-numbered the 50mm variants, hence the shocking result.
THE critical flaw in the T-34c is that it had no 'strong front' -- its armor was -- at the chassis -- uniform all the way around. You never see that design scheme in subsequent tanks or assault guns. This meant that if you aimed at the glacis you could penetrate virtually every time -- regardless of the elegance of sloped armor. BTW, the Christie designs, imported, mass-produced used sloped armor. The idea that the T-34 was a new design because of its shape is totally false. Sloped armor does rather kill the efficiency of the fighting box. Our houses feature vertical, not sloped, walls because that's how humanity operates.
Another myth is that the T34c was cheap to produce -- hence the production numbers. As IF. Diesel engines -- aluminum Diesel engines -- are inherently expensive. Visit an auto lot today. The US went with gasoline engines precisely because -- due to combat -- tanks just don't live long. So lower production costs -- and massive production volume -- are essential for strategic victory. The typical 2.5 ton American truck in Northwest Europe (44-45) was a GMC gasoline-powered all-wheel drive machine. It was also the core of the DUKW. It was hoped that such trucks could last 25,000 miles before being written off. The operating assumption being that such machines would be just chewed up by the roads and the enemy. The same logic and statistics drove the design of the M-4 -- which is obviously the most important tank of the war. Nothing else comes close. It was the preferred tank of Canada, Britain, America -- and their allies. It was the ideal penetration tank of the USSR -- with many a Nazi war-film illustrating it being used by the Reds to advance deeply into German lines. It was the only tank to see world-wide service -- as in the whole planet.
Both German (the heavies) and Soviet tanks broke down just from road travel at three-times the rate of an M-4. Such breakdowns were the primary reason why Eastern Front tank attacks could only go so far -- why by late 41 Guderian has so few tanks. They weren't destroyed by the Reds. The simply broke down from road travel. BTW, during Barbarossa, German tanks largely got away with traveling on the roads -- such as they existed -- in the USSR. They only had to leave the roads during a real battle -- which actually was amazingly rare during Barbarossa. German diaries constantly emphasize that Barbarossa was a "road war." With panzers and trucks rolling along in column hour after hour for days on end. It's only in the propaganda footage where you see panzers fanning out. In 1941 just the news that panzers were coming -- en masse -- had the Red soldiers fleeing. They had absolutely NO counter-weapons to panzers in 1941. The Krauts were doing most of their damage with their panzer's machine guns -- not their big guns. BTW, the 37mm is the perfect size for gutting up infantry. It's only rotten when it has to fight other tanks.
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@TroIIingThemSoftly Yeltsin exposed the truth, a generation ago. The whole idea was Stalin's not Adolf's. (!)
The deal was in the R-M Pact. Stalin and Adolf were BOTH to attack on September 1st. That was the deal. Stalin, not Adolf, set the date. He also set the division line. This is why the German Army never advanced eastward even after the Polish Army was defeated. For some reason, the West never quite picked up on this reality.
When the two armies met, the generals celebrated by marching their tanks -- in series!
First it would be a German panzer, next a Soviet tank, next a German panzer,....
This was filmed and distributed in both Nazi Germany and the USSR.
The West took the same footage -- and simply cut-out the Soviet tanks. This latter, butchered footage, is to be seen just everywhere in Western video histories. The original footage, showing the Soviet tanks, is very hard to come across.
Stalin sandbagged Adolf. This is how almost all popular accounts STILL point the entire blame for WWII on Adolf. But, the proximate actor was Stalin. (!)
Until he crafted his deal of the century, Adolf was -- actually -- boxed in.
This deal blew up 'Munich.' The British and French and Poles never saw it coming.
Neither did the German military. Neither did the Soviet Foreign Minister. (!)
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Here's the breakdown: $61,000,000,000 -- $40,000,000,000 to the Pentagon -- $21,000,000,000 to Ukraine.
The $21 B is spent on retired US Army gear that our army will not ever use. We hang on to it to sell to US allies, worldwide.
Things like 50-year old M113s of Vietnam vintage; 35-year old Bradleys of Cold War vintage; M1-A1s from 45-years ago -- rebuilt to remove their advanced electronics -- which is why delivery was so delayed.
The Europeans have been doing the exact same thing. German Gepards were designed in 1955-57 -- built in the mid-60-s. They had to be totally rebuilt before delivery; most were actually scrappable from the boneyard! Germany couldn't even crank out its unique ammo. (!) [ They had sold the whole sheebang to Switzerland.]
The Russians are pulling the exact same stunt. They have to rebuild from the boneyard virtually everything sent to the front.
During the resent blast up north, Russia lost the team and tools to rebuild North Korean 152mm shells. They were doing so, in the open, 24/7. No wonder the place lit up like Hiroshima. LOL. [ It was just the propellant charges. These had been blowing up while still in the artillery barrels. The out-going shell was not being touched.]
Short version, we're sending Ukraine boneyard junk that would ordinarily be scrapped. Exception: Patriot missiles.
By demonstrating the Patriot SAM -- sales of said SAM have EXPLODED. Poland, et al, want everything America can produce.
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The Romans had a Jew, Josephus, re-craft the crucifixion to shift the blame away from Rome onto the conquered, the Jews. No-one has ever found contemporary documents to support his narrative. When he wrote, the diaspora was old news. ( He was 30-years late to that story. ) Consequently, EVERYTHING scholars have tussled with is in grave doubt. I, myself, find it impossible to believe that Pilate gave a second thought as to what this or that Jew thought about rabbi Jesus... for He certainly was a Jewish rabbi. Jesus never preached to the gentiles. What did Him in HAD TO BE His throngs of followers. That's all it would take. Elsewhere in the Roman Empire, fellows who developed quite a following were whacked out of hand all the time. The Romans wiped out the Druids (Celtic clergy) -- to a man -- and -- but months later -- crushed Jewish clergy in Palestine. Obviously, no Jewish rabbi is going to ever plead with the Romans for them to crucify a fellow rabbi. It just could NEVER happen. BTW, a Jew achieves rabbi status by knowing the Scriptures front to back -- and by being an authority that other Jews look to. Jesus qualified on both counts. He was crucified not because of the religious doctrines He preached but because He was seen as way too popular and one who could plainly lead any rebellion with his charisma. Spartacus was not forgotten.
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@John Burns
It was ESSENTIAL that the Allies seize Arnhem bridge... ALL of it.
Losing the southern half = total failure of MG.
For the SS would surely blow the bridge into the river before XXX Corps could do anything about it.
As Grabner showed, the SS could cross virtually the whole distance before Frost could shoot.
But the SS needn't even travel that far to set explosives. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the Dutch had ALREADY placed explosives in both bridges. They were pre-charged with explosives before 1940. This was not unusual.
So all that the SS had to do was to double check the charges, the wiring, and boom, down she went. The Dutch explosives were PERFECTLY set to take the bridge down ENTIRELY. Further, the detonation cables ran to the south side of the river. The Dutch always assumed that the Threat came from Nazi Germany, not Belgium.
Hence the Nijmegen cables went to the post office cum telephone exchange ( where a Dutchman severed the link -- right at the start of the battle -- he immediately realized that Nijmegen bridge simply HAD to be the Allies objective, too obvious it was.)
Ditto for the Arnhem bridge. Its detonation cables led straight to the south side.
In short, Frost couldn't do a THING to stop the SS from dropping the entire bridge into the river. This destruction was pre-engineered -- by the builders of the bridge, themselves. The SS didn't need to even bring in explosives or cables. The Dutch had done all of their work for them. (!!!)
Monty never could cross the Rhine in Holland. He (wisely) didn't even make the attempt. Urquhart was mistaken that Monty would find British Airborne's pitiful bridgehead suitable for 21st Army Group.
The reason for the 'sloth' of Horrocks, and Monty late in the battle was due to the fact that both understood what I've posted here. At a minimum, the local Dutch had spelled it all out. Arnhem bridge was a goner. No Dutchman could save it buy cutting the cables.
Deal with it. MG went south once the Big Brains kept every airborne unit away from the island on Day One. ( Over the protests of both Gavin and Urquhart, BTW. )
Yeah, I could just cry.
In all airborne operations, the drop zones are THE critical decision. If you get them wrong, God help you. That's what happened here.
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Buddy, great analysis, except that the Ukrainians have already totally escaped the pocket... even before you posted to YT. Heh.
Yes, it sure looks like Zelenskyy's generals have trolled Moscow.
It was obvious that the RA could pocket UA forward positions (Zolote) -- going back days and days.
The UA left a skeleton crew in place while the brigade displaced to trenches, long prepared, back up north.
Life is tough all over. [ Putin just lost an entire oil refinery to a hobbyist drone. The video of the fiasco is already viral. ]
There is a brutal reality: the Lend-Lease pipeline from the USA has to come by ship. The volume, the heft, is too great for airlift.
The very tip of that flow has finally arrived in theater. Putin has seen NOTHING yet.
Putin has 'culminated' -- in military speak.
Kyiv has imposed a news embargo across most of the front -- which can only mean that something's afoot.
My guess is that the RA is now out-manned across most of its invasion front -- it's so long --
and that Kyiv can poke holes in Russian defenses almost at will.
Putin has to thank his stars that the Ukrainian Army is so 'green.' (One is reminded of the Soviets at the start of Uranus.)
Ivan will not tolerate a super fiasco. That's what did in the Tsar back in 1905.
If I were a Ukrainian general, I'd concentrate my best artillery at one spot, and peel open Putin's front.
I'd also have to concentrate my SAM defense, too. Putin has BTGs all across the wrong side of the Dnieper.
With only a handful of crossings, the troops are probably going to flat out panic when they see they're being trapped.
If Putin loses an entire army, his crew is not going to take it well.
The Mirror claims that Putin's top body guard just committed suicide -- semi-successfully. There's been a LOT of that going on.
I wish I had the antacid concession for the Kremlin. Think of the volume!
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@Whitpusmc
The Soviets were getting staggering amounts of FREE economic inputs for their war economy on top of weapons systems transfers.
Avgas
Explosives
Lubricants ( industrial cutting fluids + the stuff you're thinking of )
Signals cables ( ie phone lines )
Copper
Steam Locomotives
Rails, too
Machine tools ( the most sophisticated ones, at that )
Tungsten Carbide bits -- from USA and Sweden -- the latter bought with gold by the USA. These are the REAL reason for the Soviet production miracle.
Medical supplies of all types
Military food -- ie rations suitable for mobile operations
Tanks, planes, trucks, ...
Tires, rubber hoses of every type,
100% of Russia's radio tubes. (!!!!!)
All of the above was FREE and in epic quantity.
Oil drilling rigs + drilling tool bits
Critical oil refining technology -- especially high tech catalysts
Atomic secrets and example materials suitable to clone America's plutonium production reactors at Hanford in Washington State. Obviously, the blue prints were sent over, too. Materials without instructions would be largely worthless. These shipments were duly listed circa 2000AD -- and posted to the Internet by Russian college kids. They had access to the astounding database of LendLease transfers -- but did not know the significance of the atomic materials, even though they were highlighted as 'atomic materials.' Only an atomic scientist// technician would realize their import.
Yeah, I fell out of my chair. Klaus Fuchs could never have sent these materials to Moscow. ONLY FDR and Harry Hopkins had that level of authority. Even traitor J. Robert Oppenheimer couldn't export atomic technology.
Yes, he was the Primary traitor, giving Uncle Joe every imaginable atomic secret. JRO was the ONLY person in the entire Manhattan project who could go anywhere, see anything, know everything. For everyone else, knowledge was compartmentalized. JRO didn't trust FDR. That was his motivation. Oh, the irony.
[ Of course, Harry Hopkins, traitor, sent these on their merry way. FDR let Harry stand in for himself when he was feeling tired. By 1944, Harry was busy, indeed. Harry's private diary makes it plain that he was a Bolshevik, himself, a real True Believer. These sentiments were kept hidden from the nation for fifty-years after WWII ended. ]
Tail-gunner Joe was right: FDR infested our national government with Stalinists.
Today that role has been replayed by 0bomba -- who has slotted CAIR operatives all through our Government. The effect is the same as before. We are naked to our enemies.
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Artur, the priority will ALWAYS be to shoot down the trench lines, both ways, until the door is wide open.
The Russians can't mine their own trench line. So, if manning is low, Ukrainian progress will be rapid.
Russian reserves were brought in by road -- and are STILL (largely) pinned off to the west -- kilometers away.
There are remarkably few Russian reserves in the current direction of advance. Oops!
The Russian command simply did not expect the UA to vector off to the southeast. Period.
The UA sold the idea that they would shoot straight south, if not towards Tokmak, almost directly.
But, once the UA is through, they have entered a 'mine-free' zone that goes on for kilometers.
Tokmak is not essential. Merely getting down south, towards the Sea of Azove, screws Putin.
Destroying the Il-76s was a strategic move -- designed to stop Putin from air dropping supplies and men into the breach.
In this, the Il-76 replicates the capabilities of the C-141 of the USAF. (Retired in 2006 after forty-years.)
[Parachute drops/ cargo drops are possible for both, but not widely publicized, as in both cases, the boys would rather land and walk off.]
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Adolf broke up the SS Corps: the 1SS left all of its heavy equipment -- donating it to the 3SS and 2SS. It, the 1SS, was sent to northern Italy. It was supposed to be joined with the 2SS, but the Soviet offensive at the Mius forced Adolf to flip around, yet again.
However, once that battle was over, the 2SS went off to Italy, never to 'visit' Russia again.
The 2SS left its 170mm guns in Russia, though.
The Western Allies ultimately destroyed these divisions -- only the rump of the 1SS ever was sent east... to Lake Balaton. There the Red Army kicked its azz.
Additionally, the formations destroyed by the Russians at Stalingrad were re-constituted -- and then all sent to Italy.
Lastly, the 24th Panzer Corps which stood as reserve at Kursk was also sent to Italy. ( 14p, 16p, 24p, 26p, 29m -- again all Stalingrad panzers )
Indeed, this shift is the very reason that Hitler stopped the Kursk attack. He was reacting to the Allied invasion of Italy -- and Italy's surrender to the Allies.
So you couldn't possibly be more wrong. Adding them up we have a panzer army and an infantry army. (!!!!) That's what it took to occupy Italy.
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@mPky1
LendLease WAS free to everyone except the American taxpayer.
The program got rolling because it was obvious that Britain was broke.
What I might say is that WWII was launched in Europe as a joint operation between Stalin and Hitler.
I might say that the USSR invaded MORE countries than Germany between 9-1-39 and 5-9-40.
I might say that during the first half-year of war between these two 'buddies' the USA was stuck at peace.
I might point out that EVERYTHING Britain 'gave' to Moscow came by way of a LendLease gift from America. London was merely 'flipping the assets' -- being in absolutely no position to create them. Even manufactures that bear Britain's stamp could NOT be so manufactured without American inputs.
[ Britain DID make a huge contribution to victory, but that came by way of British aid to the USA, not British aid to the USSR. ]
I might point out that Britain NEVER gave the USSR tens-of-thousands of tanks -- ONLY the USA could -- and did -- do that.
I might say that London sent thousands of its lousy tanks that were failures in the hands of every other power that tried them in combat, and Moscow was grateful.
I might say that until Barbarossa, Moscow's agents visibly and very actively obstructed the function of America's docks so that aid to Britain was throttled; then, suddenly, the West had peace on the docks.
Russia paid in blood for the folly of Stalin -- the TRUE initiator of WWII in Europe.
The partition document shows Stalin's initials and his wide -- almost smeared -- crayon that dictated the merge line between the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. Until Stalin romanced him, Adolf Hitler was actually BOXED IN.
He was critically short of:
Nickel
Tungsten
Chrome
Copper
Rubber
Crude oil
Met coal ( not used for steam -- used to make steel )
Ball bearings
Aluminum
Stainless steel
Heavy water
And that's just off the top of my head.
Stalin not only launched the war, but provided the Nazi tyrant with the means to defeat France: unlimited crude oil became unlimited avgas. The French were NOT expecting the Luftwaffe to be able to fly so many sorties as they did because in ordinary circumstances, the Luftwaffe would've LONG since run out of avgas. Stated another way, Paris was counting on Berlin to be throttled by its critical fuel shortage -- and this was figured into its strategic calculus. They discovered, via Stalin, that they were totally wrong to do so.
As it was the French air force didn't even stock enough avgas to carry on the fight, nor did France even build remotely sufficient fighters, either. This is astounding to read, but Paris spent as much as Berlin on fighter aircraft -- but just didn't get any. (!!!) What was happening was that, with every switch in government, the prior contracts were terminated and new ones let to industrialists that the new 'In' party favored. So Paris ended up funding scads of new design research -- while actually not buying any fighters in a production run. The Spring of 1940 was the earliest that mass production began. Less that 40 days later, Germany was over-running France. (!!!)
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@Neil
The British Army was in LOVE with direct fire artillery straight up into WWI. It was SO much more effective than indirect artillery... so much cheaper... and it worked like a charm against natives that only had small arms.
WWI changed Britsh doctrine. They adopted the Kaiser's solution: indirect fire.
( The BBC even ran a video documentary covering all of this. )
Niel, the 32pdr has been already discussed in a post stream right here, look for it.
BTW, the British converted the 32pdr to a true AAA role. Automatic gun-laying was the reason for British AA successes against the V-1. It couldn't be defeated any other way. ( save the RAF, itself )
The V-1 was engineered to defeat the gun-laying speed of all traditional AA. It was flying too low, too fast, requiring crazy levels of gun slew to get ahead of it. The Germans never conceived that the British had jumped to the next level, and on a mass production basis.
( AAA 32pdrs would've shot US 8th AAF and RAF Bomber Command to pieces. No wonder the British kept their stuff top, top secret.)
( The British were so obsessed with radar that they built 'Elephant' to jam German long range radar. This was another top, top secret project. It turned out to be totally unnecessary. It radiated insane amounts of microwave power towards the German radar set -- to flood its electronics. No-one knew that the Germans had shut it off due to lack of performance. It, the German radar, was sucking down crazy amounts of electric power while not providing ANY additional information on Allied bombers. Their own coast watchers cost nothing and were more accurate. All they had to use was the human ear. Bomber streams are both loud and comparatively slow. )
BTW, the radars that adjusted the fire of the 32pdrs were TOP SECRET for years and years. You just won't find any reference to their employment from period documents. Instead, the V-1s just seem to fall out of the sky by brilliant crew training. Heh.
The fact remains: the WDF and 8th Army simply refused -- for doctrinal reasons -- to use 25pdrs as PAK. One wonders if PAK rounds were even in the theatre.
It boggles the mind, but the nation that invented armored warfare managed to be WAY behind Germany and the Soviet Union. The contrast with the RAF and RN is stark. The British Army was simply the step-child of the military services. That may well have been the correct decision, strategically, but it sure produced poor results in North Africa and Malaya.
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@Neil
The British Army just didn't do it.
The very idea of using their howitzers as PAK was well nigh universally rejected.
Finding last-gasp defenses in the archives is irrelevant.
The idea that a single man can pivot a 25pdr makes all of us giggle.
How in the world is that relevant to combat?
How in the world is he actually supposed to AIM the dang thing?
FLAK guns can easily be re-purposed towards ground targets. Everyone knows that.
Everyone also knows that the American, German and British armies would rather pull their eye teeth than commit their indirect howitzers to a direct fire role.
[ Yet sometimes this had to be done. Famously the USA brought up its most awesome 155mm Long Tom self-propelled gun to fire flat trajectory into German bunkers on the far side of the lower Rhine. The gunner got a medal for it. He was aiming at vision slits, as even the 155mm round was too weak to bust the German fortification. ]
This is still true.
The Americans still have direct fire rounds for their M198 and M777 howitzers. The LAST thing they wish to do is to use them.
As for footage of 25pdrs rolling up ramps, there is too much out there.
Ramps as an expedient for the WDF seems to have been universally adopted. Considering the terrain, it's easy to see why.
The discussion is about what the WDF found to be practical, to be doctrinal, not what some armchair historian might conjecture could pencil out.
The number of German panzers knocked out by 25pdrs and other howitzers is trivial.
The number of British (and other) tanks knocked out by 88s is legendary, epic, history-making.
There IS a difference.
It actually would've made more sense for the British to use their 32pdrs -- FLAK -- but such a scheme was rejected out of hand -- regardless of what the Ordnance boys thought.
No, the evidence is crystal clear: the WDF favored the 6pdr PAK. It did the job, and did it well.
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@xviper2k You've been misled. Trump, due to his political position, played the classic triangular 'game' with Russia. Trump's aid has been via third parties. If you recall, [ "See Charlie Wilson's War"] The USA is absolutely paranoid about DIRECTLY, and very obviously, supporting anti-Moscow players. So, when ANYTHING is done to thwart Putin, it's behind the shadows. It must be news to you, but Trump has absolutely savaged the economies of Red China, Russia and Iran. He as NOT used direct military force. Instead, Trump spent MEGA-MONIES on the American Military-Industrial Complex. This spending is why -- in record time -- the USAF is moving on to a SIXTH Generation Stealth Multi-Role Fighter-Bomber-Reccon-Drone with a pilot's seat. Only now, after Trump has left office is this beast being made slowly public. And obviously it is being made public to make Biden look 'tough.' Other than breaking its wall of secrecy, Biden has never had anything to do with it.
As for Red China -- they were the financier for the theft of November. Trump was costing them billions per day. Video during 2020 showed vast docks near Shanghai IDLED, with moping stevedores whining about their collapse in action. Russia's economy turns on oil revenues. Note that fracking and Trumps diplomacy have crushed Putin's wallet. And as for Iran, they HATE Trump. They're in worse shape than either Russia or Red China. In a first, Trump got even Japan to stop buying Iran's stuff. For all president's prior, Japan was given a unique exemption from all American anti-Iranian oil embargoes. With Beijing swabbing their tushes, Tokyo -- and South Korea -- were right on board Trump's train to derail Beijing... and still are.
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@Perera The USA pulled Japan off of Russia once Stalin's man informed him that Japan was certain to attack the USA. He promptly shifted 500,000 soldiers out of the Far East -- with tremendous impact December 1941 -- and the USA was not even at war at the time.
The USAAF pulled the Luftwaffe out of Russia -- almost entirely -- BEFORE Normandy. In financial terms, the Air War was MORE expensive than the land campaign. So you entire line of reasoning implodes.
The USA + UK pulled one panzer army and one infantry army out of Russia when they invaded Sicily. That invasion stopped the German attack at Kursk dead in its tracks. The Germans NEVER had a strategic attack in Russia for the rest of the war.
As the Germans shifted into the west -- they were ground up and destroyed. The units involved were the PREMIER units in Germany. The only super-units in the left east: 3SS, 5SS and Grossdeutchland.
In the west: 1SS, 2SS, HG, 1st Para, 2nd Para, 4th Para, 7th Para,116th Pz, Pz Lehr, -- and ALL of the decent units in the Luftwaffe. The USAAF shut off Adolf's oil supply: Ploesti and the Big Week ( February 1944)
ALL of the critical oil attacks occurred LONG before Normandy.
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@LW During WWII, American troops referred to Germans as 'Krauts'; the British said 'Jerry.'
Right now, in Ukraine, the UA refers to Russians as 'Orcs.'
Yup. It's passed into common military slang.
There is irony here. The final in "The Two Towers" features the White Wizard coming over the hill to rescue.
That scene, that battle, is but an echo, a literary reference to the Siege of Vienna which ended 9-11-1683 in exactly that manner.
Polish cavalry saved Vienna -- led by their king.
(Austria repaid Polish heroics by breaking up Poland about a century later -- the biggest hunk to Russia.)
This time around, Warsaw is bailing out Kyiv.
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania -- all have one thing in common -- too much history with Russia.
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Spartacus...
FACTS.
First stage syphilis results in an insanely painful burning organ. So much so, it's not uncommon for the afflicted to have extreme agony merely relieving themselves.
Napoleon's attending physician -- from his HQ -- puts any of your nostrums to bed.
The OFFICIAL Russian government release was put paid to ANY of your assertions. The Soviets had been lying for decades. Their syphilis expert was brought in -- at the last -- AFTER Lenin had had his so-called stroke. Heh. Explain THAT.
MANY of Lenin's 'political' decisions reflect syphilitic paranoia.
As for Adolf, his diagnosis was TWICE made by his own personal physicians. (They both looked at his stuff at the same time.) The DEFINITIVE Nazi medical records were seized by the US Army at the end of WWII. They are in the US national archives. After much travail they were finally tracked down... so MANY records to plow through. To the complete astonishment of modern physicians, Adolf had the ABSOLUTE signature of syphilis -- terminal stage. All doubts were crushed.
That alpha politicians screw around a bit too widely (Bill Clinton) is a truism. (Legend has Henry VIII screwing a new babe EVERY day. He was that desperate for an heir. One resulting boy was in line for dukedom. He died before his elevation. That rich bastard nearly had it made. Henry was working on how to make him his successor right up until the very bad news. )
In terms of behavior, later in life, Napoleon revealed the following stages of syphilis. BTW, your assertion that syphilis is only revealed years down the road is an absolute laugher. EVERYONE afflicted howls in pain during Stage One of syphilis It strikes within days. Screw on Monday, be howling no later than Thursday.
Late stage syphilis sends your blood pressure into orbit. e.g. Adolf.
In ALL THREE CASES the guys telling us it's syphilis are the attending physicians -- and in writing, too.
Against them your screed is down right amusing.
The fact that two of the four were nationally known as syphilis experts is quite the 'tell.' ( Lenin, Adolf's doctors ) Adolf, himself, went out of his way to 'recruit' his own doctor. Heh.
Thanks for the laugh.
Of course, you're right. All of the doctors are wrong.
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@alexdenisov7912 bln bbl a day is an obvious mis-print.
And, it's a fact, Iran has found that getting back up to her old tempo is no easy thing. Her actual 'swing' pumping rate is ~ 1,000,000 bbl/ day. Given enough time, and $$, Tehran could bring another 1,000,000 bbl/ day on line. But that would require about 1.5 years to pull off. America's sanctions have really caused a LOT of Iran's stuff to atrophy. (Crude oils are chemically aggressive against pipes, pumps, valves, hoses.)
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Putting my chemistry hat on -- yes, it fits -- your reasoning about enrichment is way, way off. So, stop right there.
The way it works is by PARTITION -- not picking this or that 'coin.'
Partition is bogged down at start by the huge fraction of 'dead' 238. It clogs up your process flow.
All of your pipes, equipment -- everything -- has to be sized to handle a vast flow of 'inerts.'
The partition function has its best economics when your centrifuges// partition function is not clogged with inerts...
so the best process stream economics shows up around 60% enrichment.
However, and this is where you started drifting off, as the percentage climbs up towards 70, 80 90 -- the partition function cuts against you.
Now, getting RID of the 238 -- what you've been doing all along -- is starting to choke on the high fraction of 235 in the process stream.
THIS is why you keep reading that atomic scientists decide to stop at 80% or 90%. BTW, Little Boy was an 80% device.
I have no idea where 90% came from.
Cost EXPLODES exponentially as you try and attain higher purities.
The Iranians are doing exactly what one would do to craft an Atomic Bomb PROGRAM.
They know that IF they ever announce that they've got a few -- Jerusalem will attack FOR SURE.
That's why they are staying on the cusp.
Beyond that, Tehran has lost a LOT of critical atomic scientists.
Most by way of never hooking into their program -- not assassination.
Israel has simply deterred them.
This presentation is not up to your usual standards.
The mullahs are going to keep on keeping on -- always staying on the cusp --
until they have so much very highly enriched 235 that they can break on through to Little Boy, PDQ.
Here's the kicker. Little Boy needs a B-29 to deliver it. It's NOT suitable for ordinary missiles.
The Soviet early era bombs were so heavy that Korolev built rockets sized for them.
This baffled the Americans during the space race. Later, due to GRU spying, the Soviets were able to shrink their nukes.
Costs plunged. So by the mid seventies, bomb counts went past ten-thousand, way past.
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@blackcatdungeonmastersfami5311 No, you're totally wrong. What happened is that Moscow was responding to Red China -- as it became clear that Beijing was never going to join with America and Russia in strategic restraint. The US DoD -- as ever -- wanted the newest, high tech, counter-threat missile -- from a clean sheet of paper. THIS is why the American response to Red China has been years later than Russia's. No doubt the new design will be quite stealthy -- hell to detect on the way to its target. Whereas the old designs were all pre-stealth, and plainly targetable with look-down, shoot-down radars.
The Russian stuff is talked about as a threat to Europe -- whereas its cruise missiles are deployed to hit Red China's nukes, instead.
Only a token amount are sited to hit Europe -- which is no threat to the Kremlin -- not withstanding Putin's posturing.
BTW, Xi's nukes are easy pickings for Moscow, as they were originally sited far inland -- to stop USN attack -- issue number one back then. Xi and Putin are best friends because they each have the other by the balls. That's all.
If America didn't exist, they'd be straight at each other, PDQ.
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@cogitatione1 In the final event, Truman DIDN'T follow his own Potsdam declaration. At Potsdam, the US was still demanding unconditional surrender. Truman flip-flopped, now allowing the Emperor to sit on his throne only in the final daze of intra-American decision making. Yet, at the time, and for years afterwards, the USA always denied that Truman had walked away from unconditional surrender -- THE key FDR plank of the war.
But, the facts are plain. Truman dropped what he regarded as a totally insane, extreme position -- considering how many souls would be destroyed by sticking to it.
This flip-flop is what actually terminated the Pacific War. It eclipsed the logic of the atomic bombs. I know, hard to believe... but look at the video one more time. Tokyo really was willing to destroy millions of lives so that the Emperor could carry on, and on.
As regards the UK and USSR, the US was largely negotiating without negotiating.
Both London and Moscow were getting into the Big Chair WRT Europe -- but were side-show players in the Pacific. No matter what was said/promised at Potsdam, the UK and USSR WERE miffed that they had absolutely no say in Tokyo. This was another insistence of Truman walking away from imputations previously proffered by FDR. Naturally, for the official record, London and Moscow bit their tongues WRT how ticked off they were. Yes, Stalin wanted even MORE (northern) Japanese territory than he already had seized -- and Truman rejected Moscow's lust.
{BTW, Tokyo still wants Russia to cough up Stalin's land grabs. Japan is even willing to pay up LARGE to get those worthless islands back. Moscow covets them as their route into the deep Pacific blue.}
[ This 'Truman block' super infuriated Stalin when Molotov was told in simple English to get out of (Soviet occupied) Iran OR ELSE ! The newsreels of the time record Molotov's ire -- but do NOT lay out to the American public that Truman had just threatened to use the atomic bomb on Stalin over the issue. The Cold War had to pass for this little item to creep out from hiding. You can see why Stalin wanted the Bomb in the world's worst way -- and why once he obtained it -- he launched the Korean War. It ran on his tanks, trucks, oil, planes, pilots and generals. Kim couldn't take one-step without Moscow.]
Indeed, Australia had a much larger role than Britain; so too, New Zealand. That's why their dignitaries signed the actual instrument of surrender. When it counted, the ANZAC boys performed all of the heavy lifting for the British Empire... but they were independent nations when they did so.
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@Bob Fink
Monty was AWOL for this battle. ALL of the evidence indicates that he was so drunk with Victory Disease that he left the matter to Browning.
Here's the rub: Browning didn't have the 21st Army Group's staff. Monty had gathered around him the Cream of the British Army. It's what you'd expect of Britain's top field command.
The result was a plan that was loaded with brain farts from end to end. And the average Joe or Tommy actually STILL thinks that MG was Monty's plan.
It's so against Monty's style -- it's not funny.
Monty, himself, would NEVER have failed to drop the 101st on the island between the two bridges. In all of the posting here, no-one addresses this mega-gaff. That goes double for Brits.
Forget Gavin, Browning and all the rest -- how in the WORLD could ANY senior officer look at these drop zones and miss the fact that THE critical terrain was the ISLAND between the two bridges?
The fact that it's an island is lost for most civilians as the map they see does not back away far enough to show that the island is part of the greater delta of the lower Rhine.
The idea that you can't parachute onto a polder because the ground is soft -- that's a GOOD one. Just tell the boys to land soft and roll into the mud. Make absolutely no attempt to stand up until you're at a stop.
BTW, the Poles DID land on the island -- just too late to be shot up something silly by German FLAK.
No-one discusses why Monty didn't ask for JEEPS. These were known to be perfect for off-road transport -- even in the polders. They WERE used by both the 82nd and 101st to great effect. Why not XXX Corps? I'll tell you why, they were overlooked.
In the film, XXX is shown using British trucks. Whereas, Monty specifically demanded 2,000 American GMC trucks for this battle. What happened? Monty, rightly, figured that XXX Corps trucks would have to drive off the road and onto soft ground. He KNEW that his lorries wouldn't roll five feet once they left the high ground.
The lack of observation aircraft passes without remark. Strange. Most strange. The Americans had been able to get away with observation aircraft at all times prior.
Naturally this omission led to no co-ordination between ground and air. The standard drill was for buddies to be assigned such duties. That is the ground trooper was a USAAF airman from the same outfit that was overhead. They'd switch positions from operation to operation. This way both ground-man and air-man knew how things looked from both positions.
What actually happened is that Monty put his seal on Browning's plan -- without tearing open the box and looking inside. Browning's reputation was on par with all army commanders. So there was no WAY that Monty was going to smear Browning's rep. This is why the chit landed on the Poles. It certainly couldn't be dumped on the Americans. ( Which would be politically insane. )
Monty, Gavin -- BOTH are covering for Browning's gaffs.
The failure to drop the 101st on the island makes every other gaff look tiny by comparison.
Frost would've had a cake walk if the southern end of the bridge was held by the 101st. They'd just come marching over the span by the battalion. There'd be no-one for them to fight on the island.
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@Bob Fink
Military politics dictates that officers that rise to the top ALWAYS dump gaffs onto others. The slightest bit of stink is usually a career ender. That's the world as it is.
My own sister in a corporate climber of the first order.
She's not bright, not bright at all. Just check out her academic record.
What she's is a first class blame shifter and credit taker... and not a bad liar, either. Consequently she fits right in with her corporate peers. She's one of the club. They're all like that.
If you've EVER met a top corporate honcho you soon realize that he's nothing special. He's got political skills: blame shifting and azz kissing being at the top of the list.
Such is the nature of man.
Rommel, Monty, Patton, MarArthur, on down the line, all owe their reputations to junior officers, that you know not of.
(Sometimes they are revealed in specialist histories.)
In the case of Allied generals, their track record is immensely puffed up by Bletchley Park -- and the code breakers in America.
[ Strangely, the biggest intercepts of WWII occurred by reading Purple transmissions from the Japanese embassy in Berlin to Tokyo. It was the Americans that broke this code -- and sent Purple machines to London. These were so few in number that London's machine came at the expense of Pearl Harbor. (!!!)
The USN was PISSED. (King)
This was a DIPLOMATIC code -- only. The reason it was so important was that Hitler loved to spill his guts to the Baron. Then the Baron, with an astounding audio memory, transmitted every last bit to Tokyo. ( What a FOOL. )
These were the transmissions that informed the Allied that Patton could NEVER be given Army Group command in Normandy. Why? Adolf told the Baron that if and when Patton showed up -- then that would be the main show -- and then he, Adolf, would commit EVERY reserve to that front.
This was NEVER explained to Patton. Hell even Bradley didn't know it.
Only Ike knew it. It is of the record that Ike stayed away from Patton -- lest he let this little detail slip -- as Patton was a buddy of his going back decades. Indeed, Patton's three stars came directly off of Ike's old uniform... with a photo op to match. ( North Africa )
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@allangibson2408 NO. While many Right Wing governments are dictatorships// kingships Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot -- on down the line were WAY far to the left -- and totalitarian to boot.
Right Wing always means a government that has a state religion. That's what todays' Saudi Arabia is. It's hardly alone:
Iran, Kuwait... the Taliban... Pakistan are all nations that have fused their governments to a state religion -- in this case Islam.
During the French Revolution when the very term came into being, Monarchists ALWAYS wanted the restoration of the fusion of the French Catholic Church with the King and his Lords.
In the ancient past, the vast majority of all nations were just so: Right Wingers.
It was the USA that broke that mold in a major way. It's ILLEGAL for any faction in the US to be Right Wing. For it's illegal to have a state-sponsored religion... straight from the US Constitution.
The slur of Right Wing is now used against any faction more traditional/ classical/ conservative than the fellow cursing said Right Winger.
Hence, we now have even AOC cursing (under her breath) Pelosi for being too far to the 'right.' Naturally, Nancy is hugely insulted.
During WWII absolutely NO-ONE ever accused Adolf Hitler of being Right Wing. BTW, he not only hated the Jews, he hated the Church -- Catholic or Protestant. That's why so many clerics died during the Holocaust. In this, Hitler lined right up with Stalin and Mao. BOTH also hated religion -- and clerics.
Ironically, Adolf did have nice things to say about imams. One gave him a fatwa so that he was morally justified in the genocide of European Jewry. This tidbit has blown by historians. They are not a religious crowd -- so a fatwa goes right over their heads or into the circular file.
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@ben... BTW there is film footage of the British 8th Army's tortured advance up the boot, for they had to set Bailey bridges virtually every step of the way. The soft underbelly turned out to have simply no end of rapid, but short, rivers to cross. What the Allies failed to bomb, the Germans blew up. There wasn't a single decent bridge standing as the Allies advanced. The engineering effort was astounding. THIS was why the Germans looked so good -- on paper -- during their retreat. Further, the destruction was so vast that the Allies had to use their supplies to stop civilian starvation. This was something that no Allied commander anticipated. The tonnage involved was vast. Sophia Loren, the actress, suffered starvation until the Allies rolled in. She was hardly alone. So, at a fundamental level, while necessary, the Italian campaign was a first class bitch from start to finish. It DID pull a panzer army and an infantry army out of Russia. But the Reds NEVER bring that up.
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You've got your history wrong. It's MINSK III that Trump is proposing -- which is insane, geopolitically -- as Putin has walked over EVERY treaty/deal/agreement he's ever come to cross. Only utter defeat will cause any enforcement against this tyrant.
Adolf got rolling not because of Munich -- but because Stalin conned him into jointly invading Poland -- AND splitting Europe into Nazi/Bolshevik spheres of influence. Somehow, everyone has forgotten what Yeltsin revealed to the world thirty-years ago -- how Stalin decided, essentially, everything -- not Hitler. It was Stalin who picked the invasion date, 9-1-39, who picked the spoils line -- in his own hand ! That document still exists. But, apparently, not in the collective memories of the West. Jews, in particular, give credit to Stalin for stopping Adolf, when the opposite is clearly the case. Nikita well said that Stalin was an anti-Semite of the 'First Water.' ( A reference to the diamond trade, no less. Yes, it's a Jewish term. )
Stalin craftily delayed his own penetration into the back of Poland by 17 days -- and by this delay moved the onus onto Adolf. Late in 1941, Uncle Joe wasn't looking so smart. Thank the heavens that the Germans were logistical fools -- and so, literally ran out of gas at the gates to Moscow.
This folly was repeated throughout the rest of the war, BTW.
It was the WEST that stopped Adolf -- never Stalin. WWII was fought with resources -- and Adolf sent the bulk of his towards Britain, and later, the US -- NEVER the USSR. True, yet amazing. Armies are cheap, even panzer armies. Air forces, navies are EXPENSIVE and can't use fresh recruits. The collective West sucked down 70% of Adolf's stuff -- only 30% went against the Bolshevik hordes. Hard to believe, but true.
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@Yamato-tp2kf 1959 is the date.
Hawaii went into the Union -- the same way that Texas and California did... as territories/nations. Texas and California threw off Mexico. Hawaii had a revolution -- that had no small number of native Americans involved, to boot.
The US fought Spain primarily to eject it from Cuba. Guam, and all the rest, were collateral de-colonizations forced upon Spain. The original intent was to just get rid of Spain. This is why it didn't take forever for the US to make Cuba independent. The Philippines went down the same path -- a generation later. The independence of the Philippines directly triggered the independence of India, Pakistan and Bangledesh. With in weeks of 7-4-1946 the Indians hit the streets.
The Philippines -- and Cuba -- were NEVER expected to become part of the USA, by anybody. Hawaii, California and Texas WERE expected to join the Union, by THEMSELVES. Statehood for Hawaii and Alaska was held up for YEARS -- because -- politically -- they skewed super strongly Democrat and Republican. So, they were only -- finally -- accepted by Congress as a pair. Yup. That was the deal. They STILL vote Democrat and Republican. They are -- de facto -- one-party states... city states, in fact. Virtually all of their votes are in Honolulu or Anchorage, respectively. And both are massively subsidized by the US Federal budget -- and tourism.
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@Donald Hill
You've got everything backasswards.
Marshall told Ike that he'd be relieved of command if he mirco-managed.
Yup.
Ike let Monty be Monty. No-one could stop him anyway.
Just ask Alexander and Tedder.
Ike NEVER dipped his toes into battle tactics. He didn't have the time of day to play at being despot. ( Two exceptions: the Kasserine fiasco and Pantelleria -- hope my spelling isn't too bad -- note these both occurred when Ike was commanding tiny formations -- just few armies.)
(Stalin, Churchill, Hitler all loved that game. FDR didn't have either the energy nor the inclination. And playing despot during wartime has always blown up for American presidents. Note how President Trump promptly moved war decisions back to the Pentagon, unlike Barry. )
Bradley and Patton were fit to be tied when they found out that Ike had given Monty ALL of their gasoline and 2,000 trucks and anything else he wanted. This decision was a done deal without Tedder, Bradley, Patton, Hodges, Simpson, et. al. having a word edgewise. Bradley and Patton opined that Ike had committed treason, that he'd gone over totally to the British. Tempers were HIGH.
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@stas_from_haisyn The West beat the stats to DEATH. The T-34 series has THIN frontal armor. The enemy was popping T-34 with Mark III tanks mounting a 37mm gun all during 1941. Indeed, that gun, that tank was the NUMBER ONE killer of T-34c tanks.
The Soviets made a huge blunder in its deign: they spread is defense equally all the way around. No-one else did so -- and the Soviets stopped doing so in subsequent designs. ALL German, British, American and later Soviet tanks used thicker steel up front. The Sherman -- in American use -- lost 0.8 men per lost Sherman tank 1944-1945 in Northwest Europe. When a T-34 was lost, most of the crew had absolutely no chance to get out. For a side by side comparison go to the Chieftain's videos here on YouTube.
You have been dealing with survivorship bias. All of the ghosts that the T-34 created are not with us to lay out to you how its armor let them down.
There are NO END of German and American crews that survived their tanks -- going on to command yet another. The same can not be said of T-34 crews. When they were hit, only the commander had a decent shot at jumping out in time. There are no end of German accounts telling of trapped and burning T-34 crews. Yet the T-34 ran Diesel fuel. The fires were ammunition fires -- that's why.
AFTER victory, the Red Army pulled and filed all wartime photos of Diesel Shermans in Soviet use deeply penetrating German lines. Why always Shermans? Reliability. BTW, these tank corps were not used to break German lines. They were saved for exploitations, only. The gambit was to break the German line -- then race deep into a critical position -- a rail or road junction -- and then establish a killer defense, in all directions. Time and time again, the Germans found that they simply could not deal with this gambit. While the mechanized corps was doing its 'thing' the rest of the Red Army surged forward -- pretty much everywhere. When the Reds reached Kiev, the Germans were pinned against the Dnieper -- losing all kinds of stuff. Today, the Soviet Shermans are omitted from virtually all Russian war heroics. Said videos don't ever mention the horrific break-down rate of the T-34, either. BTW, the German heavies -- especially the Tiger -- had horrendous break-downs, too. It was nothing for a Tiger battalion to lose 75% of its effectives within two-days of action...all due to break downs -- not combat. When you use forced labor to build your machines of war -- it's a mistake!
For your amusement: decades after the war, American hobbyists have restored a few Panthers, etc. Without exception they have found production sabotage. The German slaves were always putting clogs in the lubrication systems. These were partial clogs intended to break free after so many hours of running. That's what was happening. American production lines were state-of-the-art, never bombed, no sabotage, with a lot of the labor performed by wives and lovers of the boys in the USA. They were meticulous.
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@ ger du
You'd think so, wouldn't you?
Once back in full supply, the panzer troops would've had a field day mowing down Soviet infantry that simply could not dig fox holes in ground frozen so solid.
Remember that their heavy weapons are still sitting on the east side of the Volga until the river is made 'truck worthy.' This entails a brutal slog of dynamited ice peaks followed by spot re-flooding to create extra thickness and a flatter, sweeter ice bed for the trucks -- and their brittle tires. At the temperatures involved, any sharp ground// ice will ruin a truck tire -- instantly.
[ A hole must be bored though the ice so that cold water can be pumped up and over -- sprayed like you'd make snow for skiers on a mountainside. This snow is then compacted -- as if it were asphalt -- until the ice-road is both strong and sweet. This process takes days to pull off. The Volga south of Stalingrad is just huge. Think: Mississippi, Rhine, Vistula, Waal, lower Thames.
While all of this was going on, the Germans are shelling the engineers performing this work. Crossing even further down river would've made encirclement all the more difficult... and require even more troops... a lot more.]
The Germans were to discover JUST how frozen solid that ground was when they had to pull back and set a new defense.
1) You either started a bonfire and thawed the ground, which would be quite a trick on the treeless open steppe...
2) Or you blasted the earth with howitzers pointed down. This craft was first performed during WWI. It was something that Adolf Hitler knew all about -- and recommended to his generals. You do have to watch your step and it is laborious. But, at least you'll end up with some sort of hole in the ground.
Ammo consumption goes crazy, though.
This method had best be done before Winter really sets in. When that happens, you may find that you need five shots to get any decent depth. The early attempts just about bounce off the dirt.
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@hallambaker This is totally false. The big leaker was the Baron -- Hitler spilled the beans to him, time and time again. The Baron never visited the Atlantic Wall. He didn't have to.
Normandy was picked RIGHT FROM THE FIRST. German defenses were not even a consideration. The decision for Normandy was made in 1942. Yup. BTW, the NSA didn't even exist during WWII. The NSA, over the years, has spewed countless false histories to suit itself.
It's with no small irony that Purple -- a Japanese diplomatic code -- was the number one strategic intelligence source for what was going to happen in Europe -- and was of no utility at all in prosecuting the Pacific Campaign. There was nothing to intercept on Diplomatic circuits after Pearl Harbor.
BTW, the NSA still keeps up the lie that the US was not able to read JN25 during Pearl. The truth is that BOTH the UK and US were reading Japanese naval codes ever since the death of the prior emperor in 1923. Read Nave's autobiographical story. HE was the guy who broke the IJN code -- as a young officer serving with the IJN in 1923.
What the IJN had done was to send the exact same plain text to every major combatant ship in the fleet -- coded every which way. That was an epic gaff for the ages. Any time the enemy has 100 copies of encrypted text that's the exact same message -- you've destroyed your key-system. That breakthrough was labelled JN01 -- get it? The US and UK were tracking every single permutation of the IJN cypher scheme right through JN24 -- actually more than one per year. EVERY time the IJN was about to conduct MAJOR aggression, the naval code was changed. Such a change occurred in the week prior to Pearl Harbor. Hint, hint, hint. To change their code, the IJN would FLY copies out to every station and ship -- with the extreme outposts being a real pain. Because of this, the Japanese ALWAYS had to double send their plain text in the old cypher and the new one. This ruined their secrecy right from the start. This is why the NSA is lying about not being able to read JN25 -- for the Japanese were still sending the same exact plain text messages out in JN24 & JN25.
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@CavalierHorseman91 The trick for a LOT of the Soviet river crossings -- ICE. Yes, they crossed frozen rivers. Otherwise, Soviet formations bled heavily.
The Soviets were advancing at a super rapid tempo in 1945 across Poland. But, because Stalin had delayed his attack too long, by the time the Reds reached the Oder, it was melting. So, the troops stopped. Otherwise, they would've just rolled all the way into Berlin as the Nazis had absolutely no defenses yet erected, and no military formations of significance, either.
Adolf flailed at the Reds, with attacks from the north and south against the Soviet flanks. These were then crushed by the Reds.
Fortunately, SOME bridgeheads across the Oder had been attained back in March. So the final drive, to crush Adolf, sprang from these few. And, again, the Reds didn't have to force a river into Nazi guns.
The British and Americans found such crossings to be a real trial. (Rapido, Rhine) You might note that today's Russians are having a brutally hard time crossing rivers into Ukrainian missile fires. Javelins and NLAWs make any such attempt suicide. If spotted, NATO 155mm artillery rounds ruin your attempt.
Putin needs Yoda.
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@Syllaren Read the UNSC resolutions. Saddam had no less than twenty MAJOR infractions to his discredit.
WMD as a rationale were a MEDIA creation.
BTW, hundreds of (illegal) binary nerve agent shells were discovered over the years by the US Army in Iraq.
The NY Times only came clean, 'fessed-up, after Obama pulled the last American troops out in 2011.
Then the Times published a FULL page tell-all about how they'd been lying all along -- at the behest of the US Army.
A SINGLE binary shell, properly rigged, could easily kill 5,000 souls in a subway system. (rush hour)
Imagine NY, Moscow, LA, SF, London, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, .... all losing their subway systems to this threat.
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All of these thin-skinned quasi-panzers were normally buddied up with mobile/mechanized infantry battalions organic to panzer divisions and mechanized divisions. They had to be, as they could not perform in any way like Stug IIIs, Mark IVs -- let alone Panthers. While pitched as an anti-tank resource, in practice, the usual drill was for these tank hunters to function as direct fire platforms in direct support of mobile infantry on the flanks or base of a panzer thrust -- only later to function as a first-response anti-tank screen. By the time these machines were widely available, the Germans were on the defensive -- almost always. So they shifted over to the panic-response snap-ambush role. By this stage, any sane national leader would've thrown in the towel.
It's rather amazing that the factory was still cranking these duds out. Rationally, it would've been far better for production to shift to just sub-components of other, successful, panzers -- to be assembled elsewhere. Even half-tracks would've been more worthwhile.
As the Chieftain establishes, even the Hetzer was a DOG. It boggles the mind that the Hetzer served any army after WWII.
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@EvaExplores-x2x "The Land that Red China Lost" is SIBERIA -- not Japan, not The Philippines, not Vietnam, not Laos, not really even Korea. BTW, Red China STILL occupies half of Korea. It's that acreage on the other side of the Yalu River. The sole reason that North Korean citizens can flee -- unrecognized into Red China is that -- in that specific location -- they speak the IDENTICAL Language. (1) China -- going way back -- never unified its spoken tongues. That's why Southern China still speaks Cantonese, Northern China still speaks Mandarin, and there are a SLEW of other tongues still spoken all over. At Red China's scale, these other tongues have speakers in the tens-of-millions, each. The ONLY language that unifies Red China is the WRITTEN language. It's the same all over -- because it is IDEOGRAPHIC. So the same ideogram for house has all of these different pronunciations. Yes, national tests are always given in WRITING. That system of unification goes way, way, way back.
As for Taiwan, Beijing really does not want or need Taiwan. Rather the propaganda department needs an 'object.' What the CCP REALLY wants is SIBERIA. But they dare not say it. Moscow is too powerful. Beijing is going "to kill the chicken to scare the monkey." ie Intimidate Moscow by showing how strong it is vis-a-vis Taipei, (a minor atomic power.) Yes, Taiwan is an atomic power -- just like Israel -- it won't bring it up -- and will actually deny it if it IS brought up. They deny it by promptly changing the subject, something that they learned in Tel Aviv.
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@jsfbr
MG was lost the INSTANT Grabner got across the Arnhem bridge.
The Nijmegen bridge became irrelevant at that point.
NOTHING could stop the SS from dropping the Arnhem bridge into the Rhine after Grabner got onto the island.
TIK, and the other Brits, are engaged in a fantasy.
They ALL operate from the view that Frost was in command of the Arnhem bridge. But, he never was. He was totally thwarted by the pill box -- and then -- later -- by the SS sitting on the south end of Arnhem bridge.
What everyone has skipped past is that both bridges were wired -- from day one -- the day they were built -- to be exploded down into the rivers. This was a COMMON feature for major European bridges of the period. EVERYONE did it.
It was NOT a common feature of American or British bridges. Neither nation figured on losing control of their bridges to invaders.
The Germans and Dutch were obsessed with such a consideration.
The detonation cables led off to bunkers on the SOUTH side of both bridges, as the Dutch figured the Germans to be the primary Threat from the very first. (History, heh) They did not figure on the Belgians or French being remotely as threatening.
There NEVER was a need for the Germans to bring in explosives, cables or anything else. All that they had to do was break into the detonation bunker, and hook up a plunger.
MG was RUINED as a plan the moment Browning didn't put paras on the island from the VERY FIRST.
If Grabner had never crossed Arnhem bridge, Gavin's tempo would be irrelevant. BTW, the local Dutch had already sabotaged the Nijmegen detonation cables. That's why the bridge stayed put.
Neither the British nor the Americans had anything to do with it.
BOTH have taken credit, though.
Lastly, the explosives that count CAN'T even be seen from the outside. You can't even touch them. They are inside an armored assembly. This was standard engineering practice at the time.
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The Germans didn't even need a long range bomber -- until they invaded the USSR. Even then, no-one, absolutely no-one, comprehended that Stalin had built up a war industry beyond the Urals. Auxiliary fuel tanks would've sufficed for a campaign over Britain. BTW, bombing Britain was not a Long Range project. The Luftwaffe almost got away with using a tactical air force for a strategic aim. Of course, the whole project was doomed from the start.
Adolf's ONLY shot at getting Britain out of the war was via Parliament deposing Churchill. Adolf needed to re-create the Gallipoli dynamic -- in North Africa. To pull this off, he needed to entirely drop his Barbarossa fantasy. But, then again, Barbarossa -- himself -- never made it to his objective -- the Holy Land.
What a revealing operational name. Barbarossa drowned in a river -- a stream, really. Hitler drowned in the Russian mud -- which killed off his horses -- to go into the bellies of his infantry. After such a loss of mobility, the Heer never could possibly prevail.
Of course, his object was criminal, immoral in the extreme. For Adolf didn't intend to conquer territory -- rather he wished to exterminate entire nations. OKH and OKW should've been hanged. Most beat the noose via suicide.
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@melofiloxd1429 Close, but not quite. Gandhi actually pitched the insane idea that Hindus ought to suffer under Muslim rule. As crazy as that is, he was leaning back on prior Indian history when Hindus DID live under various Muslim big shots.
The idea was rejected out of hand, then and there. It was the Muslims that demanded the schism. East Pakistan and West Pakistan became their political turf based on demographics. So, the Hindus that lived in what was to become E,W Pakistan usually fled to their religious kin -- and the Muslims did likewise. On the way, they, those fleeing, were often attacked in rampant slaughter -- by the other side. Yes, this went both ways. The notional national authorities at the time, the British, just ran away. Their departure was already sealed in the deal -- so there was no way that they'd jump back into the soup.
BTW, the primary reason that the British ever came to rule India turned on Muslim versus Hindu religious slaughter. The British Army and administration stopped said slaughter -- especially and most famously with the Thuggee cult.
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@melofiloxd1429 Dial in "They" for me.
Indentured servitude was invented by the English so as to apply it to poor, orphaned Celts: Scots, Irish, Welsh, Cornish. It's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.
Most would agree that today's college price tags are obscene. But, even deadbeats don't suffer prison or expulsion. ( America and later Australia were where the English dumped their indentures.)
BTW, indentured servitude was limited to seven-years. (Biblical limit, yes, religion was used to invoke that limit.)
What's really important was that indenture law involved a signed-contract -- usually signed with an X -- as the child could not read or write -- and the 'deal' was coerced, anyway. (Sign or go to prison.... what a deal!)
From time to time, the owner of the contract would re-sign the victim with another X. When this happened the indenture lasted another seven-years. This was known as the DOUBLE CROSS. Yup. You double-cross someone by unilaterally changing a contract. (See: Darth Vader.)
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MyCure -- the UA should've been redeploying troops for days before the end.
For starters, tanks and APCs are useless in a static defense, regardless of what civilian keyboard warriors may think. Their value is in their mobility.
Russia has PLENTY of Komets and such that would absolutely gut Ukrainian armor if it stayed put. Russian has plenty of 152mm artillery that would destroy anything of value -- once it is spotted.
None of this is news to the UA.
I suspect that the Big Surprise for the UA was the effective advance from the east across their line of communication.
It's plain (out of the fog of war) that the UA attempted a (night) counter-attack coming down from up north, to stop the Russian drive to the west. It didn't get far -- as the Russians were expecting such a flank attack -- and had plenty of mortars and such to stop light infantry.
This attack was attributed to the Zolote boys -- obviously, incorrectly.
The fact is that when the Russians are concentrated, they can't be stopped. But such concentration compelled Putin to strip all other sectors.
This happened to Adolf at Stalingrad. By the end, his flanks had practically no infantry. He even looted combat engineers from multiple divisions so as to storm Stalingrad. They were killed in action.
Putin has surely done the same thing. That's why he's frantically chasing replacement bodies -- all over Russia. ( Just not Moscow, not St. Petersburg.)
I'm amazed that folks are estimating the Zolote pocket as having 1,000 troops. Boy, if true, that's a first class screw-up.
Uranus showed that 6th Army had stuck its neck out -- too far.
Putin has surely thinned out his flanks -- too much. Even with a green army, Zelenskyy is in a sweet position to make hay.
(A Ukrainian pass time, If I hear correctly.)
Anywhere across the south or southwest seems ripe for a pricking.
Russian Armies don't back-up well. The boys are not trained to do so. The RA is thin on infantry. So, once the UA gets rolling, Putin may become totally unwound -- at a speed that will have the world aghast.
The Vikings landed in 1066 with (600) boats. After the English drubbed them, (Harold) the survivors only needed (6) boats for their escape. (!!!!!) The Vikings simply did not expect a counter-attack. Oops. Centuries of 'Viking fun' were over. Oh, well.
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The US Army point system of WWII did NOT result in rotations away from the battle front -- for most GIs.
It was used after the campaign in Europe was over -- to decide who would be discharged first.
But, during the war, GIs were in for the duration. Fortunately, for most, this did not go past two-years.
Of course, casualty rates were so high -- especially at the front -- that GIs were killed or wounded LONG before battle fatigue could set in.
Air crews had it differently, as casualties were so high that bomber crews were capped at 25 missions -- which was not a set figure.
It rose as missions turned into milk runs. The typical fighter jock was lost within eight-weeks of air combat over Germany.
(For the Krauts, the 1944 experience ran about one-fight. Most survivors had been shot down, over, and over, and over.)
For Germany and Japan, there was limited rotation, but, for the most part, every soldier was in for the duration.
Even survivors were wounded, over and over, (type) and then set back into the fight.
Rotations were attempted at the tactical level -- battalions pulled out for some R&R -- back behind the front.
But in all cases, the men were soon sent right back into the fray.
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@agentorange6085 It's more complicated -- but of course. Warsaw was a BIG sticking point. It turned out that the British wanted to pump up Poland's strategic position -- WITHOUT Britain doing the pumping up. For example, Warsaw pitched that the RAF should send Spitfires to augment the pitiful Polish air force. Whitehall said: "No dice." The RAF objected on the ground that sending three-to five squadrons to Poland was no different than throwing them away -- and that even their deployment could and would be used by Hitler as a casus belli. Further, there would be no chance of keeping such squadrons supplied -- and aircraft chomp through supplies. Likewise, Polish proposals to station a token force of RN ships went no-where. The diplomatic status of Danzig was just to weird. ( The "Free City of Danzig" ) Warsaw was trying to establish a trip-wire that would crystalize in the mind of Berlin (Adolf) that to invade Poland// seize Danzig was to initiate a general Great War.
Very Secret discussions with Stalin to bring the USSR into alliance with Poland, Britain and France terminated because Stalin wanted a FREE CORRIDOR forty-to eighty miles wide straight through Poland on to Germany. In this, he'd be re-creating the logistics of WWI in the East. His armies wouldn't have any dependencies upon the Poles to speak of. For some crazy reason, Warsaw didn't trust Stalin. Imagine!
However, it's BECAUSE of these negotiations that Staline came to fully understand TOO MUCH about what was up with Poland, France and Britain. It was with this knowledge that he CONTRACTED FOR WAR WITH ADOLF HITLER.
Yeltsin exposed the Soviet-Nazi Pact (for War) to the world's press. The paperwork was shocking to all assembled. For the first time it was realized that STALIN, not Hitler, started WWII in Europe. Hitler ALWAYS wanted his war, but without Stalin, he couldn't dance. He had hyper-critical shortages in rubber, nickel, tungsten/wolfram, oil and food. Stalin eliminated the corset that the West had Adolf in a bind. Stalin's oil conquered France. It put the Bf-109s into the sky.
BTW, the Nazis were on fumes when Poland fell. They'd used up their strategic reserve. Their show of sufficiency faked out France and was the primary reason that France stopped invading from the West. By going so low into the barrel, Hitler had impeached the intelligence estimates of Paris so badly that they'd lost credibility.
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@auguststorm2037 You're the closest poster to what happened. Stalin's pitch to Warsaw was that he wanted a 40-80 mile wide exclusive zone for Soviet forces ( the Red Army ) to attack westward. That zone was never nailed down -- as it was a non-starter with Warsaw. Based on the rail grid there were just not that many spots that could possibly support the Red Army in Stalin's scenario. The Polish rail grid, no surprise, netted around Warsaw, itself. Since Berlin had to be the focus of any Red offensive, Stalin was a rotten ally -- even logistically. This is something that is always left off the table by historians.
BTW, note how Stalin's Pact was certain to include Brest-Litovsk East of Stalin's division line. Yeah, he crayoned in how much of Poland he be given by the Nazis in his Pact. That document was produced by Yeltsin direct from Soviet archives a generation ago. Yeltsin's revelations are so inconvenient that twenty-years on -- they are totally ignored. BTW, the Pact settled on 9-01-39 as the invasion date for BOTH Hitler and Stalin. In the event, Stalin conned Hitler and the world by stalling his invasion. He lied to Berlin that his boys couldn't be mobilized all that quickly. This was a bald-faced lie. His huge tank armies would've rolled across eastern Poland even quicker than Germany's XIX Panzer Corps.
The M-R Pact was Stalin's Pact and it was TOTALLY one-sided. It was a Contract for War. In it the stop-lines for their mutual war of conquest were pre-negotiated -- if you can call Stalin's deal any kind of negotiation. Hitler had NO INPUT -- nor did Rippin-fool. The Nazis were THAT desperate for war... as part of the Pact was Stalin's economic rescue of the Nazi economy. Over Poland's dead body, Hitler gained access to Soviet oil, Soviet war-critical metals, foodstuffs -- even a back-door to rubber. The counter-trade included everything from ball-bearings to machine tools. These latter items are virtually ALWAYS over-looked as to why the Nazis wanted to invade the USSR. The army was up in arms about providing the most advanced metals technology to their next, and ultimate, enemy. But these were the ONLY exportable items that Nazi Germany had to offer Stalin. She lacked any commodities, as Stalin had plenty of everything.
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@GreeceUranusPutin It's a largely suppressed tale, but Pakistan begged Bush to let enemy leaders to fly off to Pakistan. Incredibly, Bush okayed it. (!!!!!) Yes, the plane was packed. (It was flown in and out of from and to Pakistan.)
After not so much time, the Bush crowd regretted the boss's gaff. Even now most Americans are wholly unaware that the Taliban were nothing but Islamabad's proxy army. Bin Laden was their honored guest.
(Pakistan is a police state, no-one can hide there without official sponsorship.)
Pakistan milked the USA all during the Bush administration. Obama put a stop to the milk. Trump didn't permit the milk to flow, either. Consequently, Islamabad has been in dire financial straits for more than twelve-years. Even their buddy, Red China, won't bail those crooks out.
After Obama cut Pakistan off from the milk, New Delhi thought they'd found a new buddy. Note how Obama was suddenly feted like no American president ever -- in India. Now you know why.
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The Russian EMPIRE has been on the ropes since Summer of 24. I'll be amazed if Putin is on the throne when Trump takes office.
The latter is propounding fantasies WRT negotiating with Putler, who has broken EVERY written treaty/deal/agreement out there.
Just like his psychic godfather, Adolph. Napoleon had the same 'personal' issue, too.
Putler can't allow his military equipment count to reach anywhere near zero; but the word is: the boneyards are empty. Hulks only, remain.
Putler has burned through ALL of his politically available meat-power. [ Regiments of sheep, goats, cattle. Heh.]
When, not if, Ukraine targets Putler's heating grid, electrical grid and oil distribution links -- it'll happen "all at once" and in WINTER, where the nights are so, so very long. There will be no helicopter ride for Putler, no bunker deep enough... say good riddance. Kiss Nasrallah when you meet him.
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Autur -- RAIN explains the tempo.
Don't overlook the history of the KGB/FSB employing Chechens.
For half-a-century, the KGB used Chechens as their go-to assassins.
They were the 'out-of-town talent' that the target could not spot, yes, contract 'wet-work' was their Bolshevik role.
Hence, their current role as enforcers -- not as soldiers.
During the Great Patriotic War, the NKVD used 'barrier troops' -- the O-Os. (From the [Russian] initials -- so typical: NKVD, GRU, SS, FBI, CIA, ...)
(Hence Ian Flemings 00 7 -- licensed to kill. Fleming specifically mentioned that the O-Os inspired him. He learned of the O-Os even during WWII.)
(Note that James Bond is Double 'O' Seven -- not Double Zero Seven.)
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The Greens were a significant political force in Germany when it was unified. They absolutely flipped when they actually saw East German atomic plants -- that had NO containment worth talking about. { Soviet units went naked -- hence Chernobyl; their exported versions often had some semblance of containment -- but no-one in the West would trust such engineering. Soviet atomics had a LARGE reactor volume -- raising steam at lower temperatures than found in the classic Westinghouse design or the classic GE design. This meant that any containment for a carbon pile would be very much larger in mass... and cost.}
So the pressure to shut down East German atomics began right from the start. It didn't need the Japanese fiasco.
You'll also note that the Greens spread their dogma to Sweden. It's stopping its atomics, too.
What Japan did was show that in extremis, the crews are witless. Straight out of "China Syndrome" they proved that they were able to do just about EVERYTHING wrong.
Badly sited atomics, (tsunami coast, anyone?)
Badly sited emergency power, (right at sea-level)
Badly reacting crews, (didn't scram PDQ; didn't use sea-water to flood the cores; didn't vent N-19 to stop a gas pocket at the top;...good grief!)
Badly schemed strategic back-ups; ( what if an earthquake// tsunami of severe power? Yet, the geology told all that such events MUST be expected.)
In sum, the Japanese showed that from top to bottom their entire scheme was not as advertised. In reality the crews FROZE. They panicked. Then they made every wrong decision possible in the matrix.
BTW, drastically more citizens died from the tsunami than atomic radiation. Total fatalities were in the many thousands. So, atomic hysteria is very much with us.
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@elLooto It's on the record that Red China imports staggering amounts of steam-coal from Australia. AFAIK, Red China does NOT import steam-coal from the USA -- certainly not in any size. For Red China has steam-coal coming out of its ears. And it's right near the surface. And there has been a HOWL from the work force every time the CCP cuts back steam-coal mining. Their stuff is filthy, too. While they have the technology of bag-houses and all the rest, the Reds simply shut off the air pollution control gear as it costs money to operate. And the price of wholesale electricity is set by the CCP. This means that power plant operators are under insane price pressure. But, their WHOLE economy is run in this crazy fashion. This is another story that Western publications just don't allow into print.
Red China imports met-coal from just all over -- especially Australia. The US is a MAJOR exporter of met-coal -- which overwhelmingly goes to Europe. That's what our deep mines produce. It goes at one heck of a premium.
Your tale about (slave-produced, price-controlled) cotton reflects what I'm 'on-about' namely that Red China is using staggering amounts of forced labor to crank out primal commodities without letting the 1st World in on what's up.
That's the story of the Muslim 'labor-force.'
FYI, what triggered the recent genocide: jihad. A hefty crew of Muslims used knives quite a few years back to mass-attack Han commuters in Southern China. It was THEIR 911. The attack was at a train stop. Knives met Mohammed's dictums, BTW. Muslims would LOVE a gun-ban, for then the stage would be perfect for old-school jihad by blade.
The CCP concluded that the problem was innate to Islam -- and that across 1400 years there has been no cure (from jihad) except the complete expulsion of Muslims. (Hungary, Spain, et. al ) So the CCP opted for genocide and total repression of islam. Not mentioned, the CCP is certainly whacking ANY imam they can get their hands on. If you preach islam, you're dead by torture. A koran is now more incriminating than a Bible. ( Yes, they hate those, too. Atheism is the state religion of the CCP. )
You might note that you NEVER read about any of this rationale in any Western publication. It's taboo.
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Rah, rah videos have no value to anyone.
What needs to be reported is the weird incompetence of Ukrainian higher commanders... and the obvious $$$ corruption involved in military purchasing. The ONLY way that these repeated scandals can be occurring is because Zelenskyy is spending far too much time raising Cain in the West and no where near enough time cleaning out the dead wood in his own military.
Once Zelenskyy really takes care of business, the Russian advances will simply stop. The actual reason why Trump is threatening Zelenskyy's cash flow is because of the above. Trump is issuing a wake-up-call to Kyiv on its finances -- NOT its flow of US hardware.
Once this war is ended, Zelenskyy is sure to fall from grace. ( It happened to Winston. It's to be expected. ) Trump simply CAN'T tell the world what's the Real Issue. If Zelenskyy had been honest, back in 2019, 2020; Biden would never have been 'elected' -- which by now has been shown to be an utterly fraudulent ballot count -- with video evidence to prove as such. Without Biden -- the president who was never all there -- Putin would have delayed his aggression four-more-years.
The American voter put Reagan in the White House. That impudent Wild Man directly triggered the End of the Cold War/ aka WWIII. H.W. Bush had absolutely nothing to do with it. And when that happened, Bush did simply everything wrong. 1991 was THE year to truly end the Cold War -- and Bush simply delayed its end for another generation. Bush was also the guy who sent Beijing ALL of the wrong signals in 1989-1993. He was, after all, the CIA's man in Beijing. So H.W. Bush is Mr. Deep State right out of the gun. ( Bush's diplomat, a woman, gave the world the Kuwaiti invasion, too. She couldn't tell Saddam "No!"
The American voter put Trump in the White House. That crazy man was always against the Bush, Clinton, Hillary, Chaney, Biden invasion of Iraq -- before it even happened. (!) It's no wonder they ALL hate his guts. Think of the Grifting possibilities that have been exploited. H.W. Bush + Bill Clinton + Hillary made $1,500,000,000 disappear into their 'foundations.' Haitians are still pissed. The MSM still buries that lede.
Folks, we live in a time of epic financial corruption of our political elites. This is obvious to outsiders. Biden, Zelenskyy, Putin, Xi, Clinton, Hillary, HW Bush -- they are ALL past their eyeballs in self-dealing. And they ALL have their Press covering for them. It's not a pretty picture.
The Deep State figures you’re so stupid as to actually believe America's utterly compromised Deep Media.
Putin is commonly referred to as an ex-Spy for the KGB. NO WAY!
Putin’s role was to spew out lies from inside the Iron Curtain — and from Dresden — a political dead-end for any KGB officer.
Yes, Putin was NEVER a spy. Anyone who tells you such is a BS artist — or a high school student in an adult body.
Bezmenov held a similar role — in India. Search for his videos on You Tube. Only then will you understand what the KGB was all about. Spying, per se, was NEVER a KGB interest. Only the GRU conducted actual spying. This conflation has been deliberate. Even in the famous film: “The Falcon and the Snowman” the GRU officer in the Mexican embassy of the USSR is repeatedly referred to as Mr. KGB… which is totally backwards. BTW, the KGB and GRU absolutely HATE each other. The KGB really represents the Bolshevik Party — and the GRU represents the Soviet military establishment.
In the US, this split is replicated in the CIA/ DIA. With the former being almost wholly political — and way, way, way to the Left in politics/ ideology. The latter is the Pentagon’s spy force. The DIA wants to win wars; the CIA wants to win in politics. Which is why the CIA just can’t bear to obey its charter — and stay out of America’s domestic politics.
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@Strizhi
You are mistaken on this one.
Glantz goes into this in great detail.
The so-called battle of Stalingrad was actually fought well outside the city and to the north: the land bridge between the Don and the Volga. Russian losses to the Germans on this front are EPIC. This one zone had FOUR Soviet armies committed under the command of a Front. They received four times as many replacements as any received at Stalingrad, proper.
Every last time the Germans tried to swap out the motorized formations pinned down there, a new wave of attack would take off.
All accounts report Russian corpses stacked up so HIGH that you had to push through or over them to make further progress. They were not buried. So in no-time the smell wafted off for miles and miles. This last aspect demoralized the German troops. As for the Russians, they were DEAD.
This was also a situation where it was EASY for fresh Russian troops to find 'spare rifles' laying all over the ground.
These insane attacks were ordered directly by STAVKA -- and no-one else. Allowing this panzer corps any freedom of movement was seen as a lethal blow to the Soviet state.
The most intense period was at the start, when Stalingrad, itself, was very much up for grabs.
The motorized divisions HAD to be pinned down. (3m, 60m, IIRC )
It was THIS fighting that triggered most of the post-war blather about the Russians having unlimited man-power.
Which was wrong.
They only had unlimited manpower for this situation. IIRC, no less than TEN reserve armies were committed to the larger campaign. They were all totally consumed.
Uranus was launched with a fresh batch of reserve armies.
IF TEN ARMIES evaporated, then the loss ratio is much more like 3:1 maybe even 4:1. ( Soviet armies of this period tended to run about 100,000 or less. (some times much, much less, as no attempt was made to keep them at original strength, whatsoever) 6th Army had about 22ish divisions -- something like 350,000 Axis soldiers running with it. It really was an Army Group in its own right. )
[ A Soviet Rifle Division might start out with as many as 12,000 souls -- and not leave the front until it was down to the last 800 survivors. While at the front, it would receive no replacements -- accept those able to walk back from the aid station.
This philosophy was the exact opposite of George Marshall. He had the totally mad idea that you could piecemeal GIs into line formations like they were nuts & bolts. It was a disaster. Behind his back, Bradley changed things towards the German solution: integration battalions. GIs would be assigned to a beaten up division, but they'd not be sent into combat straight away. Instead, they'd be forced to meld with this or that battalion, held back in reserve, until they'd learned the ropes. Only then was the battalion sent back into action. This 'adjustment' was as commonly breached as not... depending upon war urgency.
As a rule, Bradley wasted lives at a tremendous clip.
He had a WWI mentality in WWII.
He'd have gotten far in the Soviet system.
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@Strizhi
On Glantz you've got everything backwards. ALL of his writings are based upon Soviet archives -- he scarcely ever interviews Germans. He spends virtually all of his work debunking German// Ostheer claims about their military achievments.
When he does bring up German records, in variably it's to illustrate another embarrassing factoid... like the Panther D fiasco at Kursk.
There is ONE location where picking up fallen rifles was known to happen -- and not just once or twice -- the Don to Volga land bridge. This was the Verdun of WWII.
FOUR Red Armies were lined up, side by side, across this land bridge. They were under the direct control of a Front commander -- who was just up the road, behind them.
BY FAR the bulk of the blood lost at Stalingrad was at the land bridge. Stalingrad, proper, was actually a side-show from the point of view of Soviet casualties. ( This is not true for the Ostheer. It really DID bleed in that city. )
The imbalance at the land bridge was due to the fact that the Ostheer stood pat. No attempt was ever made to advance northward. They just stood at their MG34s and mowed Soviets down by the thousand. It was this insanity that had Hitler & Co totally convinced that Russia MUST be running out of manpower.
During 1942, Stalin burned through no less than TEN reserve armies between the land bridge and Stalingrad proper.
Since we're not ever going to get accurate figures from the Soviet archives -- they didn't even establish decent records during the panic -- we'll just have to estimate that each Red army had ~100,000 souls. The implication is that Stalin burned through 1,000,000 men in less than four-months. (!!!) And that's just along this front.
The general word is that Stalin burned through 400,000 DEAD during Mars. Casualties must have also been great. But I figure that few could take a bullet and survive in that cold, the overwhelming fraction would simply be dead, most all wounds would be mortal.
Gender imbalance after the Great Patriotic War was so severe that one can only conclude that Red army losses were epic by any standard.
It's only now that the very last of the war widows are laid to rest.
BTW, when drafted, Soviet boys were often taken from the same village -- and then thrown away in the same battle. The result is that you could go into smaller villages and find virtually the entire male population erased by the war. Their widows kept waiting until the war was over -- and then kept on waiting -- since there was no military mail they had no clue that their loved one had perished in 1942 or 43.
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@Stirzhi
I don't trust battle accounts out of Stalingrad because both sides crafted totally self-serving propaganda straight through the battle.
In the case of the Soviets, they over-promoted their Russian sniper -- and glossed over astounding Ukrainian and female snipers. ( It's pretty crazy, but the Soviets ended up with a slew of female snipers with hefty kill numbers. These gals received high honors -- but were almost never publicised outside of the USSR during the war. Stalin did not want the West to realize that he was using ( forced to use ) women on a grand scale.
Further, I just can't buy that anyone at any time had the paper and pencil to write down this or that guy's heroics. Things were just too crazy.
The ten armies I mentioned were the standard Soviet recruitment cycle through their induction system. Due to the harsh weather and the impracticalities it introduced, the Russian 'system' was to induct waves of new recruits every Spring... after the harshest weather had passed, but before the snow had melted. ( You can't tromp through 5 feet of snow with raw recruits.) Training -- such as it was -- was hyper accelerated. (OJT was expected to bring the boys up to speed.)
The typical boot camp// induction center could cycle through an astounding number of men per year -- because two to three weeks was often deemed enough for the purpose.
Due to the language barrier, eastern recruits were trained to respond to but a few command words -- and to do exactly what their officer was doing.
During the 1942 period, Soviet tactics were so primitive that the above synopsis is considered to be correct. Every surviving 'cucumber' has told essentially the same tale from this period: boot camp was astoundingly brief -- and then off to the front!
I must assume that a given boot camp could process at least eight formations per year.
As for STAVKA, best as I can tell, it didn't order around units smaller than an army. Remember that a Soviet army ~ a Western corps. A 'Front' ~ a Western army.
As to whether Stalin sent eight, ten or twelve of his armies to Stalingrad, does it really matter?
It must be plain on the record that STAVKA was never going to allow the Stalingrad front to run out of blood. It's also plain that Stalin never wanted the larger world to realize how much blood had been spilt there or anywhere.
BTW, after the war, the US Army captured essentially ALL of the Heer's battle maps -- notably those of the Ostheer.
They are an eye-opener. It was after viewing them that I realized what Glantz brought up to the general audience, though I discovered it all independently YEARS before I knew Glantz existed. He was preaching to the choir, in my case.
My memory is weakening, but I do remember that the maps are available over the Internet and IIRC they are in the Dartmouth collection. If not Dartmouth, then some other classic Ivy League library. Google is your friend.
These battle maps were to the exact scale used by Hitler, and ARE those maps. They are virtually 100% perfect as to German dispositions. They are remarkably accurate as to Soviet formations that are in contact with the Ostheer. They are 'soft' WRT Red Army formations behind the front lines.
( As the Ostheer discovered to its sorrow November 1942. )
The unit designations -- of the Red Army -- give the game away. They are TOO many. They are so many because the units are rump formations after the Ostheer has shredded them during Soviet frontal attacks.
What's most remarkable is to count the Red formations along the land bridge and then count them in and around Stalingrad, the city.
Yiikes.
BTW, based upon the German maps, it would appear that the land-bridge was under a different Front than the city. This would make perfect sense as its logistical tail went up the west side of the Volga, whereas the city was fed from the east of the Volga.
Extra rail lines were extended by the Red Army during this campaign. The most remarkable I found was the one out of Astrakhan. The Germans couldn't BELIEVE how fast the Reds built out that line. It was jumping more than ten-miles a day. ( LendLease rails, BTW )
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@Strizhi
Any jerk that loves Stalin and Bolshevism -- doesn't love Russians.
That's for sure.
In his gut, Stalin largely hated Russians. It's why he kept putting Georgians in all of his critical command positions. To an astounding degree, Stalin kept Russians out of his government.
You would've thought that his government would be 99% Russian. Instead you discover it was larded with Jews, Georgians, Ukrainians ( Nikita ) -- just a slew of out-cast minorities.
His hatred of Jews and Ukrainians was unbounded. ( Nikita's diary )
He was a real 'divide-and-rule' tyrant, all right.
There are more than a few war games that illustrate Soviet reserve army creation during that war. All of them are modelled on extremely short boot camps -- based on every Russian 'cucumber's' account of their experiences. This uniquely short cycle time has to be the source of Stalin's instant armies. It certainly corn fused the Germans -- all the way up to Hitler. Western military men just couldn't imagine a boot camp that didn't even last three-weeks. Some Russians write of boot camps that didn't even last two-weeks. (!!!)
Plainly, after you've read enough personal accounts from survivors, ( these number in the thousands, more than anyone can bear to read) you come to realize that Stalin's system for recruits was a meat grinding machine. In its essence, the Red Army just got the extreme basics down, and then depended upon On-The-Job training to carry the day. Lucky for Russia that her sons had no limit for selfless bravery.
It's shocking to read personal accounts of jumping into a T34 -- right before a major action -- for the first time. It was only later that STAVKA realized that this 'training program' was not optimal.
Similarly short training cycles impaired the Red Air Force. The guys were thrown at the Luftwaffe before they were really fledged. When this was finally changed, the Red Air Force became very good.
After reading enough personal accounts -- the stuff the fellas are writing while on their death beds -- one can only conclude that both armies sabotaged their own men via grand stupidities.
Like the Ostheer letting its draft horses freeze to death in the Autumn rains. Good grief. Thumb though the vet statistics. They were reporting astounding losses, day by day, as the animals died. They must have been crying while doing so. The horses you see in those old photos became food stuffs in very short order. (Gag)
Dead horses in Autumn became dead men in Winter. Pure insanity.
And like 1812-13, the weather didn't get any warmer for the Russians. Their own losses driving the Ostheer back were also a fright... largely due to the lack of training and support from their own superiors. (Gag)
I don't know how anyone could survive a bullet wound when it's 40 below.
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@Takh
I think you meant pkwVIs...
But, your thesis is essentially correct.
It's more than production numbers. It's also a case of how LONG a given tank could remain in service and how well it could be kept fuelled. In this basis, the German heavies were DISASTERS.
1) The Nazis used forced labor// prisoners brought in from France, Poland -- even Italy (!) to build their war machine. (!!!) The result was that the second their backs were turned, the production workers sabotaged Panthers and Tigers in a way that was not easily discovered. This typically took the form of phu cking with their lubrication systems. Foreign objects// crud was rammed deep into various lubrication channels. Long after the war, recovered and restored panzers repeatedly show just such sabotage. No panzer has been discovered that didn't have jacked up lubrication systems.
The beauty of this kind of sabotage is that it passed undetected straight through the war. It did cause German panzers to break down in the field for inexplicable reasons. The Nazis could never quite put it all together. Heh.
2) The Panther had a critical weakness that the Allies never picked up on. It's final drive was too weak. The Panther was over-weight by 20,000 pounds. Those extra ten-tons were really too much for the Panther's final drive.
( Final drive = the sprocket that transmits torque to the track. )
Worse, to repair damage to this sprocket, it was necessary to TOTALLY un-build a Panther tank. You had to pull the turret up and off. Then you had to pull the engine, drive shaft and many internals. Only then could you get at the final drive and its transmission -- which were the first thing that the factory dropped into a Panther.
This process was so involved that Panthers had to be sent back to the factory. Germany never developed a field repair solution.
[ The same task took four-hours for Sherman tanks -- which could be performed under a shade tree in the field. ]
BTW, Germany had a LOT of minor factories dedicated to rebuilding panzers. You'd be astounded as to how many micro-factories the Nazis used to crank out repairs and custom modifications, especially of captured enemy tanks. ( Soviet and French )
When the Germans had 500 panzers on the western front, the Allies had 10,000 Shermans. (late 44) ( 1,000s were sitting back as 'spares' ) The Army simply assumed that losses would be stiff, so the system just kept cranking them out and sending them to France. The production tempo kept surging, too.
It got to the point that every front line division had its own tank battalion. Tank divisions would have 300 to 450 Shermans. Regardless of the official TO&E every division just kept adding Shermans. One company of the 1st Infantry Division ended up with its own (secret) tank platoon. Shades of 'Kelly's Heroes.'
By the end, Shermans were used as much as mobile artillery ( shades of the original intent of the Mark IV panzer ) as they ever were as direct fire weapons. Tank destroyers were also tasked as artillery -- most firing 10 indirect rounds for every 1 direct fire rounds.
Like the V2, the Panther and Tiger were mistakes. Strategically, they didn't pencil out. Germany couldn't keep them running, so they had amazingly short operational lives. ( commonly just one battle )
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@Steve
Bletchley was not given a time-line within their intercepts. It's a pretty good bet that Bletchley was tapping into morale boosting chatter between Adolf and OB West about its reinforcement priority -- which was -- in fact -- at the top of the stack. Hitler had ALREADY decided to counter attack out of the Ardennes even before the Allies rolled up to the West Wall. Yes, in his imagining he would repeat his super-success of 1940. All of this was in his head even before Paris was liberated. Quite simply, Hitler had ALWAYS assumed that his play was in the west, and that only Britain and America were sensitive to casualties, for clearly, Stalin was not deterred by even insane levels of blood.
The disposition of Browning's HQ betrays the fact that he KNEW that the ONLY terrain suitable for a counter attack by panzers lay directly between the heights and the German border. Everywhere else, the ground was so soft that tanks bogged down. This was why Hell's Highway was an elevated highway, why XXX Corps tanks had to stay up on that 60-mile berm.
The CRAZY thing about 1st Airborne and 82nd Airborne drop zones: they weren't on the island.
The zone between the two bridges was an ISLAND in the Rhine river delta. The Germans couldn't get on it except by the bridges and a ferry. This ferry, indeed both ferries, were totally ignored by Browning and Monty. ANY Dutchman could've, would've brought them up. They were the traditional way of reaching the farmland that WAS the island.
The island had no Germans, no FLAK, no nothing. No place to hide panzers, either. The island was the OBVIOUS place to take all subsequent air drops. It just screamed: land here, land here, land here!
All of the FLAK was in Arnhem. That's where the RAF was taking a beating.
BTW, the RAF DID adjust its drop zones after crews bitched about loads lost to Germany. However, no matter what was done, the SS kept over-running the new, tighter, drop zones. That's how fast the 1st Airborne was shrinking its perimeter. It was but a short time before its pocket was so tiny that the RAF couldn't hit it. Any plane making the attempt would have no more than a two second window between crossing the Rhine and reaching the (far ) German line.
That's why the film is painting a false picture WRT the RAF. Its crews were not that stupid. What had happened is that British Airborne had lost the ability to defend its perimeter early in the fight. .
ALL of Airborne's problems traced back to Browning's selection of drop zones. He had the PERFECT spot -- the island -- and he didn't select it. Urquhart and Company could not redeem that catastrophic error no matter how much blood they spent.
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@John Burns
Gavin DID follow orders.
His General Order ( from Ike ) was to NEVER lose Browning -- nor to tarnish Browning's reputation.
Taking the Nijmegen bridge became a SECONDARY objective.
If Browning was lost and the bridge taken, Gavin would've been sent down in disgrace.
Even taking that bridge would not make the 2SS Panzer Corps disappear.
Lost in all of the hand-wringing, the sloth of XXX Corp just guaranteed that the Arnhem bridge would be blown up.
This would've happened IMMEDIATELY once it was clear that Nijmegan was lost to the Allies.
The Arnhem bridge was saved precisely because it led to Nijmegen.
IIRC, eventually the Germans pulled back and blew it up.
The ONLY way that the Arnhem bridge could be won was by way of changing the 101st's drop zones on day one. The Germans had be be denied the ability to get to the southern end of the Arnhem bridge, and British Airborne needed IMMEDIATE reinforcement as the city, itself, could easily absorb an entire infantry division.
The ONLY drop zone that could be ABSOLUTELY guaranteed was that of the ISLAND.
So you had both Urquhart and Gavin wasting their time and men defending the unnecessary when the island was RIGHT at the twin bridges.
Duh.
Putting the 101st on the island would also mean that Browning would have 18th Airborne Corps right to hand to defend his HQ and the Germans could not stop further parachute drops.
British Airborne would NEVER fail to obtain drops, either.
The island was the central position -- and the British didn't see it.
The Americans were told to SHUT UP -- to never opine on British operations.
Even Bradley and Patton, who totally disagreed with MG, would not utter a peep! They merely groused about it, referring to events in the most elliptical fashion. Patton didn't even dare run his mouth off in his diary. All because Ike had put them on notice.
If three-stars are choking in silence, imagine one-star Gavin!
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@Nick
Join the Peace Corps and make an impression.
My Nephew did. He discovered that they really ARE fools. It really is hard to save them from themselves.
It doesn't take too long before frustration kicks in.
To the locals, all of your advice, everything, smacks of arrogance.
For you are challenging the wisdom of their fathers, all of them.
The fact that they a taking craps in public, drinking out of mud puddles, and trying to get by on $0.00 dollars per day for a lifetime....
It's so easy to criticize.
The fact is that MOST societies are vastly inferior to the USA.
1) They resist - often violently - to new thinking, to new ways. Many times this resistance is shocking. You'd think that clean water would be an automatic 'seller.' Nope.
No project gets MORE resistance than any scheme to bring in clean, fresh water to a village, to a town, to a city. Such thinking is the LAST thing on the local's mind. Your proffered project is universally deemed a total waste of money. "What were you thinking of?"
2) They are parochial in the extreme. They really hate their neighbors down the road, or over the hill.
[ Florentines still hate Venicians and vice versa. (sp ?]
3) Lying to you -- and each other -- is a local art form. Hell, it's a competition. This reaches extremes with Muslim Arab culture. This is the tic that caused so much grief in Iraq during reconstruction. Local 'talent' would lie about every phase of construction or repair. When you'd visit a work site, you never knew what to expect. You'd be thrilled if the foundation was actually poured. And so forth.
Need I say it? ALL of these loser societies would regard the Americans as the 'problem.' Too arrogant, and all that.
The REAL problem is that all Americans are naive. We can't imagine societies that are quite that disfunctional. Yet, eventually we come around to the truth. Their cultures prohibit adoption of even a fraction of what we deem normal behavior. Those few souls that figure things out promptly try and flee to the West. They have totally given up hope WRT their own neighbors.
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Broe is very upset that Trump wants to include minerals in any USA-Ukraine deals.
Yet, Zelenskyy happily provides the relevant map, and is so happy to go along. Why?
ALL of the relevant natural resources have Russian troops atop them, right now.
Yes, they are in Crimea, off-shore of Crimea, under the Sea of Azov, or in the Donbas. (!!!)
Zelenskyy's front line is protecting the wheat and sunflower crops. (Dnipro watermelons, too.)
Trump's larger goal is to get rare earths out of Xi's clutches.
Ukraine and Greenland both have them, and Xi wants them, too.
Xi is deliberately under-pricing his rare earth exports so as to cripple any strategic competition.
He previously shut down America's only rare earth mine - - years ago.
Xi is also keeping secret all of the chemical engineering required to process rare earth ores.
They now all come to Xi to be processed -- even ores imported from overseas.
This is never mentioned in the popular news.
The buzz is that Red China will run out of rare earth ores in ten-years -- they are going at them at that tempo.
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Zelenskyy failed to thank TRUMP.
Campaigning for Biden-Harris-Walz was a SIN.
Thanking Biden was not at ALL to thank the New Administration.
As a matter of diplomatic etiquette Zelenskyy HAD to repeat his thanks, for the cameras, shaking hands with Trump.
He needed to dress UP for Trump. Instead, Zelenskyy donned his war costume, like he was Che Guevara.
Even as he was ribbed for doing so, Trump was actually insulted by him. Things immediately got off on the wrong foot.
Vance's points WERE Trump's points. This is classic Good president/ Bad vice-president tag teaming.
Nixon-Agnew played this gambit all-the-time. Vice-presidential speeches are ALWAYS vetted by the sitting president.
He usually wrote them... ie his staff. Vance just riffed Trump's stances for him.
One is reminded of Lindbergh's oratories. FDR's staff wrote all of those speeches, too.
They were to ingratiate Lindy with Goering. And they worked.
Lindbergh was a double-agent -- reporting directly to FDR! FDR loved such scheming.
Everything about this was Top Secret. If Goering got wise, a plane accident in Germany would've ensued.
They were also to goad Congress into spending large on the USAAC/ USAAF.
They worked. Out of no-where, the USAAF got astounding funding right from the get-go.
BTW, Lindy did the exact same service for Eisenhower, too! Lindy's service in the 50s is much better known.
FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy -- everyone loved Lindy. Now you know why.
He's also the reason the Boeing Company and Pan Am introduced the B-707 and launched the jet-age.
But, that's yet another story. Lindy just didn't blab to the Press.
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@MrStoneycool
The NUMBER ONE source of looting: local Frenchmen. After years of privation, they just could not sit still and watch all that coffee roll by. So what you had was a conspiracy: the French would conjure up fresh eggs, the occasional chicken, cognac, and more -- and the GI would discover coffee beans, chocolate, tobacco, even cigarettes.
The other item looted: gasoline. After PLUTO came out of the Channel, it pumped gasoline into a storage farm. (Cherbourg ) Thence it traveled by multiple 4" pipes (laid directly on the ground) towards the front. It was THIS pipeline that the French kept robbing. It got to the point that the US Army had to station two divisions of "pipeline guards" to stop the theft.
Naturally, all of this stuff was kept hush, hush, as it would be VERY bad PR, bad for morale.
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Africa never was what you and I would call rich. It's primary problem is TERMITES. Note how every other society uses wood for construction -- and the stuff lasts for years and years. Wood is a HUGE labor saver. Termites wipe out wood, paper -- in Africa -- at a tempo that non-Africans can't comprehend. Mud is a poor substitute for wood in a zone of HEAVY rainfall. All of the above is why Africans -- no matter how smart and clever -- had to live in huts -- habitation so cheap to build that one built a new hut like clock-work. No libraries could survive the termite.
And most of Africa has overcast nights that blot out the stars. So Africans never developed any naval tradition. In contrast, the Norse, the Polynesians, the Orientals were ALL very star-aware. For Black Africa such a hobby would be a total waste of time, of effort. Night clouds made for darkest Africa. That's where the expression arose. European and Chinese explorers just could not believe how dark the nights are in Africa. Even a full Moon can't illuminate the ground. (!) You'll note that in South America, star obsession only occurred for those cultures living at high altitudes. Even the Maya were obsessed with building UP so as to view the sky -- and they had nearby stone to do it. In Darkest Africa, the ground is, essentially, mud. All of which is why internal transportation -- of any weight and distance -- had to occur via rivers. And Africa's rivers are a risky transit. It took modern methods, steamships, before going up and down the big rivers was at all practical. And then there's the hippo -- the biggest man-killer of the continent -- by FAR. They get out of rivers at night and raise holly horror all over the place. There's a real reason Africans and African-Americans abhor swimming. It's genetic. For anyone crazy enough to swim or wade gets the Darwin Award! The first Africans to witness Europeans attempting to bathe were certain that they were flat crazy. So, you add it up: transportation is risky, costly -- nights are very, very dark -- termites are eating you out of house and home -- baby, you're behind the eight-ball. It's notable that where Africans did prosper, they weren't in the jungle. Famously, they struck gold just south of the Sahara. At one point, they were placer-mining more gold than any other place on Earth. BTW, their culture has left MUD architecture that has lasted centuries. (Timbuktu) Yeah, despite their gold mines, they were restricted to building in mud. All gold and no quarries -- isn't that a kick in the head?
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What OKH, OKW, and Adolf Hitler didn't seem to remember was the the 6th Army hard upon the Volga was a WAR WINNING MOVE.
It was no different that having the USA 9th Armored// 1st Army upon the Rhine. ( March 6, 1945 ) [ Remagen happened the very next day. ]
What his meant was that the actual positions of 2nd Panzer Army and 3rd Panzer Army were largely irrelevant. They should've given ground -- which they eventually HAD to -- right off. That was the correct German response to Mars.
The next move was for OKH to vector EVERY strategic reserve to counter-Uranus.
For Uranus HAD TO BE the STAVKA attempt to push 6th Army off its economic jugular vein.
OF COURSE 6th Army had to stay put. Its position would win the war in the east for the Nazis. You can't run a mechanized war economy on coal. The Nazis figured that out the hard way. The pain was already evident.
It was ESSENTIAL that the 4th Panzer Army elements within the kessel leave it before it was formed, and that its 'missing corps' be returned to it,(*) but that Army Group B must shed at least two panzer corps ( 4p + 2m ) to reverse the flow of events.
These latter formations would be at essentially FULL strength. Motoring across the steppe bores you, it doesn't kill you.
{
(*) Hitler took away a panzer corps from 4th Panzer Army way back in July-August. I'd have to look up the exact dates. The first to go was GD motorized division. It had to be extracted from Voronezh where it had gotten tied up in urban fighting consequent to its occupation of the western bank of the Don... where the Voronezh river borders the city to its west. (grab a map)
"By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs
before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. In July 24
frontline was stabilised along Voronezh river. This was the opening move
of Case Blue"
The other divisions were shunted north to pump up 2nd Panzer Army - but mostly held in reserve... in a centralish position. The idea was that they'd throw their weight to stop any Soviet Winter Counter-Offensive, by which time, STAVKA held a patent on the content and execution thereof.
The existence of this RQF was a HUGE factor in the Luftwaffe's air lift optimism. The top-of-the-head assumption was that THREE fully equipped reserved panzer divisions would be shooting down to 6th Army in very short order. A rail line heading off to the southeast had been under construction at a furious pace for months.
(It was following a route that involved virtually no river crossings, hence its very long route.
}
It's nothing short of amazing that OKH's staff weren't barking like mad dogs about the cross-up in priorities. Backing away from Moscow was strategically meaningless. All of the ground east and west was already totally destroyed, militarily barren. Useless.
Further, the twin panzer armies were ideally sited for logistics. Backing away from Moscow would actually release trucks and gasoline -- so dearly needed to stop Uranus.
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@Plaz -- I'm not in the oil business, but IIRC, it's located either in Kazakistan or just north of it. As you know by now, that entire region is loaded to the gills with natural gas and oil. You practically can't miss.
It, the Russian field, IIRC is still in production. So if you can read Russian, it is sure to pop up in their industry publications. It is not a minor field by any means. IIRC it was able to go from zero to 1,000,000 bbl per day before the war was over. The wells only had to go down about 2,500 to 3,000 feet. By industry standards, that's about as easy as it ever gets.
The American on the scene mentioned that each rig was cranking out TWO wells per week. The Soviet crews just about fried their brains at the new drilling tempo.
These rigs were also driven 24hours per day, which is the American practice. Previously the Russians didn't know how to drill at night. They were just not set up for it. It requires much more illumination, wiring and portable generators than daytime drilling. Until the war, no-one saw the urgency. Drilling was previously run like the post office.
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@clavo3352 You've lost the plot.
The UA is merely freezing the RA in place... as best as possible.
Winter is freezing the Russians, too.
I have no doubt that for a while, here, the UA is focused on straightening out civil society. Note the restoration of train travel to Kherson city. That fix also brings every manner of repair materials, generators, fuel, etc.
After a time, I expect the UA to launch yet another counter-offensive. It could be anywhere... but the odds favor a drive to the Sea of Azov. They don't favor city fighting. The UA has turned down city fighting every step of the way -- unless it's defensive fighting.
In winter, it's quite unnecessary to use the road network. The ground is FLAT -- remarkably so. During WWII neither the Krauts or the Soviets could establish any decent defense in this whole zone... going either way.
The UA has HIMARS and it destroys the RA's artillery arm. But that destruction does take time. For the area under discussion, the trees are bare, the ground is flat, and there are no crops to hide within. The only defense is overcast skies.
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@beacon
Guderian, himself, laid all of this out in 1953 in his own book. Others have weighed in on the issue. The 'prof' is correct. The condition of the panzer arm had NOTHING to do with the decision.
Guderian protested right on the spot and at that time.
The decision to let Goering loose was the world's worst kept secret as the Nazis used it in their propaganda at the time. (1940) You'll see it referenced in Allied newsreels of the period... endlessly.
The British-French escape was all detailed years ago -- before YouTube even existed by a British author. Dang if I can't locate my copy any more. It's his work that under-pins the recent film. It's been sitting around for decades, BTW.
That author was stunned as to how much spin the Churchill administration put on the BEF story. Prior to his writing, the larger public never knew about the BEF escaping over the mole.
The actual mechanism was one of the deepest secrets of the war - at that time. Every Tommy was sworn to secrecy about every aspect of the fiasco. Naturally, no-one wanted to ruin the chances for their buddies -- so every Tommy kept his mouth shut.
And Britain had ultra-hard line censorship, too. So nothing leaked into the press. The Press wasn't even let near the debarkation piers, either. The outer image was one of Tommies coming back to England all kitted out in spiffy uniforms, rifle in hand, too. That's what the public saw. Actually, the BEF came back without even small arms, ... and the UK had to re-equip every lad from the boots on up. (typ)
The BEF became the cadre for the massive build out of the British Army that soon took place. So its escape from Dunkirk was the ruination of Nazi Germany.
It was at Dunkirk that Brook and Monty made their bones. Both were destined to the highest rank. Monty proved to be a step-ahead of every other commander. The entire BEF would've been lost without him. Yup. He plugged all of the holes. The man had ice-water running in his veins.
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@John... good grief. After taking all of that credit Monty nearly got FIRED. It's pure BS. Bradley was down in Luxembourg City. He wasn't dithering. What a hoot. Bradley was shamed for not 'getting it.' It was IKE that sent the 7th Armored south, the 10th Armored north and the 18 Airborne Corps into the fray. He did so BEFORE the evidence was in.
(Said evidence was what Bradley was waiting for. That's not quite dithering. Rather, he was working to British//Russian speed. It was doctrine at that time that one didn't send in reserves until enemy intentions were clear. Ike had enough clarity to figure it out just by the screams from the front. BTW, it took V Corps's commander, Gerow, ALL DAY to figure out that his 2nd Division MG was right to disobey his attack order of the day. He apologized, humbled by the reality. Bradley placed HUGE weight on Gerow's opinion. Between the two of them, they basically ran 1st American Army, Hodges was a place holder for Bradley who never wanted to leave.)
This German offensive was the WORST performance by them during the war. They went off the rails within the first 72 hours -- that's the GERMAN opinion -- not mine.
The war was running long because of Market Garden. Stopping the 12th AG (gasoline restriction) caused the battle of Aachen.( ... and then the Bloody Hurtgen.) It was going to be surrendered as an open city. With that, the main bridges into Germany would've been secured. (!!!!) This is so embarrassing to the Allied cause that both British and American histories bury it.
Losing Aachen as an open city was the REAL tragedy of MG. Break out a map some time.
The British were barely in contact during the Bulge. They were, generally, relegated to being WEST of the Meuse. They just weren't needed. By the time XXX Corps was settled in -- the tide had reversed.
You're STILL eating Monty's BS. The stuff that nearly got him canned. It's a fraud. BTW, at the time the British army couldn't keep its divisions at proper strength. So they were broken up. In contrast the US Army was adding about a regiment every day at the time. We were still building up 9th Army... and then lending it to Monty! He was bitching and fetching when he had to give it back to 12th AG. US 9th Army WAS Monty's Big Punch. Once he had it, it became his leading attack formation straight through until he lost it to Bradley. Once that happened, the British Army kicked it back into idle. No-one wanted to be the last Brit to die at the front. Read the British accounts.
Monty forced the Americans to retreat -- to clean up their lines. Gavin was choking on such orders. Read his account. Monty got the 7th Armored to withdraw from St. Vith -- just for starters. These quite unnecessary retreats ran up the American blood lost. St. Vith was more important than Bastogne. It was THE choke point frustrating 6th Panzer Army -- later 6th SS Panzer Army.
The Bulge was an American victory. Period. Hitler lost his entire strategic reserve -- two panzer armies and the gasoline to power them. This campaign is the PRIMARY reason that Monty had a walk-over when he crossed the Rhine. Duh.
Then again, Monty was the LAST Allied commander to get across the Rhine, Bradley (Hodges) and Patton had stolen the march. Patton's punch through was so extreme that Bradley made him hold up. At the time Patton joked that he'd captured four ( 4) armies: 6th AG + two German armies. Heh.
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Since Germany expect Calais -- Calais was a non-starter.
Western France -- which had ports designed for WWI's American Army -- was deemed absurd -- no air coverage at all. Further, Western France has the same problem as Torch: Big Waves. You can go to YouTube and see videos of just how big the waves can get. Further, the rail net out west had been 'harvested' by the Nazis for rails, switches, ties and everything else. It didn't have industry that the Nazis needed for its war effort. So Western France would add a full year to WWII -- and would entail fighting Nazi Germany mostly in France, to. boot.
Brittany was logistically useless. Not even worth talking about.
Normandy was the dream location -- straight from the first. No other zone was ever seriously considered -- and staggering efforts were launched to convince the Nazis that a zone this obvious was not on the Allied list. Amazingly, it worked, even though many a Kraut spotted something so obvious.
FYI, Calais had a staggering mine-belt beyond anything seen at Normandy. Even in 1940, the RN had to zig-zag all over the Channel to get past its own minefields.
Winnie fought bitterly against invading Southern France. As ever, Winnie was a military disaster. Dragoon was a blow-out success -- and more significant to the Break Out than historians generally credit. 6th Army Group actually had to bail out 12th Army Group -- as Bradley had failed to order enough supplies. His entire staff had Victory Disease. He only hints around about this fiasco in his 2nd War Diary.
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@ Dwarov -- Put down the bong. Get therapy.
Stalin triggered WWII in Europe by initiating the Soviet-Nazi Pact of August 23, 1939. Stalin wrote it, held the original in Soviet archives. Hitler merely signed on the line that was dotted. It, the document, was released to the world's press twenty-some years ago by President Yeltsin. His press conference was attended by the ENTIRE world's press in a huge auditorium -- the biggest in Moscow, IIRC.
Stalin, not Hitler, partitioned Poland -- with his own Fat Pencil. So fat it was that you'd think it was smeared lip stick.
Stalin had penal battalions by the dozen. They were suicide assault units. Defectors from such units became the German's most loyal 'volunteers.' Heh. Such 'volunteers' number in vast numbers by the end of the war. They never laid down their weapons, being 'ghosts' in the first place.
Read also: "Bloodlands." It's a totally depressing eye-opener.
Mass executions of politicals, partisans, Gypsies and Jews was strictly a Bloodlands phenomenon. No Western Power engaged in such atrocities at any time.
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Buddy, WWIII has come and gone. It's usually termed The Cold War. We're IN WWIV -- right now. It's official start date is 9-11-2001 -- but that's open to argument. WWV is what's on deck. Xi is working its preamble right now. In Xi's WWV he's destined to fight the rest of the planet at the same time. Xi has territorial claims reaching into India, Russia and every other point of his compass. Curiously, for your thesis, water is NOT an issue for Xi. He has a lock on Tibet -- the headwaters for three of his critical rivers.
Because air power is such a HUGE factor in modern war, Red China is at a serious disadvantage WRT India. Aircraft taking off from Tibet (Red China) can't carry full combat loads// fuel loads. Whereas, aircraft rising from India have no serious handicaps. The result is that any such war would be intensely missile dependent. But that's a problem, too. Missiles are extremely expensive, so no power can load up on missiles sufficient for a strategic campaign between the two most populous nations on Earth. Which then means that missile war will devolve to atomics. They remove the population advantage for any nation. Indeed, at a strategic level, Red China's drive to urbanization works against atomic warfare -- for her.
Putin is trying to aim Xi towards all other powers. He's not an ally of Red China -- something that Red China SPECIFICALLY acknowledges in its media: The Global Times. They are buddies of convenience -- and nothing more. Siberia HAS TO BE the ultimate desire of Beijing. It's a virtually de-populated resource bucket.
Whether it's Russia or India, WWV will go atomic the first day. Indeed, WWV is why both Red China and Russia are investing crazy sums into hypersonic (atomic) weapons. (Without atomics, such missiles don't pencil out.)
BTW, there is no such thing as a 'Middle Income Trap' -- it's a cute nostrum advanced by mentally crippled economists. Red China merely needs to sell its manufactures within Red China. Doing so establishes enough scale to recreate the economics of the North American market. This is a market so vast that it scarcely needs the international market -- quite the reverse is true. That's what defines the modern world.
BTW, land connections lead to war. Mahan established the notion more than a century ago. The ocean simply out-competes all land transport. Ships even crush double-tracked railroad lines. That will never change. In contrast, great land connections (railroads) feed invading armies. (c.f. Barbarossa)
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Biden & Co (Think Blinken) don't want either combatant nation to lose... or to win.
Hence, the dithering we've all witnessed for nearly two-years.
This formula must create the maximum losses for both nations, of course. Think WWI 2.0. Ugh!
American weapons, if truly supplied WOULD trigger rapid defeat of Russian invasion forces.
31 de-tuned M1A1 tanks ? Give me a break ! Try 930 Abrams. You get the picture.
Other than air defense, the West has provided nothing but cast-offs to Kyiv.
The delays you oft read of -- the stuff had to be re-manufactured. (!) Rubber does not last decades in storage.
Big Talk, though.
As for water warfare -- I pitched it -- (1988, 2006, ... over and over. ) Water is exceptionally brave, fearless it is. It's never been defeated.
If you actually saw the correct video -- not in the above clips -- you'd realize that the seawater pumps are military grade -- and the IDF bought them years ago, plainly.
[ I pitched them in 2006 for Hezbollah's Lebanese fortress complex. The IDF was not ready for that fight, had to improvise. ]
It's not necessary to truly flood the tunnels like they're pipes.
Merely putting three-feet of sea water in the active network ruins them for military purposes.
All of the ammo is stored down low, you know it. It must be too late to save most of it. What a tragedy!
As for the hostages, they ARE the prize.
There is NO WAY that Hamas will let anyone drown.
Each soul is worth their weight in gold -- strategically.
Of course, at some point the IDF will start adding dye to the sea water -- making it impossible for Hamas fanatics to deny their culpability.
Such a dye could be UV triggered. So the enemy wouldn't even know that they've been compromised. Cute.
( Civilians would have never been allowed down into the tunnels, of course.)
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Wesley is wrong: Mud Season means that tank warfare -- WWII style -- is in hiatus.
The Ukrainians simply out-number the Russians. They are short on weapons -- still.
It is paralyzing for ANY tank army to see the enemy roaming around through their lines at night -- with Smart ATGMs.
The old TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided BGM-71(A,B,C,D,E,F) was an ATGM -- but required a human operator every second of flight.
NLAWs and Javelins are so smart that they DON'T require a human operator.
BTW, the old TOW system has astounding range. In 1981, such missiles could kill tanks at 8,000 meters. Wiki's numbers are 'half-off.' Heh.
Such shots require mighty flat terrain -- just what Putin must cross to encircle the Ukrainians.
IIRC, Biden has sent some of these to Ukraine. The deal's specifics are not yet available.
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@John Burns
Every German opponent only achieved success when they went with the Broad Front strategy.
The Germans "owned" the narrow front technique.
Broad Front = attacking German infantry -- not panzers.
Further, it meant attacking horse drawn infantry with you're own motorized formations. You'd pin their infantry with your own infantry, then punch through with tanks and half-tracks and race deep.
This was a consistently winning solution.
Panzers would merely back up as fast as you could ever advance, then they'd counter attack -- most inconveniently.
(This was the correct German solution for both Stalingrad and Kursk, BTW. During Uranus, the panzer formations should've fled west, leaving 6th Army behind, on the Volga to interdict it. Then, having reached the German supply network east of Rostov-on-Don the panzers would've wheeled around and begun counter attacking the most extended spearheads of the Soviets. It would've been a rout. By that time most T34s had broken down just motoring westward. Most Red formations were reduced to light infantry, without any heavy weapons. When the Russian north wing met the south wing, no-one carried anything but small arms. The big stuff was MILES to the rear.)
The German infantry could never quite back up fast enough to avoid being pocketed. Usually they, the infantry divisions, came apart in a shredded manner, with individual companies being swept up by on coming motorized formations.
The horses were particularly vulnerable. Once they were in the bag, all heavy weapons had to be left behind. Then the entire division lost its defensive cohesion. ( Artillery can't be pointed in every direction at once, so the simple trick was to come at it from an off angle. )
It wasn't too long before the German Army had a full blown horse crisis. It started in the late Autumn of '41 and never let up for the rest of the war. It's the reason that the Ostheer was restricted to the southern front. ( Case Blue ) and why 6th Army had no horses up with it at Stalingrad.
( They were short on horses in the first place. They had to get their horses back out of the winter weather -- which meant that they had to pull them back -- way back -- to where horse stalls still existed -- that is, had been newly built. The Russians had destroyed everything standing by such a time.)
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@Kristina
WRONG.
Britain defeated Germany the same old way she did in WWI.
Resource denial.
Indeed, that's TIK's main point.
London simply throttled Berlin's economy by denying it access to its critical war imports:
Crude oil ( imported from the USA )
Met coal ( imported from the USA )
Rubber ( imported from the British Empire )
Chrome ( imported from the British Empire )
Tungsten ( imported from China, Russia, British Empire )
Nickel ( imported from the Commonwealth// Canada or France )
Aluminum ( same as Nickel )
Magnesium ( imported from the USA, others)
Copper ( imported from the USA, others)
Canada was a MAJOR exporter of Aluminum and Nickel at that time. The RAF was built out of Canadian Aluminum.
Virtually all of these war-critical imports were dominated by British, American or Canadian firms.
The Americans also had all of the Gold in the world. The figures astonish. You name it, America had it in spades.
Some of these items could also be imported from South America -- however the firms involved were either American or British. If it came from the Westen Hemisphere, the Americans ran the show. If not them, then it was the British. ( Shell Oil, et. al. )
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@fredcollins8919 In the grand scheme of things we need:
Mass produced hydro-electric dams. These don't figure to be Hoover dam, but something smaller, rather much like a Swiss dam -- low-flow and high-head.
We need to build them as cheaply as possible -- to a standard design -- like cars or Liberty ships.
I'm leaning towards a mono-pole generator design that promptly electrolyzes rainfall into hydrogen and oxygen. This drastically removes complications. Monopole generators generate massive amps at low voltages. NASA uses them to create mega-arcs to test heat shields. NIB magnets simplify mono-pole generator even further. Each dam and power-plant can run without co-ordination, too. Again, to simplify.
The product oxygen could be tapped for this or that chemical industry -- but the primary goal is export of hydrogen -- as a pressurized gas -- in the manner of natural gas. One can easily imagine huge industries being established in Chile, Peru, Brazil -- everywhere. Mexico already uses hydrogen to convert iron ore to iron sponge -- thence off to an electric furnace to craft steel. The process is price competitive even now. Brazil has a HUGE iron oxide deposit that is serving the world. With piped in hydrogen, Brazil could up-grade to iron sponge, and almost all down stream products. Such plants would be located near the mine -- not in the jungle -- obviously.
Because of the Amazon river, HUGE alumina reduction plants could be sited in its deeper waters. Combined, these plants would make Brazil a world scale industrial power. With such wealth, Brazil could pipe -- up hill -- all the water she needs for Sao Paulo -- where everyone wants to live. Right now Sao Paulo is as thirsty as Cape Town.
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@thunderbolt
Don't invent history, please.
It was Freddie de Goungand, Monty's chief of staff, that brought Monty around. Churchill was not even in the picture.
He returned to 21st Army Group HQ -- having just left Ike -- who had ALREADY drafted the magic letter addressed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Freddie flipped out, BEGGED Ike to not send it on until he'd had a chance to 'smooth things over with Monty.'
When he revealed to Monty just how perilous his position was -- Monty countered with the astonishing question: "Who can (possibly) replace me?"
Freddie had to tell his own boss that Monty's old boss FM Alexander was the American favorite to succeed Monty. [ The Americans had wanted Alexander ALL ALONG. ] And that their thinking was that Monty would be 'promoted' to some command back in England, and Alexander would be brought up from the Med, where he was already operating as a theatre supreme commander.
(SHAEF actually didn't cover the Med. You can see the politics of it: Britain had its Supreme Commander; America had its Supreme Commander. Their joint status was fuzzed by the press during wartime.
BTW, Churchill bitterly railed against 'Dragoon' precisely because it would take two armies away from Alexander. Churchill had all kinds of crazy ideas about using them in the eastern Med: Rhodes being at the top of the list. Ike had a major row with Winnie over the matter. )
"[Alexander] Commander-in-Chief Middle East and commanding the 18th Army Group in Tunisia. He then commanded the 15th Army Group for the capture of Sicily and again in Italy before receiving his field marshal's baton and being made Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean."
The fact that Alexander was independent of SHAEF is only apparent when you pull the organizational chart for SHAEF. His entire command is missing, of course. The Med was considered a theatre in its own right. But, with D-Day the BIG action had shifted to Northwest Europe. This latter term was ginned up to make explicit the split between Ike's command and Alexander's command. Both reported to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As you can imagine, Alexander would cough up anything that Ike needed -- namely the newly constituted 6th Army Group. ( French 1st Army; American 7th Army )
&&&
AFTER Monty realized that Churchill would accept Alexander with no qualms at all... he drafted a contrite 'apology' to Ike about how he LOVED working as a team-member, etc. etc.
Obviously, Freddie drafted this letter. He'd been crafting it while on the plane flying to 21st Army Group HQ.
( Monty never went to Ike's HQ if it could possibly be avoided -- and it usually was. )
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@Magnus
They (incredibly) depended upon the Dutch explosives and Dutch detonation cables. Keep in mind that Bittrich gave express orders to NOT blow up the Nijmegen bridge.
As a result, the attempt was a last second affair. Whoops. But, the impulse was there.
No such reluctance would EVER be shown at Arnhem. The arrival of XXX Corps dispelled any crazy notion of Germany launching a counter attack. Bittrich suddenly shut up. Shooting up paras was one thing, the Irish Guards was a totally different kettle, all right.
A Dutchman had sabotaged the detonation circuit right from the start. It ran into the town precisely because the Dutch figured that the Threat came from Nazi Germany -- not Belgium. They did have a back-up detonation connection that ran back to the opposite bank. This was the one the SS activated. The problem for the SS was that the back-up circuit was in SERIES with the primary detonation circuit. No Dutchman explained that to them. Everything looked kosher right up until nothing happened. It's not as if the SS could test the circuit without dropping the Nijmegen bridge into the Waal. (They assumed.)
Being a civilian, none of the military paperwork// write-ups ever caught this. Hell, the Allies didn't even know that the detonation cables ran through the post office cum telephone exchange. ( in the same building... right at the base of the bridge... obviously built at the same time. ) Neither side prioritized getting into the post office// telephone exchange. It just didn't hit the average soldier that this was 'magic' ground.
Military (unit) histories are not going to waste ink praising a heroic civilian.
For some crazy reason, the Allies looked past the fact that all of the locals were allied with them. When the Germans figured this all out, they starved the Dutch. They had them down to eating boiled tulip bulbs, which makes for a very expensive and tasteless meal.
Once Grabner got across the Arnhem bridge -- long before Frost arrived, MG was dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.
Without Grabner, Gavin waltzes across Nijmegen bridge, no matter what. THIS explains why both Browning and Gavin placed it on such a low priority.
1st Airborne was assumed to have blocked Arnhem bridge from the get-go -- and everyone knew that there were no Germans on the island. Hell, it was naked farmland. It only had a hamlet north of the Waal at Nijmegen.
Arnhem bridge could never be taken, was never taken. Interdicting the north approach did not constitute bridge capture.
Arnhem bridge had massively long approach bridging that went on and on. The bridge had to be pretty high over the river, while the surrounding land was way low.
What this meant was that when Frost shot up Grabner, Grabner was already leaving the bridge proper and descending the northern approach. This is why Frost had to shoot from the upper levels, and why 2nd Para could shuttle from side to side underneath the massive approach. It also meant that mortars, etc. couldn't reach under the approach. The SS had to slug it out, man to man, in street fighting. Even the panzers were rather freaked out because they had to wade among tall buildings that provided Molotov fire bomb opportunities galore. The SS took tremendous casualties while attacking Frost.
All of the above explains why ignoring Dutch and Ultra intel that the II SS Panzer Corps was in the area was such a catastrophe. And that event happened up at 21st Army Group and AA Army levels. No-one below the rank of army commander was let in on the Ultra secret.
It's for this reason, that Browning must be assumed to know all about Ultra -- and that Ike may have told Gavin to assassinate Browning at the last second -- rather than let Browning fall into SS hands. For there was no way that the SS would not torture Browning to cough up what he knew. Browning should never have landed with his boys. He simply knew too much.
In the Pacific, USN Captains suicided themselves rather than be caught by the IJN -- for just this reason.
Once Browning was on the ground, he lost all control of events. 1st Airborne needed him, critically, to un-phu-ck their air drops. He could do it. I can't think of anyone else with the authority to step in and stop the insanity of dropping supplies to the SS.
BTW, every time the RAF boys complained about what they saw, the drops were adjusted. Then the SS ran over the new drop zones. The RAF could never 'find' British Airborne in its ever shrinking perimeter.
By the end, the perimeter was so tiny that the RAF would need 'smart chutes' to hit the bullseye. 1st Airborne really didn't have a drop zone any more.
As for the 1,000 tanks story... that just HAD to come down from Bletchley Park// ULTRA... who probably intercepted Adolf's promise to OB West that they were priority. Hitler's promise was in connection with his Ardennes offensive. Bletchley had no idea that the panzers were to be assembled for November ( the original Bulge target date was mid-November ) not mid-September.
And, yes, OB West was the priority for all panzers. The Ostheer had to make do with what StgIIIs, Hertzers, and PAK that they got. The only Ostheer formation that was kept up to strength was Gross Deutschland. ( Hitler was a 'Colonel' for one of its brigades, BTW. Heh. Yes, yes, he made himself honorary Colonel of a brigade. How many hats can that tyrant wear?)
Naturally Bletchley assumed the worst, as did Browning. It's a VERY good bet that the so-called estimate from Gavin's S-2 came instead from Browning. Gavin would never have been clued into ULTRA. The lie that the intel came from his S-2 was generated to hide its source as being Browning. ( and ULTRA) After the fiasco was over, the estimate looked embarrassing, of course. So Gavin 'owned' it.
For falling on his sword, Gavin was given his second star. He was definitely one of the Big Boys after MG was over.
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@caelachyt
Yup.
I'd say everyone would have to agree with you.
Browning took advantage of Urquhart and Gavin.
Both were leading their divisions into a drop for their first time.
With more experience under their belts, both would've thrown those insane drop zones back in Browning's face.
He picked them, not Monty.
Monty merely trusted Browning to get such things right.
Monty knew he didn't know the airborne art.
Both armies accepted that Browning was the Big Brain and the fella that had created both the British and American airborne corps.
For the American airborne was nothing but a clone of Browning's op.
The Americans did change some of the PT and related gear, but that's about it.
I suspect that Gavin spent a LOT of time picking Browning's brain.
Remember that Gavin wrote the American how-to text for the airborne.
The island was rejected solely because it was deemed bad for gliders. This thesis was not even put to the test, BTW. It was merely assumed to be true.
It would've been a SNAP to make any glider tip-over proof for the island. Merely put a runner way out in front of the glider, extending from its nose, in effect a ski-nose.
Such an extension is not going to have a significant influence on drag or in-flight handling. Then, at the end, when the glider is at risk of flipping over, such a leading runner would stop the turning motion. The whole glider was made out of wood, and England was overrun with super-skilled furniture makers -- the boys that made the Mosquito the super-plane that it was. They could've patched this 'fix' together in their sleep -- if only someone would've asked.
More generally, I'm astounded that this fix was not adopted because time, and time again, glider pilots were being injured because their craft had no energy absorber out in front of them. The envisaged ski nose would've been engineered to break and bend UNDER the pilot's position. He, himself, should've had the equivalent of a Mae West across his chest so that even if he was pushed forward, his body was cushioned. This 'pillow' could've been slipped on just prior to the landing sequence. Simple, no ?
It's also rather baffling that Panzerfausts weren't made part of the TO&E of the airborne now that so many had been picked up all across France. ( Dropped only once, never fired. ) The British PIAT was revealed as a dud long before MarketGarden.
BTW, Panzerfausts and Bazookas were known to be super effective in urban combat, effective against much more than tanks.
Why the Airborne landed in Arnhem without a bicycle battalion?
What a mistake that was. A fire-team on bicycles would've been perfect for scouting out ahead of the battalions. Instead, 1st Airborne kept stumbling into SS men as a main body. They didn't pick up a Dutch telephone ONCE when it counted. Indeed, they were instructed to NOT use the Dutch phone network.
Good grief. Can't any Brit speak Hindustani ?
It, Hindustani, worked like a charm in North Africa... 8th Army, anyone?
Who in the 21st Army Group hailed from 8th Army?
Wouldn't that be just about anyone in high command?
Horrocks
O'Connor
Monty
My how they forget.
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@andypozuelos1204 FYI, one of the reasons US weapons programs are so expensive is that -- behind the scenes -- tooling is purchased and put in mothballs so that production can be wildly ramped up should things really go wrong.
You might read up on "Rainbow 5." This was the most important document of its time. It consisted of an ultra-secret internal appraisal of how rapidly the War Department and Navy Department could ramp up production so as to respond to war needs. It was BLEAK, particularly WRT aircraft. The Luftwaffe was deemed to have a virtually insurmountable lead. So, FDR leaked it -- via Hap Arnold -- using his personal aide. Hoover was tasked with finding out how such a secret got out. It took him about two-months to finally trace it back to Hap Arnold's personal aide. Hoover then entirely wrapped up his investigation for he knew that the leaker was FDR, himself.
FDR leaked Rainbow 5 precisely to induce Adolf to declare war on the US. Most modern readers STILL don't know why Hitler thought he could get away with declaring war -- the leak was why. FDR roped the dope.
After Adolf declared war, 12-11-41, the American production miracle started. Items that were assumed to be 18-months out proved to be in hand in only four-months. The impossible stuff arrived 13-months out -- and so forth.
When Foreign Armies West laid out American production numbers to his inner circle, Hitler had him shot on the spot -- for demoralizing his HQ. (And himself.)
After WWII, the Pentagon has made sure to make ramping up to hot war production even quicker than WWII. At the top of the list; the Pentagon has established a permanent stash of fundamental materials -- namely the metals, oil in massive amounts, even rare earths -- which are metals, also.
Red China is going down the same path, too. The CCP has built truly massive crude oil tank farms around its refineries. And so forth.
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TRD, an FSB/KGB officer just lost his life -- inside the MoD in downtown Moscow. He took an axe hit to his forehead. Imagine that!
Caligula was put down by his own Praetorian guard. Something like that is sure to happen to Putin -- if he doesn't have a stroke, first... like Stalin.
Putin's latest stunt -- incredible it is -- has been to seize all funds over 1,400,000 Rubbles -- as recorded by the Russian central bank.
Such cash is then to be wasted upon Putin's passion: the genocide of Ukraine.
Yes, the Duma is already howling.
The ONLY personal cash sitting at the bank -- belongs to Putin's Z-Patriots -- the dudes bobbing their heads in the Duma.
They are all NOT happy.
It has to be the case that each and every is on the phone to Putin/ Medvedev demanding that their own stash is to be passed over.
Whatever the decision, you just KNOW that every last player is now funding 'go-flee' bags -- oft termed 'bug-out bags.'
Like end-of-life Nazis, they're all converting their stashes into gold, silver, diamonds, even Yuan!
This cash-grab can't be something taken lightly. It MUST mean that the end-is-nigh. Putin has already destroyed his Summer palace near Sochi.
So it can't be too shocking that, like Sampson, Putin is heading to Valhalla as he pulls-the-pin on his master creation.
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Spain would STARVE without America during WWII. Yes, she was a major importer. So Franco dared not bite the hand he must kiss. Spain was getting its oil from the US, too. The United Nations did not want Franco to cross swords with Hitler. He was MUCH more valuable doing exactly what he was doing. BTW, was quite helpful for the United Nations. Our USAAF crewmen and pilots were getting out of harms way by entering Spain -- on foot. See Chuck Yeager, et. al.
BTW, Franco was sucking German weapons out of the Eastern Front. Franco even got Hitler to ship him Mark IV tanks. These eventually went to Syria, the Golan, where the Israelis destroyed them with Sherman tanks. Cute.
He got two HE-111s for personal transport. You can see them in the film Patton -- which was largely filmed in Spain. (Franco was quite the film buff.) BTW, his HE-111s were re-engined with Merlin engines -- irony alert.
Any Gibraltar gambit would've taken a whole panzer corps -- OKH's calculation. Consequently, Barbarossa would've been imperiled. His artillery generals expected such an attack to take many weeks to pull off -- as Gibraltar was already engineered to bunker down for months on end. BTW, the Spanish rail net was nothing like that of France and Germany. The tyrant would have had to upgrade hundreds of miles of track so as to carry his heavy equipment to attack Gibraltar. Canaris had already told Franco that Germany was certain to lose WWII before Franco met Hitler. He laid out how totally impossible Nazi Germany's resource situation was.
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That's not it. What engineers don't figure on is compounded equipment failure.
Plainly, no-one was checking on the critical valves. They were never engineered to be easy to service in the first place.
To top it off, the critical valves didn't have ANY active monitoring.
However, when the system really went awry, the SCADA system was over-loaded with alarms.
They had never, ever, tested the consequence of compounded alarms. The crew just FREAKED OUT.
A similar freak out occurred in 2011 in Japan. Instead of reacting logically, the entire crew freaked out into inactivity.
No-one wanted to do the obvious thing: scram the reactors, shut everything down. Instead, 17 minutes rolled on.
Even when the wave arrived -- demanded by the laws of physics -- the crew just stood paralyzed.
Even the top man wouldn't take responsibility for shutting down the reactors.
Even on the Tsunami coast, TEPCO had located its emergency systems within the (low) impact zone. (!!!!) What a design boner.
In the entire nation of Japan, no-one had 4160V 60Hz generators mobile enough to rescue the cooling systems.
So days rolled by with the atomic reactors never getting their cooling restored -- which is how everything broke down.
As a side note, TEPCO could've back-fed the pumps with 50Hz power and at a reduced voltage by hauling common transformers up to the power plants. It just never occurred to them that good-enough beats perfection. No attempt was made to cobble something together.
The freak-out had gone national. Even the GE experts failed TEPCO. ( It was a GE-Hitachi system. )
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@FinnishHammerItOn You have corn fused me. The Krauts lost their panzers after the Normandy breakout because they could not pull them back. Their panzer's immobility was driven by air strikes against fuel deliveries -- rail and road.
Strangely, a deep analysis of air power in mid-44 versus panzers proved that direct air strikes against Nazi panzers were astoundingly ineffective. Air power just tore up all soft targets, but 50 cal bullets just bounced off Panthers. And such bullets were the bulk of ordnance thrown at the Krauts. Even Typhoon rockets were not really effective against panzers. They were fantastically effective against all soft targets, though.
They also lost their panzers in Normandy because the Allies dropped every last Seine bridge into said river. The Krauts found that it was impossible to set temporary bridging to solve their crisis. Here and there, working panzers were captured by the British. That's how crazy the retreat became... in the end. The normal German practice was to destroy their panzers when capture was at hand.
After the Normandy breakout, German morale totally collapsed. It was not as bad as 2021 Afghanistan -- but it was close. The USA found piles of bicycles and rifles all the way across France. Aachen was originally supposed to be given over to the US as an open city. If this had been done, the war would've been over by Christmas. For Aachen would've put the US Army over the Rhine, hard upon the Ruhr... and without any fighting.
Market-Garden really did save Nazi Germany for months and months.
BTW, the Allies never ran out of gasoline// petrol. Rather, Monty requested 2,500 GMC 2.5 ton trucks to replace his clapped out lorries. Their loss shut down the Red Ball Express -- and 12th Army Group's advance. The gasoline simply could not be delivered to the front without the now-missing GMC trucks. My own Father lost his GMC to Monty at this time. Bradley brought this up in his auto-bio -- but you just don't ever see the tale in British accounts. For them, these trucks appeared out of no-where. So, they didn't figure in their war narrative. This loss of trucks was brought up in the film 'Patton.' But it's phrased in terms of gasoline -- not the GMC trucks. But it was the TRUCKS that decided the whole affair. The gasoline was piling up back in Normandy something silly.
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Trump pulled this exact stunt with Bibi, just the other day.
He trolls the world with the EXACT opposite of what it wants to hear.
WRT Gaza, Trump opines: "America will own it. Everyone thinks this is a great idea." ( I paraphrase.)
Which is quite the opposite of reality. Suddenly, EVERY Muslim Arab nation comes out against the zany notion.
The only folks who think it's great are GAZANS. You know, the folks living in tents, in a war zone.
They love the idea. Anywhere but here is their motto.
ALL this time Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Belgium have been sitting on their collective asses.
Every other priority had first place -- especially Globalism.
Well, Globalism is dead. The Left killed it. I know it's religion among the college crowd. But, it's dead.
Step 1) The European collective is going to HAVE TO seize Putin's billions...
Step 2) Then give them all to Ukraine.
Step 3) They are going to have to thoroughly audit them -- in Real Time.
Zelenskyy and Company are thieves. As are Biden, Putin, Xi, ... Orban, et al.
Look at USAID. It's a bucket of loot for the DNC. $6,000,000 for Egyptian tourism? What a hoot!
Step 4) Europe is going to have to expel Merkel's Millions. They can't be afforded. They are perpetual dependents.
Step 5) Europe is going to have to Ramp up Military Expenditures in a REAL WAY.
Eight howitzers from Paris per month is a JOKE.
Two howitzers from Berlin is a JOKE.
14 Tanks from London is a JOKE... given over three-years. Whew! That WAS expensive! 42 went to the breakers. Of course.
No nation wants tyrant Putin to lose.
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@islandwills2778 As bad as Soviet Winters are -- it was MUD that did in the Krauts.
How's that ?
During Mud Season, nothing much can move -- at all. Even the railroad system shuts down. Yup. Stalin's rail grid was un-ballasted. When the ground turns to mud, locomotives simply flip off the rails. Thousands of train engineers were sent to the Gulag for just this reason. (!) [ If they had refused to ride the rails -- they would've gone to the Gulag, too. ]
German accounts record that the entire army had to eat its horses during the first Mud. Since panzer troops had no horses, those boys were pretty much starving for a month. This is all recorded in diaries, official transcripts. Then, when the mud froze, food, gasoline -- the works -- finally could get through to the front. So, conditions actually improved. Then the Krauts surged towards Moscow -- the final effort. Even as cold as it was, for a while, the Germans could handle it. That didn't last.
The Soviets counter-offensive kicked off in early December -- well before the bitter days of February. This crushed the Germans. They took a huge beating -- before -- deep Winter.
Finally, now defeated, Winter inflicted even more ruin upon the Krauts. The ultra-cold hit AFTER the Germans were already screwed. It was so cold that even the Soviets could not function. The snow had gotten so high that every defense 'pit' was an open igloo. Blocks of ice and snow replaced trenching. (!)
In such conditions, neither side can do much but hang on. Only ski troops have any mobility at all. This is why historical maps record the front being totally broken up.
So, yes, Winter was a bitch -- but it was Mud -- the first one -- that truly did the Nazis in. The photos from the period are shocking, the tales astounding.
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@theodoresmith5272 Yet the US Army largely ignored the Pacific lessons... especially from the USMC. The ONLY man to bring Pacific experience to Europe was Lightning Joe Collins -- commanding VII Corps at Utah. In the invasion, Bradley stayed out of Collins's way. Bradley concentrated on Omaha and Gerow, V Corps commander.
FYI, the 29th Infantry Division was ENTIRELY rebuilt by Bradley in the two-months prior to D-Day. Yup! He sent every man and officer in that outfit through severe physical training. Only the highest scorers could stay in the division. Bradley went through ALL of the troops in England to find the cream of the cream of the cream. Every man sent on D-Day -- in that division -- was in the top 1.5% of physicality. No-one wore glasses! No-one was over-weight, under-weight, slow, too short, too tall -- right on down the line. This super-selection did not happen within any other regular infantry outfit. In effect, the 29th was an entire division of Rangers and officer candidates. The loss of so many elite troops from the other Normandy infantry divisions had a very negative combat result for them.
My father went to Omaha, 6-6-1944 as a member of the USAAF... kind of. His outfit took such horrific casualties that the US Army has written it out of history. You've never heard of it. It was the 9125st transportation battalion. Its label is both revealing and misleading.
The "9" refers to the 9th Tactical Air Force. The "1" refers to the US 1st Army. This custom battalion was filled with ex-USAAF cadets and ground staffers -- and a smattering of veteran US Army engineers. Its role on D-Day was to land at 10AM and establish the FIRST USAAF air strip in France -- right atop Omaha's bluff and parallel to Highway 13. The strip was for medical evacuations -- and its secondary role was emergency fighter landings.
The 9125st took the HIGHEST percentage of fatalities of ANY D-Day unit. It was shattered so badly that its mission was delayed until the 9th of June, IIRC. Before the BreakOut the Omaha air strip was re-numbered from #1 to #19. So if you pull up a history, that's the number to look for. #1 strip was located right next to today's burial site for Germans, being west of it.
The total overhaul of the 29th Infantry Division and the disaster of the 9125st have been largely written out of history.
Lastly, the term "transportation" is entirely misleading -- and deliberately so. It was a battalion totally dedicated to BUILDING AIR STRIPS -- one after the other. It did lend its trucks to the Red Ball Express, but trucking was strictly a secondary role for it. The closest to it would be the Pacific SeaBees.
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@theodoresmith5272 The 9125st Transportation Battalion did receive a citation for duties performed in an outstanding manner. This was mild consideration for an out fit that was almost annihilated on D-Day -- from German acoustic-magnetic mines. Two of them!
For some crazy reason, my Father couldn't stay in his bunk and just HAD to pace the deck that morning. When the first mine detonated the ship was so shallow that it touched bottom -- in a rising tide. When the second mine exploded, my Father's eyes were upon its effects.
The human mind goes into ultra-high gear when its existence is in doubt. And so it was with my Father. He actually saw the top deck's plates buckle skyward and ripple towards him. The steel wave threw him some twenty-feet into the air! He came down pretty hard -- but without serious injury. A very lucky landing. He'd forgotten his Mae West -- so with great alarm he raced to go get it from down below. However, he was going down the "UP" stairs as the entire body of men below rose to find breathable air. The sergeant he ran into, just threw him bodily back onto the deck.(!) When things calmed down just a bit -- as in the hold was only filled with the wounded and dead, my Father was able to get to his bunk -- what was left of it. All of his pals were dead where they slept. His Mae West was missing -- but plenty of bloody Mae Wests were to hand. For the rest of D-Day all that he did was assist the wounded and gather up body parts. He never did find the body to go with one head. The trooper had spoken with my Father only 30-seconds before the blast blew his head off. (That really freaked him out.)
What had happened is that the US Army had discovered the latest twist in German mines: these puppies did NOT react to the first, second, third, etc. attempt at de-mining. They would let the Coast Guard's mine sweepers pass on by and not react to the intense magnetic field they were towing. ( The USCG used wooden boats -- can't all 'em ships -- to pull a conductor with an induced magnetic field to prematurely fire off mines. They also towed noise makers, too. The zone allocated to the 9125st was to the immediate WEST of the 29th Infantry Division -- Point du Hoc was yet further west. It HAD been swept and the USCG was sweeping until the depth was so shallow that they couldn't head South any more. The mines that hit the 9125st were an embarrassment to:
The Royal Navy
The US Navy
The USCG
The US Army
Each in turn was supposed to spot the threat. And believe me, they tried! The mines worked so well because they were a brand new technology of war.
BTW, this nasty scheme was so effective that the USN adopted it later on. It was used to mine Haiphong in 1972. The USSR broke the bad news to Hanoi: such mines are essentially un-sweepable. And the USN can re-seed them faster than you can clear them. So just give up, already. The port is dead. That's why there were no reports of sunken Soviet ships in 1972.
Shucks, no wonder the fiasco has dropped out of written history.
It's with extreme irony that troops tasked with the primary mercy mission of D-Day suffered the most.
BTW, the 9125st was supposed to land at 10AM because the 29th was supposed to have already seized the bluffs. But it hadn't! So not only were the boys sunk, they were still the Krauts could hose them with machine guns. This did not happen because the 29th was so much closer -- and plainly the primary threat to those gunners still alive. Within 30-minutes, the enemy pill boxes, nearest, went silent. The USN was bailing out the 29th. A destroyer commander was dis-obeying orders by bringing his ship in to point-blanc range and dosing each pill box with 5" (128mm) HE fires.
Yeah, there's another event written out of history -- actually US Army histories. USN histories don't overlook it at all. It still infuriates sailors that the Army never admits that the Navy saved their bacon.
And you might note that since the 9125st battalion was really a USAAF ground support battalion -- the USA doesn't have much ink for it, either! In most histories that even bring it up, it's still classified as an ARMY battalion.
Well, I guess that ON PAPER it was. There were no SeaBee battalions in Europe. These USAAF battalions were their equivalent -- almost. For all that they did was build air strips. Unlike the SeaBees, they did not engage in general construction. Unlike Pacific islands, Europe already had infrastructure to hand -- until the Nazis blew things up -- or we bombed things.
Without the Web would you ever know of such events? It's doubtful.
Statistically, the 9125st took about half as many casualties as the 29th Infantry Division -- and it was just a specialty, 'shock' battalion! It lost so much equipment that it's amazing that it even got the 1st air strip up and running by day three. BTW, once that strip was working it sure was in the NEWS. Fighter jocks were constantly bringing in cripples to it. One guy, Anderson, made the cover of Look magazine. His B-47 was a ball of fire right until it stopped. If you get lucky you can find the footage out there. PBS ran a full-hour special just on Anderson. He survived the war for many decades.
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Below a critical size, Gold -- or any metal -- looks Black.
(Carlin deposits are the classic example of a gold deposit that can't be seen with the naked eye. With Carlin gold, the shiny is trapped inside a sheath that hides it. You have to mill the ore first and then you can assay it.)
But, it's also the case that ultra-fine free mill Gold will look Black when it's riding with magnetite and other iron ores. By ultra-fine I mean gold so tiny that you HAVE to use a micro-scope or chemical assay means to detect it. Even so, like Carlin gold, the total amount can surprise you.
When the Gold first rose to the surface -- probably in a pluton -- then off into some dike -- its absolute concentration would be amazingly low. It took complex geo-chemistry for it to re-concentrate to the point that pickers and nuggets were formed. But it stands to reason that only a fraction of the ascending gold ever 'condensed' into visible gold: nuggets, pickers, flakes,... The larger the nugget, the slower the condensation process. Some hefty nuggets figure to have taken millennia to crystallize out.
Assuming this is the case, one is well advised to take a second look at magnetite cons. The cyanide process ought to be spot testing such heavies, to see if anything is getting by.
Further, the tinier the gold flake is, the more it stops behaving like gold. It starts to float on water -- surface tension -- and it goes much further down stream than you'd expect. It just refuses to behave like the heavy metal that it really is.
What this means is that should you find a pay streak -- especially in a dry (desert) deposit look further 'down stream' and sample the magnetite to be found there. It figures to look blank to the naked eye -- even a jeweler's loupe, while still having enough gold to react with NaCN solution.
Like anything, results will be hit or miss.
Just remember that the Carlin deposit is the largest play in the USA right now -- and stood undiscovered for a century -- because each particle required a microscope to spot, and milling to even begin an assay. It's now thought that there is more Carlin gold than any other deposit type in the Western USA. The big hang-up being that the rest of the play figures to plunge DEEP under overburden.
Hey, maybe robots will change the mining equation. They tend to be so brave.
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USN destroyers don't carry strategic weapons -- merely tactical ones -- normally intended for the defense of an aircraft carrier task force.
But alien subs and aircraft carriers are not allowed into the Black Sea. Heck, the dang thing is a LAKE.
Putin is clearly a big fan of hybrid warfare -- hence the use of illegal immigrants by Minsk -- certainly with the tacit approval of Moscow.
As to WHY Putin wanted Crimea ? Militarily his aggression made ZERO sense. The Crimea is an economic pit. It needs massive amounts of imported fresh water. Now that Ukraine is no longer delivering fresh water -- Putin has been compelled to spend large on a new pipeline across the Kerch strait. We're talking billions of USD. The naval base of Sevastopol is worthless in our modern age. It's THAT tiny. It was only ever big in the 19th Century.
In the era of atomic weapons, a land invasion, by NATO, with tanks, is utterly out of the question -- and Putin knows it.
We're looking at neo-Stalinist expansionism// hybrid aggression. What's strange: the lands Putin covets are economically DUDS.
Further, he has managed to alienate Ukraine, a nation loaded with Russo-philes.
At a fundamental level, Putin has not left 1945 behind. He's still fighting WWII// the Great Patriotic War.
No wonder he funded the most recent spectacular history series to glorify the heroes of the USSR, 1941-45.
Yeltsin, if he could speak, would remind his nominee that Stalin started WWII in Europe -- via his Contract for War -- aka the M-R Pact.
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@maynunal Biden is senile. In his best days, daze few could get past is tongue stumbles. Check the record. More video than any man should endure.
Both Bill and Joe are staggeringly corrupt. The evidences are simply everywhere. The Haitians are STILL furious over the missing $1,000,000,000 that HW Bush and Bill Clinton stole. Bill's daughter's wedding was famously funded by Haitian relief. One guest of honor: Donald Trump. Yeah, he sat in the front row.
The Clintons loved him -- right up until he ran for president. He knew where the corruption lay. Indeed, over his career in NY real estate, Trump paid off the MAFIA and pols all along. That's why he had that rat of an attorney. His old attorney was MAFIA connected, of course.
As for smarts: any guy that starts with a No-Money-Down pair of rent-controlled Queens apartments and parlays them into billionaire status can't really be all that dumb. He will PLAY dumb, though.
For REAL dumb: try 'W' -- or Kamela Harris. Just try and parse their tongue salads. Yiikes.
I have to ask: are you a billionaire?
Centi-millionaire? Self-made business tycoon? Ex-president? What?
Trump's latest gambit is an attempt to triangulate* with Putin and Biden. It's not working. Putin is so narcissistic that any ingratiating build-up from Trump is in vain.
* Triangulation is Clinton-speak, of course.
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Just too many errors.
Tariffs are ONLY collectable by the Federal government. It's the very REASON for the US Constitutional Convention.
Pennsylvania and New York were about to go to war over tariffs -- against each other -- and WRT to Europe.
The USA was drawn into WWI by Zimmerman when he (essentially, in diplo speak) declared war on the US !
(Adolf did the same thing 12-11-1941. Diplo speak, again.)
Ford was NOT anti-Jewish until 1920. Yep. A Jewish banking syndicate lent him Big Money to oust the Dodge brothers from Ford Motor - - via a buyout. They had held a hefty minority stake. Then, in 1920, because of the post-war super recession, the Jewish syndicate moved to take over Ford Motor - - by super accelerating the terms of their note. THAT'S what triggered Ford's "anti-Semitism."
Modern Jews are totally ignorant of this Big Scheme.
Everyone, just like this voice over, assumes that Ford was always anti-Jewish.
Nope. He was -- forever after -- fanatically anti-BANKER.
His books were a total mess -- only cleaned up after WWII.
And yes, entire books have been written about all of this.
To cut bankers out of his business, Ford established Ford Motor CREDIT Corporation -- to provide wholesale credit to his dealers.
GM shortly after mimicked him with GMAC. THIS is whence they were established. They got their money from Boston insurance companies.
These players were long term investors -- and did not have acceleration clauses in their dealings.
( He paid off his Jewish bankers by compelling every last Ford dealer to cough up the missing cash. [He'd been financing their inventories.]
It came in over Labor Day weekend... by WIRE. Again, all of this was Big News when it happened.
The Jewish syndicate leaders (thieves) never imagined that Ford could meet the terms of their deal -- by paying them off. Of course!
(BTW, Westinghouse lost his firm to his bankers years prior to this -- as this tactic -- now deemed totally unethical -- was common to the 19th Century. J.P. Morgan used exactly this technique to steal countless businesses during his days.)
Ford ran a publication railing against Jewish businessmen immediately after this fiasco.
He terminated it only after Jewish Ford dealers rolled in from New York complaining about what his pub was doing to sales.
Since he'd known them for many years, he instantly shut his 'newspaper' down.
So, he stopped hating on Jews ( as in Jewish bankers ) but still hated on BANKERS. ( To the end of his days. )
BTW, the Jews in the deal, but on the outside, were FURIOUS when the squeeze was put on Ford.
For them, they never wanted a take over. No-one believed that a bunch of Jewish deal merchants could ever run Ford Motor as a business.
Ford was an engineering genius -- no different than Steve Jobs, et. al. ( Remember what happened to Apple when Steve was kicked out -- by his own board of directors. Yeah, it nearly went bankrupt. When Steve returned, he transformed the world -- and Apple.)
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@CRMcGee2 I've long imagined atomic plants located off shore -- in titanic buckets -- very much in the style of oil drilling mega-platforms seen in tough seas.
The idea is to have the reactor below sea level, to cool it with sea water, and to send the power to shore via DC underwater cables. (DC is required in salt water.)
The bucket would be a fortress against intrusion. It would also allow -- in total panic conditions -- the bucket to flood with sea water.
The exterior of the bucket would have flotation cells such that the entire contraption could be floated in from its factory -- and floated away to the ocean deep for disposal -- if such a drastic action was necessary.
As to the atomic specifics, it appears that a breeding chain reaction is beyond our keen. So, I'm going to assume that the Westinghouse style scheme will have to do.
I don't favor locating atomic plants -- as has been the custom -- in continental interiors -- especially along lakes or rivers.
I favor factory manufacture -- probably in Washington State... at least for the bucket... with the design being standardized -- as we do airliners.
The idea of locating the buckets off shore is to make tsunami risk zero. This would entail never using major stretches of coastline. You need to be far enough out that a tsunami would not 'break' --- would not rise high.
The bucket would have semi-bouyancy -- so that it would not require support from below - beyond existing natural soils. At the same time it would be hefty enough to not shift because of wave action.
All sites would be long tested before a reactor was plopped down.
During operations, supplies would arrive by helicopter and hover craft and conventional shipping. Obviously, heavily trafficked sea lanes would not be considered.
Most of the world's power demand is along the coast. This is where most industry is sited.
Atomic plants need to be balanced with massive PV arrays in suitable locations -- like New Mexico.
I also favor a grand scheme to exploit Peru's hydro-potential -- more valuable than Saudi Arabia's oil, it is. Looking out a century, the utopian hydrogen economy could actually pencil out. Coal, like wood, would be a passing phase for humanity.
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@georgesotiroff5080 Your starting point on Guderian has to be his war-autobigraphy. (1953) Translated into English as Panzer Leader, IIRC. Keep in mind that it is FALSE that he was a Panzer Leader -- in the strictest sense he was an ELECTRONICS WARFARE officer. That's what he was doing during World War ONE. Yup. In his own autobio he makes plain that his greatest pride in the Panther program was its RADIO SYSTEM. He personally designed it.(!) Elsewhere in his autobio you discover that he -- from the first -- regarded panzers as ARMORED RADIOS with a combat crew inside the radio box. That's why -- from the first -- panzers had the world's best radio nets. In this they were years ahead of EVERY other combatant power -- except the USA. With the world's biggest radio industry -- and Guderian's example -- US tanks were given world-class radios right from the start. Then, Guderian one-upped the USA. With pride Guderian lays out that his panzers were the first with FM radios! I'll bet that fact is something that you've never read about, anywhere. The only written account detailing this is HIS.
BTW, to give you an idea of how LOST historians are (technical matters) no-one -- to this day - has picked up on what the monster antennas on the German half-tracks and reccee machines are all about. Well, they're the first generation of electronic intelligence assets suitable for mobile activity in the field. The Krauts put it about that these machines were designed for inter-divisional, inter-battalion communications. Heh. Wake up everybody. They were RADIO SIGNALS INTERCEPT machines that also could then relay the naughty results up the chain of command. Yeah, they were dual-purpose machines -- hiding their true function in plain sight.(!!!) Eighty-years on, you can see historians still not getting IT.
How were they used? They were always attached to reccee formations -- the elite of the elite in a panzer formation. Their purpose was to locate the enemy' HQ by its broadcast emissions. HQ simply was ALWAYS the biggest talker. One never needed to decode what was being said. The chatter was sufficient. ( This also works in naval formations, too. )
Once the Krauts knew where the Big Man was squaking -- they made a bee-line for him. This was how O'Connor was bagged in North Africa. A tiny element of reccee troops bagged him while he was visiting a British forward hospital in the desert. By his emissions, they simply KNEW he was there. They simply went bed-to-bed and when a sergeant reflectively saluted O'Conor -- the C.G. -- the Krauts had their man -- even though he was out of uniform. He was dressed as a doctor. This gag was used in "Master and Commander", BTW.
What worked on the British worked five-time as well on the Soviets. It's why Red formations kept falling apart during Barbarossa. No-one ever brings this tactic up in the histories. So, don't tell anybody.
Yet, today entire squadrons of Elint planes roam the skies performing the exact same function as the Nazi reccee formations. This gambit has Guderian written all over it. It's what he was doing in WWI on foot and in the trenches !
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@steve w
One SS Major, having fought everywhere against everybody, up from the ranks the whole way to major, stated that fighting Americans was by far the WORST he'd ever known.
Nothing compared.
1) Pure physical strength. Americans were bigger, better fed, just flat out stronger across the board.
2) Technical acumen. Americans could not only operate and fix their own stuff, they were astoundingly adept at fixing and using enemy (German) equipment against its former master.
3) The American army simply didn't have any formations that rated less than First Line divisions. It also had Elite formations. It did not have Static troops, Second Line divisions, stomach and ear battalions, ... etc.
4) Uniquely, the American army was the only combatant power that kept its combat formations at 90-105% of TO&E strength all the time. In the event a unit took heavy casualties, it was pulled out of the line and promptly re-blooded, and at a very fast tempo.
This was not the smartest move by a long shot, but it was a fetish that George Marshall had. He regarded troops as so many machine parts.
The greatest division of WWII -- any army -- was the 29th Division on D-Day.
Why?
General Bradley totally rebuilt it in the previous two-months. He took only the CREAM of the US Army in Britain and stuffed it into this one formation. The typical company within this division only retained ONE trooper through this reformation process. (Junior officers, too.)
Everyone else was washed out due to athletic reasons:
a) Wore glasses -- gone
b) 'Slow' in training camp -- gone
Only the top 1% passed Bradley's muster. (!!!)
c) Couldn't read or write -- gone
d) Couldn't read a map -- gone
e) Couldn't field strip an M-1 blind-folded -- gone
f) Overweight -- gone
g) Underweight -- gone
h) Too short -- gone
i) Couldn't shoot well -- gone
This above wash-out and rebuild is virtually buried in military history. It's only alluded to in Bradley's autobiography.
It's historically significant in that this ultra-elite formation was shredded on D-Day -- with immense consequences thereafter.
The loss of so many elite troops on D-Day meant that the formations that they'd been robbed from were seriously weakened. These were the guys that would've been natural promotables in the field. In effect, this was a division of sergeants.
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@Shandwen
Patton was relegated by the Grand Plan to the TRADITIONAL invasion route into Germany. The further south you go, the smaller the Rhine gets. By the time you're in Holland, the Rhine is an absolute monster. It's as big as the Volga, Mississippi, Columbia, etc. MOST of that water landed north of the southern Rhine.
In the actual event, 3rd Army found that it was a cakewalk to set pontoon bridges across the Rhine.
Patton didn't use ANY of the exotic preparation that Monty required -- and he was across BEFORE Monty was.
The Germans were so concerned about 1st Army ( Remagen ) and 21st Army Group ( Monty ) that the door was wide open.
Shortly thereafter 3rd Army made a MASSIVE penetration that was so DEEP that Bradley told Patton to knock it off, to stop, damn it!!!
You'll never find any battle maps showing this -- no matter how far you look. You'll have to craft one yourself from 3rd Army records.
What happened is that 3rd Army was forced to stay in place, killing time, while 1st Army caught up. Only then Bradley permitted position maps to be published for general release.
The big hang-up with 1st Army was that Hitler had thrown EVERYTHING in front of it at Remagen. So it took 9th Armored and friends a lot of fighting to eliminate this blocking force.
Once this was done, one arm swung north to meet 21st Army Group and the Ruhr was pocketed. The rest of 1st Army ( it was a monster ) then pushed forward at the same time -- ultimately to the Elbe.
It was at this time that 15th Army was established. It was a huge army. You'll have to look long and hard to find 15th Army in any history map. Why? It was an administrative and occupation army. It took over the vast bulk of 1st Army -- so that the fighting troops could spend the final weeks of the war taking it easy.
1st Army was, day by day, re-blooded with brand new infantry divisions. There were some exceptions: the 2nd Armored was loaded with Pershing tanks, so it was sent forward so that the Soviets would be impressed. ( It's sole reason for staying in the front line. ) It didn't take part in any substantial fighting. Bradley absolutely did not want it crossing the Elbe.
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@Neil
Point-blanc defense or a deliberate trap?
It's plain on the record that no nation deliberately used howitzers as PAK fronts -- with the possible exception of the Soviets.
Rommel, and other German commanders, routinely used FLAK 88s as PAK fronts, as doctrine. It was nothing exceptional for them.
Whereas, for the British it would appear that direct fire missions for the 25pdr were strictly desperation fire. If the gunners could shoot directly, then the enemy panzers could shoot directly, too.
The universal problem for all artillery is that it can dish it out, but can't take it.
The universal doctrine is to keep one's artillery at a safe remove or cleverly hidden at all times.
One starts popping off direct fire missions only when caught by surprise and conditions are dire.
Neil, you're trying way too hard and not really advancing the ball.
To what purpose?
It's a FACT that the 25pdr was not seen as a decent PAK. Its entire layout is in dramatic contrast with the German FLAK 88 -- which can slew rapidly in all directions.
If the WDF had any confidence in what you're pitching here, they would've adopted such PAK fronts as doctrine, too. But, they didn't.
BTW, ENDLESS film footage of 25pdrs bouncing up recoil ramps makes your assertions rather humorous. The was a real reason that the British army stayed with that system... starting with the fact that you couldn't really dig-in in the desert.
The German 88 had a steady base that didn't require its crew to dig it in to speak of at all. Indeed, it was common for 88 crews to fire it while it was limbered. ( ie while still towed or ready to tow -- up on its wheels.
Go to Google Images to see endless photos of same, with many showing the German crews actually firing the weapon while limbered.
The 25pdr had absolutely no recoil system comparable to the Swedish--German weapon. Without the recoil ramps, the 25pdr had to be seriously dug in. Fat chance of doing that on the quick and dirty in the Western Desert.
Your supposition must be rated, then, as a fail.
The 25pdr was rejected by the British Army as a PAK. Fact.
The PAK of choice was the 6pdr, of which the British built many.
It was an extremely popular size for a time.
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@Neil
But it DOES.
In WWII just about every dang thing could happen ONCE.
But such expedients did not amount to doctrine.
You, yourself, are going to great lengths to find extreme circumstances that show this or that occasion that goes against doctrine.
That's known as 'try-hard.'
The 25pdr was a howitzer, and intended to be used as such.
Absolutely no-one is ever going to corn fuse it with a PAK.
It didn't have ANY of the features deemed essential to a PAK.
Well, other than it had a big gun.
Howitzers are intended to be fired as batteries -- and to lay down patterns of indirect fire. They are ONLY supposed to fire in direct fire when circumstances are dire... things have truly gone sideways.
It's a testimony to the uselessness of the 2pdr that we even hear of 25pdrs being used as an expedient in front of Tobruk -- an occasion so rare that it's never come to my attention before.
Do tell us if said howitzers actually knocked out any panzers. I would expect them to be ineffectual, more as a psychological buttress for the troops.
Much more likely, they fired HE straight at German infantry and in so doing caused any assault to flag. Howitzers make for crappy PAK.
If this were not so, we'd be reading endless accounts of howitzers stopping panzers straight through '41-'42. Instead, panzers ate howitzers as appetizers. All that they had to do was to come at them from an off angle. In real life, gun crews just dropped everything and ran for their lives.
BTW, Tobruk deserves a TIK video all by itself.
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@Neil
You're not going to be able to jump back 75 years in time and make the British Army fall in love with the 25pdr as a PAK.
Other than (weird) expedients, (actually doubtful) you've only established that the British Army HATED to use 25pdrs in such a manner.
Saying that this or that unit used 25pdrs as PAK ... what's telling is that the BA categorically refused to adopt such a use for said gun.
It SUCKED. That's why. You can't slew it, properly, as a PAK.
In contrast, the BA loved the 25pdr in its howitzer role.
That puppy was everywhere the BA was.
&&&
In a studied contrast, the Soviets loved their 76.2mm howizer --they produced scads of them.
The Germans and the Americans adopted the SAME howitzer: the German 105mm gun.
Yes. Patton's army even captured an entire German battery of 105mm howitzers -- and then turned them upon the Germans. Yes, they were listed in 3rd Army's TO&E in late 1944. (!) The German-American howitzer was SO identical that Patton could shoot American ammo straight through his captured German guns. Patton thought this was a laugh riot.
[ This latter trait had Family significance. My Uncle was given up to the Gestapo by a French traitor precisely BECAUSE she heard American 105mm howitzers and -- having heard the German version -- was convinced that the German army was winning in Normandy. It didn't matter how much my Uncle and his patron wailed, this traitorous bitch was convinced that the Germans were winning.
His patron was hanged -- after extreme torture -- by the Gestapo in Paris. The French traitor was nabbed by the French underground when the Gestapo fled Paris. ( France, like Germany and Italy, has astounding local accents. Her Normandy accent told every Frenchman that she was a Nazi collaborator of the most extreme sort when she rolled through eastern France. They grabbed her azz during a 'relief break.' She was shorn of hair and hanged as a traitor, ultimately upon the personal testimony of my Uncle.
( Her crimes were so astounding that she was not called to account until the war was over. )
He was rescued out of the SS so-called 'hospital' at Buchenwald. He was so weak that all he could do was whisper his name, rank, and serial number. The attending USA physician, a Jewish doctor, just about flipped out. He didn't expect to hear English at all... let alone run across a USAAF sergeant.
He weighed about 75 pounds. It took English doctors half-a-year to get him up to enough body weight to fly him back to the USA. Yeah, he was on IV most of that time.
During his stay in London he had to give two interviews WRT the French traitor. She'd managed to kill every other witness. His testimony hanged her. As he was the only surviving witness to her treason. The Gestapo had murdered (by torture) everyone else. I can't remember her name, but she's virtually at the top of the list of most hated Nazi collaborators.
Her Gestapo reward was the entire estate of my Uncle's patron. After it was all said and done, the reverse occurred. The traitor's land rights to her descendants were expunged -- totally. The patriot's family -- was endowed with everything -- tax free -- but of course.
This reward was for her silence as a member of the underground as much as anything. The Gestapo beat the crap out of her. Even so, she didn't give up anyone. Right there, she was remarkable. ]
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@mosquitobight To project 30 years out is to go too far. Example: during the Great Depression simply every expert predicted the demographic doom of the USA. Well, 25% unemployment will do that -- and those laid off did not have SENIORITY. They were the men of child-creation age. [ Older men still like sex, but their baby launching days are over. Middle-aged men will usually do anything to not have more dependents. As Zorba the Greek commented: it's the Full Catastrophe.] And, as we all know, the Baby Boom began the moment the boys came home. The crush was so intense that many a double marriage occurred. (buddies and brothers)
Japan looked like it was going to the Moon in 1988-89. Go back and read the best sellers: Japan as Number One -- and so forth. Then, wham, the mania died with the Cold War. Japan has been treading water -- economically -- ever since.
The same thing happened a generation earlier in Europe. No-one there ever expecting the tiny Japanese economy to surge past that of mighty West Germany -- in less than a DECADE!
In sum: recovery from war and folly is fast and easy because the elites know what works. Then they reach the end-of-the-road. Suddenly, they can no longer ape the USA and its industry, its inventions.
You realize that all of these up-and-comers were working the the AMERICAN script? They never produced their own mind blowing inventions -- such as the iPhone, the VCR, the Fax machine, the CCD, the computer on a chip, solid state electronics up and down the technology, mega-medical advances (even those medical advances occurring in Europe are funded by the USA.) It's so bad that Europeans have written books lamenting America's astounding dominance -- clear across culture and technology.
What will Red China do when they've reached the end-of-the-American-lode? If the rest of the planet is anything to go by, they will hit the same wall as West Germany and Japan.
BTW, it's a 'lock' -- Red China will become old before it becomes rich. Their demographic advantage peaked in 2020. We already know who has been born.
Finally, Russia is in military-demographic free-fall. When the USSR collapsed -- so did birth rates. The huge Red Army can never be established again. It's the key reason Putin is throwing all of his defense priorities into atomics. They are his hole-card.
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@TheAmrthe2nd The IDF did have naval vessels impacted., and presumably even fishing vessels. (Which never get any press during the Big News) And, of course, ANY naval blockade has been deemed a legit belligerent cause for war going back centuries.
Israel, for propaganda purposes, wanted this aspect brought out, front and center, in as much as the IDF had struck Egypt, Syria and Jordan first with air strikes and land warfare.
The REAL reason the IDF moved first is because her spies had spilled the beans: the Arabs were colluding to attack -- yet again -- same as 1948. This aspect could not be publicly admitted as it would expose its spy networks. So for years and years, the Israelis never admitted that they had advance knowledge that their opponents were conspiring against them. They were dithering over the last details -- as the Arabs all wanted war -- but did not really trust each other all that much.
Thinking like Napoleon, the IDF moved first, to make sure that the Arabs could not coordinate their armies, their air forces.
It gets more complex because the IDF was also playing radio games with the Arabs.
See: the USS Liberty -- and just how far they'd go and how desperate the IDF was. The Liberty 'stunt' almost triggered WWIII -- which, somehow, is always omitted by pop historians. Instead, they point to 1962 -- which was no where as perilous. In 1967, the USN had atomic bombs on their way to attack the Soviet fleet... with afterburners on! They were turned around only at the last second -- shades of "Fail Safe' -- the movie. All of this was held secret for years and years. You just never read of it in the popular press.
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@markusberzborn6346 Markus, there are only two imperial powers at this time: Russia and Red China. They are also economically dependent powers... utter contrasts to the USA, the super-power.
India, Brazil, America may be big -- but are not empires. They are bona fide democracies. Moscow and Beijing are run by gangster elites that loot large -- and screw up their national economies.
When this is all over, perhaps taking decades, Russia will be reduced to its core: Muscovy. ( 40,000,000 White Russian souls )
Its seat at the UNSC will be taken over by India, no doubt.
Red China will cough up Tibet... and a lot more. (Mongolia, et. al are money pits.)
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Paul, you were doing great, and then you screwed up towards the end.
A Soviet Lt Col. DID stop ICBMs from firing off due to a bad electronic indication that FOUR USAF ICBMs were inbound. He saved the world, and ruined his career. He actually has video covering this floating around. The incident was only revealed after the end of the Cold War / AKA WWIII. No Nobel for HIM! But Arafat gets one. Sheesh.
A Soviet Senior Captain countermanded a launch of an atomic torpedo during the Cuban Crisis (1962) By doing so, he violated doctrine, and the general orders coming from Moscow. And this is on the record, as alluded to by your video, here.
A German agent, in the pay of Moscow, during 1984 IIRC, stopped a general atomic war by exposing the Reagan administration's war game as being just a war game. (!) The Kremlin was flatly convinced that the war game, per usual Soviet doctrine of lies, was nothing less than Barbarossa 2.0. At that time, the Soviets had their stuff even spooled up, pilots at the 'hot stand' awaiting the 'Go' to fly to West Germany with nukes. ( Short range missiles, too. ) The snap response of the Pershing II -- remember the hubub about it? -- all turned on the Soviet fear that NATO had a mirror response atomic missile to their own stuff.
(The Soviets inspired the Pershing II. Suddenly, Moscow realized that more nukes can easily blow-back upon their creators. No-one thought of them that way before. Eventually entire categories of nukes were 'retired.')
Thinking hard about things, Gorby decided that such missiles are just TOO much at a time of crisis. THAT'S what caused the beginning of the wind down.
Is it not ironic that the Cold War began to end in 1984 -- and in the minds of the Bolsheviks?
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That pit is in Brazil.
A similar 19th Century pit existed in Africa -- dedicated to diamond mining. That pit still exists -- and is a tourist attraction. It's still considered the largest manually dug pit anywhere in planet Earth. To see it, is to have your mind boggled. Cecil Rhodes made/ stole his fortune from that pit -- and established Rhodes Scholarships (See Bill Clinton, the very late, Khris Kristofferson, et al.) His was an utterly ruthless time, so like Bill Gates, he made his staggering fortune by ruining others. (See also: John D Rockefeller.) Rhodes never mined a single diamond. He 'rented' steam driven water pumps required to evacuate the very, very wet diggings. It was a hole in the ground, after all. He kept fucking over every illiterate diamond miner, one-by-one, until he had the exclusive rights to the entire Kimberlite pipe.
[ For geology buffs: a Kimberlite pipe is established billions of years ago, before the Earth had a decent atmosphere -- it was a molten ball of rock. When an iron asteroid smashed into the Earth it could drive 100 ot 200 kilometers deep in a single thrust -- as the whole body was liquid goo. After the penetration was stopped, the mantle surged back up with astronomical violence, covering the entire 150 kilometers in SECONDS -- bringing up with it diamonds which are as common as stardust from way, way down below. This sequence is why all of the diamond deposits have this character. They never come from sedimentary rocks -- only Kimberlite pipes... which are strangely concentrated in southern Africa. Go figure. It's like an ancient bombardment showered Africa -- shotgun style -- all at the same time.
South Africa's gold fields have a similar origin, too. An immense asteroid collision, could've been the Moon, created a mind boggling punch in the Mantle billions of years ago, long before oxygen became a factor in the Earth's atmosphere. The reflux created the largest 'reef system' this planet has ever experienced -- with all of the African gold embedded within the arc of impact -- hundreds of kilometers across -- and going way, way, way deep. It never stops. We stop. We can't take the 50 degree Centigrade local rock temperatures, that's why.
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You have repeated and reinforced the common false-hood that Hitler denied panzers to Rommel & Coy. This is not quite true. The ONLY panzers that Adolf held under his personal thumb were the 1SS Panzer Corps. ALL other panzers were automatically released by a General Order -- under Adolf's own hand -- nailed to the doors and walls of every HQ in France. It, the order, was forgotten by every officer due to their distress. It spelled out that the Allied Invasions must be considered ON if any of the following occurred*... and that no further 'release' orders from OKW were required. This general order was only remembered by a panzer commander during a remembrance visit to England -- decades after the war. Reliving the invasion, the order popped back into his head. The order was so widely distributed that it soon became -- as wallpaper -- ignored. The paste-up had become tattered by D-Day.
One might note that the 21st Panzer didn't wait. The unit that is of the controversy was the 12SS -- which was so close by. The rest of the corps was behind 15th Army. One SS panzer division would not, could not, throw the British and Canadians into the Channel.
This was actually attempted in Sicily. The Herman Goering Panzer Parachute division was blown away by 8" shells when it was attempted during Husky. So, Rommel was entirely wrong. The Royal Navy would've loved to see the panzers charging towards the water. One element of the 21st Panzer division did make it to the beach -- and became so demoralized it simply retreated. Panzers are mere targets for 8" rifles.
* Parachute landings were at the top of a pretty long list. It also included Parachute dummies being dropped, too. Either one was sufficient, by general order, to constitute proof that a full-on invasion was underway. ( Battleships, landing craft, etc. were also on the ten-point bullet-list. )
It was Patton that froze Adolf. He'd long told the Japanese Ambassador that he was convinced that only Patton would be the Allied ground force commander. It was for this reason that Patton was sidelined -- and he never knew why. Heh. Neither did Bradley or Eisenhower. This decision was made by Marshall.
It was based upon Purple intercepts -- as the Barron used that diplomatic code to spill all of Adolf's beans. ( He was very chatty with the Barron. )
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Trump works at a higher level. He triggered ALL of the Europeans to freak out -- and increase their defense budgets.
Such increases have been Trump's goal from 2017, onward.
Turning the lights back on was always the expectation -- inside his own head. Annoying Berlin always talked grand. And then did bupkis. Go back to 2018, his UN speech, when Trump, the fool, laid out that war would come if spending was so lax. The German delegation laughed and chuckled to his face. Yes, it's all on video. Zelenskyy was not the first to insult Donald, on camera, during diplomacy. The Press, ever short on memory, can't recall that event.
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What's missing in the historical analysis is that the British had ALREADY designed PLUTO to land hard on Cherbourg. The gear was sitting at the docks in England ready to be deployed. PLUTO was why the hurry-up was on for Cherbourg.
In the event, the harbor was so totally devastated that it was useless for weeks and weeks and weeks. The Krauts had deployed a new technology mine that could NOT be simply swept. It used a variable reaction brain that would not jump on the first triggering signal. Instead, it would actually trigger only after a random number of trigger passes. ( This scheme has been adopted by most navies since WWII. ) Hence, the US Coast Guard was sweeping the harbor for weeks -- and only occasionally detonating one of these 'sleeper' mines. Fortunately, after enough time, the weapon's battery would fail and it would become inert. It's THIS delayed action mine that kept the Allies out of the port for so long. Actually repairing dock-side gear was actually not much a big deal. With torches and cranes, anything built can be hauled away. Liberty ships, Victory ships, could unload without any dockside gear at all. They had their own davits, fore and aft. The US even had trick vessels to deliver railroad locomotives directly to the docks.
The fact that these trick mines were holding up the whole show was deemed Top Secret at the time. So it was omitted from virtually all contemporary accounts. Such mines nearly killed my own father on D-Day -- the first time the Allies ran into// say// over them. The 9125st Battalion took more casualties -- percentage wise -- than ANY other American force on D-Day. You'll note that it's missing from all US Army accounts. ( It was actually a USAAF ground support battalion tasked with setting up the first air strip for medical evac on the bluff at Omaha. Plan A was for that strip to be up and running on D+1. (1) Now that's optimism! At first designated A-1, this strip was later changed to A-19, IIRC. The cemeteries are all adjacent to A-1, BTW. Along side the strip was the first triage hospital. This scheme was straight out of MASH. The injured were patched up and flown to England as soon as they were stable. Only in England was any attempt made at full treatment. The nurses and doctors were flown in by C-47... right along with the bandages and morphine.
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In American pop culture, such 'informants' are universally known as FINKS.
I had one assigned to me by my boss, a paranoid man of intrigue. The fink could never figure out why I had him pegged as a fink, so quickly. Well, the top-man blew his cover by following up, instantly, on any fink-detail that suited his alarm.
After he was no longer a useful fink, the he was promptly fired. Strangely, he never saw it coming a mile away. He must have thought that his chit-chats with the big man meant that he was his buddy. He'd been 'laid off' twice before.
Elvira, Putin has established a culture of finks -- up and down the line.
Tyrants ALWAYS operate such systems, create organs of universal dread and fear.
Adolf's top 'general' was a FINK. (Keitel) That was his sole role. He didn't perform ANY military function.
In German he was referred to as Lakeitel -- Jackal -- but only when safe. He was properly hanged at Nuremburg, of course.
Josef had Beria -- NKVD/KGB. He was tasked with finding 'traitors' 'wreckers' 'disloyals', etc. His position was perilous, all those prior had been murdered by Josef. At one point, Beria even faked his own death, just to see who reacted how. The naughty were murdered by his minions. What a twisted mind. At the first opportunity Zhukov murdered him, to universal applause.
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@vlad... "As a result, tactical and organizational measures in the West came down to plugging holes. Commanders, troops and military equipment, frankly, became second-rate.
Since 1943, the basis of the German troops of the Western Front was the elderly, equipped with obsolete weapons. Neither the personnel nor the weapons met the requirements of the coming heavy battles."
More proof that you can't believe anything a Nazi says or writes.
1) Adolf SHUT OFF all tank reinforcements to the Eastern Front 12-31-1943. Stug IIIs would have to do.
2) The SS panzer divisions in the West were brought totally up to strength.
3) The 116th panzer division ( 2 panther battalions + 1 Mark IV battalion ) was created from scratch. ( by Guderian as a birthday present... heh... it was filled with anti-Nazi Germans, BTW. )
4) Panzer Lehr was built out as a super division, too.
5) 2nd Parachute was sent to France -- at full strength.
6) In mid-44, 9th & 10th SS panzer divisions were sent to Normandy -- from Poland. (!) They were supposed to reinforce the East. Oh, well.
Taken altogether, Adolf created a new panzer army, the 5th, in the West. He even sent west machines explicitly designed to stop Soviet tanks -- namely the Jagpanther. Not one of these terrors ever went east. (!)
Lastly, the Germans sent a LOT more divisions into Italy than just 8. Those were merely the first wave.
In this telling, the Nazis are trying to convince the Americans and British that they were not facing the REAL German Army.
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@Vlad... Stalin had an entire CORPS of NKVD troops dedicated to this task. It pissed the British and Americans off Big Time. Yeah, it reached diplomatic levels. The children of the USA sent CARE packages to to the USSR. They'd gone door-to-door to pick up pennies for this drive. Even THEIR charity goods were held up and re-labelled. This infuriated our diplomats.
That you are in denial about this Stalinist policy shows you how effective it was.
Alien machines were easily explained away as new Soviet machines. After all, all of their internal dials and legends were in Cyrillic. Many Soviet tanks were designed by Christie -- the American. So when Western technologies popped up -- they were not new.
BTW, the engine for the T-34 started life as a French dirigible motor. The 82mm mortar started life as the French 81mm mortar -- a design that every army of note adopted: French, German, American, Soviet -- and more. The Reds also knocked off the Browning 50 cal, too. (14.5mm gun) { Like the 82mm mortar, the Reds copied the device but increased the size a bit.}
All of the above is why it was child's play to convince the general population that Lend Lease goods were miracles of production from east of the Urals.
You'd have to be at the very top to know what was going on.
As for historians: they are total zeroes when it comes to chemistry or mechanics -- or mass production. That's why the switch from High Speed Steel to Tungsten Carbide triggers no mental activity -- it goes in one eye-ball and comes out their ears. TC is the TRUE source of the Soviet war production miracle.
It's impossible to build any major war plant in the depth of a Siberian winter. You can't pour concrete -- there is snow everywhere -- you can't dig frozen ground -- etc. It took the US two-years to get B-24 production really going -- and we had everything going our way.
The removed Soviet factories were largely destroyed in the process. How do we know? Russians who were there, who unloaded the flat cars, have told us so. The panic was so great that he merely shoved electric motors off the train into the snow and mud. The train didn't even stop! It just crawled along as it was 'unloaded.' No-one knew where anything was when the snow melted.
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@Vlad... The 116th Panzer Division was presented to Adolf Hitler on his birthday, April 20, 1944. He didn't even know it existed before. Guderian raised it up behind his back... out of the new production of Panther tanks -- of which he was in charge of as Inspector General of Panzer Troops. ( In reality, he was in charge of de-bugging the Panther and accelerating all tank production. In that role, he thwarted the production of Jagpanthers... in favor of Panthers. At one time, it was proposed that 2 Jagpanthers would be built for every single Panther. Guderian stopped that production priority. Turret rings and turrets cost a fortune. Turret-less machines cost about 35% less. They don't need a vertical turret lathe.
But Jagpanthers were what the Nazi armies needed. They could open up a JS-2 tank like a can of spam. Thank God we had Guderian on our side. (sarc)
My own Father faced one of these beasts. They were terrifying. They had the massive 88mm gun -- in the longest form -- first used at Kursk. Hitler redirected them towards his Ardennes offensive -- December 16, 1944 and other operations in the West. As tank killers, they were the ultimate machine in WWII.
Your Googling is the first instance I've read that ANY Jagpanthers made it east -- even though they were expressly designed to stop Soviet tanks. No wonder you hardly know of them.
&&&
Vald, by Adolf's order -- the eastern armies were to no longer be a priority -- December 31, 1943. All that had gone before was stopped.
Other than a handful of super-elite divisions ( GD, 3SS, 5SS -- and at the end HG ) the East Heer lost all of its punch.
The 1SS, 2SS, 9SS, 10SS, 12SS, -- and others -- were sent west.
The HG, 1st para, 2nd para, 4th para went west.
The 116th and Panzer Lehr went west.
The Luftwaffe went to Central Germany -- to fight the USAAF -- not to fight the RAF or Red Air Force. ( Hitler would not prioritize the RAF.)
The German Navy was ALWAYS in the west.
Both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine cost Nazi Germany a fortune... MUCH more than the war in the East. (!!!!) After the blood-letting in the East, it's impossible for Russians to accept that their's was the minor theater of the war... drawing off never more than 40% of all German war production.
Planes and boats cost a fortune. They use ONLY elite manpower. They consume the best materials... the most expensive and rare. They use crude oil in vast amounts -- whereas armies can live off of horses and coal.
BTW, the real secret to Barbarossa -- the Germans ran their draft horses into the ground -- during the mud season. They never recovered. This did not happen to the Soviet Army.
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The underlying cause: Russia/USSR had virtually no civilian autos for the boys to learn motor vehicle mechanics on.
During WWII, virtually every GI was used to fiddling with Model T Fords. They were simple, dirt cheap, and everywhere.
What this meant was that the US Army scarcely ever had to train GIs to drive jeeps. The US had mechanically semi-trained boys by the million. No other nation had that bounty.
Russia still is retro. The moment you get away from the big cities, the boys are back on horses.
I see that John Deere is now a Big Name in Ukraine. This is a tribute to its freer market. US farmers, for years, have cross-trained Ukrainians in American style farming. Naturally many talked up John Deere. Like truckers, farmers have their favorites. You can bet that the young farmers in Ukraine are now quite comfortable with machines.
WWII was tragic.
WWZ is looking like utter folly. Putin is destroying something all armies hold dear: their reputation.
The reason America's enemies fear the USMC: They've all seen John Wayne taking Iwo Jima.
It's impossible to miss: the Ukrainians feel like, act like, fight like WINNERS. Every one feels like Leonidas -- but fighting to a different script.
Historically, an invading // attacking army loses 1% per day when confronting a moderate defense. This is your best guestimate for Putin's losses. They must be over 40,000 now -- from all causes -- no small amount from desertion. This is to be expected by conscripts that have been lied to. Indeed, Putin lied to even his senior commanders. That's why the Russian Army is such a cluster. None of the top brass though that they needed to stock up for an actual campaign. That's why the troops have no food rations. That also bleeds over into how much ammo they started with. Putin can't resupply his army -- because the ammo stocks don't exist -- even back at the barracks.
I expect that his strategic reserve is now coming down from Moscow. But, it's too late. Mud has arrived. Putin's project is road-bound. Traditionally, the soil dries up around May First. That's why, in Russia & Ukraine the traditional fighting season begins May First. I was shocked that Putin invaded only two-weeks before mud season.
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If you think Biden, Harris, Obama are anything less self-involved than Trump -- there is no hope for you.
The last time Trump was president, he shrunk his net worth by $1,000,000,000.
Obama increased his wealth by at least $100,000,000 while criticizing America, Americans and denigrating America to the world.
Obama has made America endure THREE terms. Biden was the president who was never all there.
When Obama visited the so-called Biden White House EVERYONE in the White House inner circle ignored Biden and kissed Obama's ring.
Why? Because ALL of them owed their positions to Obama -- never Biden.
Blinken, Sullivan, Austin ALL came up under Obama.
Blinken & Sullivan have been running America's foreign policy these last 4-years -- after putting down the phone to Obama.
Any president's primary role is to appoint the Purple Book.
Trump has just put 1,000+ MAGA players in to Purple Book positions. He still has about 600 positions to fill.
Those slots were ALL previously filled by Obama - - never Biden.
Biden had his own crew -- but they were off-the-books advisers -- NEVER in the Purple Book -- where they'd have to face the Senate.
Yes, to be in the Purple Book, you must pass muster with the Senate. Off-the-book/ lower down, you don't have to.
Of late, on the way out the door, Obama has been trying to slot his radical crew into the judiciary -- with 17 year + tenures.
The fact that Obama has held 3-terms is something that our tame Press won't investigate;
whereas Obama is the ONLY president to hang around Washington for eight-years after his first two-terms were over.
Did Obama steal/ cheat the count during 2012/2020 ? Of course he did.
Just go back and study the numbers. Don't expect the MSM to do so.
The Zuck man admitted he dumped $450,000,000 to buy the election for Obama -- and he wasn't even on the ballot.
Who was the president who moved the Census and its database into the White House?
Obama, that's who. But, of course. It was virtually his first official act.
In his earlier life, Obama derailed ALL of his Democrat rivals -- to include his own patrons !
(Moseley Brown, anyone?) She MADE him. Yes, she wasn't too bright. Sharks make for lousy pets.
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Gavin messed up so BAD that he was given his second star immediately after MG was over.
Gavin's REAL orders were to protect Browning -- an army commander -- and to protect Browning's reputation, too.
He followed these orders -- American orders above and outside MG.
You can't trust ANY of the generals, as they are all world class liars.
That's how they became generals in the first place.
This is still seen. When British or American generals speak to the public -- everything is spin.
In the case of MG, the subordinate commanders are falling on their swords to protect their superiors -- right up the line.
Monty is protecting Churchill, Allen Brooke, and the Joint Chiefs...
Boy those guys never make a mistake, and so forth.
If Gavin had lost Browning to the Germans -- his career would've been over. Period.
Browning OWNS the failure of MG by even landing with his army.
He needed to stay above the fray -- the only way he could allocate reinforcements and make THE key decisions. As it was, all of the key decisions were being made by his subordinates. For example, it should NEVER have been up to Urquhart to decide where the Poles drop. That should've been Browning's call. It does not appear that anyone even contacted him. Browning appears to be out of the loop even after XXX Corps hooks up with the 82nd.
The delay in providing TAC Air is bizarre. Browning was the man that should've accelerated its arrival.
The futzing around by XXX Corps after they crossed the Nijmegen bridge is baffling.
And, STILL, where are the jeeps? Why scout with Shermans when jeeps can shoot all over the island? It's not as if the Germans can enter the island except by bridge and ferry.
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@marioformosa4259 Formosa -- you live in an alternate universe. Red China's reserves entirely consist of US Treasuries, Eurobonds, etc. Absolutely no-one will accept Red Chinese government bonds as real money. For Red Chinese court rulings come with those bonds. Heh.
Darth Putin fast-tracked Ukraine's EU membership. Until he invaded, it was a dead letter. France and Germany were not willing to cough up billions and billions of Euros to subsidize Kyiv. Now, they just about have to do so. Cute.
You are plainly not well informed -- so I'll help you out. France, Germany, and Belgium -- year in, year out, shunt billions of Euros towards Spain, Portugal, Greece. We're talking about out-right cash transfers -- not bond purchases by the European Central Bank. These flows are set by formula. When the math is applied to Ukraine -- the flow becomes epic. Ukraine qualifies for more $$$$ than all others -- IIRC -- combined. It's poor -- and now -- it's broke.
So, you see the irony. The nations most reluctant to send military aid -- are being forced by events to send the largest economic aid -- BY FAR. Sweet. Berlin and Paris want Kyiv to enter the EU decades from now -- but it must be obvious that Kyiv is going to be force-fed into the EU in less than five-years. EU membership will be Kyiv's "Marshall Plan." Macron and Scholz are just sick about this prospect.
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@catadoxas Kaddaffy told the world that he was going to cut off France and Britain from Libyan oil.
So, both nations declared war upon him.
Then, using Article V, Paris and London compelled Washington to bail them out of a jam.
That was the end of Kaddaffy.
Iran was not a serious seller of oil to Europe -- since 1980.
Iran sold to Japan, Red China, India, Singapore -- some others, from time to time.
Japan obtained a chronic waiver of US sanctions -- for years on end. Her refineries were dialed in to Iranian heavy, sour, crude.
Only at the end, Tokyo stopped importing Iranian crude -- as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stepped up exports to suit Tokyo -- all of this arranged by Washington.
As I type, Washington is trying to get Venezuelan and Iranian crude back into the picture. Such a notion qualifies as a brain fart.
The true, real, and effective solution is to let the American oil & gas industries do their thing.
They can supplant Putin almost single-handedly.
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The REAL impact was HUGE because Stalin was liquidating officers based upon DOCTRINE.
Anyone that he deemed in Tukhachevksy's camp was shot. The doctrine that Stalin hated was Deep Operations, which, of course, was exactly how victory was to be had.
Zhukov survived because he was such a total prick. Stalin knew, without any doubt, that Zhukov's peers wanted to shoot him. He often shot them. ( Compel them to lead the next attack, personally, from the very front, with a machine gun at his back. )
Like Hitler, Stalin loved to put two tomcats in a bag -- and then shake.
Zhukov brought back Deep Operations -- and had to anoint a slew of new generals -- making him the George Marshall of the Red Army. Eventually, as the war progressed, Stalin was forced by events to fire virtually all of his pre-war favorites. They were duds.
Guderian was placed under 4th Army (Nominally, that's what the organization chart showed. It's commander hated Heinz, but of course. )
Rommel famously disdained Italians, hence he was sent to North Africa -- and so forth.
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@abhishekkulkarni9120 Saddam was breaking down the UNSC via his food-for-oil scam.
In the 1930s Japan destroyed the League of Nations by scoffing at it. The LoN had NO enforcement capabilities at all. Within no time, the LoN was a nullity. And with that, Adolf Hitler massively re-armed Germany, Japan launched WWII -- in Asia -- years before Stalin and Adolf launched WWII in Europe. Hell soon followed.
By destroying the 'spanking arm' of the UNSC so utterly (via bribes) Saddam was entirely replicating the destruction of the LoN at the turn of the century.
This motivation to 'get' Saddam never made the front page. It was, and remains, too complex for the MSM. It also is not the narrative that the MSM wants, as it makes crushing Saddam essential for global security. This is bad because it makes Bush look good.
The dollar is the dollar because the US is the focal point of the financial world -- because of Bretton Woods. That's what you need to study up on. I can't give you an MBA in international finance in one post. You have a lot of reading to do.
That you even use the trashy term petro-dollar indicates that you've been reading stuff off of ZeroHedge or its ilk. The writers there hail from the Bolshevik zone, and are widely considered unregistered foreign agents by many. I know of no site more loaded with petro-dollar 'logic.' It's spurious, of course. ALL international trade everywhere uses dollar crosses. It's the benchmark. EG, yen trades against pounds based upon how yen trades against dollars and how pounds trades against dollars. They are then 'crossed' -- traded electronically -- yen to pounds based on the above math. THAT'S why OPEC uses the US dollar as its benchmark. PERIOD. Forget the petro BS.
There is no other nation that can supplant the USA. Red China's so-called currency is NOT something that can be traded in size internationally. Beijing rigs its value -- versus the US dollar. Yup. And its courts are wholly corrupt. It's illegal for the CCP to lose a court case. Yup. So it never does.
There are only two nations whose courts routinely adjudicate international commercial disputes: America and Britain. That's why the pound and the dollar have their legacy. There is the Anglo-American system and then their is the abyss.
Lastly, International Money can only ever exist when issued by the leading naval power -- as such trade issues are oceanic realities. Hence the RN and USN back-stop their respective currencies.
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@frenkihunter7523 See a political psychiatrist. Biden has never led anything in his entire political life. He's a 'go-along guy' -- the last to vote.
In fifty-years of politics, at the national level, Biden has never initiated legislation. First off, he's not that bright. The very idea that ANYONE would follow Biden on his own merit/ persuasive power is absurd. He's no Reagan, no Thatcher, no heavyweight.
The whole idea is that outsiders will not need bleed -- IF and only IF -- Ukraine is provided sufficient and timely weapons.
To this point in time, Kyiv has only received weapons from the West that were just sitting on the shelf/ in warehouses -- most so old that they were scheduled for scrapping. Boy, were they ever easy to give away.
The primary reason that German weapons are uniquely slow: Berlin has to re-manufacture them. They've been awaiting the scrapyard. (Gepard) It would be a national humiliation for the outside world to see German weaponry exposed as drastically inferior to that of: Sweden, Britain, France and the USA. As it is, the Gepard is a joke. Designed with 1950's military theories, built in the 1960s, they can barely roll. Yes, they are half-a-century old. Imagine parts availability. Their radars are a joke. Their only utility will be as stationary gun platforms -- well in the rear -- around airbases and critical bridges. Don't count on them stopping anything. Scholz proffered them because they are useless -- inoffensive to Putin, thereby.
Macron and Scholz have made EVERY decision based on not hurting Putin's feelings. They are running an image campaign. Period.
At least Orban is honest, craven, but honest. The fact that Brussels has been at social war with Budapest for years => here's the result.
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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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@Patch801 Counter-posters just don't get the physics: hypersonics are terminal phase warheads mounted on very conventional ICBM launchers.
Gliding through the upper atmosphere costs LOTS of energy/speed -- and range.
Gliding also entirely removes the gambit of decoys. ICBM mounted decoys are now universal. They weigh practically nothing, but so spoof enemy radars that the target has no reaction time. The descent from outer space to Earth is so fast (25+ Mach) that it's impossible to pick out the actual warhead from the clutter until it's too late.
When you run the numbers, such a terminal phase vehicle takes away 2/3 of your throw weight. At first, hypersonics were pitched as a way to stop anti-missile defense against ICBMs. But it was quickly realized that there's no counter to ICBM decoys.
However, hypersonics make perfect sense for Red China and Russia -- against each other. They are adjoining authoritarian states run by tyrants. Perfect, then.
Hypersonics are -- in theory -- supposed to work against the USN. But they won't. Let's list the counter-tactics certain to be used by the USN:
1) Sail away. It'd be child's play to sail out of the range of Red China's new toys.
2) Conduct submarine warfare -- while the surface fleet gears up for war.
3) Spoof Red China's overhead assets. The Americans are past masters of electronic spoofing. I'll leave it at that.
More generally, Beijing can't ship any oil anywhere without the USN's assent... nor anything else, either. It owns the World Ocean.
An all out attack against the USN = global atomic war. Ships can sail. Cities and industries can't.
The USN is merely going to repeat 1941-1945. The enemy's economy will be utterly gutted. Then, when the enemy is helpless, the surface fleet will approach to deliver the final strokes... probably just a surrender ceremony.
Navies destroy economies. They starve your industries and your bellies.
BTW, it really will take an atomic warhead to destroy an American super carrier.
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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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@chrishoff402 Putin is ex-KGB.
Running false-flag ops is their bread and butter.
EG The assassin of Pope JohnPaul II was originally supposed to be a "grey wolf' right-wing kook from Turkey. In the fullness of time, it was revealed that the Grey Wolves were ALWAYS a KGB asset run through Bulgaria. Neither the CIA, nor FBI, nor Mossad, nor MI6, nor Interpol ever figured this out. A woman, a book writer, had to to all of the heavy thinking... and true research. At the end, the Pope forgave his attacker -- who totally coughed up his KGB and Bulgarian masters.
So whenever you see totally over-the-top right-wingers// neo-Nazis in a Slavic context -- think FSB revisited.
As for the US: The January 6th dust-up at the Capitol Building is now being revealed as an FBI plot. It had mystery assets egging on ordinary citizens. The FBI was also behind the, so-called, attempt to kidnap Michigan's governor. The agents involved are all certified goof balls -- criminals, really. The whole affair was so inept that it reads like the annals of the CIA. Now THAT'S bad.
So, you see, the Big Brains in Moscow and Washington are strangely congruent in their manipulations.
It is impossible to trust the proffered -- and manufactured -- national news. From Washington to Moscow to Beijing the planet is 'informed' by a sea of world class liars.
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Putin is at a tipping point. He either grabs at Trump's cease-fire or his economy goes under.
THIS is what Trump alluded to just the other day. Naturally, Trump couldn't state as much, diplomatic as he is.
Trump is not going to 'play nice' when actual deal making occurs. Trump is not in the game to lose.
FACTS: Putin has wiped out his tank army. He's back to 1917.
Red China, his Big Buddy, has no interest in saving Putin's ass.
Trump has cut Zelenskyy off so as to prevent a run-away Ukrainian victory - - which is just around the corner. Why?
While both nations have been Bled White, Zelenskyy still has a mechanized, drone-dominant army.
If Putin does not play ball, Trump will simply turn on a dime, diplomatically, and then Putin is screwed.
This entire dance is being conducted because Putin is a chronic escalator -- even if it hurts.
Professionals, psychologists, have informed Trump of Putin's most likely actions -- now that the end is near.
The consensus is that he'd rather go down, taking the World with him, Cody Jarrett style.
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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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1> The Houthis are NOT a terrorist organization (as popularly known and conceived) they are a BARBARIAN society -- pirates, in fact.
Traditionally, the Houthis primary source of income has always been piracy. It took Western powers ( Britain ) to stop them. The Royal Navy turned Aden into their primary naval base for the whole Indo-Pacific for many, many years as a consequence.
2> The Egyptians are NEVER going to allow Russian military goods to pass the Suez Canal. They HATE the Houthis as much as the Saudis. The Houthis have dropped canal fee income by $7,000,000,000 last year. This has become a budget nightmare for Cairo. Naturally, they have been yelping at Washington all through 2024 for the US to eliminate the Houthis -- especially their interdiction assets. Jake Sullivan-the-wise /s has kicked them to the curb, per his own doctrine: No-Can-Do. (cf Israel, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia)
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@Garrus Vakarian You are wrong on the facts. The higher incomes attributed to Russian citizens flows ONLY to the oligarchs -- via the energy export trade. Across rural Russia -- even Slavic lands -- everyone else is living in POVERTY. Even in Moscow, the edge of town looks -- IS -- the 'third world.'
Poverty is why the troops are stealing commodes, washing machines, and -- amazingly -- water spouts// bibs -- as if water would spring forth w/o piping.
The typical Ukrainian citizen actually HAD commodes, washing machines, paved roads, electric power....
The klepto problem originated with PUTIN. He had agents across Ukrainian society -- corrupting it -- same as he did in Belarus -- and Russia, itself.
You see the same exact phenomena with Red China. Xi is handing out bribes -- world-wide. (Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, anyone?)
This is such a COMMON historical tactic that the US has had to enact laws to stop American companies from engaging in it.
Paris famously 'bought Brazilia' -- decades ago -- by spending LARGE to win a satellite contract. The NSA// Commerce Department blew the rigged deal up by forcing (corrupted) Brazilian politicians to keep the money -- but not give France the mega-contract. If they returned the loot, the US would expose them. If they gave the contract to France, the US would expose them. The contract was ultimately awarded to Raytheon. Paris was FURIOUS -- but couldn't do a thing about it -- as by even French law -- their stunt was totally illegal -- and would cause heads to roll in France. The bribes ran past $100,000,000. !!!! ( This figure was folded back into the bid price; poverty stricken Brazilians were expected to fund high tech Frenchmen. )
Putin and Xi are MUCH worse -- in this regard -- than French politicians.
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Navies destroy the economy of hostile powers.
Only at the very, very, very end do they tangle with the enemy's turf.
Britain destroyed Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler without ever making a direct attack.
In the case at hand, the USN will simply use a distant blockade -- and phone calls -- and Red China is finished.
There will be no attempt at hugging the coast, no hug 'em and slug 'em.
Critical imports will just stop showing up:
Oil,
coal,
food,
fertilizer
( half of all current food production depends upon imported phosphates.
Of course, all technology imports will stop.
Red China doesn't produce any new technology. It's ALL imported.
She has a "me too" military complex.
What this means?
Red China will replicate Saddam's military successes... but on a larger scale.
Any hot war will trigger a civil war within Red China.
The defeat of Saddam (1991) directly triggered the Russian Revolution.
For it was the Soviet System that was destroyed in Iraq, destroyed by proxy.
It was on that basis I predicted a revolution in mid-August 1991.
I nailed it to the DAY. Yup. It was THAT obvious, it was.
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@playea123 KSA is a nation whose oil exports NATO can't live without. Think France, Germany, Italy, Greece... the whole shooting match.
Israel is a nation that the Democrat party can't live without, though that appears to be very rapidly changing.
The fact is that the US is a Status Quo Power that shuns most 'border adjustments' by force of arms. The US has refused to recognize Putin's 2014 'adjustments' in Ukraine -- and Israel's 'adjustments' in the West Bank -- two examples out of the many.
Bibi, of course, wants to 'adjust' West Bank boundaries -- in the retail -- ie house by house, if he has to. Because of decades of Israeli encroachments, it's now impossible for an Arab enclave to be viable in the West Bank -- which was the intent -- from the first. The question now is, how can you force an atomic power to shrink its borders? No-one has an answer.
It's what's dogging Zelenskyy WRT Putin's antics, too. The West refuses to really put the pressure on, to allow Kyiv to cross into Russia -- in the manner of Pregozin. Such a shocker would collapse the Kremlin. Its reserves are all in Ukraine.
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Lend-Lease was CRITICAL during 1942 for three reasons:
1) The Nazis destroyed the ONLY radio tube factory in the USSR during Typhoon. This reality was kept a state secret straight through the war and for decades after. The USA FLEW radio tubes to Stalin. This traffic was the PRIMARY reason for the Alacan Highway being given such an extreme priority. It was dedicated to supplying the transport aircraft of the day. They didn't have the range of modern jets.
2) Stalin had only ever used High Speed Steel as a cutting tip in his factories -- right up until he was invaded. HSS was invented circa 1900 by Taylor -- famous for his time & motion studies. Ford had adopted the Swedish invention of Tungsten Carbide cutting tips even in the 1920s. So TC had become the norm in the West.
The USA purchased Swedish TC bits and had them flown over Finland to Stalin. These were paid for in gold -- US dollars were the same as gold. This action is not to be found in most histories. At the time, and for years and years afterwards, neither the USA nor USSR would acknowledge that this had happened. The only folks willing to say anything about it are the Swedes. TC increases tool speed ~8 times over versus HSS. (!!!!) THIS is where the production miracle sprung from. The story of moved factories is pure BS. You can't build such major factories in mere months. Even the USA -- with much better weather -- couldn't do it -- or anything like it. TC made EXISTING trans-Urals factories drastically more productive. The factory expansion didn't really get rolling until late into 1943.
3) Secrecy at the front. The US Army rolled up Western Electric phone cables that had been freshly delivered to its new divisions -- on the secret -- absolutely no paperwork at all -- so as to ship them PDQ to the Red Army. That this happened is only known from death-bed testamonies from the sergeants that lost their gear to the Red Army. (!!!) In the event it was these cables that permitted Uranus to succeed. The Red Army stopped using the radio! This blinded the German B'dienst crews. They had been the back-bone of the German defense. They'd always informed high command about Red Army radio chatter.
The British at el Alamein pulled off the exact same stunt. They went radio silent, too. All that the Germans could read was spoofing traffic... dummy messages to no-one. Monty succeeded in getting Rommel to place his panzers way to the south when the attack was to be in the north. ( He ran a visibly obvious massive pipeline for water straight to the south. Rommel bit this ruse. )
And I ought to add #4: Because of the radio tube crisis, the Red Air Force HAD to surrender its tubes for command sets. Consequently, it had no radios in its training planes. (!!!) Consequently, even crappy 2nd line British and American planes were a godsend to the Red Air Force. They were overwhelmingly used as TRAINERS -- because they had radios. It was this exploding pool of pilots that did in the Luftwaffe... in 1943. Yes, it takes a while to train pilots.
All of the high tonnage stuff that everyone talks about was nice but not critical. They're actually talking AWAY from what counted. The late arrival of huge tonnages makes modern Russian lads very proud -- because it strongly implies that LendLease arrived after the war was essentially won. Such is simply not so.
Lastly, one item in LendLease needs particular mention. Harry Hopkins shipped ALL of the key elements to build a Hanford style plutonium production reactor to the USSR in 1945. Yup. HH was a traitor -- and die hard Bolshevik. The latter became obvious from his personal diary. (!!!) FDR had given HH carte blanche -- made him de facto President of the US #2. (!!!!) Few knew of this arrangement. At the time of the authorization, FDR was near death -- hardly aware of his surroundings.
This was also the time that G. Marshall set the limit of the US Army's advance into Germany -- aka the Iron Curtain. Read a copy of "Marching Orders" for how that happened. He had no authority, but he did it. Ike covered for Marshall for ever afterwards, of course.
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Texas uses the US dollar. The gentleman is paying over 2,500 between health insurance for the two kids and straight out child support.
He is a minority owner -- probably just 20% -- because that's the typical split between an 'angel investor' (typically an attorney, accountant, dentist, etc.) and the 'talent.' The 'angel' wants the property in his name, collecting rent, tax benefits -- not considered passive income because he's an active at risk owner-operator and this is all on an 1120S Return. This set up is much more favorable to the 'angel' than the securities markets.
As the 'talent' the gentleman's salary is set by the 'angel' -- he has practically no say about it. He's likely to be under contract to that corporation -- same as a Hollywood talent to a film studio.
All of the start-ups are TINY -- and have no chance of throwing off cash which, if any, will have to go to lenders first. The man knows trucking and truckers -- and has decided to start lending/financing trucks -- sold off his lot -- but has to borrow to carry this off. This gives him extreme leverage, but puts him at great risk, and the moment any cash comes in -- it goes straight to the lender/banker. (Such funds are commonly available from Ford Motor Credit and its peers -- too many to list. Even State Farm engages in such financing -- but it only wants to handle the paperwork -- not the risk, the repos, etc. A repo of a commercial truck may happen in 48 states + Canada. They're not like personal cars.)
In sum, the dude has absolutely no hidden income/ cash flow to send off to her.
It must be obvious that she's a total flake, financially, and is too ditzy to obtain a decent job. Texas has a strong economy, especially in oil country. (West Texas) The teenagers don't need a babysitter. It's also obvious the divorce occurred years ago, probably six plus.
Say what you will, the divorce courts routinely give the ex-wife a % of the man's income -- but only if it goes up.
If the man's wages collapse, the courts will NOT adjust downward -- even as their levy sends the dude to prison/jail or into the dark economy. I've seen it. Such guys can't obtain credit cards, their FICO has been destroyed. They often obtain fake IDs, open dark banking accounts, and do everything possible to not be electronically visible. Some are reduced to using Check Cashing Services... hence the explosion of that micro industry. The normal banking system is closed to them.
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Don't be fooled. The gifts to Kyiv come from our boneyards -- mostly. Sixty-year old M113, Forty-year old M2 & M3 Bradleys. Thirty-five year old M1A1 Abrams tanks -- these ALL have ZERO financial value. The Pentagon hasn't touched them in years and years. Is YOUR car 40 years old? I didn't think so.
Foreign governments buy these items - using free cash that we send their way. Israel simply does not pay for its planes. The US puts $3,000,000,000 in their account -- every year -- it's all a part of the Camp David Accords... dontcha know? Similar give-aways -- the two-step process -- occur- every year -- since before you were born.
Last year, Speaker Johnson gave $61,000,000,000 in Ukraine aid. But... the money merely went into yet another Pentagon spending account. It never left the USA -- not even a dollar. The $20,000,000,000 allocated in the bill for Kyiv never left the USA. Instead, it went to American defense contractors. The other $41,000,000,000 just went straight to the Pentagon for its own spending priorities... but the MSM called it Ukraine spending. ( Cute, no? )
Stop believing the MSM. Please.
So the oft touted $61,000,000,000 Ukraine spending bill all went into our own Military-Industrial Complex.
Though Ukraine really is financially corrupt -- Zelenskyy & Coy is not allowed to touch our cash. (!!!!!)
Pitching the $61 billion does look good on the nightly news, though. In reality, it's all being spent inside the USA.
Other than Patriot missiles, the USA is only sending clapped out gear that no-one else will spend money on -- even when we're the nation that's handing out the sugar. (!!!) Did you read any of the above reality in the MSM? Of course not!
Kyiv is not above stealing money -- but they can only tap the Germans, the EU, etc. Grabbing German money is a no-brainer in Ukraine. Eighty-years is not enough time to forgive and forget.
The Germans did a bang-up job murdering Zelenskyy's relatives, as we all know.
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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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During his first term, Donald lost $1,000,000,000 while serving America.
In comparison, Bush, Sr., Clinton, Bush, Jr., Obama and Biden found the Oval Office to be a FOUNT of personal -- unexplainable wealth. Bush Sr. and Clinton made $1,500,000,000 of Haitian charity evaporate -- straight into their foundations. (pockets/slush funds) It was this HUGE grift that permitted Hillary to buy the DNC nomination back in 2016.
Bush Jr bought the RNC nomination in 2000 -- remember. ALL four just LOVE the Deep State, and vice versa.
Both the Clintons, Bushs, and Obamas are PALS with MANY a photo to prove it.
ALL hate and despise Trump -- who came out against the Iraq-American War -- before the first shot was fired.
Whereas the above quartet was entirely enthused with said war.
So, who stands as revealed as the Good Guy?
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What's really funny: if he really is a male model -- then he's non-straight. That profession is closed to straights. They are actively discriminated against by the guys in that profession. First off, they, the photographers, don't want gals in the picture -- any way you figure it. Most photographers came up through the 'industry' and are non-straight as all get out. The creative side of ad business is over-run with non-hetero fellows.
And, of course, non-straight guys are totally obsessed -- especially in their younger days -- with having fantastic looks. Arnold, himself, constantly had to proclaim his straightness -- when he was young. Everyone seeing him so ripped assumed that he was a guy's boy.
(There's a lot of midnight cowboys in their ranks. Yeah, they expect to be pampered just like a female 9.5, of course.)
Consequently, there is no way that any gal could lock this guy down. Heh.
His tat indicates that he's been an overnight success.
His ENTIRE economic being is tied to his youthful good looks. He doesn't have any other irons in the fire. He's the ultimate counter-fit spouse.
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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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@ Burns
Patton's route was -- and ever remains -- THE classic route into Germany from France.
In an era of trucks, pure distance became almost meaningless. The USA never ran out of logistical reach because they never ran out of ever more 2.5 ton trucks. So many that they were backed up in England. The Pentagon assumed that truck losses would be vastly higher than events proved. That's why America had trucks coming out of its ears.
IKE stopped Patton.
The flick you doubt is nothing more than scenematic testimony by BRADLEY. He wrote those lines. The convo was strictly private at the time. Bradley was the only surviving witness -- and a witness privy to EVERYTHING. He was, de facto, the American ground commander. 6th Army Group (Devers) was out of the Med and notionally under Alexander. [ Obviously, only on paper. Once the 6th AG merged with the 12th AG Alexander had backed entirely away from further involvement. He had all of Italy on his plate.]
It was PATTON that split the Jerries in two in Sicily. It was BRADLEY that tore into Patton's reputation -- not Monty. And he did so mostly within the film you dismiss.
Both Bradley and Monty were wrong. Going up the coast, side by side would've been logistically insane. What tactician would cross mountains instead of the pass? No-one.
What pissed off BRADLEY -- far more than Monty -- was that he was junior to Patton -- and was getting NO PRESS. He -- at the time -- believed that he was in danger of being stopped out as merely a corps commander.
Being a genius ( est IQ 153 ) it was galling for Bradley to see sloppy, impulsive staff work. In his own bio, Bradley openly wrote that he STILL couldn't understand how Patton got such good performance out of a staff that Bradley wholly disdained.
The crazy idea that Bradley was in Patton's corner must be dismissed. It must have totally stunned Bradley that Patton gifted him 1st Army -- by breaking the ultimate taboo -- slapping an enlisted man -- while in a hospital -- no less.
What Bradley didn't know, nor did Ike, was that Marshall had already decided that it was IMPOSSIBLE for Patton to lead 1st Army. Why? The Japanese ambassador sent massive missives to Tokyo. In one of them he detailed Adolf's opinion that ONLY Patton would lead the Americans in Overlord. And once his leadership was correctly established, Adolf would send his ENTIRE French garrison to oppose him.
This was exactly what London and Washington wanted to prevent. In this regard, the English performed one of the greatest deceptions in military history. Astonishing, really.
McNair was originally supposed to lead 12th AG. About which Bradley has lied his ass off about. McNair had no other job at that time, having previously been in charge of the USA build-up -- which was effectively over.
So what you have is Bradley telling you the absolute truth one moment -- when it makes him look good -- and then lying his ass off when the truth would diminish is awesomeness.
In sum: the classic, striving, climbing, military general.
A pattern you'll find in Monty, Patton... and many another.
Instead of quoting obtuse historians, you must use your HEAD. All of the decisions in written form were reached many hours if not days and weeks before. For security reasons, generals don't even let their staffs in on what's to come -- until there really is no other choice. Being inside the insider's loop is what command is really all about.
All in all, the Anglo-American alliance of WWII makes all other collaborations look bad. Think of the French-British command situation in WWI. That crap is exactly what Marshall and Ike had to stop. De Gaulle was astounded when Ike treated him as peer to FDR and Winston. He was allowed inside the insider's information loop. He was totally ungracious - and rightfully earned the ire of Churchill.
Let's face it, De Gaulle was a prick, a genius, but still a prick.
In sum: with all of these inflated egos bloating around it's amazing that Ike could keep the crew together. Ike's right-hand man was Tedder, of whom not enough is praised.
The fight was against Adolf's tyranny -- not which peacock had the nicest military record.
BTW, Monty, Bradley and Patton and all the rest had their days of excellence -- and some full on fiascos, too.
Let it go. They're all dead.
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@ Burns
As for MG -- Monty shielded Churchill's involvement -- his insistence on it. His line of reasoning TOTALLY turned on what the French spy was feeding him -- and she was always right. London knew practically all they needed to know about the V2 -- in terms of stopping it -- they couldn't once it got going.
From the first, the RAF spared no resources (fighters// recce ) trying to shoot up the rockets before launch.
As Desert Storm showed, even decades later, neither the RAF nor USAF could perform a decent job against Saddam.
So the counter-V1 program that had worked so well -- all of those launch ramps being destroyed -- would not work. As you well know, the NAZIS built the first 'IBM' launch base. It looked all the world like today's USAF Minuteman in a silo scheme.
The RAF pulverized it. That's one reason the V2 arrived so late in the war. Plan A was destroyed by the RAF! So von Braun's team had to develop -- on the fly -- the mobile launch system. That the Jerries didn't see that they HAD to be mobile -- well, I guess they were not super men after all.
Under Plan A, the Nazis figured to launch and launch and launch from the handful of ultra-bunkers that they'd crafted. This would save them a LOT of gasoline -- and actually decrease the need for launch crews. The silos would be factories of death.
This is the kind of stuff that had Winston freaking out about. He put his own son-in-law on the case. Any news about the V2 went straight past all other commands straight to the top.
Even Monty would've loved to have just carried on the same old way. 21st AG was advancing VERY rapidly and in good order. That would look great in the history books, every general saw that.
Monty was no child. He knew that he could never stop Patton from grabbing headlines. But then, Monty was ALL OVER the news with his victories, much to the dismay of the Americans. Their desks were over flowing with British newspapers -- whereas American papers were at least a day or more behind the British. On some days, the British press covered the entire front page with the 21st AG. Well, what would you expect?
Whiners need to grow up.
That MANY British authors disdain America, its army, its culture -- infects their take on reality.
Check out the crazed bias of Zucker versus Trump. Everything that Zucker hates in Trump is but a mirror of Zucker's own personality. This is typical human behavior -- to see in others ones very own faults.
Bradley, Patton and Monty were of exactly that stripe. In the movie, Bradley -- its ghost author -- paints himself as a SAINT. What tripe.
He takes virtually no swipes at Monty at all. Indeed, virtually every subordinate commander under Monty sung his praises. But then, that's also true of Patton. My father worships him. When his division was under Bradley -- it bled to death. When under Patton things ran smooth. It was like night and day.
So Bradley has everything backwards. Patton was the GI's general -- flash and all -- whereas Bradley -- the genius -- is bleeding his AG white. BTW, Bradley NEVER let go of 1st Army. Marshall stopped him from growing it even larger than 15 divisions. So he kept the best.
When 3rd Army broke out across France -- it was HALF the size of 1st Army. It was to take weeks to bring the rest of 3rd Army over. Patton was well set to liberate Paris. Bradley stopped him by vectoring him south. Yet, no-one comments on that vanity.
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@Jagermeister_Sta A staggering fraction of Soviet war production was via Lend Lease machine tools. ALL machine tools were sporting TUNGSTEN CARBIDE tool bits... and those bits were 100% IMPORTED. Until Lend Lease aid kicked in, Stalin's war machine didn't have a SINGLE T.C. TOOL BIT.
So what?
T.C. is universally used today... because it cuts metal 8 times faster than High Speed Steel. T.C. WAS the Soviet production miracle that we all read about.
The typical historian// poster has no conception of the difference -- having not ever operated a lathe or a milling machine.
Don't argue with me. Argue with your local machinist. That way at least he can get a terrific laugh.
Lastly, ALL Soviet statistics are LIES. Stalin made it ILLEGAL to EVER publish// release correct statistics on ANYTHING. This is why the CIA, MI5, MOSSAD looked like total IDIOTS when the Cold War ended. They'd been using book-loads of totally fake statistics. So they never saw the end coming.
Whereas, I figured the end-of-times TO THE DAY: Augus15, 1991. Yeah, little ol' me. Internal bickering did the trick. It works virtually every time. (Internal bickering did in the French monarchy, too.)
Wikipedia has been corrupted wherever, whenever it counts... especially by state actors.
ANYONE quoting Soviet statistics is a fool, for that soul can't be any smarter than the CIA. Good grief, is that dumb!
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@Jagermeister_Sta Watch out on ANY Soviet statistic. The Soviets DID produce a ridiculous amount of T-34-85 machines -- AFTER the war was over. Because for Stalin, the war was NOT over. He was cranking out tanks for his post-war invasions -- namely Korea. He started that war. Without his jets and jet pilots, Korea could never be a Soviet success. During WWII the Soviets produced just about as many T-34c and T-34-85 as the Americans produced M-4//Shermans.
Modern production experts do NOT rate the T-34c or T-34-85 as cheap to produce. Their aluminum Diesel engines were NOT cheap. Stalin built thousands -- anyway. Diesel engines are ALWAYS more expensive than gasoline engines. Visit an auto lot even today. The primary reason that Stalin had to love Diesels is that back at the oil refinery Diesel fuel can be naturally distilled -- straight off -- as his crude oil ran about 33% middle distillate. ( That's refinery-speak for Diesel fuel.) To craft gasoline from middle distillate is no simple thing. Only the West could do so in staggering volume. Once built, a Diesel engine is almost always going to be more reliable than a gasoline engine. It's totally counter-intuitive, but the burn-stroke of a Diesel is SMOOTHER than the explosion stroke of a gasoline engine. When this factor is combined with the more robust components required for Diesel compression -- you end up with engines that run for millions of miles. (trains, trucks, MV ships) But in war, the enemy destroys your stuff a lot quicker than that. That aspect was critical in American war-designs. Diesels were considered -- and then rejected -- straight off because they'd be too expensive a choice when projections showed that tanks have short lives due to enemy action no matter how they're constructed. The same logic dictated US truck designs. Every machine was designed to be cheap to produce, quick to repair in the field (by harvesting elements of other - ruined - machines) -- and as close to civilian machines in conception as possible. The latter was so that the boys off the farm could be handy with a wrench -- and most trivial repairs could be performed by the crews.
Sega -- this is no place to cover the horrific errors of Stalin -- how he started WWII in Europe -- See YELTSIN'S press conference a generation ago -- or the suffering inflicted by the two tyrants. These topics fill libraries.
My grand-father was at home in bed on D-Day. It was my father that had that pleasure. His outfit took 90% casualties just that very morning. So his experience was restricted to saving the wounded and burying the dead -- which went on for days. In the summer, the dead become very ripe after three-days. So it was a memorable experience. Since he's still alive -- and got national press coverage 6-6-2019 -- his fan mail is still coming in.
The T-34c is a wildly over-rated tank because it's 'hip' in the West to down-grade the M-4. For the Nazis, straight from their propaganda reels you can see that Berlin was much more concerned about the M-4. They were SO MANY and pretty effective. The primary role of main battle tanks is the destruction of enemy infantry divisions -- since these form the vast bulk of the enemy's armies. The basic M-4 had terrific stats WRT chewing up German infantry divisions. They famously climbed up slopes, hills, mountains that the Krauts couldn't believe possible. The only other Western tank in its league was the Churchill. In both cases, merely climbing was enough to trigger the collapse of a German position.
Strangely, the Russian film industry keeps using wooded terrain in its WWII/ Great Patriotic War footage for tank-on-tank fighting. This is phoney. The Red Army defeated the Nazi Armies in OPEN COUNTRY. By the time the Reds attacked up in the North, Nazi Germany was strategically defeated. Force ratios had become absurd. By the Summer of 1944 most Germans were just running around throwing up their hands... unwilling to die for Hitler and Nazism. In Bagration, Hitler lost entire armies in a few weeks. That was mass-surrender. The West would not see its equal until 1945. (Ruhr Pocket)
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@Jagermeister_Sta Stalin screwed everything up for everyone. It took the ordinary Soviet trooper to set things right. BTW, the typical hero was in the infantry -- where most everyone fought. Regardless of the nation, tank troops and pilots were in the extreme minority. They were also in a VERY dangerous position -- surviving the war was very iffy.
The USAAF fighter pilots over Germany suffered 25% casualties -- per month -- month after month -- compounded. The statistics showed that anyone could get shot down.
My favorite Soviet tale is that of a single KV-1 that blocked an entire panzer-corps for three-days in the first days of Barbarossa. That crew wiped out an astounding number of German gun crews and tanks. It, the KV, was sitting astride THE critical path required for a German advance. It took the Germans the better part of a battalion of motorized troops to finally eliminate it. It was the Krauts first contact with the KV-1, BTW. So naturally, the Krauts brought in their experts to study it. They freaked out. They were obviously a full-generation behind the Soviets in tank design. The German Tiger tank was nothing but their version of the KV-1. Check out the side-by-side stats. The Krauts didn't need to conduct much fundamental design. They merely needed to copy -- as best they could -- the general statistics of the KV -- which they DID.
The Panther was the Nazi knock-off of the T-34c. The T-34-85 was Stalin's response to the Panther.
As for the M-4 -- once Rommel saw what the M-4 was all about -- he retired the Mark III panzer PDQ. This is significant, as the T-34c did not cause the Krauts to abandon the Mark III wholesale. As I posted already, the Mark III was killing T-34c tanks straight through Barbarossa, was the number one killer of such tanks. This stat shows just how rare 50mm gunned Mark IIIs were, in the field, early on during 1941.
The T-34-85 was the corrected version of the T-34. It got rid of that terrible T-34c turret -- a TWO-MAN turret. All two-man turrets are duds. Even the Germans had such machines -- but even when designed -- the Mark II was supposed to be strictly a training tank. Hitler launched his war too soon for Guderian -- the chief designer of the Mark III and Mark IV panzers.
For the record: Stalin, not Hitler, started WWII in Europe. This was established by Yeltsin in the 1990s -- to the complete shock of the international press. Stalin intended that Hitler should exhaust Germany and France in a repeat of WWI -- while the USSR would stand aloof. It was his intent to then swoop in and conquer ALL of Western Europe. This gambit is of record within the writings of Soviet elites -- in the Spring of 1941 -- such writings still being held in the national archives.
The Soviet-Nazi Pact was a CONTRACT FOR WAR. Until May 10th, 1940, Stalin had attacked more nations than Hitler -- and had grabbed far more land. Stalin is why France fell in May. For it was Soviet oil that powered the Luftwaffe. Paris could NOT figure out where all of the enemy planes were coming from -- as their internal calculations told them that Germany couldn't possibly fuel up that many machines. In this, they were right. Neither Britain nor France ever figured on Stalin and Hitler becoming love-birds.
WWII didn't start September 1, 1939 -- it started August 23rd, 1939 with Stalin's signature and his own crayon making how much of Poland he wanted. Stalin dictated EVERYTHING. Hitler had NO IMPUT AT ALL. The Nazis had to settle for a copy!!!! Hitler was itching to start a war so badly that he only needed a partner to set his demon free. Until the Pact, the British, French and Americans had Adolf boxed in. They controlled the world's RUBBER. You can't run a truck-based war without it.
In the late 1938s, Germany was so short of rubber tires that major firms would purchase brand new trucks -- just to get their tires! Once the tires were removed, the entire brand-new truck was sold to a junk-yard to be consumed for repair parts! That's just how short Hitler was for rubber -- and how crazy the Nazi economy was. Yeah, just as insane as Stalin's economy.
America fixed Stalin's economy -- and destroyed Adolf's. The amount of fixing performed for the USSR is so great that today neither nation can comprehend it. In both cases it's due to national embarrassment. For the Russians, their extreme dependency on the USA is unbearable. For the USA -- the question and shame is -- "How could you give THAT MUCH STUFF to that tyrant?" That transfer established the:
Soviet atomic bomb
Soviet Tu-4 -- aka B-29 strategic bomber
Set the stage for Korea -- and the entire Cold War.
So, anyway you figure it, it's a taboo topic in both nations.
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todd long The court system never deals in facts -- it deals in EVIDENCE. This is about the first thing brought up in law school. Many, many things are true, but can't be introduced into evidence. Here say evidence is a perfect example. It can -- and often is -- completely true and truthful. It can't be taken into evidence.
Of course, USSC are LOADED with political weight. Chief Justice Roberts famously wrote both sides of the Obamacare ruling! Now that was weird.
He'd changed his mind mid-way through the decision process, and he was the swing vote.)
BTW, ANY general contractor-developer is destined to go to court rather constantly. The vast number of Trump lawsuits that shock the general public -- don't raise an eyebrow by his peers. He's got big pockets, and thus is a magnet for attorneys. Overwhelmingly, they just want a payday.
Apple, MSFT, Google, FaceBook are sued CONSTANTLY. Sometimes the plaintiffs are international bodies, the figures VAST.
It's the way of the world at that end of the pool. Trump is nothing special.
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@davidvines6498 That assertion is bogus. Biden could, and usually did, reverse all of Trump's lame duck actions.
During the campaign, Biden was against Afghanistan. Indeed, if you go back, Biden was against Iraq, Afghanistan -- on and on -- for just about forever. His wing of the Democrat party felt the same way.
Trump was working to a plan -- that went into the trash bin once he lost his presidency.
In contrast the State Department and Pentagon were hugely invested in Kabul. Entire careers had been built around that self-licking ice cream cone.
Both blocked Trump from getting out of Syria and Afghanistan. (We had as many guys in Syria as we did in Kabul, by 2020. Even Trump didn't know of this. Which is amazing. His key aides(D) had been lying to him. Then, days before the 2020, the principle dude went public with how he'd conned Trump, and kept 2,500 troops in Syria without Congressional or Presidential knowledge. The Democrat machine saluted him, of course.)
We are still in Syria! This occupation has never been explained to the American public -- and I find that most folks still don't know a thing about it even though it's come out in the MSM from time to time.
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@LtBrown
For anyone curious as to what is entailed in making an ice bridge, check out "Ice Road Truckers."
Keep in mind that the American & Canadian truckers are crossing virtual mill ponds versus the mighty Volga.
During the annual freeze-up the Volga cascades relentless compression ridges -- each much taller than a commercial truck. They start out looking nothing too spectacular -- and then they just build and compound away. By the end, they look like the scene from "Superman II", the movie, where the man of steel has his abode in a crystal palace of ice shards. Superman has much better house-keeping, that's for sure.
Even Lake Ladoga was a piece of cake compared to the Volga.
The Red Army had combat engineers hopping all over the southern wing of the Uranus advance. Getting down, across, and up the Volga bank was a first class bitch. It's the reason that the German army thought twice about marching eastward to encircle Stalingrad, something that most cardboard generals would've thought of straight off.
The northern wing of Uranus was LONG. You were still crossing major rivers, but at least the crossings were east and north of the battle front. Still, the Reds had to hide their logistical preparations where they crossed such obvious channel points.
The Germans arrogantly assumed that the Soviets just couldn't do something that the Germans couldn't do. It's a fact of WWII, the Reds, the Brits and the Yanks schooled the German army on logistics -- and the dullards never picked up on the craft.
Once the Red army was across the Don, it still had to contend with peasant tankers who only knew how to beat a burrow// ass. The reason that the T-34s had epic failure rates turned largely on the astounding ignorance of its drivers -- and crews generally.
The contrast with the USA Armored Corps was night and day. The typical American tanker had been in his Sherman for about two years before it was sent into battle. ( 2nd, 3rd, 4th Armored, especially ) The result was that once they got away from head to head tank shots, they ran wild all over every German formation -- including Panther battalions. Even the pop-gun 75mm would destroy Panthers from the side or rear. This became the standard mode of counter-attack. Panthers were just mobbed. StgIII and Mark IV were at even greater hazard. This is why no German panzer attack really got rolling against the Americans. They needed to punch 'clean air' -- a tank-free seam.
During the Bulge, the 7th Armored and 10th Armored just ruined things for the Germans. Within days, Joachim Pieper's unstoppable panzers were stopped.
It never happened, but if Shermans and T-34s met, the Shermans would've utterly destroyed their opponents. The T-34 had about HALF the glacis armor of the Sherman, while their guns were rather similar in penetration. The Sherman would've been five times as reliable. So after but a few days of combat, there would've been no T-34s left. Most would 've been abandoned due to running gear issues.
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@Ixsalit
At this scale, your best stats come from gender imbalance.
Keep in mind that the Red army used widows by the thousand, too.
The answer is stark: Russian fatalities were EPIC.
The widow count was through the roof.
BTW, the STAVKA attitude towards its troops is reflected in such terms as: 'Cucumbers.' -- Yes, that was the slang lingo for fresh meat sent to the front.
When ordered to cross the Dneiper, an entire company of cucumbers immediately followed orders -- and jumped into the freezing river. All were lost. An hour later, the engineers arrived with boats and paddles. They were pissed. All of the cucumbers were missing. Now they would be in trouble.
All of this was recounted by a 1st Lt in the Red Army. He was an eye witness to this folly. (Artillery observer, he was there should the Krauts show up on the far bank.) He had no authority -- and just sat their in amazement and disgust as his superiors threw the boys away. Later, he cried himself to sleep. With boats, the cucumbers did get to the west bank.
The cucumbers jumped into the water because of insane Red army demands. ANY cucumber questioning an officer's order was pulled out of the unit and sent to a penal battalion -- PDQ -- never to be heard from again.
Did you ever hear about Stalin's take-a-shower order? May 1943 EVERY front line trooper had to take a shower. IIRC this was a Sunday, too. (A courier had showed up at STAVKA smelling like walking chit. ) So it was with total amazement that the Germans were treated to an astounding sight: shower equipment for field troops was erected in plain sight -- right up to the front lines. Then ENTIRE formations lined up to take turns showering -- obviously as fast as possible. The Germans held their fire. And then, when it seemed as if every Red was standing in line, every German formation across the 2,000 km front opened up with mortars and machine guns, belt-fed, too.
It was time to call up for fresh cucumbers! Virtually no Soviet trooper escaped German fire. If a general attack had been authorized, the front line would've marched east at quite a clip. But it wasn't after Stalingrad, the Heer was quite happy to just sit in its trench line.
This entire travail was published in Russian, over twenty-years ago. It's one of THOUSANDS of such similar tales. Most of these cluster phu ucks could not be exposed until 1992.
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Stalin was negotiating with the Poles as late as July 1939 -- proposing that his armies be given a free corridor straight through Poland so as to attack the Nazis in conjunction with Poland and France. Britain was figured by Stalin to be a non-factor on the ground. Warsaw, amazingly, didn't trust Stalin. Go figure. So, Stalin double-crossed his erstwhile allies and launched WWII in Europe. Yeltsin's late 90s presentation to the world's press made it crystal clear that STALIN, not Hitler, launched WWII by way of the anti-Western Pact. Hitler always wanted a prompt war, see Munich, but was totally frustrated by both Goering (Munich again) and strategic realities (Oil, nickel, rubber, ... the list is long) The Soviet theory -- soon proven catastrophically wrong -- was that the Reds could 'aim' Adolf against the West and after a huge blood-letting the Reds could/would come in the back-door... reaching all the way to the Atlantic. Virtually to a man, Western experts are still stuck on the idea that Adolf started the war. BTW, the negotiated deal was for BOTH the Nazis and the Bolsheviks to invade 9-1-39. That was put in writing. 'Clever' Stalin delayed his entry until the onus totally fell upon Hitler. This entirely fake fumbling was to result in Barbarossa. One should note that MORE nations were invaded by the Reds as a result of the pact than by the Nazis -- right up until 5-10-1940. (Finland, Romania, the Baltics, Poland -- even a touch of Slovakia was taken when the. Nazis invaded from the west. ( The passes through the eastern mountains)
As for the Pact: Stalin had the original -- it was drafted in Moscow -- and Hitler merely got a 'carbon copy.' (!) It was the original that Yeltsin presented to the world. The Press was gobsmacked. Allied war propaganda was proven to be totally wrong. The West became allied with the initiator of the conflict -- the fellow that gasolined the French air force out of the sky. Yes, the crazy high number of sorties over the Meuse were ONLY possible because of Soviet crude oil. Paris never planned on that.
Poland's aggressive policy consisted of not trusting Stalin. Oh, my!
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@eshelly4205 The Bolsheviks are on record blaming Guderian for 400,000 deaths during 1941. He was never tried for his involvement in Barbarossa, as you must know.
His version of history was published ~ 1953.
Then, like magic, he's dead. He'd come back up on the Soviet (GRU/KGB) radar.
During the course of the Cold War, 'Central' assassinated quite a few enemies of the state -- right under the noses of the West. Many of these were only revealed after the war was over... much to the embarrassment of the West.
And the Kremlin is still at it, as Brits could tell you.
It's a VERY good bet that the Kremlin assassinated Obama's mother. She was the chief operating officer of the CIA during the Soviet-Afghan war operating in Pakistan. She was the gal handing out the money. Like Guderian, she also died of 'semi-natural causes.' As IF. The Kremlin obviously blamed her for their fiasco in Afghanistan.
Her mother, Barrak's grandmother, performed the exact same function a generation earlier from Honolulu. Her 'cover' was as the chief teller for First Hawaiian Bank, IIRC. (She lived in my building all those years ago. So, yeah, I did meet Barry and grandmother/tutu in 1983. ) [ Their CIA employment is why they ever had any connection to Kenya -- but that's a whole 'nother story.] Both his mother and grandmother ran the CIA's books for the Indo-Pacific. His mother also spoke fluent Russian -- strange for a Honolulu girl... unless you work for the CIA.
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mike mcmike Obviously you need to read "The True Believer" by Hoffer. This little tome is considered by all to be in the top-three political tracts of the 20th Century.
As for the 'converts' -- I'm talking explicitly about Top Politicians in the national legislature, mayors, and others of similar rank. This offer was NOT extended to the hoi poloi which you are describing. They were NOT part of the 72-hour "join us or flee" edict.
There were true Conservatives in the legislature. Those guys were NOT invited into the Nazi party. They just went into internal exile -- that is -- prompt retirement. There were no jobs/ government positions for them.
Socialists were kindred spirits. They merely had to jump from Stalin to Hitler. No other attitude adjustment was required.
Again: read "True Believer" to understand the dynamics described here.
There could never be an adjustment between Hitler and Conservative Germans. They were all-the-way-out of government. Yes, they had to keep their heads down. You'd be shocked as to how many went clean through the war with their noses clean -- pensioned off by the Nazis.
It's for the above reason that I gag and howl at all the cinematic references (Hollywood) about the Nazis sending Socialists to Dachau. Actually, if you kept your mouth shut -- and stayed lucky -- the SD was not really interested in you.
That all changed in a stroke if the Nazis thought that you were an activist. Free-thinkers were sent to Dachau in a steady stream.
BTW, Dachau was not only torture college -- but it was the only camp that entirely focused on POLITICALS. Early on, many of those Politicals were Jews. It took a while for the full insanity of Nazism to kick in. High profile Jews were not sent to the larger death camp system. They were tortured to death right there at Dachau.
Dachau was Camp #1 in the entire evil scheme. EVERY camp monster learned his evil craft while at Dachau. That's where the sadists 'made their bones.' Truly evil cruelty was propagated outward from Dachau.
BTW, don't believe Wiki. Dachau was founded by the SA -- not the SS/ SD. That all changed after the Night of the Long Knives. Eicke took over. He merited hanging, without a doubt, but beat the noose by death at the front, 1943. He was the villain that crafted the rationale for death camp torture. Mere murder was simply not enough for Eicke.
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mike mcmike Since you are plainly a True Believer -- evidence, so much in abundance -- will have no impact on you.
I'm not going to g@@gle for McMike.
But for the general readership, IIRC, the magic 72-hour window occurred after Hindenburg died -- over a three-day-weekend. IIRC sometime around August 1934.
McMike -- virtually NO-ONE fled. Hitler got 97+% to sign on the line that was dotted. Even Socialists and Stalinists were not so crazy as to actually go to the USSR. They knew, far better than most, just what was up in the Soviet Union. They had many personal contacts -- and many were in the Trotsky fan club, to boot.
In sum, your entire world view is false. After the 'mass conversion' there were NO Nazi reprisals for the very dudes that they'd been street fighting with for more than a decade!
For both factions were minorities compared to the general German population.
As seen today, Germans want Conservative Values and Socialist Outcomes. Note that Merkel, herself, was an EAST GERMAN college professor. No wonder she's a go-along politician.
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@Neil
Your line of argumentation is weird.
1) Ju-52s are TRI motors -- although I'd agree that they follow the stats for modern single engine reciprocating aircraft.
The ONLY salient point to modern readers is that the Ju-52 fleet had to fly OUT, land, take OFF, and Land on one fuel load.
That's brutal even now, let alone back in late '42.
This equation was last seen during the Berlin Airlift... and at least the Red Air Force was not shooting down USAF/ RAF machines.
( France was a joke at the time. )
2) The BIG issue for the Luftwaffe was that they couldn't easily avoid Soviet FLAK: 76.2mm guns -- and the occasional 85mm gun.
Either one was more than able to rip the Ju-52 to pieces.
These FLAK batteries were relevant because the Luftwaffe quickly determined that they couldn't get into the kessel during daylight.
Which rather stands to reason: most of the 24 hours available were in the dark in the first place.
The number of Luftwaffe pilots able to fly at night, navigate at night, was VERY much less than the total of pilots in the ranks.
This latter fact does not get much mention, BTW.
When you add up all the risks, the damages, the kessel was destroying he Luftwaffe. The Germans were not losing the average pilot, they were losing he very elite pilots.
This was all compounded during the Spring of '43. You'd scarcely believe the Lufwaffe fatalities when the weather broke.
The Red Air Force had been TRANSFORMED.
It was now receiving AMAZING amounts of British ( think Iranian ) and American avgas.
Yes, yes, the British, British Petroleum, were shunting astounding amounts of avgas up from the Persian Gulf once the rail lines were squared away.
Even before Uranus, the USA was shipping astounding amounts of LendLease aid: jeeps, tanks, -- the WORKS.
It's FALSE that LendLease kicked in only after Kursk.
LendLease was RESPONSIBLE for BOTH Uranus and Kursk.
The flood had already started.
1942 LendLease reached astounding figures -- from the start.
It just kept intensifying as the war years rolled on.
This causes moderns to miss the astounding impact of LendLease.
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@ondrejbublavy7952 It's a RARE female politician that takes the military arts seriously.
They made their bones via feminism. That's their demographic. The male vote never put them in office.
Consequently, social issues, family issues are what they have always focused on.
Now that the Big Issue of the Day is military, geopolitical -- they are at sea. Such matters are simply not in their wheelhouse.
Putin fuel prices come with Putin's despotism -- his murders of Moscow journalists, his petty thefts, his mega-thefts, his oligarch status.
BTW, low-ball fuel prices are typical of third-world despotism: Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kazakhstan.... I'd rather pay full price and have the secret police sent back to the barracks.
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BTW, the Americans found that drivers were the WORST of maintenance labor -- since they'd been up for 48-hours straight on a jag of coffee. My father's V-letters show him writing, ever writing, down into babble. When I converted them to English, (spelling issues) he couldn't dope out what he was writing about. That's how frazzled war time driving became. BTW, every 5th GMC 2.5ton truck had a ring mounted .50 cal machine gun -- because the US Army thought that the Luftwaffe would show up. Thanks to the USAAF, they were a no-show -- which is good. After 48-hours of driving, no driver could've hit anything in the sky. During the Red Ball, the routine was to drive 72-hours straight -- basically until you dropped. The US Army kept adding drivers and trucks straight through the project. Monty terminated the Red Ball with his 2,000 GMC truck request. Yes, it was the BRITISH that terminated the Red Ball -- and it was the Red Ball that was supporting 12th Army Group. This is the event that Bradley and Patton are howling about in the film "Patton." Hitler stopped the Western Allies by shooting up London with V-2s. Winnie, not Monty, was the inspiration for Market-Garden, and London was the reason why.
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Not quite. The Soviet scheme was DUAL use. The Bolsheviks were getting electric production at the same time they were running U-238 thru, over and over, to crank out Pu-239. The conversion process requires that the target Uranium be kicked out within 14-days lest it become utterly ruined via U-240 contamination. This nuclide destroys atomic detonation, it's a (neutron) poison. This issue was what all of the early atomic bomb tests were all about. Cycling through Uranium was an expensive PITA. (Well, it could not be helped.)
The US, at Hanford, never did that. We set up our weapons reactors strictly for U to Pu conversion -- and threw away the heat. This decision was done for SPEED. We were in the fight of our lives, when Nazi Germany was deemed to be ahead of our Manhattan Project.
Between Oppenheimer and Harry Hopkins, the Bolsheviks had ALL of our atomic secrets. Hopkins even sent over the materials required for Fat Man and the Hanford reactors. (!!!) [ The blue prints, concepts reduced to engineering specs. ] All of this history has been denied ever since, of course. It matters not that the GRU & KGB brag on getting Commie Oppenheimer to commit high treason in wartime. Of course, Oppie was struck by self pity when his clearances were finally removed as it became too obvious to Truman & Coy that Oppenheimer was the true leaker. No way could the other traitors provide the goods to Stalin which triggered the most expensive war in history. ALL other atomic powers gained their knowledge by way of our Manhattan Project geniuses. It was all too much for any other nation -- including Britain and France. The USSR got the jump on our allies because Oppie gave away the goods -- as did Harry Hopkins -- by the truck load ! The latter was, de facto, the American president in early 1945. Hopkins sent the stuff under his fake presidential authority for FDR. He was as out to lunch as President Biden is today. He was a dead man rolling.
The Oak Ridge scheme sucked down 20% of all of America's electric power production. Now, was that expensive? You bet ! When France and Britain saw the internal true costs, they went a different direction. No-one had that kind of money and electricity to spare. This is why Little Boy has never been replicated by another nation. It is an insanely expensive technology. Iran has been using the European enrichment technology -- which uses a fraction of the electric power used by the Manhattan scheme. But, you probably know that already.
All of the above became idiot obvious during the Yeltsin years when Russian college kids published to the Web all of the stuff the USA sent to the USSR via LendLease authorities. In that huge database were the VERY peculiar materials required exclusively by a Hanford style atomic reactor designed to produce Plutonium 239. The kids didn't even realize what they had exposed. The dump was THAT vast. The atomic materials were on the last two pages. Only with expertise would anyone realize what was being told. Glad I could help you out.
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@515coldfire Mark 1 eyeball inspection will evidence that Putin has blown up the electric transformers that feed Ukraine's highly electrified train grid. (A legacy of the Soviets.)
The USAAF discovered, to their dismay, during the Spring of 1944 that it was virtually impossible to shut down the French rail grid via bombing. The Germans simply had repair crews and materials staged all over the battle space.
The Germans found this to be true in the USSR. They also bombed the heck out of Soviet rails -- to no avail. Stalin's boys simply repaired the tracks in mere hours. They also had staged repair crews and materials just all over.
This tic was so obvious from aerial photos that Eisenhower caught a LOT of FLAK from his staff for insisting on a sustained campaign against the French rail grid. He was a man alone. (!)
When the war was over, the truth came out: the chronic attacks drove the Germans crazy. While they could repair damage super fast -- the USAAF was inflicting it as fast as they fixed it. The net result was that actual deliveries to the battle front were slowed way, way down.
Putin's problem is that he's not Eisenhower (heh) and that he has no military means to interdict the massive Ukrainian rail grid -- unless he uses very costly missiles... which are in limited supply. It's actually cheaper for Zelenskyy to repair his rails than it is for Putin to destroy them.
Indeed, this is known to the Russian Army -- who studies such things. That's why you have not seen intense missile strikes against Ukraine's train system -- until now -- and these are token attacks -- aimed at transformers. Going after the tracks, themselves, is futile.
Zelenskyy is certain to bring on Diesel-electric or Diesel-hydraulic locomotives. He'll be getting these for 'free' -- and probably on the down-low. (But, you never know.) Once this psychological barrier is broken, Ukraine's train system is going to explode upwards in locomotive capacity... in tonnage capacity.
And, each train, from now on, will have Stinger crews, FLAK guns, the works. Conventional air attacks against such a set-up figures to be suicidal.
I figure that eventually, Putin will attack every bridge across the Dneiper he can. It just won't be sufficient.
He must be vulnerable near the Isthmus of Perekop. The Nazis and Bolsheviks proved that the bend in the Dneiper -- down south -- can't be effectively defended.
Putin's invasion army is just way, way too small. The maps we all see on TV are illusions. The invader's front is so thinly manned that refugees are simply walking through it to safety. And we're talking about old, slow retirees, children, women with infants. Then they just jump in a car -- and flee.
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@fofal The Ukrainian national grid. The same one that keeps bringing foreign dignitaries all the way to Kyiv.
That railroad.
In the USA, all railroads are 99.94% dedicated to freight.
But, in Ukraine, refugees are clogging the railroad's capacity. I can't blame Kyiv for such a priority.
Putin will freak out when American railroad engineers start advising Ukrainians on how to haul 10,000 tons per 'consist.'
[ That's railroad-man talk, BTW.]
In the USA, mainline railroads routinely haul 200,000 tons per track, per day... on the Main Line. (What a money machine !) Go to YT to see videos, without end, showing how this is done. American freight 'consists' can run 4kM long -- have eight locomotives -- and a two-man crew operating them from the head engine. With this many locomotives, they are spread through the train/consist. In American rail lingo, such units are DPUs.
Distributed Power Units. They are synched by digital radio electronics. The technique is amazing.
But, when fighting the West, things get even worse. The West is totally geared up for fighting across major rivers... logistically.
For the West, crossing the Dnieper is all in a day's work.
Let's roll back the calendar: how many rivers did the British and Americans cross to destroy Adolf? The Soviets lucked out: the Volga,... Soviet rivers freeze. The Rhine, the Seine, the Rapido, the Po -- they don't.
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@Thetequilashooter1 It made perfect sense.
Crazy Saddam labelled his nerve agent shells identically to those of normal high explosive. Crazy ? You bet. He's the only one to pull that stunt. Why ? He was being advised by the French -- and Frenchmen HATE chemical warfare. (See WWI)
Yes, Saddam was firing these rounds right in front of French officers -- onto Iranian positions so far distant that it was impossible to see what was up with even decent scopes.
Now think. The Sunni fanatics were finding nerve agent shells right in the mix with conventional 155mm rounds. So they were treating them likewise. For IED purposes, such shells were duds. This was how the US Army first discovered them. Early in, nerve agents were so expected that all ordnance disposal teams tested for same as a matter of routine. Orders, you see.
Wham! Positive indications started coming up. Because these were binary shells, no actual nerve agents existed. Just their precursors. The field test actually tested for the precursors at the same time as the daughter nerve agent.
It quickly dawned on the US Army engineers what had transpired. With horror, they realized that Saddam had some crazy stash of these rounds -- and that the fanatics had no idea of what they had their hands on.
So there was no way on this Earth that the US Army was going to put them wise. THAT'S the reason the Pentagon and the NY Times kept lying about discovering WMD. They simply HAD to. That the Times could now dog W. Bush to death -- that was just a plus. The Times desk must have been having a howl... those in on the secret.
It was only after Obama pulled our boys out that the Times just couldn't keep the secret. I could argue that they should not have exposed the truth. In any event, by the time the US Army had pulled out, the engineers figured that they'd dealt with virtually all of the chemical rounds. I'm sure that even now, we don't have the full story.
Saddam admitted -- on the way to the gallows -- that HE was the source of the WMD misinformation. THAT'S why every agency from the Mossad to the CIA to MI-6 to the GRU was caught looking foolish. Saddam was deliberately leaking intel that he had such a program. So, give Powell a break. The dope he was feeding the UN was as solid as anything any intelligence agency could ever pick up.
Every intelligence agency on Earth simply had to take seriously the BS they were being fed. The Russians, in particular, knew for a fact that Saddam really did have an atomic program. They provided the technical help. They (reasonably) assumed that Saddam had cleverly faked out the IAEA inspectors. (Which is not so hard to do in a police state.)
The real reason Bush and Blair invaded Iraq: to save the UNSC. Saddam had bought off Paris, Moscow, Ottawa and Kofi Annan. (The cash went to Kofi's son.) All of this dirt was discovered by Volker's Commission. That Canada was suborned was the ultimate shocker. Volker never saw that angle coming.
That Kofi was corrupt -- that was like saying the sky is blue. That was just about the first thing discovered.
If Saddam succeeded, that would be the end of the UNSC -- and really -- the end of the UN. It would surely suffer the same fate as the League of Nations...which led directly to WWII... which Japan started in Asia.
Neither the UK or the US could bear to see the UN die. For all its faults, it has utility.
From memory, the NY Times article occupied a full even-numbered page. Now a decade old, my memory fades on more details.
Due to domestic politics, (the Times hates Bush, Trump, any (R)) the Times has never let up on its bogus no MWD mantra. It's still working GREAT... even though it's a lie.
The invasion was launched to save the UN, not to find WMD. Yes, that's what the legal paperwork shows. The UNSC actually never focused on such weapons in its sanctions. Instead, Saddams actual sins all turned on disobedience to prior UNSC demands. THEY were the grounds to eject him.
Bush screwed up. He wanted to expand his mandate up to recreating the Marshall Plan. What a fool.
I was in favor of ejecting Saddam -- and then leaving PDQ. Hanging around was a catastrophe -- and that it would go that way was obvious very quickly. Instead, idiot Bush doubled down. Worse, he gave command to the State Department. (Powell) The Pentagon was already howling about hanging around. The brass hats wanted to leave PDQ. Bush figured that since Powell was a retired 4-star -- he was giving the job to Dad's favorite general.
BTW, the more you get into W, the more you realize that his biggest boners ALL came from his Dad's phone calls. H.W. Bush was actually a lousy president. He got globalism going -- which has been a disaster for American's average Joe.
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The problem with Assange is that he only exposed embarrassments to the West -- America in particular -- since Americans have First Amendment protections not available elsewhere in the West. ( Britain, France, et. al don't have anything like the American First Amendment. )
In most Western countries, you need a state granted license to regularly speak on TV or Radio.
Elsewhere, things are far, far worse. (Belarus, Russia, Red China...)
Assange made it impossible for the US to prosecute mercenaries who badly behaved in Iraq -- by trying them in the media.
Result: they got off Scot-free.
At the same time, Assange sabotaged Western intelligence agencies -- and certainly caused the death of many -- by exposure.
The Red Chinese broke into the CIA's comms -- and whacked all of its agents in Red China.
No correlation with Assange has ever been asserted.
But you can see what even a single penetration can do to the West.
Naturally, Assange has done wonders to scare off any other souls from cooperating with the West.
He has been willing to imprison himself rather than go to trial. (The embassy bit.)
During that period -- he proved to be a total pest for Ecuador... a very lousy house guest.
He's a piece of work, he is.
Ultimately, Assange brought discredit to whistle-blowers.
He also became a tool of Moscow. They just LOVED using him as a cut-out for propaganda points.
That idea never seems to have crossed his mind.
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Best locations: libraries, coffee shops, book store coffee shops, grocery stores, college functions, seminars, church functions....
Have formal business cards printed -- a professional printer is no longer needed. In Japan EVERYONE has a b. card for intros.
Have a dedicated e-mail that is not generally made available -- so that spam is reduced/ eliminated.
If going strictly hook-up, craft a false self, as there are no end of crazies out there.
Libraries work because convos are super limited, so you don't need/ can't use pick-up lines. Convo keys off their selections.
Read "Day Bang" for hook-up skills -- which can be turned to classic romancing, too.
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@loschekell Absurd statistic alert.
BTW, it takes TWO to tango. Without Ho's aggression, the Northern invasion of the South would've never happened. BTW, the North and the South had ALWAYS been two different polities. Both were centered around their own river systems. This is still true, as it's Saigon that's getting all of the Foreign Direct Investment... typically occupying old MACV bases.
The North and the South STILL don't really 'get-along.' The South resents the fact that the North controls all of the top slots -- politically -- in what is still a Communist//Socialist regime.
Vietnam is very much like a mini-Red China in most respects. Considering the DNA involved, that's not really surprising.
At the end of the day, Nixon got the USA OUT. Kennedy-Johnson got the USA in -- big time.
I mention Kennedy because he set the stage. Johnson largely did what he did BECAUSE of ORAL commitments that Kennedy had already made to Japan, Korea, Taiwan -- and NATO.
Kennedy had already delivered BIG:
Bay of Pigs
Berlin Wall & full on Iron Curtain
Cuban Missile fiasco
Every single critical American ally was freaking out -- for it was obvious that the Grand Strategy of the Cold War was breaking down: Containment of Communist Totalitarianism.
Nixon reversed everything by triangulating the USSR and Red China in 1972.
If Nixon had been president in 1961-1965, Kennedy would've stayed alive, and none of his fiascos would've transpired.
Lastly, while in office, Kennedy was CONSTANTLY being grilled by the Press and critics over his epic gaffs. How could ANYONE overlook the Berlin Wall, his baby?
It took Reagan to get rid of that Wall.
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@StofStuiver The political definition of empire is that of a political state which extracts wealth from without to enhance the center.
Rome exploited every land from Egypt to Britain to Spain to the economic advantage of the center: Rome, itself.
Britain exploited the entire Commonwealth so as to enhance the economic wealth of England -- London, especially.
France, Spain, Portugal, et. al all functioned this way. And each, in turn, lavished spending on its capital city... funded by rigged trade such that the periphery elevated the capital metropolis.
The USA is the inverse, the anti-empire. It extracts wealth from the 'Lower 48' to the advantage of Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and Puerto Rico -- and a slew of dependencies. No matter how its pitched, Puerto Rico simply refuses to become independent, no matter how many votes are taken.
This phenomena is unique to the USA.
Now when you look at Russia and Red China, they absolutely fit the imperial economic model. The fact that their capital cities are head and shoulders above all other conurbations is no coincidence. In contrast, Washington DC is not head and shoulders above New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago -- etc.
In Paris, Rome, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo... you see the same picture; dang near ANYTHING of national importance is right there in the capital. The heft of capital city politicians towers above that of all others. To not be in the capital city is to be politically exiled.
From Cuba to the Philippines, to Okinawa and Iwo Jima -- the USA keeps kicking loose turf that is not the USA. This behavior is totally unlike that of an empire.
Even the conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq never translated for one-second into the zany notion that the USA actually wanted to possess such lands. Both were punishment campaigns -- against international pariahs. By now the Taliban are right back to their usual schtick: utter barbarism. They do expect the West to pay for their old school fanatical activities, of course.
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@StofStuiver The USA permits, de facto, unlimited immigration. So, yeah, it's multi-ethnic in DNA composition.
BUT, it's just one polity. It does not have separate nations within its domain -- native Americans being the obvious exception.
The USA has DESTROYED all of the classic empires of European control -- save Russia -- which is still an empire. ( And Putin & Coy still have imperial ambitions and work to the imperial model.) Red China is blatantly an empire, too. Xi has put Red China into an expansionary mode so profound that the world is imperiled.
The USA triggered the liberation of India from Britain by granting independence to the Philippines, July 4, 1946. Riots broke out -- in India -- within weeks -- once the news from
Manila spread across India. In most (British) tellings, this triggering event is omitted. London ran out of excuses.
BTW, you don't seem to know what a 'hissy fit' is.
If the USA was an empire, then it should've simply conquered the entire planet after WWII when it held a monopoly on atomic weapons and had the world dominating navy and central bank. Instead, it spent its energies breaking up the British, French, Dutch, Belgian, and Portuguese empires over the next thirty-years. It also frustrated the Bolsheviks from expanding their empire world-wide -- which was the essence of the Cold War.
Empire means something very specific: the Strong taking advantage of the Weak. The US created the UN -- and of its essence is the protection of the Weak from the Strong.
If Putin and Xi had their ways, the world would soon see most nations gobbled up by these vast atomic powers. THAT'S empire.
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You missed it: The PRIMARY original intention was to use the Zumwalt destroyers in and around the South China Sea... and the First Island Chain. The PLAN's leaping technology caused the Zumwalt's to be redesigned even while on the ways. That's why the Zumwalt, itself, spent so much time there. The funding was going down the Electronics Rat Hole. Also, ultra-high power electronics were being used for the first time for propulsion and projected weaponry. So the lead ship in the class was a full-scale concept design. It even got tripped up in Panama. (!)
The USN brass finally self-admitted that the entire concept was flawed -- because no matter what was done, the PLAN was going to saturate the Zumwalt's position if it ever strayed into the First Island Chain. Only submarines can ever operate there -- same as during the Great Pacific War. (1941-45)
BUT, the Zumwalts were ideal for the Persian Gulf. Realistically, only one would be needed. (+ two spares in training) Its role would be to force Tehran to spend LARGE to find or counter it. This is military-economic war -- a concept first used during the Cold War. That war was decided by the USSR when they contemplated spending LARGE to counter Star Wars -- you know -- Reagan's Folly. Yeah, he did the impossible, ending the Cold War with the national wallet.
Today's warships are crafted specifically for this or that tactic against this or that adversary... same as aircraft -- all along. The changing nature of the PLAN risk killed the Zumwalts. Forget the money. If the Zumwalts would've caused the Reds to spend ultra-LARGE, the Americans would've hatched them by the dozen. Remember, the Vast, Vast bulk of US DoD spending is on WAGES within the US economy. It's not spent on profits for defense contractors. Doing so is flatly illegal -- and if discovered -- the funds have to be kicked back to the DoD. That's why Google, Apple and Facebook draw huge from Wall Street - whereas no defense contractor ever does. They are allowed to make whatever profits they may.
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@SP-rt4ig I bed to differ. Humanity has not changed a bit. If you think these posts are emotionally charged, and off base -- check out what was passing for political chatter in the 19th Century -- pick any country. Folks these days are actually calmer than their great-grandparents. Blame the world-wide flow of information and history.
As a side note: most tyrants who lead aggressive conflict have never left their country of origin. There are exceptions, but not many. Tojo, Hitler, Stalin, Mao -- these guys were not tourists! They filled their immediate staff with other fellows that had never travelled, either. In contrast, Churchill, FDR, De Gaulle were all men of the world. Famously, FDR practiced collective leadership. Suppressed at the time, FDR was actually too sick -- he was dying -- through most of the war. He kept short hours -- especially from 1943 onwards -- the period when the US really went into high gear. Remember that the US landed two corps in Normandy in June 1944 -- and a Marine corps in June 1944 -- half-the-way around the world -- and only two-weeks apart. BTW, in manning and support, a Marine division is twice as expensive as an Army division. Getting wet cost a ton of money -- and all Marine formations were 'shock' formations... 50% extra man-power relative to an Army formation. All during this frenetic military activity -- FDR was kicking it back with his doctor and Congress. He did not micro-manage the Pentagon.
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Maaku Too That's exactly my point. They have a grossly over-sized army BECAUSE it has no external threats -- and the ONLY viable attacks Red China can make are via LAND -- ie SIBERIA.
There is no way on this Earth that Xi can directly threaten Moscow. It's simply too powerful -- and way too atomic. Its huge atomic stash is huge BECAUSE it's required to scare off Beijing.
Both Beijing and Moscow are developing hypersonic weapons that ONLY make sense if aimed at each other. By definition, a hypersonic weapon is not inter-continental. You lose distance once you bring your weapon down into the atmosphere. This means that both Russia and Red China are WELL within hypersonic range of each other -- they have a common border -- and they are OUTSIDE hypersonic range of America.
Existing ICBMs are MORE than sufficient to totally deter the USA -- and they plainly do so.
As configured, Russian and Red Chinese hypersonics are oriented towards a sneak attack upon each other. All other powers, (France, Britain, America) are already never going to launch an atomic attack on either authoritarian state.
The investment and priorities of hypersonic weapons make so little strategic sense for both nations to the point that the Pentagon and American think tanks simply can't comprehend why.
It's only when you realize that these weapons are facing off against each other that things fall into place.
As for invading Taiwan -- an alien nation -- it's the classic kill-the-chicken-to-scare-the-monkey logic.
Likewise, the Russians continually provoke the West with military displays that Moscow dares not use near Red China. Putin knows that psycho-man is very, very likely to take things BADLY. So he's scaring the chicken to scare the monkey. He knows that he can perform all manner of bluff and show WITHOUT NATO blasting Moscow into oblivion. But, the CCP has shown that it's raring to fight India, Taiwan and the USN.
The whole bio-warfare lab at Wuhan tells the entire planet where Beijing's head is at. And it's not a good place.
All evidence and statistical logic indicates that Red China has lost more souls to its bio-weapon than the rest of the planet. But, if you read the CCP's press releases, that nation really has no pandemic underway. Hah!
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Artur, Trump has ALREADY turned the screws on Putin. But, you didn't read about it. It's in the financial pages.
Trump is doing what Sullivan-Biden failed to - - kick Putin entirely out of the banking system.
Xi and Modi have been notified that any move to save Putin's bacon means prompt, brutal tariffs.
Neither nation can handle them. In China and India, exporters are tearing their hair out... already.
Trump is actually punishing both for prior actions -- their years-long support of Putin. Now, that does not look so smart.
Trump has nixed the waivers that permitted EU nations to continue to pay Putin for his gas and oil. They're gone!
So, Hungary and Slovakia, et al, can't pay Putin regular-way if they buy from Putin.
They'd have to meet at night, near the corner drugstore, and exchange gold bullion.
(Turkey and Iran actually did this. It became a national scandal in Turkey... and beyond. )
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A lot of errors: The critical junction was at Saint Vith. This was the nexus of the road network needed by 6th Panzer Army -- which had, by far, the priority for everything. It was evacuated by Monty's order -- much to the dismay of many American commanders. ( General Gavin was choking on retreat orders given to his 82nd boys -- which came from Monty, too.) St. Vith was far more important than Bastogne -- which was the choke point for 5th Panzer Army, the lesser of the two panzer armies.
The 6th Panzer Army was much closer to the Meuse crossings -- and much closer to Antwerp. It was by far the most dangerous threat.
That's why the 82nd went up North, to reinforce St. Vith's flank, and its junior buddy, the 101st was vectored to Bastogne.
The British action in this campaign was utterly trivial -- yet Fleet Street has totally distorted said action into prominence. And Mark has carried on their mission.
It was the US 2nd Armored that devastated the German 2nd Panzer which gutted the panzer force. The 2nd Panzer lost its Panthers, with the few survivors running out of gasoline, the panzer troops retreating on foot. The same thing happened with Piper's spearhead Panthers and King Tigers. ALL were lost to the US 30th Infantry, reinforced with a parachute regiment. Indeed, this action was written up in Reader's Digest, with the account of a captured US Major who was escorted through the battle with Piper & Company. SS morale fell so low that the Major just walked away.
Days earlier, it had been sky high. Piper & Company were down to small arms, sneaking back to German lines. He'd lost a super-strength panzer regiment -- completely.
The XXX Corps was not supposed to even cross East of the Meuse -- but Monty just HAD to throw in a gratuitous British attack so as to get ink with Fleet Street. His actions and utterances nearly cost him his AG command. It was MONTY that pitched the notion repeated by Mr. Felton in the above video, namely that the British Army had bailed out the Americans by stopping the Nazi attack. Ike was FURIOUS. The assertion was a bald-faced lie.
Freddie de Guingand, his Chief of Staff, alerted Monty as to his faux pas, and then had to draft a submission letter (apology) so as to retain Monty's command of 21st Army Group.
Monty was so full of himself that he'd forgotten FM Alexander -- his former boss -- (!!!!!) who Ike was sure to propose as Monty's replacement.
{ When Freddie mentioned FM Alexander -- his superior in rank and command -- Monty went pale. }
( FM Alexander was already running the Med Theater for Ike. He was universally popular. A theater commander out-ranks an army group commander -- and Alexander had an unblemished record, Hollywood good looks, and more time-in-service as a Field Marshall. Yikes! )
Northwind got the reinforcements that Hitler intended for the Bulge. The 28th Infantry was the central infantry division of VIII Corps, December 16, 1944. Bradley had commanded the 82nd and 28th divisions before shunting off to North Africa. So both formations were loaded with his officer picks. After the Bulge, the 28th was vectored to Northwind -- with the specific instruction (by Bradley) that the 110th Regiment NOT be committed to battle. It was the unit that was shattered at Clervaux. So... it was committed, anyway.
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@phuckyu3383 My numbers come from Ukrainian and French officialdom.
From what I've read, these are all brand new machines. Yes, they didn't even come out of storage.
The first (18) were supposed to go to Morocco, IIRC. (They were awaiting shipment -- which I take to mean: payment.) It was only at the last second that Macon intervened and had them sent to Ukraine.
[ Morocco and Algeria don't like each other.]
Macron promised (6) more Caesars the last time he visited Zelenskyy.
The (French) Press cranked out a video showing (3) Caesars in action a few weeks back. During that video, the French made sure that the existence of (18) machines in Ukrainian service came out. Since the broadcaster was, and is, the French government's mouthpiece (it's state owned) I figure that this video amounts to Paris bragging.
I'd rate each Caesar as having thrice the net combat effect of an M777 howitzer. It does not need a howitzer pit. I can't imagine how Russia can find and destroy one.
Both Caesar and Archer (Sweden) are mighty new designs and can be declared state-of-the-art.
The M109 is old in chassis -- but up-graded so often -- with so many variants -- that you can say it's been in continuous improvement for decades. The moment Russian counter-battery threats are eliminated, these machines will magnify Ukraine's artillery concentrations.
I'm amazed that the M198 is not in the picture. The USA has so many looking for something to do. Like the M109, they will weigh in only after Russian counter-battery assets are dealt with.
Putin is facing an exponential rise in Ukrainian artillery assets.
Lastly, it's not announced, but you can figure the US is ramping up the production of 152mm ammo. As you might imagine, the US DoD has more ammo capacity than any other nation on Earth. 96% of that capacity has been off-line => in mothballs. The flood WILL come, it will come by ship.
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While both are corrupt has Hell, Putin has to genuinely fear his own crew. Not so Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy, not Vance, not Trump, bit the hand that feeds him.
European powers have rummaged through their bone yards to 'support' Ukraine.
The stuff Zelenskyy really needs is still in proto-type or brand-new production.
Europe's military cupboard is BARE. Israel could put up a better fight.
Germany, et al, are so naked that they don't want new military production to leave their hands.
Germany is sending two-howitzers per month. Wow. She honestly can't do any better!
Like Britain, France, Italy, Germany is still producing at peace time tempos.
There are videos on YT showing just how slow their factories are.
Instead, the Europeans are more than willing to write checks and also to let Zelenskyy build his own war plants.
Which should scare Putin.
Trump's deepest fear is that Xi is going to swallow up Siberia.
If that happens, how can the USN interdict Xi's economy?
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@davidcurry4433 I'll let the courts decide.
It's obvious that you've ALREADY tried him -- and found him innocent. AFAIK, he hasn't even been formally charged at court. Instead, mere warrants have been issued. Even a traffic citation is a warrant to appear.
The government's case is shaky enough that a solid attorney may have the charges thrown out. Jullian has never answered yea or nay to the charges.
Instead, Julian acts all the world like a man with a very guilty mind. But a defendants mental opinion can't convict him.
It does say something that Obama wanted his person. He could've easily granted Julian a pardon without justification. Greenwald et. al have made the plea. Trump was just as insistent, as is Biden.
Everything points to Julian getting American 'assets' murdered in the field. I'm sure that the government will contend that he abetted such a crime by way of reckless disregard for human life. The 'story' the exposé was more important to him. He's THAT narcissistic. I'd also say that he's figured all of the above out.
In British, American and Australian law, manslaughter would be the charge -- and 25-years could be the sentence... depending upon aggravating factors.
One factor: Julian has no track record of exposing Putin, his cronies, or the Kremlin.
This absolutely kills his 'impartial media status.' Many of his exposés were cut-outs for Russian anti-American agitprop.
A lot of the naughty stuff committed by contractors in Iraq could've been prosecuted. But not after Julian went global. He made legal pursuit impossible, for he had 'tried' the perps in the press. This legal standard is exactly why you always hear the Press declaring someone as an ALLEGED perp.
Julian didn't adhere to THE conventional legal standard required of the Press: to not prejudice a case, ruin the rights of a defendant.
Naturally, now JULIAN wants the right of the defendant protected -- because he's IT.
Suddenly, he got religion.
Greenwald, et. al defend Julian -- and ignore the body count -- which spans years. Because of Julian, no end of perps have been able to walk free. Instead, the blame for the violent misdeeds of the few are laid across the entire American polity -- if not culture.
Moscow is thrilled. One can not doubt that Julian was warned off by the Kremlin lest he get any ideas about exposing its crime family. He obeyed. That harshes his defense.
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The Soviets were Big into central planning -- and central heating.
After WWII, they pushed the Soviet bloc towards a single heating solution for all urban areas: a socialist heating plant -- usually near the center of town.
Nearby because, like Con Ed in New York City, these plants pumped steam and hot water to high rise buildings nearby, which didn't have their own boilers.
The original fuel was coal, later oil -- and still later natural gas.
These utilities are still in use. They are still multi-fuel -- usually. Natural gas was finally adopted because Putin made it cheap.
Middle distillate oil (heating fuel oil) had become rather pricey.
This scheme runs through Poland, Bulgaria - and I suspect - even Romania. It has a lot of advantages -- especially social control.
Uppity citizens can have their heat cut off PDQ. You can see it's appeal to Moscow.
What all of this means: a tremendous amount of Putin's lost gas can be replaced at a stroke by middle distillate imports. (Yanbu, KSA?)
It's the price that's a pain. The West should pitch in with some subsidies for front-line eastern NATO nations.
Next, Poland needs to start fracking natural gas from its own massive deposits.
Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus all sit atop a massive continental scale tight sand, frackable, seam.
Where ancient geology permitted, (Holland) this gas accumulated into a plain vanilla natural gas deposit.
Putin's cash has gone to various Green factions to stop European fracking. Now you know why. Europe doesn't ultimately need American nat gas.
And natural gas is as green as a fossil fuel can get. BTW, it was not created from fossils, usually.
Methane was trapped during Earth's birth. It's everywhere in the outer planets. So there's no surprise about where it came from.
Methane with absolutely no C14 = non-biological origin. Most methane has this character. Didn't you know that?
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@Relax25588 The oil that Putin exports from St. Petersburg sails in hulls he does not own, captained by aliens, with foreign crews. The ships involved are, by industry standards, shallow draft. (Not ULCC, not VLCC) They are mere super-tankers.
The Gulf of Finland is too shallow to bring in the Big Boys.
Should Putin manage to contract a ship -- said ship can't sail to India, let alone Red China. They were never built with sufficient fuel bunkers. They would need to refuel along the way. But no NATO, no Western, nation will permit it... AND no Western crew will show up.
It's for the above reasons that only a modest increase in oil sales by Putin to India are even possible.
As for Red China, they are getting theirs by pipeline and by Putin's Far Eastern terminal. Both are maxed out -- and have been for some time.
But, ultimately, Putin is piling up cash like a criminal baron. He (largely) can't spend it -- not on the physical trade goods that he requires: microchips, PLCs, bearings, tool bits, etc.
That's why his two largest tank factories are on hiatus. Like Ford and GM, they face a chip shortage. Unlike the American giants, Putin's factories can't fix the shortage.
BTW, the vast bulk of Putin's tank park sits as Siberian rust. They'd have to be re-manufactured -- and that would take too long to affect events.
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Folks, once Graber got across Arnhem bridge -- before Frost even reached it -- the ENTIRE operation was dead.
Nijmegen bridge became ENTIRELY irrelevant with Graber owning the southern end of the Arnhem bridge.
Browning is the ONLY fella that can be blamed, he set the landing zones, and overruled Urquhart and Gavin's requests to land on the critical ISLAND.
The land between Nijmegen and Arnhem is an ISLAND. Until the bridges were built, that farmland was accessed by river ferry. The Germans used one of those ferries to shift men onto the island even after Frost interdicted the Arnhem bridge.
Without the Arnhem bridge Market Garden was DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. It's that simple.
Browning was 'fired' ASAP, by Monty; sent in disgrace off to hide in India, to a staff job of no importance. When you're an army commander, that's pure punishment.
Gavin was promoted to major general instantly after Market Garden.
Those are the irrefutable facts of Market Garden.
XXX Corps, the Americans, the Poles are all irrelevant side players, reduced to that status by the critical flaw in Brown's plan.
Monty can't really be blamed, as he deferred to Browning as England's absolute expert in airborne operations... for understandable reasons. That's why MG doesn't even look like a Montgomery operation. Set-piece battles were his speciality.
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It's no simple thing when a mad-man controls 6,000 atomic warheads -- AND an imperialist ideology -- that functions from an insane revision of history AND a defensive mind-set. Remember, AH got far based on German's resentment of the fiasco of WWI. His was a totally phony history.
We are in luck, though. Putin has destroyed his own army.
I can't see Peter making it through confirmation. The dude doesn't wash his hands. That's just WEIRD, too weird.
Peter's role is NOT to run the DoD -- but to weed out DEI. That's IT. Congress, aides, are going to make ALL of the Big Decisions.
Hell, Austin is so irrelevant that when he went AWOL no-one cared. True.
Your understanding of how the Executive Branch operates is wholly deficient. You're describing CONGRESS.
No president can achieve ANYTHING for the American voter if his administration is riven with second guessers.
Second guessing is what ruined Trump's first term in office. Carter found his crew defied himself at every turn. ( In his case, probably for the best. )
Reagan found that everyone rowed together.
I want Putin to be overthrown. Military defeat is NOT sufficient. Imagine Adolf surviving in office !
BTW, the Russian army is almost in full rebellion. This is why Putin is purging it all over again.
BTW, Xi has been ejected from total control of the PLA. It turns out the DF-21 is THE perfect missile to de-capitate Xi, himself. Oops.
Now, he doesn't trust his rocket troops. Imagine that.
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How in the WORLD can you put out this video? Yeltsin's revelations A GENERATION AGO make in plain as ink on paper that the Soviet-Nazi Pact was a CONTRACT FOR WAR. They were ALLIED -- militarily -- kind-of -- by the Pact. They'd long had military ties -- going back into the 1920s -- on the down-low. By the Pact, the War started August 23, 1939. It was locked in BY CONTRACT. Stalin cleverly stalled his invasion with excuses to Berlin. By doing so, he conned the entire planet into thinking that the war was Hitler's exclusive property.
But the fact is that the Pact was solely written by STALIN. Hitler simply signed ANYTHING Stalin wanted. Hitler had to settle for a copy -- Stalin held back the original. Yeltsin produced that original. In its pages you can find Stalin's signature and his fat pencil demarcating just how much of Poland he wanted. Stalin then attacked EVERY Western neighbor after he entered Poland: Finland, Romania, every Baltic state, and let's not forget, he nabbed the Eastern passes of the Slovaks.
The Pact had an economic angle, too. Stalin was eliminating the corset that Britain, France and the US that put Adolf in a bind -- especially on RUBBER. Modern war needs no end of rubber. Britain and France held virtually all of the rubber in international trade. Even though a producer, (Ford-Brazil) America consumed so much rubber that she was the number one importer. (think cars)
What stopped France was that Russia had ALWAYS been the antagonist of Germany. Paris figured that the devils would surely fall out. Which they did. But the USSR + Nazi Germany was too much for France + British Empire. It took the USA to entirely change the equation. It took Adolf to put America, Britain, France and the USSR on the same page. Crazy is, as crazy does.
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Critically, and for decades keep secret in all memoirs -- the ENTIRE Ju-52 fleet was grounded when Hitler arrived at the front to direct Guderian SOUTH. Yes, the Luftwaffe had been bailing out the Heer -- and especially itself -- by fling critical repair parts and even petrol all the way to the front. The Red Air Force was 'missing' at this point of the war, so the Luftwaffe got away with murder. The Luftwaffe would no longer be able to bail out the panzer spearheads -- and Hoth and Guderian wanted to know why. Like the IJN's deceits to Tojo, the Luftwaffe air-cargo command was hiding just how many Ju-52s were grounded because they landed on Russian farmland -- with NO PREPARATIONS to speak of. The contrast with the USAAF, USMC, et. al is striking. On a total panic basis, Junkers came out with a repair-kit solution that was then cranked out by every manufacturer in sight... including its rivals. ( I was a simple kit. ) All of this was done on oral orders. Don't look for surviving documents unless you're Mr. Lucky.
Point #2 -- The Russian rail grid was NEVER BALLASTED in the daze of the Tsar. You know, the fella that laid a straight-edge on a map and directed the builders of HIS railroad to follow that line -- skipping all of the peasants between Saint Petersberg and Moscow. The Tsar was never going to ride the rails during the mud-seasons -- so think of all the money he saved by not hauling ballast all across Mother Russia. Further, unlike Western Nations, in the west of Russia there were virtually no hard-rock quarries to speak of. They would have to be built -- on a panic basis -- if you wanted quality ballast. Common rocks just don't suffice. We're talking about, ultimately, millions of tons of ballast -- that had to be hauled a vast distance before it could be laid under the sleepers/railroad ties. The ONLY double-track run in the USSR ran from Karkov to Moscow. It was so built because Stalin constructed a VAST, VAST rank of food warehouses to hold all of the grain the KGB stole from the growers. They were NOT burned down -- but captured during 1941 -- because burning Moscow's food supply was too daunting without a written Stalin order. ( I'm sure you all remember the mega-warehouse that held Leningrad's food for the winter. It was so huge that the Germans blew it up first -- with Ju-87s. Same thing here.) This Moscow-Karkov connection explains why so many mega-battles were fought nearby. Stalin never failed to shunt reinforcements there. From Autumn 41 to Summer of 43, count how many battles were a two-day drive from Karkov.
Because the ENTIRE system ( exception noted ) was unballasted ( a surprise for the Germans ) it basically shut down during the mud months. By shut down I mean that the main-line locomotives would fall off the rails into the mud. Thousands of Soviet engineers entered the GULAG with that blot on their record!
The change of rail gauge is wildly over-emphasized. The KILLERS were a total lack of ballast -- everywhere you turned -- and destroyed sleepers -- by the million. Green lumber makes for rotten -- and rotting sleepers. Even pulling cross-ties out of France -- and rails, too -- could not rescue the Germans. BTW, the CSA -- circa 1863 -- -showed how a single locomotive can destroy thousands of sleepers in a day by using a custom sleeper-plow. That lesson was not forgotten by the Reds.
Finally, when the Red Army needed to link Stalingrad to Astrakhan -- they built 15 KM a day -- by not laying ballast under their sleepers -- and skipping two out of three as they moved ahead. In this they were entirely replicating the American approach, for that was how the first track was laid to craft the Continental Railroad. The missing cross-ties were inserted after-the-fact by 'repair' crews. It was important that the money was in the bank, first. When this tempo of track lay-down was photographed by the Luftwaffe, the Heer was stunned.
The Nazis were defeated by the Soviet rail net. The Nazi Power of the Will did not pencil out.
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The only gambit that had a chance: ships in the Baltic change the numbers for AGN. Barges in the Black sea change the number for AGS.
BTW, Hitler was wrong, way wrong. AGN HAD to be the priority -- BECAUSE it could be supported by Baltic shipping -- especially to include barges. Yes, the Krauts DID use barges -- both north and south, too. However, they did so in a most trivial fashion. So much so that most histories don't even mention it having even happened.
It is critical to Nazi success to reduce the scope of the mega-campaign. Once Leningrad is captured, it becomes a port for Germany. Leningrad is the CENTRAL point for Soviet heavy industry -- in 1941. It's where Soviet heavy tanks were designed and produced. It's where the Russian rail system started. (British imports, later the French...)
It's a critical city for the Soviet economy for just this reason.
Once Leningrad is taken 4th Panzer Army is permanently released to AGC. All of this had to happen at lightning speed -- only possible if the Baltic sea link is employed.
AGS has the same dynamic -- logistically. However, Stalin made sure that Ukraine had NOTHING. The entire 'southern orientation' was flatly wrong. 1st Panzer Army should've been allocated to AGC. Yes, it needed all four panzer armies... all of the trucks to speak of.
Slid past, steam locomotives need water tanks -- just all over. Most trains could not travel 100kM without getting watered up... usually much less. Freights ( known as 'drags' in the industry ) suck down water. (It's the weight.) The Germans critically needed Diesel-electric locomotives at the front -- for they would not need so much support. They would also burn heavy middle distillate (ie Diesel fuel) that no others could use -- and which coal-to-liquids plants produce in massive amounts.
The entire campaign was based upon emotion. Crazy, it was. Hitler lost the moment he crossed the frontier. You can't win a motorized war without oil. Period.
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@tobias9859 The defense never has to look all that sharp.
It's the invader who has to perform brilliantly.
Ukraine is looking awfully good, though. It has already a larger army.
But, it's short on weapons for its instant army, plainly. It does not make the news, but all manner of trivial military gear is flowing into Ukraine. (Helmets, body armor, boots...)
Zelensky is growing an army that will soon be larger than Putin's. It just won't ever have the big equipment, tanks, APCs, artillery, sufficient to go on offense against the Russian Army.
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@aksmex2576 Defenders can lose entire armies (See USSR 1941) and carry on. Attackers are in hot water if they lose entire armies.
( See Stalingrad 1942-3)
My numbers are based on historical norms for ACTIVE operations.
Much of WWI was practically silent -- as all combatants had bled them selves white. Whereas, during intense operations, casualties went far, far higher than 1% per day. France and Germany lost entire divisions per day at Verdun.
Putin simply has a TOTALLY insufficient force for his tasking. Any lines you see on these battle maps are really frauds. No-one is actually standing within firing range for most of the perimeter.
Again: WWII Eastern Front. The Krauts found that it was totally impossible to follow their standard defense. They had to resort to 'faking' a front line with hedge-hog positions -- backed up by semi-rapid panzer reaction forces. (Think Stug IIIs)
Right now, the 'front line' if I dare misuse that term, is largely guarded by drones and TV cameras, aerial and ground based. If the enemy is detected, then a rapid reaction force is vectored. (Helicopters/ APCs, etc.) Putin has the technology, he just doesn't have the manpower. If he lets the boys get too thin on the ground, the Ukrainians will scoop them up. (Desertions are epic in Russian ranks; Putin lied to his boys.)
My historically based stats seem high because they include desertions.
5,000 KIA
15,000 Wounded
2,500 MIA -- Battle captures - POW
2,500 MIA -- Deserted & Surrendered POW
Kiev has found PLENTY of boys in the final category. They deserted because Ukraine is a brother country, there are no Nazis, and because they were lied to. They have my sympathy.
The 'Battle captures' include a lot of wounded troops, now in Ukrainian care. Many didn't surrender, they were unconscious when taken by Ukraine.
I use historical norms because every official source is either lying or guestimating. Real stats won't shake out for weeks and weeks. POWs always start out as MIA. Then the paperwork finally comes through. This can take a lot of time. Even KIA start out as MIA.
For Putin all that matters is that active troop strength keeps falling, falling, falling. In contrast, Zelenskyy's instant army keeps growing by leaps and bounds.
Napoleon faced this dynamic two-centuries ago. His enemies always out-numbered his troops. When they finally got their whole act together -- it was the Battle of Nations.(1813) He was blown out, of course.
The Russian Army in the field is becoming out-numbered. Not out-equipped -- out-numbered. The flipping point is directly at hand. Things are moving that fast.
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@savaronsw6596 Going back into English (language) history:
A 'forest' originally meant what today would be termed 'old growth forest.' Tall tree zones that had never seen a woodsman's ax, typically up in the mountains or far north -- but not always.
A 'wood' originally meant lands that had been previously harvested (usually) within living memory but which now featured trees of adult size in great profusion. Going even further, a 'wood' would feature stumps that were re-growing -- that had never died as a result of being chopped down. Such re-growth was totally unsuitable for building anything of substance -- but was quite suitable as firewood. (A lot easier to chop down.)
Over the centuries, old growth forests have vanished almost entirely. So the term 'forest' shifted over to describe merely vast lands of great wildness and adult (very tall) trees -- especially coniferous ones.
You might note that on French or English maps, 'woods' are always not too far from habitation -- whereas 'forests' are always way, way off into the 'sticks.'
The density of tall trees is also a factor.
Because language soon gets sloppy -- you'll often come across speakers telling of forests that cartographers would rate as 'woods.'
There are very few untouched forests in all of Ukraine (or Russia west of the Urals)... and these usually exist inside national parks/preserves.
Back all those centuries ago, 'forests' were scary places where dangerous things could happen. Whereas 'woods' were where it was okay to take the family for a picnic... or harvest charcoal. In both the Wizard of Oz and Lord of the Rings, audiences were shown just how scary a forest could be. Pagan shamans asserted that such areas were haunted by tree spirits.
What's relevant WRT Ukrainian woods is tree density. It's low enough that tanks and APCs can roam through them without too much bother. At the same time, they do provide some overhead visual cover. Yet, drones with trick IR vision systems now can see right through to the heat -- rather ruining the cover foliage would seem to provide. Ukrainian trees are just not tall enough, dense enough, to frustrate tank detection by drones.
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@Xuan
Panzerfausts operated as a deterent more than anything.
The operator was expected to fire from a spider hole, building or rubble, though training films show guys firing largely from the open, for obvious camera needs.
They were effective enough that when found by Americans, they were ALWAYS snapped up, being deemed much better than the Bazooka.
US Army stats show that tank destroyers were almost always used in the same role as the early versions of the German Mark Four tank: namely to fire high explosives, indirectly, from immediately behind the forward edge of the battle front. Hence high explosive rounds fired indirectly out numbered direct fire shots 11:1. { Like the Germans, the USA just loved to collect statistics.)
After the war, the USA determined that entire concept ought to be dropped, and so it was.
The open top did make for easy ammo loading... very handy when firing so many shots indirectly, but not so hot when receiving counter-battery fire.
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@Marko
You're deluded. Patton was relegated to 3rd Army because Hitler flatly told the Baron that if he showed up any earlier, he'd unleash his entire strategic reserve at once.
As for Bradley, he was never intended to be 12th Army Group commander. McNair was. But you can't lead when you're dead.
Promptly after McNair died at the front, Marshall had to make Bradley AG commander. There was absolutely no-one else in a position to move up, not even Patton. And Patton had already shown that he could go off the rails. Whereas Bradley was a Marshall boy to the core.
Bradley naturally took his 1st Army staff -- on no notice -- and kicked McNair's staff out of the way. Bradley never explained in his writings who his staff replaced ultra-quick. He pretended that McNair's staff wasn't even in the theatre.
But he facts are that McNair was ONLY there to take command of 12th AG. He was at the front to familiarize himself and to show his flag and his bona fides, which cost him his life.
Patton didn't need ANY education from Bradley, the other-way-round happened all the time.
The Cobra breakout was Patton's idea, not Bradley. Patton wrote it all up in his diary BEFORE he met Bradley in Normandy. Bradley instantly adopted it as his own -- and lied about all of this to the end of his days. Of course, Cobra has Patton's style all over it, not Bradley's.
Patton didn't need ANY explanation WRT the broad front. You won't find Patton begging for a narrow thrust into Germany -- the Monty plea. Patton just wanted to remain in supply. After that, he didn't really care what the other armies were doing -- not all that much.
His ego was such that naturally he figured he'd somehow end up in the vanguard.
Reason #1 was that HIS was the traditional invasion route going back to ancient times. All other armies were marching towards either a forest wall or epic river crossings. In the south, crossing the Rhine is tough, but not ridiculous.
When it happened, Patton didn't even need an artillery prep. He actually snuck across! The total lack of artillery completely faked out the Germans. Normally, artillery is the American calling card. The Germans figured that they'd have hours of advance notice, and so should hold back from the river, only advancing when the artillery fire calmed down. This thinking was exactly what Patton saw coming.
Marko, it's obvious that you post to troll, as you don't have any insightful commentary.
As for logistics, those were ENTIRELY handled by General Lee. He had a supply army that was fifteen times the size of the fighting front. Consequently, all front line commanders never had to sweat logistics whatsoever. It was totally outside their command. All that was necessary was phone calls and paperwork. And up the trucks would come, by the thousand.
Inre Rommel, his problem was MALTA. Bletchley Park, and the RAF. Bletchley was finking on Rommel -- telling Monty just how rotten his supply situation was. Indeed, at one point, Monty had to disobey orders and inform Smuts that London was reading German transmissions. This news was delivered in person, in private, and so that Smuts would continue to press the line with his blooded South African division. This he did. It was this final attack that broke Rommel's position. (near the coast, XIII Corps, IIRC)
Operationally, Rommel was brilliant, with a ton of prior battles to demonstrate his expertise. So you're post indicates that you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
As for myself, 45 years of obsession builds a picture.
If there was any money in it, I'd write my own history of the war.
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@John Burns
Can't you get ANYTHING right?
Patton had no involvement with the 17 Airborne Division. Hard to imagine him opining on it. It was up with 21st Army Group, so it's not as if he'd even be getting after action reports.
The path to Bastogne was blocked by the 7th German Parachute Division. The fighting went on around the clock -- in the dead of Winter. The fighting was so intense that the leading American battalion and its counter part German defender lost ALL of their officers... save a single American Lt. Every local building was flattened -- except for their cellars -- which is where you'd find surviving locals.
The rest of your drivel is so crazy and off base it constitutes an Alternate Reality.
BTW, the #1 detractor of Patton is and remains Bradley. He was a real meat-grinder. ( Hurtgen ) Patton has the best stats, going away.
The reason that the Panther Brigades existed was because Adolf had given up on the Heer. He had no intention of ever rebuilding formations that lacked the correct Nazi zeal. These brigades were, AFAIK, ALWAYS given Panthers. I've never heard of one getting Mark IV tanks.
Green troops routinely destroyed the final drive// transmission of their Panthers. In one battle -- against Patton's 4th Armored -- 35 Panthers were ruined and lost from this very fault in a single afternoon. This was a crisis for Berlin. Speer was called in to face Hitler over the issue.
It was resolved that the drivers needed more training -- and that -- above all -- Panthers had to be driven slowly, softly, whenever they went 'off-road.' The published stats for Panthers proved to be all wrong. Because of the weakly engineered final drive (the Panther was over-weight) panzer crews were instructed to take it easy, to never apply full power from a dead start.
It's for this reason the typical wargame values for Panther mobility are MILES off from reality. It ended up being a slower tank than the Mark IV. ( On flat level, paved, test track ground, it could look impressive, however. )
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@John Burns
Get help.
The reason that Ike couldn't let Patton touch Overload was due to Purple intercepts -- achieved by the British. The US had given London one Purple machine. Though it's a diplomatic code -- and you'd think it couldn't carry much military info...
Hitler talked up a storm with Baron Oshima:
I hope the wiki survives YouTube:
"Baron Hiroshi Ōshima (大島 浩 Ōshima Hiroshi, April 19, 1886 – June 6, 1975) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Japanese ambassador to Germany before and during World War II — and unwittingly a major source of communications intelligence for the Allies. His role was perhaps best summed up by General George C. Marshall, who identified Ōshima as "our main basis of information regarding Hitler's intentions in Europe". After World War II, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment."
The Baron's most important contribution to the Allies was by way of telling us that Hitler was waiting for PATTON to show up before he'd release his entire strategic reserve.
Meaning, in this instance, the 1st SS Panzer Corps.
Contrary to popular histories, Hitler did NOT block the deployment of his panzer divisions. Just this corps, and a few Heer divisions. (116th immediately comes to mind )
In the event, the 12th SS was committed anyway by Hitler.
The 21st Panzer was automatically committed, even without contacting Berlin.
At every HQ there was a notice on the door:
If the Allies landed parachutists -- real or dummies -- a landing was on. All local forces were to be committed without further ado, by order of the Fuhrer. ( Other conditions would also trigger panzer release, but this one sticks out the most. Parachute dummies were detected no later than 12:30AM. They didn't put up much of a fight, BTW.)
Amazingly, most German commanders forgot this and other standing orders June 6, 1944 -- they were that excited.
It's with the above knowledge that you may come to realize why Patton's arrival was so delayed and why Hitler was paralysed about committing his panzers out of 15th Army. Instead, they just trickled in.
Our Russian friends ought to be reminded that the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were withdrawn from Poland to reinforce the German position in front of Caen. Then Bagration occurred. Whoops.
The Allies had sucked off: 1p,2p,9p,10p, 12p, 17mot SS divisions -- just in France alone.
The Russians faced 3p,5p,6p SS panzers. The rest were a motley crew of SS infantry and police units usually tasked with atrocities.
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@Sanders... don't write for me.
Compared to the Germans, the US Army had virtually infinite supplies -- as every captured German attested.
Bradley told Lee that he didn't need much more artillery after the break-out. That's how severe Victory Disease had gotten. This promptly led to ANOTHER supply crisis -- totally self-inflicted. It was patched over by using 6th Army Group's artillery supplies. Since these were trucked in FORD, not GMC trucks, Devers had to bring the ammo up out of Marseilles in Fords into the rear areas of 12th AG. Then the stuff was moved from Fords to GMCs for the next leg of the journey -- to 9th, 1st and 3rd Armies. (!) This crisis is mentioned by Bradley in his second autobiography of the campaign -- but almost entirely over looked by historians.
Marseilles was never crippled like Cherbourg, so 7th Army was able to start importing supplies right from the docks almost from the first. They had so many supplies that they fitted out 1st French Army -- on the fly. (!) Yup. This was totally unanticipated. The Rhone river valley boys had totally missed out on the 1940 campaign. They fell out into their ranks as the 7th Army advanced up country. They had their uniforms, they were trained reservists. They were missing all weapons. so 7th US Army simply diverted their supplies to flesh these divisions out. THAT'S how well endowed the US Army was -- across the board.
Somehow it doesn't sink in: the Allied generals were LYING: the V-2 problem caused ALL OTHER PRIORITIES to take a back seat. This is something that simply could not be admitted to at the time, nor even after the war. The V-2 problem is why Ike was brought around to accepting Monty's pitch in one single session -- Bradley and Patton had a fit. They were not consulted for any counter proposals.
BTW, note the goofs: the Brits missed the ferries -- both of them -- they failed to ask for jeeps, DUKWs -- both would've been decisive for MG.
My own Father sat on his azz during this period. The gasoline was just piling up in the PULTO storage tanks. No attempt was being made to drive it to the front PERIOD. Get it?
America had thousands of trucks IDLED at this time. Yup. When this latter on proved mighty embarrassing, it was scrubbed from the official accounts. There was NO WAY to make it look good.
General Lee had FAR MORE manpower than the front line army commanders. When Bradley pleaded for them to be diverted to his cause -- he was shot down in flames. Supply troops were simply not at all set up for front line duties. After basic, they'd never touched a rifle -- as a rule. As it was, Bradley was getting a regiment every 24 hours. He then wasted them in the Hurtgen -- another tale that the Army history does not want brought to full exposure.
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@Sanders...
At the scale of armies, Patton couldn't pull off the theft/ diversion you're dreaming of. One, he'd have to steal it all from Bradley, his boss. Such a stunt would get him sent back to the states. The diversion is a MYTH. 1st Army and 9th Army never faced shortages because of 3rd army. They got clipped by IKE and LEE. There were absolutely no work-arounds. A couple of sergeants have absolutely no influence at the scale required. They certainly DID help out with table chow. I'll give you that pranks were pulled. However, they didn't amount to a hill of beans.
The biggest drain on the supply echelon was the FRENCH civilians. Paris, alone, was a PITA. It sucked down supplies like an entire army. When the Black Market is invoked -- think Paris. The Allies found that feeding the civilians could not be avoided. This task was not in their battle plans. It never quite occurred to Allied commanders that blowing every rail bridge in France would then compel them to throw in thousands of trucks just to haul food to Paris.
My Father bitterly complained for decades about hauling coal to Paris on the Red Ball express. He couldn't understand it. I had to spell it out: French trains ran on coal. The French coal fields were still under German control, and the lines between Paris and the east were all busted up. THAT'S why thousands of tons of British coal was shipped on a panic basis to Paris in August. They didn't need it for heat -- but for their trains.
You'll look a VERY long time trying to find out about any of this in the written histories. Bringing the French rail net back up and running is deemed an unimportant side-show to the war. Of course, once it was running, the Red Ball was not needed. The trains were restored almost at the same time that Monty cleared the Scheldt.
Even Cherbourg became operational late in 1944, right in front of the worst weather. It became insanely busy straight through to the end of the war.
The PLUTO net was also doubled -- bringing pipes in in the Calais region on top of the Cherbourg operation. This is another event that is hard to find about in histories. You'd have to really dial deep to know of it. PLUTO was an awesome British invention -- and extremely significant for the prosecution of the campaign. It gets short shrift.
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@Sanders... the US armies were NOT in the British supply train. They NEVER took supplies away from 21st Army Group... EVER. PLUTO was designed and scaled from the outset for ALL of the Allied forces. So it was never the issue.
The 2,000 GMC trucks that Monty demanded -- he got. Their primary role, apparently, was to hump even more gasoline from PLUTO to the front. It would've been MUCH wiser for Monty to allocate the GMCs to XXX Corps. They were the only machines that had any chance at leaving the road (up on a berm) without instantly bogging down. Even so, they'd have to be only lightly loaded. Further, they'd have to fan out. The polders can't support repeated traffic. So every truck needed to create its own path.
No matter how strongly Bradley and Patton protested, modern Brits refuse to believe that these generals were CUT OFF from gasoline -- by Ike's order. Ike well knew that Patton would instantly try and make 'rock soup.' ( It's a hobo story, retold by Patton. )
Patton did NOT advance in an insubordinate manner. He advanced too rapidly to suit Monty because Patton had no rivers to cross! His only barrier, the Seine was solved by the Paris bridge network, which was not blown up. In contrast, everyone north of him faced ever widening rivers -- with Monty facing the worst of it. Just look at a map.
THIS is the reason why Patton was thrilled to be relegated to the southern arm of the advance. As a historian he knew that this was the traditional invasion route. Somehow that legacy does not sink in.
What really got Patton's goat was that he was almost able to take Metz via motor march. When he first approached it it was largely EMPTY. MG and the weather shift turned a cake-walk into a PITA. Patton KNEW that he was racing the calendar. He'd fought in that general area in WWI.
Stopping the Allied advance for a FULL week was a strategic gaff of the first water. And Churchill, Brooke, Monty and Ike owned it.
Stopping the V2s added months to the war -- in this way. Ike's order also triggered the nightmare of Aachen, too. It was about to be surrendered as an open city.
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@Sanders, the ONLY supply that could shift from Army Group to Army Group -- across the British-American logistics gap was POL -- namely GASOLINE. To speak of other supplies is to speak in ignorance. Food, medicine, and all the rest -- these could not be trucked under any circumstances from 12th AG to 21th AG. PERIOD.
Monty got Ike to give him 2,000 GMC trucks at the direct and immediate expense of General Lee. ( Not Bradley ) These missing trucks are the primary reason my own Father sat on his azz during MG. This shift was on such a panic basis that the Americans had to await fresh truck deliveries from those in Britain, and ultimately the USA. If Monty had asked for them, the US would've given him ANYTHING: DD Sherman tanks, DUKWs, jeeps, ... even a blimp or two if asked.
The reason Monty was not focused on the Scheldt was because of the V2 'problem' back in London -- and Churchill howling about it. The reason that Monty had primary access to the Allied Airborne Army was because it was expected ever since Overlord to be required to leap down the coast to shut down these strategic Nazi attacks.
The British, via the French, WERE getting horrific news. Namely that the Nazis were going to scale up the V-2 to create a rocket that could -- in theory -- even reach New York City. But long before that, they were told that London would be rubble, that V2 production was scaling to staggering levels. It never happened. But the Allies had to proceed based upon best estimates -- and Hitler had surprised the West more than once.
What infuriated Monty was that Patton was taking the easy way to the Rhine. This is something that didn't sink in until it happened. Patton saw it from the first -- because he was a world-class military historian and KNEW that Monty's path had been a bust for every commander going back into ancient times. Likewise 1st and 9th Armies were headed straight for a wall. The Rhine just keeps getting bigger as it flows north. It's no small thing even back up near Switzerland, either.
The whole myth of Patton advancing without orders myth corn fuses 1945 with 1944. It was in '45 that Bradley ordered Patton to stop in place. Patton was making the other armies look BAD. So the fantastic breakthrough 3rd Army had has been scrubbed from even American military histories. (thank you Bradley) The maps pick up only after 1st Army has finally pulled abreast of 3rd Army. The seven-day delay just was Winston'd down the Memory Hole. This is where the myth was born.
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You knuckle-heads. Corporate profits belong to Apple, Google, Amazon, MSFT -- they are in the DIGITAL SPACE. By law, DoD contractors can't retain Fat Profits. They are under continuous audit. Should any contract be crazy profitable, the excess has to be promptly rebated back to Congress. The high expense for DoD contractors is WAGES. That's where all of the money is going. That's also why such contractors spread the action across the nation -- hopefully making it Congressionally impossible to stop the gravy train -- and the gravy is going out as WAGES to voters in every Congressional district.
Even more strangely: American taxpayers actually don't pay for the DoD's outlays. We 'export' the tab to our trading partners. This reality is something that THEY fully understand, Putin fully understands -- and the CCP fully understands. It's driving them crazy!
How can that be? It's the direct consequence of the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. The US government runs deficits to fund the DoD -- and the rest of the planet has to eat such deficits by importing US dollars that cost the US government nothing to produce -- by the billion. You will find, if you're as smart as you think you are, that the American government has been financing its DoD outlays for half-a-century by this mechanism. It's also why Germany, et. al are bitter about Trump et. al complaining about Europe not paying their fair share to defend the West. But they ARE. They've actually exported their security to the Americans... and the Americans have exported their security expense to Europe, Japan -- and every other nation that has to use the US dollar as its Reserve Currency... a need than never goes away. Moscow and Beijing are TRYING rather disparately to stop this funding mechanism. Their project has been going on for decades. Their current hope is that digital currencies will finally do the trick. The latter, functionally, are synthetic GOLD. Yes, the Commies are going to fall back to the Gold Standard -- to get rid of Bretton Woods -- which was established to, largely, get rid of the Gold Standard -- deemed to the primary financial cause of WWII.
If any of this is news to you -- you've got some reading to do.
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@ivokantarski6220 Those lands don't export food. The top food exporting nations are: USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France and Argentina. Iran, India, Thailand, Iraq and many more -- export only novelty crops such as dates, pistachios, unique rice types. Ukraine used to be a huge exporter, bet the Soviets and Nazis stopped all of that. Today the USA and Europe have to teach the Ukrainians how to grow food. (!)
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@TDavid
Blinded by grand statistics -- and wholly off base.
1) LendLease solved CRITICAL Soviet economic nightmares long BEFORE Uranus.
1a) The US bought Swedish Tungsten Carbide tool bits -- paying in gold -- and flew them on to Russia. THESE would appear to a guy like you to be insignificant. They just happened to increase the output of machine tools EIGHT TIMES OVER.
You need to sit down with a machinist to grasp what I'm laying on you.
2) Critical war goods arrived BEFORE Uranus that decided the whole campaign:
2a) Radio tubes -- the Germans managed to destroy Stalin's ONLY radio tube factory, November 1941. This was kept ultra-secret then and for years afterward. The USA FLEW IN radio tubes to end the crisis. These came the LONG WAY -- via Alaska, Siberia, etc. This back-door route cost a fortune, but was the only way that America could bail out Stalin in 1942. Because the weights involved looked puny compared to oceanic traffic, they get over-looked in the stats.
Because of the extreme secrecy involved, radio tube transfers are usually MISSING from the official reports.
3) The US gave away the latest generation of oil drilling rigs -- the rotary stuff -- PLUS provided Hughes Tool and Baker drilling experts to instruct the Russians. ( Just three guys ) Previously, the Soviets used classic drilling methods that can be seen in the film: "There Will Be Blood." The rotary rigs were 25 times as fast. These were the fount of new Soviet oil that buried the Nazi state from 1943 onwards.
[ One of these fellas was interviewed on the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour circa 1979. He was astounded to report that since he left them in WWII, the Russians hadn't changed A THING. They were still stuck in 1940's drilling methods.]
4) The Americans also solved Russia's crappy refinery techniques. Like their drilling, their refining techniques were of the 19th Century. In Western terms, the Soviets didn't refine crude oil -- they merely distilled it -- something that America left behind forty-years earlier.
This is no place to educate you WRT chemical engineering applied to refinery process streams. Suffice it to say, the knowledge required is equal to rocketry and atomics. Stalin just skipped it. Making gasoline to support cars for the average Ivan was just not on his agenda.
I'll stop here.
Your knowledge is false knowledge -- made false by deliberate deceptions crafted by the Soviets to hide their dependencies. They never admitted to the world that they had lost their radio tube factory -- then or ever.
And so forth.
BTW, ALL of Stalin's mainline locomotives were produced up in Leningrad -- the original start point for the entire rail net -- as it was imported from the West. ( IIRR, from France, as Britain was a hostile power to the Tsar way back when, but don't quote me on that.) The USA had to shunt 2,000 main line locomotives to Stalin before the war was over. ( from the Baldwin works -- all of them )
America provided ALL of Stalin's front line military trucks: Studebakers. Even today, the Russian slang for 'truck' is 'Studebaker.' Yeah, they cloned the design.
Soviet trucks looked like Studebakers for decades after the war.
Look at the photos, you'll believe.
Uranus was a success solely because of American land-lines. These permitted STAVKA the luxury of staying off the air. Previously, the Germans were always able to spot Russian counter-moves merely by analysing radio traffic. Such German methods are mimicked today by ALL combatant powers. They were totally novel back then, and responsible for countless early war German victories. (North Africa)
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I simply cannot believe that you could crank out this video and leave out FREON -- which also dates from 1938.
C-Cl2-F2 - aka R12 - used to be the primary refrigerant for our automobiles -- worldwide.
It also has a nasty habit of taking chlorine up into the Stratosphere where it cripples partial pressures of ozone -- aka O3.
I pitched fluorine research to my professor, Rowland, in 1974 -- noting that he'd "become world famous" if he did so. (Nobel 1995)
So, yeah, I triggered the Montreal accord that Al Gore is so proud of -- many, many years afterwards.
On the way, the tale touched, myself, the originator, Rowland, Molina, Margaret Thatcher (quite the chemist, didn't you know?), -- who was critical for getting the Commonwealth on board with banning Freons.
This chain is why the world is now obsessed with carbon dioxide on the pretext that it's going to cook the planet.
BTW, you can read Rowland's Big Fib about how he was inspired to research chloro-fluoro-carbons -- it's still on the Internet. It's pure BS.
I'm the kid that inspired him. I had to bend his ear to get him going down the right path. You would not know this if you read his fable.
But, if he revealed the truth, he'd never get his Nobel. Go figure. The Committee actually believed that he initiated the chain -- not knowing I existed.
PFOA is a joke compared with the Freon family. No-one could ever leave the atmosphere to avoid UV radiation.
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@terjeoseberg990 It is impractical because of COST. HARM missiles are NOT cheap. Whereas the jammers that bedevil FPV drones are cheap, cheap, cheap -- and exist in the many. They also don't emit the strong signals that HARM targets. One of the clever drone jammers is so directional that it has been mounted as if it's a rifle. (Videos of drone captures by jamming on the Internet.) This puppy is actually trigger operated. How, pray tell, can you target it? This is the technology that both sides are using.
In other news, Zelenskyy is only now waking up to the omission, by his old pal, his MoD, who didn't fund ANYTHING for drone warfare. (Obviously, not enough in the way of kick-backs. His corruption, tacitly sanctioned by Zelenskyy, poisoned the relations between the MoD and its generals. THIS is why corruption keeps coming up during political discourse in the West. Putin is thrilled that this flaw in Zelenskyy's government has arrived to bite him. All Western MSM are doing their best to bury the corruption. IMO, warfare and financial corruption go together like sailors on leave and hookers.)
Drones are obviously trashing all heavy equipment -- for both Ukraine and Russia. Red China is giving Putin what he needs -- and our MSM is burying this naughty aid. (Xi is using cut-outs, of course. Nork figures hugely here.)
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@rsmith6366 Yet, I was convinced. Putin gave away a 'tell.' It's an odd one that never fails.
[I'm also the kid that thought Nixon was headed for doom -- in the Spring of 71. I was three-years ahead of reality. (I submitted a White Paper laying out Nixon's most probable destiny. Yeah, even I was stunned that every single thing I predicted came true, and in sequence.)]
What did Putin do ? What was his 'tell' ?
You're pretty smart, so I'm going to give you the floor.
What did Putin do, in front of the whole world, that ALWAYS correlates to war, proximate?
(Yet no talking-head ever focused on it, then, or later, ... not even now.)
Another hint: his invasion was delayed by 48-hours. It was supposed to go off 22-2-22. Cute, no ? He had to settle for annexing the turf he conquered back in 2014 in a national speech.
BTW, Putin's crew DID know about it, invasion imminent -- but was powerless to stop their owner. He held a confab to lay it all out -- and pre-blame them for his decision. Naturally, he had the rite video-taped.
[Weirdly, he was merely repeating Adolf's confabs with his own generals, notably when he laid out why Poland just HAD to be absorbed.]
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@vg9137 The Soviets built atomic-war command super-bunkers all over the USSR.
Moscow's is the largest; it's legendary. It has its own subway to the airport -- and very much more.
The following cities ALL have Soviet super-bunkers:
Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Minsk, Saratov, Volgograd, St. Petersburg... on and on the list goes.
Zelenskyy is operating his government from its super-bunker. Like Churchill, he only comes up, from time to time.
(Churchill's super-bunker complex has only been revealed on video 60-years after its use.)
The West, largely, did not follow suit -- though the number of atomic bunkers in American cities was quite huge. They were not (usually) built to super-bunker standards.
The Mariupol super-bunker was sited underneath the steel works -- since it already had a massive concrete floor -- and since no-one would notice weird new construction (dirt removed) for a plant that never stopped building.
THIS is why Putin rides uneasy over Mariupol. His crew can't stop the Ukrainian Army from sallying forth from the command bunker.
This bunker is not to be corn fused with the hovels that the civilians are crawling out from. The Soviets never designed their Bolshevik bunkers for the hoi polloi. The civilians, in their thousands, simply overwhelmed the super-bunker that the Soviets built for their elites. Yet so much food had been stored there that refugees are showing up with PETS in good health.
In 1941-1942 -- all pets were eaten during Nazi sieges.
Putin knows that any pretense that he's conquered Mariupol rings hollow within his own army. Like the SS in Warsaw, 79-years ago, they are afraid to enter.
As for the refugees, they must feel like they're in a 'Matrix' sequel.
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Patrick -- some errors -- some omissions. Rockefeller's break out was due to standardizing the oil fractions during distillation. ( His scheme lives on as the API standards, stuff like Diesel #2, etc.) All of his plants were DISTILLERIES not refineries. (It would take until the 20th Century for oil Refining to be established by chemical engineers.) In the trade, a distillery is insultingly referred to as a 'tea pot.'
Rockefeller was the First to understand that THE critical element of Kerosene production was the elimination of Gasoline. It was Gasoline, blended in with Kerosene, that was Burning Down Homes and Factories. Rockefeller got the Fire Insurance Industry to be his wing-man. They informed their insureds that their policies would be cancelled if they used anything other than Standard Oil Kerosene.
THAT'S what caused the Cleveland massacre!
He was also willing to fund lawsuits against distillers who dumped oil contamination -- causing tremendous harm to fisheries, farms, water supplies. Sellers bailed when they got the word from their own attorneys that the jig was up.
You are incorrect about Carnegie making it Big in Structural Steel. He made most of his Big Money selling Steel rails to the industry even in 1899. How so? The rails laid until steel came along had all to be ripped up and remelted -- after three-years in service. They were just too soft. This deficiency became very pronounced as locomotive weights rose every passing year. Steel rail became a requirement.
Bethlehem Steel was established precisely to address Structural Steel... because Carnegie's top operating officer was turned down by the top brass when he pitched his scheme to branch out -- to build an entirely new steel works just for I beams. It was Bethlehem that built the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge -- and a slew of others. Bethlehem got the cream of the crop -- top dollar.
Carnegie made bank with Barbed Wire. Like rail, the production runs were epic -- idiot simple for the technology of the time. He also made bank by cranking out Nails, Spikes... even horse shoes.
Carnegie made the Big Break towards the Open Hearth Process -- which could produce MUCH superior steels. Naturally, the rail road industry immediately spec'd Carnegie steel for their locomotives, all rolling stock. Carnegie's business specialized in selling Large to Big Business.
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@SaturnusDK Samsonite -- you're on target.
Keep in mind that Putin has hundreds, if not thousands, of radioactively wounded troops. He had them trenching in 'The Red Forest.' (!!!)
I am certain that the rumor mill has spread this tale far and wide inside the Russian Army.
BTW, the Soviets built endless super-bunkers during the Cold War in anticipation of atomic bombardment.
These were constructed on an epic scale not normally seen in the West. (Switzerland, Yugoslavia are exceptions. )
There is a super-bunker under the steel works, under Kyiv, under Odessa, under Kharkiv, under Moscow, under Minsk....
Big as the one in Mariupol is, it is not big enough to hold tens-of-thousands of ordinary folk. These are the people you see on video.
But it does have: a power supply, water supply, a food stash, bunk-beds -- the works -- for the Bolshevik elites.
These bunker assets are NOT being revealed to the International Press.
Zelenskyy's government is being run from Kyiv's super-bunker, of course.
(Churchill ran his government from a super-bunker that even extended under the Thames.)
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In all the posts -- everyone is looking past WHERE it's to be built -- no-where ville.
It's kilometers away from ALL current habitation....
Neom is going to be east of the Red Sea, east of Sinai.
It's also going to cross a geologically active fault zone.
You know, the one that caused the tribulations noted by the Hebrews in the time of Moses.
When they happen, sulfurous, fuming eruptions there run on for months, even years. ( Ask a geologist. )
The fault system there is responsible for the mountains of Mecca and Medina -- down the coast.
What's even stranger -- running Neom THROUGH the mountains -- over a fault zone -- off into no-where.
It has no suitable port in its scheme, either.
It would need one rivaling Liverpool, New York City, Antwerp, Hong Kong.
It also has NO provision for industrial, agricultural, or resource exports.
Its ability to consume economic inputs will be unrivaled -- of course.
MBS should've put his money into cutting swales down the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.
As it stands, what rain that does fall -- shoots straight back down into the Red Sea.
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TIK's best exposition, yet.
OKH's fumbling -- logistically -- was epic for Case Blue.
Straight off it HAD to be apparent that Mykop without a rail connection was no asset at all.
So the tempo of Nazi victory for Case Blue had to be the advance of the rail net.
Yet OKH treated the rail net as a peripheral issue.
The 11th Army was the controlling army for the Romanians.
So 11th Army really DID get split up after the Crimean campaign.
It never should've been sent north, as the ONLY strategic prize that could end the war in the east was the Volga -- the Red's energy throttle.
The 'sickle' of Case Blue ran from Voronezh down to Stalingrad. That should've been transparent from the first. The 'sickle' deserved its own army group -- which should've been 'Army Group Don' from the first. Von Manstein ought to have been promoted up to command it from the very first.
AGD was the focus of Case Blue. Once the 'sickle' was in place, then AG South would've had free reign to consummate Mykop. Grozny was an oil field too far. The demand upon the rail net troops would've been entirely too much.
AGS- AG"A" was too strong... required too much gasoline.
The whole scope of Case Blue was determined by how fast and far the rail net could be expanded. Neither OKH, OKW nor AH seemed to ever grasp this.
So, TIK is correct, Case Blue blew up even during conception. Even perfect martial performance against the Reds would not have redeemed the German failure to get the rail net up and running ASAP.
The consistent blind spot: why did Nazi Germany not see that she HAD to Dieselize?
Diesel-electric locomotives would've been fantastic assets for the Ostheer. For you just knew that the Reds would destroy every water tower essential for steam locomotion.
The Ostheer needed locomotives that could roll the moment the rails were squared away, preferably smaller locomotives that would be easier to shift around in the field, barged in, even.
The British, the Soviets and the Americans constantly schooled the Germans in logistics.
But they never picked up a CLUE... even after the war was over.
( For those curious, look at the British use of their Egyptian rail net when it counted. The great DAK was so blind that they missed just about everything logistical. Absolutely no lessons were learned... but, of course.)
[ Imagine, the Germans and Italians NEVER thought to punch holes into Libya. Even though the British and American oil firms had LONG established that water and oil was commonly to be found under the deserts. ( Iran, Saudi Arabia ) ]
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@bobpadok5331 Bob -- the UA is bigger than ever. It's grown so large that Zelenskyy is having trouble equipping it.
The big Lend Lease surge has yet to arrive -- and it will come by ship -- not C-17.
The American defense industry is so huge that it takes weeks, months, to shift gears.
For example, most of its ammo plants are still in mothballs.
Biden has been shipping out of existing warehouse stocks.
The US DoD is ~ 800,000,000,000 per year. Congress has only kicked in 40,000,000,000 -- 5% to Ukraine.
The Pentagon's strategy is to boil the frog slowly. And so far, Putin has failed to jump out of the pot.
The heat won't stop until Putin abandons ALL of Ukraine -- especially Crimea.
If he doesn't get wise, Putin may lose the Kuban, Sochi and more.
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@TheSympathize For most of history, professional armies have been the norm. It took Napoleon to raise the first modern conscript army. Yup.
Due to breakthroughs in math (think statistics) the French were the first nation able to construct a viable conscript system.
Not that prior generations didn't raise 'armies of enthusiasm' under the magnetic leadership -- and prospects of plunder -- of this or that Big Man.
(Alexander the Great had a professional army -- in the modern sense -- and it whipped through Darius III's instant armies. Darius only had a nucleus of professionals. When they went sideways -- Arabella resulted.)
But, for Putin's War, he REQUIRES professionals. He has NO TIME to train his boys as he needs a lightning war of regime change.
The IDF is a blend of pro and reservist. Due to its small nation construction -- everybody knows just about everybody -- things are different. America, Russia, Red China -- things get different because of scale.
But for a mechanized military force, you just can't use conscripts. Even the massively expanding Nazi panzer force had to use seasoned boys... and pretty much the cream of the crop, too.
Yet, Putin has employed boys that have not only been lied to, but they're still just learning the ropes. Mech war is so complex that it takes about two-years before a soldier is fully capable.
Yet the Putin War demanded -- obviously -- troops that were fully fledged -- because the campaign required great professionalism -- right from the start.
As a KGB man, Putin largely ignored his army. His FSB is still tip-top, of course.
From the American Revolution, Civil War, etc. it's been repeatedly shown that instant armies work by far the best when on defense. (Bunker//Breed's Hill, etc.) They are rotten when on offense. (First Battle of Bull Run)
If the very same boys had enough time during training, then battle results would be drastically different, of course.
And then consider: Putin lied to his troops. His war has been kept a secret from his own army -- largely. This only makes sense if you consider that if they were informed, they'd rebel. And we are seeing that rebellion, right now. The Russian lads are deliberately burning through their vehicle fuel PDQ. Dumping ammo/ fuel is a classic way for soldiers to get out of a fight. (In days past, troopers would get their gunpowder wet.)
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Crusader was the first instance where the British discovered just how much electronic intel the Krauts were generating from B'dienst intercepts -- even when they couldn't quite break British codes.
Later, Auck would gut Rommel's B'dienst team while it was 'protected' by the Italians.
First -- really the first -- battle of tel el isa. ( Which is NOT the the same as the typical search engine result. That's actually the SECOND battle of tel el isa, and there is a Second battle of tel el isa, which is actually the THIRD battle.)
The truly first battle of tel el isa decided WWII. It caused a REVOLUTION in British, American and Soviet signals security. Naturally, every player involved lied for decades afterwards about this battle... made it drop down into the memory hole.
It cost the Auck his position, and brought in Monty. He took the fall for his loose talking subordinates. It was during this period that Monty swept out the old and brought in a winning team.
The top man in Rommel's B'dienst team was mortally wounded during the First battle of tel el isa. The British did everything in their power to save him. But, no luck.
This young captain was THE miracle man for Rommel, and is the true source of Rommel's desert magic. After his loss, the DAK/ PAA was never the same.
Account after account misses this critical event... 'cause every major power keeps lying about it.
Crusader almost had the same effect... but the British didn't capture the 'magic' captain. ( He was a genius, BTW. In British or American service he would've been a Lt. Col. ... or better. )
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@Stuart... of course the Americans were not involved with Crusader in any way.
IIRC, it was the British that -- through feed-back -- informed the Americans that their stuff had been not broken -- but stolen right out of the embassy safe. The moment the Axis attempted to exploit the American gaff the British were hot on the trail. Many of the transmissions were in plain text to London, in the first place. So now even the British were cracking the Americans.
One can always back into any encypherment scheme if you have plain text, encoded text and enough to work from. in the case of the British and the Americans, they had so much traffic -- of each other -- that they were soon cracking every scheme each other could come up with.
It was at this point that Echelon was 'born.' London and Washington decided that it was impossible to fake each other out -- and to what purpose? So they got married, instead. This marriage has lasted down to the present day, and has been re-named over the decades. It's also referred to as Five Eyes and many another spook name.
The Americans were the groom, the British were the bride. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, rounded out the 'Five.' Also in during WWII: China and Holland. The Dutch drove the Japanese absolutely crazy with their negotiating style. ( Royal Dutch Shell properties within the Dutch East Indies [Indonesia] and Brunei. It was based entirely upon goading from both the British and the Americans.
A tid-bit for you, Stuart: the Americans were intercepting Axis tank-to-tank radio traffic from North Africa -- from Rhode Island! Yes, the signals bounced off the Ionosphere and could be picked-up plain as day by an ultra secret set-up. These signals were then sent all the way back to London, encrypted, on the down low. These very same signals could NOT be picked up in Africa. The Germans never picked up on the fact that their signals were skipping all the way across the Atlantic.
These intercepts let Monty know with astounding detail the ebb of the PAA and its DAK. This set-up was kept secret for decades after the war. So don't look for it to be detailed in the average history. It did get a Big Write Up in the New York Times. The base was actually seriously considered as an ideal site for the brand new United Nations and its headquarters. Manhattan won out. More hookers.
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@nikgr4749 Yeah, the results were so lop-sided that the USAF pretty much stopped using dumb ordnance. PGMs simply drastically reduce the number of sorties required to achieve satisfactory results. The most expensive ordnance ended up being the most cost effective.
As for Putin's chip crisis -- even Ford, GM, et. al have been forced to halt production because of the world-wide chip shortage.
But Putin's headache is long term. His best stuff is at 65nm; America's best is at 10nm; Taiwan's best is at 5nm. The very software used to design ultra-modern micro-chips is sanctioned against Putin.
The best chip making machines are, de facto, sanctioned against Red China. So Xi is stuck ten-years behind the West. Putin is stuck twenty-years behind the West.
Putin's chip crisis is so bad that his two biggest tank factories had to go on hiatus.
Ukraine now has the superior military power -- if -- and only if -- the West keeps pouring in ordnance... smart weapons.
It's never in the news, but it must be obvious that the Ukrainians have managed to throttle Russian rail and road connections. Because of its nearby super-swamp, Kyiv has no end of bridges. Once they were blown, Putin was screwed. BMPs are amphibious, but fully laden trucks are not. Smart ATGMs open up BMP(1/2/or 3) like they're SPAM in a tin can.
I believe that the real reason that Putin shifted to the Donbass is because it's the least bad option right now. It has far fewer 'bridging issues' -- so long as the boys are advancing along the flow of the rivers. It's for this reason, that I expect the 1st Guards Tank Army to ram almost straight south -- below Kharkov -- towards the Black Sea. This very march seems to have started -- yesterday. It's the one that Zelenskyy must thwart.
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What really turned the Bureau onto torpedo failure was a freak recovery of a Nazi torpedo on a Florida beach presented to the USN courtesy of an American citizen and the FBI. You see, the German detonation logic was virtually identical to that of the USN. You'd swear there was a leak. Both had running-depth issues. The particular torpedo recovered had exhausted its batteries -- making it quite inert for the USN experts to re-verse engineer it. Finding flaws in the OTHER GUY'S mechanism proved to be politically acceptable. So it was done. The number one flaw in BOTH the German and American torpedoes was running depth. BOTH were designed to detonate under the keel of a target. By doing so, all welded on bulges so common for the 30's era would be taken out of the picture. Further, an explosion under the keel of any ship is utterly lethal. The sea would contain the blast on all sides except that facing the targeted steel belly. The US design had the additional failure mode of not working upon contact. This happened as the USN sub commanders had their crews re-calibrate the running depth to ZERO -- or near enough. ( This gambit was forbidden by ComSubPac, but, hey, a guy has to do what works. ) By running that shallow, the target's sailors were certain to see the US torpedo coming their way, electric or otherwise. At such a setting, the torpedo could easily leap from wave to wave. (!) [ This latter tic was one of the key reasons that both the KM and USN wanted deeper running torpedoes. Then even pretty rough seas would not ever expose their fish.
The German failure was as staggering as the USN's. There was one U-boat that could've sunk the RN up in Norway -- Big Time. Instead, all fish embedded themselves into the fjord's far side. Being so close to the North Pole screwed up its logic two-ways: the water was too brackish (melting ice thinned the sea) and the influence of the North Pole itself messed up the "Q" of the magnetic influence loop. ( Such loops are found in all modern traffic controlled intersections. They are that loop you see in the pavement -- typically cut in with a diamond saw -- that has a branch leading off to the edge of the roadway. Within that loop there are conductors that establish a feeble magnetic field shooting above and below the roadway. When your car passes through or occupies that zone, the current of the loop is disturbed and picked up electronically. This tells the brain that you're waiting to turn left, or... whatever. If you were a ship, the asphalt would explode. This influence circuit needs to be re-tuned for use in extreme waters. The German fiasco saved RN capital ships and their escorts. They were at zero knots when the fish were launched. Being electric torpedoes, the RN never knew that fate had spared them -- until after the war was over.
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@ I must rebut. Though the UK did send the stuff, it actually didn't make it into battle. The Commies couldn't read the dials! The British stuff sat for MONTHS up in Murmansk -- still at the docks -- in the snow -- as Stalin & Co were too busy to send talent up there in a timely manner. Where did I find this crazy story? From the actual Russians up there -- in the port -- at the time. In their own diaries they were astounded when the British ships showed at all -- as pre-war those docks were totally inactive in the depth of Winter. So, when they showed up, there was a general panic to unload them -- while not permitting UK sailors from leaving their ships to help out. (!) Being terribly short-handed, the stevedores just pushed the goodies off the piers and to points nearby. Yes, everything became jamb packed, PDQ. With further snows, no-one could find a thing until late Spring.
When some times actually were shipped south, then came the issue with, " Who can read those dials?"
The British aid proved BIG in '42 when the stuff was used as TRAINING equipment. All of the aircraft and tanks had RADIOS. The Soviet stuff didn't. The vacuum tube plant for the Soviet state had been captured/destroyed by the Germans. It was so small, the Krauts didn't realize what they'd achieved.
The REAL UK/US aid came by way of Iran. It is the aid that turned things around at Stalingrad.
In the Winter of '41 it was the Krauts who saved Moscow. They'd destroyed their panzer punch -- back during the mud season. This was the period of starvation for the panzer troops. They had no horses. Whereas the regular horse-drawn infantry survived on horse-flesh. All of the above is to be found in the bowels of German military histories -- the diaries of the troops involved. It's NOT a flattering picture, so in all popular accounts the German generals edited it out. The number of horses EATEN is staggering. It's the reason why when the last surge to Moscow occurred, none of the troops came from the infantry army. They'd eaten their draft animals. Those divisions never recovered for the rest of the war. In 1942 Adolf went back to war with a totally different, almost horse-less, army. This explains so much about the insane march on Stalingrad. He couldn't replace all of the lost draft animals -- even though the Heer stole horses from all over Europe -- right off the farm, too. Folks were pissed. Lost German horses were replaced with Soviet boys. My own Father had to bag them and send them back to Stalin's Gulag, in 1945. The farmer and wife were weeping. Having lost their own son, now they were losing their 'step-sons.' Tears all around.
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@laurencesmith2199 Ammo has been making it to the front all along.
WWII proved that it's practically impossible to knock out a railroad. Repairs happen so quickly.
Ukraine's rail grid (that counts) is far outside the range of artillery -- even rocket artillery. Putin has to use the really expensive stuff to target deep into Ukraine. And such weapons are not in great supply.
Closer to the front, the stuff is just moved around in everything from trucks to backpacks. You laugh, but in WWII, the Soviets famously forced every soldier to hump a 76mm artillery shell along with the rest of his kit as he marched to the front. Yes, this system worked.
The scary thing about the US Army's MLRS is that it was designed from the ground up to destroy Soviet conventional tube artillery. It showed to the Iraqis, decades ago, that it sure does its job well. After the first volleys, the boys just fled, en masse -- officers, too.
Within two-weeks, the RA will not be able to use most of its artillery.
With no infantry, no tanks, no APCs, and no artillery -- Putin will no longer be able to push west. The UA will simply infiltrate at night, and then the RA will begin to crack.
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The Voice missed it. The Spanish lost an ASTOUNDING amount of treasure over the years to BAD SAILING -- specifically -- permitting wholly unknowledgeable favorites to over-load its treasure ships -- time and time, again. Then, to compound things, the Crown borrowed the missing cash flow from Genovese Jews at extortionate rates. The Crown kept defaulting -- epically -- every time the treasure fleet did not show up. Entire fleets went to the bottom. The King HATED Jews -- and they returned the favor in their money-rent demands. The staggering wealth stolen from the New World was thus squandered on warfare, usury and industrial development up in Holland -- not down in Spain. This latter tic was the basis for the Eighty-Years War. (1568 to1648) The King thought that he had money to burn -- so he burned it.
A smart sovereign would've talked his way out of epic conflicts long enough to accumulate a huge stash so that he never had to borrow at brutal rates.
Instead, Charles BLEW all of his liquidity on imports from China, wars in Europe and mind-boggling interest outlays to Jewish bankers. ( Due to his theology, the King simply would not borrow from Catholics. So his Big Spending became a huge 'Jewish issue.' It never entered his brain that he had to stop borrowing. Everything points to Charles being innumerate -- as well as irrational.) This is the period when Jews became forever associated with 'International Banking' because they were in Genova and their idiot client was in Madrid. Most all of the basics for international lending to sovereigns were established by the Genovese Jews at this time. Being a serial defaulter, his lenders created a CARTEL to stop him from getting around their syndicate. In the beginning, Charles thought he could get away with doing so. He was not happy when he was brought to heel.
When Holland left the Royal Embrace -- Spain lost its heavy industry. So it was the Dutch that then became the Big Player. The loss of Holland was the trigger for the collapse of Madrid's empire.
It didn't help that the Crown ruined Spanish agriculture with its insane sheep policy. The king forbade farmers from protecting their crops from HIS sheep. (!) It, crop defense, became a hanging offense against the Crown. Spain's fields have NEVER recovered. Sheep and goats are the END of farmers. That's why in iconography the Devil has twin goat horns on his head. Yup. [ The actual beast that domestic goats came from had HUGE horns. As a percentage of body mass, they are the largest in the animal kingdom.(!!!) ]
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@Gloriaimperial1 The King defaulted more than six times because the fleet did not show up. The scheme was for the fleet to sail, en masse, at the best time of the year. However, sometimes their luck did not hold. An out-of-season hurricane would bag the fleet.
[ This is what REALLY punished the Spanish fleet in 1588. It was destroyed by the weather, not the Royal Navy. The BBC re-enacted the RN's attack on the Spanish only to discover that Spain's ships were so massive that the petty cannons of the RN would've had virtually no impact. The BBC was gobsmacked.]
Even today gold is coming up from the Spanish Main. The problem was that the Crown was pre-spending their loot before it arrived in Europe. Then the Jews charged LARGE to bail the Crown out. [ The Catholics were prohibited from banking -- by the Pope -- pagans didn't lend -- so the king had to turn to the very fellas he hated the most.
The usual loan financed Spanish warfare. So you can see why Charles was pressed for time.
This entire sequence generated massive anti-Jewish sentiments among the Catholics. ( There were no Protestants with money, yet. ) For the Jewish funding led directly to unrestricted warfare all over Europe. This led to the term "blood money." Think of it as the prequel to 'blood diamonds' -- same concept -- same result.
All the while this was going on, Spain was destroying the New World with massive forced-labor mining.
The weirdness of massively repressing Jewry in Spain while borrowing from European Jewish bankers so as to carry on with warfare against Catholics -- well, you'd have to be there to grok it. But, Charles did it.
The Catholic Church was largely a force for good as it was terminating human sacrifice on an epic scale. Gibson's film is all-too realistic. As for Charles, he gutted Madrid's commanding position in Europe. Every time you'd turn around, he was throwing in his army -- even if the dispute was petty. In that era, all armies looted and pillaged -- with or without a battle being fought. Spain was a BIG part of the Thirty-Years War. It was worse for those living than WWI and WWII combined. (!!!)
That's why Spain slid down the relevance rankings of history.
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Hitler's Germany had WAY TOO MANY critical dependencies: OIL, tungsten, chrome, nickel, RUBBER. It also had way too many technological dependencies// gaps// behind: oil drilling, petro-geology, U-boat design, radar, sonar, refineries, turbo-super chargers, full-on-mass-production... etc.
In terms of war management: Nazi Germany was a case study in how to NOT wage war.
Enraging Ukrainians, declaring war on the USA, two-front strategic war, Italian non-assistance -- even Speer could make no headway on this front; German industrialists refused to 'share' blue prints. Pay-offs to Goering, et al, settled the matter. Oh, my!
In terms of strategic intelligence... the Nazi regime scores a perfect ZERO. There was no hostile nation that they didn't under-estimate -- usually by astounding amounts. Even in 1940 the Germans didn't realize that Britain was out producing fighter planes. (!)
It's amazing that Adolf got as far as he did. That's what momentum and reputation will do for you. Today's American armed forces have the same tail wind. Only primitive cultures even dream of tackling the USA. All other powers regard such attempts as madness.
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@dimuthbhanuka1027 He was terminated by Arabs -- up close and personally.
He started the war, his war, by declaring economic war on Paris and London. The USA was dragged into the conflict via our NATO obligations to France and Britain.
You are obviously ill read. Go back and check the day-to-day history of that war. Paris and London declared war BEFORE the USA. President Obama was dragged kicking and screaming into supporting NATO -- by Hillary Clinton, his Secretary of State. She pointed out that due to the NATO charter, the US was obligated to support Paris and London.
Why Paris first? The fanatical dictator was bankrupting the largest banks of France. These banks also just happened to be partially owned by the French government. He did so because the French Press said truthful -- but embarrassing -- things about the tyrant.
But that wasn't enough. The tyrant re-negged on his deal with the British government signed by himself with the prime minister of Britain. He grabbed the microphone to tell the whole world that British Petroleum would no longer get the crude oil that it was owed. At a stroke, BP was bankrupted. BP was the foundation for no end of British pension fund payouts. Millions of retirees would soon be marching on Whitehall. London declared war on the tyrant so as to re-establish the original contract. Last I looked, Britain is getting its cut of Libyan oil out of the field that it drilled and piped. The pensioners were saved. Hurrah!
For the USA, the war was nothing but a financial bleeder. The US had no investments in Libya -- as the tyrant had prohibited them -- and Congress had prohibited them. So there!
One thing was made clear,
NATO = the US DoD.
Even economic and financial embarrassment is sufficient for NATO to jump into the soup.
BTW, the tyrant was chronically offered retirement to other 3rd world lands. He turned every petition down flat. He could've retired to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Dubai, -- on and on the list goes. The US would've had no issues with such a scheme. We were the player pitching them. Again, the tyrant turned down all such retirement schemes -- flat.
So, he really killed himself, Adolf style. There was no WAY that he could survive a war with NATO. (He also turned down offers by Kiev and Moscow, too. Everyone wanted the madman to quit.)
So don't blame America.
You've got a lot of studying to do.
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@Marko
Buddy, tell that to STALIN.
He was convinced that's exactly what was going on.
So he killed them off.
They were, as far as Stalin was concerned, Tukhachevksy's 'crew' // sympathizers, etc.
So he whacked them all.
Stalin was a politician--despot and had no time or interest in far-sighted military theory.
The ins and outs of who did what, who deserves credit, when each stage happened is irrelevant WRT the purges.
All that mattered was that Stalin was paranoid -- and hated Deep Operations Theory and all the thinkers behind it.
Like Adolf, he was more of a 'morale-is-the-key-to-everything' guy.
Stalin, Hitler and Churchill never came up to speed WRT tank warfare. This becomes obvious when you review their insane orders.
Only their generals had a clue.
I'm a huge fan of Winnie, but as a military man, he lacked judgment. We can all thank the Lord that Monty showed up in the nick of time.
You're going off about arcana that has nothing to do with the purges. That story is one of enemies lists... of Thems and Us's. Period. The delusions of one tyrant.
BTW, I don't see any difference between German blitzing and Soviet deep operations. Both punched through and sent their massed tank formations thither and yon raising Hell and breaking things. Everything else is semantics.
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@lenblack1462 The reality is that EVERY Big High Tech firm is shamelessly Democrat: Google moved into government when Obama was in office; MSFT, Apple, Facebook, et. al famously are out and in the open as Democrat bastions. Warren Buffett and Bill gates are openly Democrats -- always have been. It's not hard to see why -- Silicon Valley is an entire society oriented towards replacing all past technologies. So the LAST thing these billionaires worship is conservative, traditional ways of thinking. Bezos is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, too. The Democrat party is the party of the ultra-rich, ultra-hip new money. These are exactly the folks that DON'T study history -- and have never been flagged for their own hubris. The GOP draws from small-businesses almost exclusively. Big Businesses, Big Academe, Big Pharma, Big Health, are ALL die-hard Democrat bastions. They all emotionally connect with a Patron-Dependent social dynamic -- with them being the better-than-thou Patrons sitting above the hoi polloi, the dummies that they remember from high school. Because they're smart and extremely successful, they can't imagine that -- in their magical thinking -- that they could EVER be wrong... on pretty much anything.
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@shermanfirefly5410 All of this has been addressed by me before. Browning called the shots. The heights were the ONLY terrain that could support panzers. They were directly on the German border, and so the Allies had no idea of what might be lurking under the forest there. As a 3-star, Browning simply was too valuable to be lost. He knew all about ULTRA... because he was an army commander. HE was the source of the 1,000 tanks story -- which came via ULTRA. What Bletchley Park had picked up was Hitler's commitment to a Western Counter-Offensive. It was to be launched in mid-November. This date slipped until December 16th. So, Bletchley was not wrong.
The battle of Nijimegan should NEVER have been fought. The British were to have ALREADY grabbed the Arnhem bridge -- making it impossible for Germans to drive across the island and into Nijmegan. The story you've read has been 'adjusted' to make The Plan look better.
The Allies (Browning) did not realize that the Krauts had a mobile FLAK battalion dedicated to protecting their V-2 launch island. It was rolling out every nightfall to shoot at the RAF while the V-2 crews did their business. Its commander had just gotten his Iron Cross that very morning.(!)
Virtually ALL contemporaneous accounts are LYING. They are suppressing the fact that the entire reason for M-G is to suppress// eliminate the V-2 launches against London -- which are coming from this island.
THIS is the reason why Ike gave Monty total priority without even consulting Tedder. ( He tried to stop M-G the second he heard about it. )
The actual guy behind M-G was never Monty -- it was Winston. Parliament is blowing a fuse about the Nazi bombardment.
Quite obviously then, the ideal drop zone is the island, itself. It merited a full American division: 101st Airborne.
Gavin must have been stupefied to discover Germany's most elite FLAK formation holding most of Nijmegan. Its very existence was a total surprise.
BTW, it's THIS FLACK unit that caused the British to shun landing even closer to Arnhem. No reccee flights could figure out what the heck was going on. The FLAK kept shifting all over the island. The RAF had never seen that before. FLAK stayed put -- usually. They actually thought that the FLAK was coming from Arnhem, itself. Nope. That's how lost they were.
Naturally, when British Airborne fought in and around Arnhem they kept running into 20mm FLAK... and lots of it. This you'll note is missing from virtually all battle accounts. It has been edited out by censors. Again, to hide the V-2 connection. For WHY was all of this FLAK in a Dutch minor town? Yeah, it would raise too many questions.
Virtually every thing TIK has held true does not hold up to inspection.
BTW, Browning was fired by Monty for his screw-ups. Fired so fast that the Press could not talk to him.
The V-2 connection has also been buried. When C. Ryan drafted his book no-one ever mentioned the V-2 launches to him. (!!!!)
Lastly, Frost DID capture V-2 launch crews that just happened to be waltzing on by. That aspect was buried for decades, too.
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@samrodian919 Tried -- but not fully successful.
Because the weather often shut down USAAF operations for days at a time, the crews were given long enough leaves to get just about anywhere in England -- much to the disgust of the locals.
Overpaid, over-sexed and over here!
At one point, B-29s were to be committed to England -- as in bases up in Scotland. (!)
As it was, only a single, solitary, B-29 was ever stationed in England -- as a publicity stunt -- and to screw with Adolf's head. Britain actually started constructing such bases. This terminated before things got much beyond surveys and paperwork. So, don't go looking for them.
The bases to the east grew out of a lack of space in the west.
Events forced London's hand. You're looking at Plan C or D. The original purpose of East Anglia strips was for the recovery of cripples. That didn't last.
Winston admitted -- after the war -- in Missouri -- that the growth of the American military machine went way beyond British expectation... particularly in heavy bombers. The USAAF not only packed it in -- in England -- it expanded like topsy in the Med, the Pacific and all points in between.
Results overwhelmed (British) intentions. Naturally, all such matters were censored back then -- and are usually never brought up by mainstream military historians even now.
So much American stuff landed in England that the joke was that the island would sink. The way things were set up, most everything landed in the Irish Sea (Liverpool, mostly) and then was warehoused -- some place in England -- before heading off to France. The Krauts had done such a bang-up job ruining French harbors that direct shipping to France was never a serious factor. In this, everything was different than WWI. [Yes, very late in the campaign, America could finally ship direct. But Winter had arrived by then.]
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@icexvi2573 That's not how things work out.
In WWII, all combatant nations got very, very good at regenerating crippled units. So, while it's news to you -- all modern generals know the drill.
The US Army had to regenerate its airborne divisions after every single drop, every single major operation. It never took months.
The new boys had already been through state-side training. So they were in great physical shape and knew their weapons, their gear. It only took three-weeks to integrate them into their assigned division.
Famously, the Krauts could regenerate divisions from nubs in less than six-weeks. (!) This ability is why Nazi Germany was able to hang on as long as it did.
But the absolute masters of generating new combat units must have been the Red Army. The Bolsheviks had a scheme that just cranked out green divisions like they were hatched. The rest of their training came by way of OJT at the front. This goes double for tank troops. History has recorded the result.
Zelenskyy has obviously been 'blooding' his green brigades in quiet sectors -- the military tradition in all armies. I'd say that Kyiv has at least ten brigades ready to shift east. They'll probably arrive on the sly -- one by one.
It would be absolutely classic for Kyiv to promote this or that brigade up to divisional size. (The USSR did this for all of its tank brigades in the middle of WWII, yes, on the fly.)
Once a cadre of talents is clicking, it's actually institutionally easy to flesh out an outfit with more warriors. Famously, the LAH SS brigade expanded through the war to such a degree that it became a panzer corps by 1945. It spawned a slew of buddy divisions, too... on top of its own growth. The limiting factor for such growth is talent among the officers and sergeants... with the latter particularly important.
Ukraine has sergeants -- Russia only has fake instant sergeants. Consequently, the regeneration power of the UA will astound.
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You've totally missed it: Bidenomics features about $2,500,000,000,000 of Federal spending dedicated to the Fortune 400 -- that's still in the queue.
THIS is what is freaking out the GOP -- and why gold, silver, you name it, are on a roll.
It's also why, in the perfect zip codes, property prices are not falling -- not nearly enough.
Billions are going to Intel, Samsung, Apple, et al to get them to on-shore chip production. And this is but the most visible.
De facto, Biden is allowing the Capitalists to finance their Big Stuff at rock bottom real rates.
THIS is what's floating Wall Street, Big Bankers, Big Academe ( Girl Student Loan forgiveness ) up into heaven.
Lets not leave out Big Pharma, Big Media ( it's an election year -- miracle money for swing state stations ) Big Business everywhere.
Whereas small firms/ sole props are being crushed. [This is what happened during WWII, BTW.]
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@greattime860 It's easy: government mandates have caused the price of medical services to explode ever since they began.
At the same time, government massively restricts the supply of doctors. The number of seats at our medical colleges have not -- in any way -- kept up with our population growth. Only 1/3rd of our doctors hold American degrees. Another 1/3rd have degrees earned at schools in Grenada, Mexico, the Caribbean, generally. These are schools -- exclusively for Americans -- that should actually be inside the USA -- but could not obtain the mandated government permits to even be built.
Another 1/3rd of our doctors hold medical degrees from the 3rd World. There are practically no immigrant doctors from the First or Second Worlds.
(These are the doctors who constantly show up in medical fraud cases, BTW. Yes, just a criminal sub-set. But the monies involved boggle the mind.)
When you drastically reduce the talent supply, the price per labor hour EXPLODES. Duh. When I was a kid, the doctor two-doors down drove a new Caprice every other year. Today, I know of no doctor who drives anything but a luxury make. My optho drove a Rolls-Royce -- and not second-hand. His Lasik cost me $2,000 an eyeball. (He was worth it.)
But, in answer to your question: Liberal (governance) notions of how things should work in a just world have created these results. Any more 'medical justice,' and we'll all be on our knees eating grass.
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Joker, hypergamy is built into XX DNA. Proof? Men are about twice the body mass of the typical female. ( Before the fat explosion. )
When this ratio is profiled in nature, in mammals, it turn out that a 2:1 mass ratio => 4:1 mating ratio -- for successful males.
For such a species, it is to be expected that a winner male will have a four-female harem. This holds true for lions, tigers, walruses, seals, ...
whales... (Even marsupials -- like roos.)
This body mass difference is not seen in birds. Male eagles are smaller than females. You'll note that they only mate one-to-one. It may not be for life, but it will last for a mating-fledging season.
The REAL reason men are twice the body mass of women is, and has been, hypergamy. For 50,000,000-years females have been mating up. They can't stop. They can't stop even after marriage and children. This pops out as neighbor envy -- and mating defensiveness. ( A failing husband shames his wife. If the failing is in finances, (typ.), figure on a divorce.)
There's nothing fair about it. If you're a guy and way down in the rankings, just don't figure on dates, let alone marriage.
With today's divorce courts, consider that a blessing.
The female sex id is so strong that THEY can't scope it. Hence the endless bounty of lost XX souls pondering 40+ and solitude. They never could fathom why alpha spread their thighs so rapidly. Yet, at a biological level, they are programmed to do exactly that -- even though in our modern age, it will never pencil out for them. It won't even pencil out for the next generation -- which needs parents -- not just a mother.
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Women don't perform a level-up calculation. Rather, hypergamy is driven by the gal's hindbrain. She can't explain it, nor stop it.
It exists in horses, deer, mice, bats, whales, seals, lions... even marsupials.
The tingles come via hypergamy's impulses.
Guys must learn push-pull romantic techniques. The ring and ceremony are not sufficient to hold a wife.
You must keep her nervously pursuing 'alpha' until menopause. Such stress = tingles. Don't be scrutable.
Once she has you dialed in -- she dials out for your replacement. Knock it off with the gifts, the flash, the cash.
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@alexwestconsulting It's a certainty that Putin will be laying on additional Far Eastern export capacity as fast as it can be done. There is ONE hang-up: the fields providing the oil were ONLY developed with the aid of the West -- America, in this case. ALL of the experts have left, taking their toys with them. Since every oil well declines in production, a cessation of new drilling must mean future trouble.
I have no doubt that in-field drilling will continue to hold up Putin's production -- for a time -- but eventually any field's capacity peaks. Worse, improper in-field drilling permanently ruins the reservoir. The Americans discovered this the hard way, in Texas, ninety-years ago.
Putin as another monster technical problem. His Urals stuff, now lacking a market, has to be ramped down. He can't get away with just pouring crude oil across Russia -- and his tank farm is filling up FAST. He has no options. He must cap off producing wells -- and pray that some day they can be restarted.
(Good luck with that. Most capped wells can never be brought back. Instead, should the numbers warrant, a wholly new hole will have to plunge down into the reservoir -- if you didn't really screw things up. Since it's normal practice to cap low-output wells, re-drilling is quite rare. It takes a quantum leap in oil prices for the numbers to work. Such wells will always need a cricket pump, too. Punching new holes for certified low flows is hard to justify.)
Putin's Urals fields are worthy of historical note. THESE are the wells that gutted Adolf in WWII -- and they were solely brought into production via Lend-Lease aid -- and Baker & Hughes. Yup. At the time, this 'elephant' was a top state secret. Adolf could NOT figure out where Stalin's Diesel fuel was coming from. The field was entirely out of range of the Luftwaffe. Adolf would've needed a B-29 fleet to touch it. Perfect, then.
The Urals elephant was the first time the Soviets saw a rotary drilling rig. Until that time, the Bolsheviks were using the exact same techniques seen in the film: "There Will Be Blood." Yeah, Stalin was forty-years behind the West. When the USSR fell, the very fella that brought in the Urals elephant -- a Baker Hughes salesmen-tech expert was interviewed on McNeil-Lehrer. (PBS News Hour) To his astonishment, the USSR NEVER advanced a single step past the tech provided under Lend-Lease in WWII. (!!!!!!)
Yes, you're getting the dope from the horse's mouth.
This history explains why Putin signed up with Exxon-Mobile. That firm could get away with employing thirty-year old tech -- and come off as super geniuses. The West knew the Arctic. (North Slope, anyone?)
Put one other fact in your cap: this flow of events shows why NONE of the expert estimates about Earth's crude oil reserves can be right. Most of the planet has been off limits to American drilling technology. Ukraine is now known to have a tight sands, gas bearing strata that can be unlocked via fracking -- that dang near covers the ENTIRE country. THIS is THE key reason for 2014's invasion. Kyiv was about to displace Putin's cash machine... using pipelines that the USSR had laid.
And, today Putin finally cut-off the West from his gas. He'd already cut off Poland, Bulgaria. Latvia had cut Putin off... and was cross-feeding Estonia. Lithuania was jumping into the soup, too. Damn that American LNG ! Between that an German coal/lignite, Putin's play fell apart.
Isn't it strange that none of the above detail ever makes it to your TV screen?
You live in a world of dunces, lazy dunces.
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I see a Universal incomprehension as to why Trump won't -- can't -- give Zelenskyy security guarantees.
The last time such entanglements were normalized, they triggered WORLD WAR ONE.
Yes, the cascade of war in 1914 was triggered precisely because the Europeans all had back-stopping treaties tied to Great Powers.
THIS is how, why, an assassination directly led to a cascade of of bloodshed.
Russia and Germany and France ALL mobilized for war -- because of poorly thought out treaties, sponsorships -- that linked their foreign policies to dust-ups caused by MINOR powers -- over TRIVIAL matters.
Things went crazy BECAUSE the politicians in second and third tier nations felt that they had 'insurance' backing their positions. This meant that extremist rhetoric, positions, policies were advanced as -- on a personal level -- being belligerent played great in their tiny neck of the woods. Being the tough-guy looked GREAT with the ignorant public. The newspapers LOVED it. At no particular time did ANYONE realize that the interlocking treaties meant that absolutely no Great Power could use military power. Everything needed to turn on diplomacy and economics. Leave the guns at home!
Zelenskyy, himself, absolutely embodies the personality style that caused World War One to erupt. Believe it. You're looking right at it!
He's a certifiable hot-head. Go back and look at his terrible antics in the Oval Office. Zelenskyy was the sinner, not Vance, not Trump
Such matters must ALWAYS be said in private -- never to the world media. Good grief!
When you come to sign -SIGN! Even Tuco knew that dictum. Don't start talking! Signings are always to be ceremonial - never contentious.
You might also note that Europeans can't agree on ANYTHING.
They can only work in concert after the US organizes things.
Without Washington, the entire continent reverts to 1913.
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The wall of silence is opening up.
It now turns out that the RA has lost the high ground so vigorously fought for in the last months -- at the northern tip of the Kherson pocket.
This position was held by at least One BTG reinforced by militia. The UA flag raising is now all over the news -- globally.
Further to the east -- along the northern most edge of the pocket -- the RA has been driven back at least 5 km -- with social media claiming even more.
The UA has punished the RA artillery defense for that front, in the last few days, with counter-battery fires.
These have been so intense that they can be seen glowing from space.
Down south, the RA was able to effectively counter-attack everything the UA threw at them -- for now.
In the center, the RA has lost a fair amount of critical ground, with bitter fighting by both nations every step of the way.
For a time, it looked like the RA was victorious with its riposte.
But, sadly, the UA flipped the battle by crossing the critical river in M-113s, thence to expand their crossing, driving the RA back -- a lot.
The river is so shallow there, that the UA is using this latest crossing as if it were a ford.
It's a tad deep for that, so the UA is filling the zone with gravel. Now, there's nothing for the RA to hit with artillery... river wise.
At the end of the day, we're seeing Operation Uranus, repeated. Eighty-years ago the Reds bagged an entire army.
(Really an army group of 22 divisions.)
For the first month, the Krauts were in denial. The 57th Panzer Corps was to rescue them. Oops. It couldn't.
Finally, after ten-weeks, the German 6th Army threw in the white flag.
The total destruction of the RA's land communications ( all of the bridges ) is as devastating as full-on encirclement.
NOTHING is getting through in the volumes required. [ Putin's helicopter attempts are going down like Ju-52s over the Stalingrad pocket.]
( Today's soldiers burn through ten-times as much stuff as those eighty-years ago -- per capita.)
Putin's doomed 20,000 boys (a corps) are going through enough material to sustain an army of WWII. (~ 150,000-225,000 troops, typically)
Putin's war industry is utterly crippled by sanctions.
This is comparable to the USAAF and RAF bombing Nazi Germany -- and how then Adolf just couldn't execute his weapons programs on tempo.
Putin has lost about twenty-percent of his rolling stock (railroad cars) to maintenance blues. Import substitution is not working.
So his national railroad is now pitching the idea that laid off employees need to sign contracts for war service. (!)
Boy, that's a sign of victory -- NOT !
Brian, at least YOU won't be tearing your hair out.
Kadyrov is calling it quits. I don't think Putin his happy with him. The Chechens now want to rebel.
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@ladybug2x2y22z NATO has no offensive punch whatsoever.
Even after Putin's war, NATO is fixated on staying out of a hot war with Moscow. That's the politics of NATO: all defense, all the time.
NATO has been structured -- from the first -- to rein in France and Germany.
(Read that to mean: Napoleon 2.0; Adolf 2.0.)
NATO was the creation of Britain. She sold the idea to Washington, Paris, et. al. by pointing at Stalin and his new Bomb. But Whitehall never forgot Napoleon nor Adolf.
NATO's command structure gives all top slots to American generals and admirals. Deputy slots are given to Brits, Germans and the French, et. al, depending on their national priorities. (The UK gets the North Sea naval post for all time. And so forth.)
If you'd ever taken the time to read Putin or listen to Putin, you'd know that he wants to revive the USSR/ Tsar's Empire. Period. It's a fixation for him. The EU or NATO, per se, are irrelevant. Empire is everything.
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You missed it. Trump, like every politician, wants manufacturing jobs -- like those at Intel. The average Joe is quite unsuited for intellectually demanding jobs. They would PREFER routine jobs -- so long as they are not laborious. In today's world, teamsters drive over-the-road trucks with so many power enhancements that women can do so. (Power brakes, power steering, comfy cabins, mobile Internet, etc.) The same dynamic has taken over the American farm. Air conditioning, GPS micro-guidance, radio, laptops, etc.
Our nation simply CAN'T export its farming sector, its steel sector, semi-conductors.
You can't build an economy based on authorship, podcasts, music and performance art -- as nice as these things are to the mind and soul.
The assembly lines of 1936 are gone from Detroit. Just ask Packard. Toyota has a factory in Japan that runs with its lights out. No human is necessary until something breaks.
BTW, you'd be surprised how many trust-fund kids can't spell Europe. Chat things up with Jay Leno and his All Stars.
We can say this, if Kennedy fails, in fifty-years every grandchild will be on the Internet selling snake-oil pills for the over-weight.
Some of this trend is showing up in Science -- as grifters and fraudsters are now overwhelming these fields.
In the days of Einstein, physicists were but a fringe niche even in universities. These days, kids with IQs of 110 think they can produce serious science. They can't. Revolutionizing insight and thought will always be cognitively demanding.
So, your Adams progression can never hold. It's aspired to, but yet, quite unachievable. It's like having every gal a Hollywood movie beauty.
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As we've seen in our own time, crude oil producers swing prices way high and way low because once a retail consumer has committed to using gasoline, bunker fuel, avgas [ when they purchase cars, ships and planes ] subsequent demand for liquid energy is highly inelastic. This dynamic has nothing to do with Central Bankers. Look at fracking. Just by slightly over producing light, sweet crude prices crashed from well over $120/bbl to less than $40/bbl. The reason for this is that unlike coal, once the drill pipe has found oil, the human labor required to keep energy flowing is trivial -- coal has opposed traits. It's easy to find, but entails tremendous on-going outlays to keep the coal coming. Until slurry technology came along decades after WWII, coal was not even all that cheap to transport. (trains versus pipelines)
The ultra-low-ball crude oil price quoted early in your presentation was so low that the oil industry was going broke. The Texas Railroad Commission had to step in and stop oil drilling. This hiatus lasted for more than a year during the Great Depression. This commission regulated crude oil prices globally right up until the Arab Oil Crisis -- when it became obvious that AOPEC had the upper hand. Ironically, the founding members of OPEC did not participate in the cartel's embargo. (Venezuela and Iran founded OPEC -- not the Arab producers. They jumped on board rather immediately, however.)
Back to the Great Depression: oil prices keep rising once the Texas Railroad Commission turned the American industry -- within that state -- into a cartel. Texas was so dominant that it pulled all other American production towards its pricing.
BTW, General Thomas was entirely wrong. The Americans sent rotary oil rigs to the Soviets. These punched holes twenty-one times as fast as what the Soviets had been using. Typically, a hole started on Monday was ready to cap by Thursday. The field was simply not that deep, (1500 feet) the rock was pretty forgiving. The reason that the Nazis knew nothing of any of this because the field that the Soviets were punching had just been discovered. (!) The land was as flat as Texas. So rail lines could be laid lickety split.
Stalin told Churchill that the Red Army reached its absolute nadir with Manstein's winter offensive. Uranus and Mars had entirely burned through Stalin's reserves. He needed the thaw to train a fresh batch of cucumbers.
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STAVKA consisted of Stalin and the generals// marshals he plopped in front of himself on any given day.
His style was to keep them seated, pretty much at all times, while he walked around their backs, interrogating them about their concepts.
Other than Stalin, himself, it's amazing how many generals moved in and out of these STAVKA meetings.
STAVKA best mirrors America's National Security Council... another committee with a totally floating membership. The only one absolutely assured of a position there being the President, himself.
[The American NSC actually ran WWII, but it was never called that during the war, itself. Afterwards, Truman formalized what FDR had long established, and thus we ended up with the NSC and CIA, etc. Both were started out is improvisations.]
Most of my 'take' on the Russians comes not from Glantz -- who I've never read, though I've heard his lecture -- but from Russians and Russophiles. ( To put it politely. )
As for the insane losses at the land-bridge, they are confirmed from all sources... most notably the survivors.
You might take a gander at the post-Cold War diary accounts from the 'cucumbers' -- they are a fright. They just go on and on and on and on. They ALL tell of crazy high infantry losses to German machine guns.
Even Stalin, himself, was pissed at wasteful commanders, and made many a statement to that effect. Said 'waste' was due to the extremely short boot camps that every 'cucumber' reports in their diaries.
There are no exceptions floating around out there in the Russian literature. If there were, they'd get PLENTY of ink from Putin & Co.
No, the Red Army took a beating at the land-bridge. Four Red armies against a single panzer corps? Yiikes. With that much man-power, they should've blown through the Ostheer. On paper, that'd be five to one odds. Obviously, something does not add up.
The ten-armies quote, BTW, comes from a Russophile -- not a German. He was gloating about the Red victory, and the stupidity of the Nazis.
&&&
The German army beat the German army;
The Red army beat the Red army;
-- right up until Stalin let his marshals run the show.
Then everything went the other way. This was also the same time that LendLease really kicked in... which was BEFORE Uranus.
Hell, there are German accounts of them capturing LendLease (American) jeeps and more still on flat cars as they rolled up to Stalingrad. The Germans were giggling and laughing because this stuff was still in American markings. How fresh can you get?
The date: September 1941.
Yeah, that tale surprised me, too.
Boston bombers arrived before Uranus, too. They were the primary reason that Army Group A was so frustrated. A-20s kept blowing up their supplies and attempts at bridging. Back at OKH, Adolf couldn't believe what he was hearing.
No, the history is clear, Stalin wasted lives at an astounding clip. Then it was Hitler's turn. German loses in the back half of the war had to be astounding. Entire divisions, corps, armies evaporated. That's as bad as anything that happened to the Russians in 41-42.
After the war, both sides wanted to fold their losses into their victories so that their extreme defeats didn't boggle the mind.
That's where you get TIK's statistical compilation.
BTW, German position maps don't carry a narrative. They just show deployments. They sure don't make the Ostheer look good, BTW.
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@katrinapaton5283 Generals NEVER disdain their own victories. They always have critics, though.
Bradley 'owns' the Hurtgen Forest campaign -- yet never brought it up -- much -- in his own war bios.
He's not alone. Not one of the WWII era top commanders ever uttered a word even mildly critiquing his own army,... or his own performance. Such is the way of generalship.
I don't care WHAT Pultarch attributed to Pyrrhus, you just KNOW that the line came from fellow Greeks (think politicians) upon hearing the results from the field. (Pyrrhus just killed recruitment into the ranks. It was hell to field a second, replacement, army. )
There were (2) two infamous battles... blood baths, both. Back home, his critics began howling after his first debacle. Such heavy, heavy losses were a total novelty for Greece. You can bet the boys on the spot were bitter, too.
These battles were months apart, BTW.
Well, at least Pyrrhus became famous.
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@wbertie2604 But, but, but -- the Colonel was convinced, too. The Krauts made THAT much noise. The 2nd Panzer and 26th VG were right in front of these guys.
When Ike hear the intel of the first day -- he leapt all over it, PDQ. He figured -- rightly -- that this is EXACTLY the kind of stunt that Adolf was prone for.
Not so, Bradley, who was STILL poo-pooing the reports sixteen-hours after the attack began. (!!!) He sent the 7th and 10th tank divisions off to XIII Corps -- almost under protest. This is in his own auto-bio. It's as close as he comes to admitting that he'd screwed up.
BTW, 2nd ID was to attack on the 16th -- a Bradley schemed attack, of course. Its commanding general disobeyed his corps commander... and stopped it. (Gerow, V Corps) Later Gerow apologized. The 2nd ID would've been mauled -- as the Krauts had preregistered fires awaiting them... plus king tiger tanks and the 12SS boys.
By going over to defense, the 2nd ID totally screwed up the 12SS. Adolf expected Big Things -- and yet nothing.
Middleton was NOT fooled. Fuller was not fooled. The Krauts could not tramp around with battalions of tanks, stugs, half-tracks and such in slippers. Their end-connector squeal is just too much to muffle.
The Armored Cavalry up north also was howling about end connector squeal. Piper was right in front of them.
It was Bradley who was dismissing these reports. Only in glancing, in his auto-bio, does Bradley admit that he was fulsomely dismissive of Kraut capabilities at this point. Though a bona fide genius, he utterly failed to imagine what a truly desperate dictator would do, what powers he could summon.
In military lingo: Bradley blew it. He was not getting just the one report. When Fuller sent the intel up the line -- he did so with his own written assurance that the dope was spot on.
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@Dweeble233 The Western idea of 'love' dates from the Cathars, in France about 1,000 years ago. It's actually a RELIGIOUS axiom.
For the Cathars, true love was ALWAYS by an average Joe to an UNATTAINABLE woman -- typically of the peerage. It was to be a frustrated love, of course. It pops up in Western fiction in the legend of King Arthur -- wherein the princess is the love interest of the perfect knight -- but marriage to the king's lady is -- obviously -- impossible.
Poets found this notion to be wonderful -- and many a tale has been spun about frustrated, ardent, suitors as a result.
You will not find its equivalent in Eastern cultures. It's strictly a Western 'thing.'
Now it has morphed to the point that gals ALSO want to obtain 'perfect love.'
The fact that, for Cathars, such a love must NEVER result in satisfaction, in marriage or in children is lost on moderns.
BTW, you might note that in MANY Western fictions the hero is never to be married -- oft seen in TV dramas.
This is an echo of Cathar 'logic.'
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@ Americans know the feeling, as the Revolutionary War went on for seven-years. (1776-1783) It also broke, financially, most every Founding Father... and took a tremendous toll on them physically -- especially to include George Washington.
Zelenskyy has made some epic boners. No-one is perfect. Biggest error: not executing on the original LendLease deal passed by Congress back in 2022. He let $22,000,000,000 in credit lapse. The folly was that with LL money, Zelenskyy could determine WHAT Ukraine could buy. Instead, he laid back and depended upon Biden's (Sullivan, really) handouts.
The USA never much had a history of handing out war funds... to other nations. Lending has been the American tradition. (WWI, WWII, Marshall Plan) In all three cases the US lent Large against folks with terrible credit risk. Trump is going down that same road. Don't be surprised if a future president forgives a LOT of the money lent. This will hugely depend upon how politics flows.
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@SeanFication No, no, no. The USA established the Marshall Plan ( Actually the Truman Plan, he wrote it, Marshall spoke it.) which was intended to aid EVERY nation from the Soviet Union to the Atlantic. Yes, the plan included Stalinist Russia. This reality totally destroys your thesis that it, the charity, was oriented along Great Power calculations.
If you read ANY of the literature from the period you'd note that the impulse came from CHARITY. (C.A.R. E. anyone?)
Traditionally, a nation in such a position merely moves in to conquer distraught lands, one way or another.
That was the European solution after military conquest.
Whereas the US Army couldn't wait to head back home.
In 1945 the warrior army returned to the States, and a bunch of draft avoiding peaceniks were sent over to replace them.
Contrast that with the USSR.
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@junktex Wrong.
The true old GOP was killed off by Trump. It now exists as the traditional Democrat party -- as seen in Kennedy/LBJ/Carter/Clinton. Cruz howled about Trump's New York liberalism -- to no avail. He attained office because Hillary was THAT repulsive, THAT corrupt.
[ Both Bush, Senior, and Bill Clinton established a relief fund for Haiti. The funds evaporated into their pockets. Said funds are the very reason why the Clinton clan is now staggeringly wealthy, and why they can fund an astounding 'staff' of apparats. As for Bush, H.W., he lived in an ultra luxurious NY 'apartment' that figures to have cost ~ $3,000,000 per year -- until the end of his days. Both presidents had 'the goods' on each other. Which is why they had such a soft rivalry in 1992 -- and why they EVER buddied up to loot Haiti relief. Haitians are STILL furious over the missing 1.5 billion dollars. Our MSM edits their demonstrations -- in most cases -- onto the cutting floor. Oh, and one other thing, H.W. Bush was THE man behind the Contras & Cocaine. Reagan had detailed the Latin American 'project' over to his V-P, not his NSA, the Vice Admiral. Naturally, the MSM is totally incurious as to everything posted here. Of course, many a snooping journalist has ended up in the grave over this matter -- which crosses all lines. ]
The old Democrat party -- as detailed above -- has been killed by Obama -- so now it really IS the PROGRESSIVE (Marxist-Socialist) party. It took this gal years after Obama left office to realize that her 'Democrat Party' had been killed off. She lives in cognitive dissonance... a VERY common situation for both Republican and Democrat voters these days. Both cohorts still think that the parties -- as they knew them in their younger days -- are still at all the same. They are NOT.
Keep in mind, the Democrat party was founded by Andrew Jackson -- expressly to give the vote to Whites and to keep Blacks as slaves on the plantation. The GOP was founded (1858) by religious Right-Wingers who were repulsed by chattel slavery -- with Boston being ground zero, Wisconsin being their first party confab. The 1860 election was a four-way. So, Lincoln was elected by a popular minority. The slave states votes Democrat straight across the board, of course.
Modern Liberalism, in the US conception, began in Wisconsin, of all places.
The Democrat party was the party of corruption -- straight out of City Hall -- right from the start. Think of big city government as an urban plantation. Boss Tweed, anyone?
Even now, the GOP is the RURAL party.
Until Taft and Teddy split ( Taft pandered to American oligarchs ) the Democrats rarely attained the presidency. ( See Cleveland, the bachelor president with a love child. )
Only after Hoover presided over the Fed's total screw-up did the nation revolt and turn to FDR -- who campaigned on reversing Hoover. Instead, FDR doubled down, tripled down, quadrupled down on Hoover's Big Government schemes. [ Most of FDR's successes were based on amplifying what Hoover had proposed -- but which Congress, in its wisdom, had shot down. ] FDR was lucky, though, Adolf bailed him out by declaring war. With its victory, the Democrats have been able to walk and TALK their way out of their true legacy: slavery. So now, the DP owns the Black vote. How crazy is that?
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The USAAF blew up and lit off Nazi Germany's AVGAS reserves and refineries. For AVGAS, Nazi Germany really only had THREE plants able to produce it in quantity. Foolishly, they stored said AVGAS right next door -- when any military man would've told the producers to park that stuff miles away and (hopefully) underground -- as it burns like crazy once lit. No AVGAS meant no Luftwaffe. It was grounded. Only a pitiful few machines could take to the air. The result was a total collapse in the East: Bagration -- and a virtually un-mechanized fight in the West. Once Patton turned the corner, the Germans couldn't even pull their panzers back. An amazing fraction had to be blown up by their retreating crews. Here and there, even that didn't happen. Hence, the Allies were able to capture intact King Tigers, Panthers and a lot more types, from time to time. (Still, not a whole lot of machines.) The Big Week, February 1944, is why the Wehrmacht couldn't hang on to ANYTHING. No gas = no go.
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@annamack5823 Yeah, there's some gold-digging going on here. But, neither of us has the full picture, and never will.
These scum-bags are so wealthy that I know that they could cough up $5,000,000 and scarcely miss it.
Such a pay-out would serve the wider social purpose: to deter other elites from exploiting common girls.
(On Epstein's island, Black orphan Haitian cuties were imported courtesy of Hillary Clinton. (then Sec State) Obviously, Bill had made the request. The MSM has done yeoman work to bury her criminal involvement in human trafficking. She was their criminal and she was running for the presidency.)
BTW, centuries ago, it was common for peers to haul a common lass into their carriage for some play time. In this, they were above the law. They would never be hauled into a normal court -- as they could only be tried by the king or their peers.
The French nobility became notorious (certainly in fictive works) for such injustices. (And then always tied into the Revolution.)
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@theresaakins2317 BILL Gates and BILL Clinton flew on the Lolita Express to Pedo Island over and over and over. Yeah, their transits were part of the official flight record, same as a commercial carrier. (US LAW)
Mr. Gates lost the power of his pre-nup and, yes, it's cost him BILLIONS in divorce court... except that he settled out of court. Exposure of his pedo flights was enough to make him cough up a staggering amount of money -- well, by my standards -- to keep the family secret.
Mr. Clinton is officially recorded as having taken more than twenty-flights. (20++) He was not taking the trips for anything but below the belt pleasures.
Beyond that, he got his wife to import more than two-dozen Haitain beauties -- all (obviously, seriously) under age -- when she was Sec State. They all landed in the Virgin Islands -- Epstein's Pedo Paradise. IIRC, they were landed in batches. Their 'immigration' (as orphans) was pitched, no doubt, as charity. It was child exploitation, straight up.
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@solarfreak1107 The 19th Century folks called the distilled product coal-oil. You'll hear such references in many a Hollywood 'period' film. Petroleum based oil was the minor fraction of production until Rockefeller standardized refining in Ohio. Hence his brand: Standard (standardized) Oil.
[He made his breakthrough with kerosene that had no gasoline vapors in it.]
The destructive distillation of coal to produce coke for blast furnaces is a huge business even today. However, the coals used are chosen for their properties in iron reduction: low sulfur, low phosphorous.
For the Nazis, the play was to destructively distill 'steam coal' - the stuff that the Red Chinese and Indians have run short of. This process does not produce sweet coke -- but it does release far, far more volatiles -- which when condensed -- become very, very light 'crude oil' -- also termed 'gas oil' as it is a liquid recovered from hot gassified vapors by the process.
The kicker for the Nazis was that such an industrial process does not require exotic, high quality steels. It does not involve really high pressures.
It was not viable once cheap petroleum became widely available -- especially after Spindle top in Texas. (1903)
But, until then, coal distillation condensate dominated the fuel liquids market.
Before steam turbine driven alternators, the waste coke from said distillation was a drug on the market. But by 1935, the Krauts were in a position to partner up every distillation plant with a plain vanilla steam power plant -- of which the Nazis needed no end of.
THAT was their play -- and they blew it. The Nazis were destined to lose the war -- no matter what they did. But with coal oil, they would've had a route to far more liquid fuels at a practical cost. Thank the heavens that the Nazis were technical dolts.
BTW, a single ton of steam coal figures to emit about 1.3 barrels of coal oil condensate... IF you're using lighter, wetter thermal coal. At worst, you're looking at 1 barrel per ton. Nazi Germany was mining millions of tons per year -- over 300,000 tons per day...(adding in the occupied nations.) Scaling up to 100,000 bbl per day might have been possible. Then the Nazi fuel crisis would be over.
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The uproar from social media stopped the Ukrainian insanity of diverting air force techs to useless infantry.
But, it shows that heads MUST roll in the Ukrainian army. The idea was THAT crazy.
Zelenskyy is going to have to stop selling his plight to the West -- so as to take care of business at home.
His generals are looting his nation -- of blood, of money, of life. And all the while, Zelenskyy is winging his way across the West. Oops.
In finance, you sell the rumor and buy on the news. By the time the Kremlin makes things official -- it's ALWAYS too late.
Remember September 2022? For days the Kremlin denied that general conscription was in prospect.
Then, limited conscription occurred -- ten-days later. Millions fled, PDQ.
Putin officially leaked his own liquidity seizure rumor -- to test the waters. That is all. Sheesh. Wasn't that obvious to the whole world?
The rumor was so official that the DUMA was in an uproar. Sheesh! The Rubble is SCRIPT.
It's only good at the Company Store... same as what coal miners faced a century ago in Appalachia. No-one could escape such dealings.
Your Big Wages evaporated at the Company Store. No competition was allowed in -- as the Company owned ALL adjacent land.
Putin is crossing Article V. He's ripping up the infrastructure of the West -- cable by cable.
Solution -- force both anchors and cables to be run out and dropped onto the Baltic Sea floor.
(No port will then accept such a ship. It can't even transfer oil without special assistance, either. )
Then tow the malign ship to port, seize its cargo to pay for damages, and then send the hulk to the breakers. There can be no returns.
Jail the crews, too. They are not going anywhere until the war is terminated. They are now, obviously, combatants, and not in uniform!
If Putin escalates -- take ALL of his ships from him. NO more oil shipments via sea -- even to Red China, India.
This is merely tough love. It's done to avoid open hostilities. Putin is in no position to escort his ships. They are too many, his navy too few.
Anchor dragging is NOT an innocent act -- and it totally abrogates the freedom of the sea for said malefactors.
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Land conquest has negative externalities for Moscow. Yeltsin dumped the Empire because it was a LOSER for Russia.
In our atomic age, no army, especially not NATO, is going to move east into Russia.
The whole planet knows of Napoleon and Hitler.
The eternal threat to Russia is DEMOGRAPHICS.
Today that largely means Muslim demographics and immigration.
Even without any change in Russia's borders, she will be over-run by Muslim demographics.
This figures to happen even faster in Russia than it does in Western Europe -- though it looks to be a close-run contest.
Muslims, because if Islamic norms, can't contribute to a modern economy.
Islam demands too much of any Muslim's time and dedication.
So, it's hardly any wonder that the 57 Muslim states are, collectively, at the bottom of most economic indexes. The wealthier Muslim states are compelled to import talent. Their own boys are too busy with their devotions to Allah. Islam is all consuming.
Hence, on present trends, Russia is going to simply just run out of talent, run out of Slavs.
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@randallturner9094 The answer is dry weather.
BTW, re-read my missive.
During WWII, the GMC 2.5 spent a LOT of time on dirt roads -- lousy, rotten, 'barely' roads. Yeah, performance was much worse than pavement.
( Still my Father's favorite truck -- the ol' Red Ball'r, with many a tale to tell. Yeah, he's still kicking - got to meet Macron and Trump. )
One would expect HIMARS to spend 99.5% of its time on asphalt.
But then, I've already said that.
(Indeed, I'd recommend that it never be parked -- except for crew changes and POL.)
BTW, I could appeal to authority -- mine -- and it would be impressive -- overwhelming, really. But, for something so self-evident, why bother?
The US Army would NEVER have accepted a war machine that had NO off-road capability.
Decades ago, a naval whiz told me -- with his authority, based on experience with them -- that the F-14 was not a bomber -- just couldn't do it. As a civilian, I told him that capability was part of its USN acceptance spec -- for sure. So, at the end, the USN was racking bombs on its F-14s -- called 'em 'Bombcats.' Heh. No modifications were required. The USN had kept that capability quiet... even from its own boys.
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@Peorhum
Nope. Not a chance.
The ONLY shot that the Germans had in North Africa was by way of a drilling campaign.
Astoundingly, it never occurred to either the Italians or the Germans to drill for water in Libya. It's not as if it had been tried and the holes came up dry.
Virtually the ENTIRE nation sits atop a massive aquifer, with the biggest deposits in the deep southern desert. Still, it had water virtually right up to the coast.
This water actually comes from the Nile river... by way of Sudan. You see the Earth is splitting apart there, so the ground gives way to an immense, bottomless swamp. And I do mean bottomless. Attempts have been made to find the bottom, and the drill string just kept going and going until the crew ran out of pipe. (!)
Then, with the passage of millions of years, the swamp water wicked its way north to create an immense aquifer from western Egypt all the way to the west. IIRC, it's the biggest ever discovered.
Underneath that lens of water lies the best crude oil ever discovered. It's practically gasoline. ( okay it's only 40-50% gasoline ) A single well could've supplied the DAK and the Italian fleet.
The Nazis and Fascist Italians could've pumped 2,000,000 bbl per day out of Libya -- if given enough time to build it out. ( Think fifteen years. )
What a gaff. They never looked, not even once. After the discoveries under Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- why didn't they get curious?
This option was available BEFORE Barbarossa. With a modern rig, water would be hit after about three-days, BTW... oil would take another week, week and a half.
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@Peorhum
andrew is largely correct.
The assets used for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete came from Army Group North almost exclusively.
This had a DRASTIC impact during Barbarossa.
1) The British SUNK 2nd Panzer Division -- not the men -- just the panzers. The Germans were shipping all of its equipment from Greece to Italy -- thence to be rail roaded back to Army Group North. They all ended up under the Adriatic.
This one panzer division counts as TWO, as it was still based on the TO&E of 1940. It hadn't been divided in half for Barbarossa. ~400 panzers were sunk -- in two ships. So, until the Battle of Moscow, the most elite, powerful German panzer division, Guderian's favorite, was cooling its heels back in Germany, being totally rebuilt.
2) Crete was the end of German airborne operations. This proved to be HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. The German parachute arm was the instrument of victory time and time again. It was originally intended to assist in the conquest of Leningrad. ( one scheme out of many ) The idea was to parachute it on top of the rail line leading off to the east and Archangel. This would entirely eliminate support to the defenders of that city. The plan would be to rip up the rail road and retreat back to German lines while the panzers surged forward to meet the paras. It could've worked.
3) The rail net of Yugoslavia and Greece was a travesty. So rail road repairs sucked down all of the SUPPLIES and tooling and troops intended for Army Group North. This was to have knock-on effects during Barbarossa. The Germans simply couldn't repair the rails as fast as originally planned. This was a MAJOR screw up that directly fed back into burning too much gasoline -- to replace the missing steam locomotives.
4) Greece also kept the 1st SS Brigade in the south, and much else. This was the wrong place for such an elite unit. The Romanian front did not move until Army Group South peeled the Soviets backward. This process took more than a month. Until then, 11th Army just sat on its azz... with two Romanian armies to keep it company.
5) Greece and Crete continued to be a drag on German resources -- especially oil. For you had to keep supplying the Crete garrison with motor transport ( no grass for horses ) and air cover and shipping to and fro. None of this was in the 'original military budget' for 1941. It was a total bleeder.
What proved to be a fiasco for the British Empire proved ultimately to be the utter downfall of Nazi Germany. But no-one saw that at the time. Indeed, most don't comprehend it to this day.
But Greece and Crete is where Nazi Germany really went off the rails. Germany couldn't afford to even enter this campaign. It was that much of a bleeder. Greece is probably the ONLY time in Churchill's life that he made a correct military decision of a strategic nature.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
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In only five-days, this Pentagon style analysis has been made obsolete.
The 'Sorrow Line' has been decisively breached.
[ The RA defense has (locally) broken down. Morale is THAT crappy. ]
There are -- essentially -- no mines behind it.
[ Counter-battery fires have immolated the RA defense. ]
It has been the INSANE concentration of mines -- anti-tank/ anti-personnel -- that made the NATO standard model absurd.
The UA has compelled the RA to throw in its 'Imperial Guard' -- the VDV -- not much different than Napoleon at Waterloo/ Mont St. Jean.
Only this time, it's to stop any gap from popping loose before the Mud Season.
Drones largely eliminate the WWI/ WWII trench systems as a Big Advantage.
The UA is simply eliminating the opposition -- at retail -- with grenade drops.
VDV troops are not performing as elite soldiers. ( Those storied units are now stuffed with newbies. )
The UA has reverted to NATO standard doctrine -- now that the mine fields are (largely) behind them.
There is NO WAY that the RA ever could lay mines all along its own defense access roads.
Drones have entirely replaced helicopter scouts -- the boys made famous during Vietnam.
The very recent tank duels, something I'd thought would be quite rare, show that the RA machines and crews are cowed by the West's stuff.
When the UA destroyed the Russian naval HQ at Sevastopol, it was revealed that in was a COMBINED HQ.
It functioned as the master HQ for the land army in southern occupied Ukraine.
Essentially the entire chain of command has been sent to the hospital.
Soon, attack'ems will light off any RA ammo depots across the entire southern occupation zone. And just in the nick of time.
RA 152mm ammo starvation will cause UA infantry advances to become enabled.
RA counter-attacks become futile when the UA has cluster munitions ready to hand. [ Video footage of same on the Internet. ]
That DP stuff shreds both BMPs and SPAs -- same as infantry. Oh, my!
Attrition warfare works by bleeding the opponent, demoralizing him, until the dam breaks.
This is what happened in 1918. It also happened in 1865.
For the stakes involved, the calculus of Vietnam/ Afghanistan cannot be used. Neither combatant can back off. Period.
BTW, Putin has (essentially) never drafted Muscovites. He can't. He also can't tap Saint Petersburg -- and that's whence he hails.
He has ALREADY burned through his 'expendables.'
He has crippled his economy. His ammo situation is so dire, that he kissed Kim's hand. (!)
He does have Ritter and McGregor on his side.
That's the kiss of death -- right there.
I called the Falklands war -- to a tee (1982); ditto for Gulf War (1990/1991); ditto for the day of the Russian Revolution. (1991)
And, that's my short list. As these predictions unfolded, my audiences always thought that my accuracy was one-of-a-kind.
It's just a shame that I can't predict my own life. Such is life.
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Absurd. Harding did not become mega wealthy via his three-years in office. Rather, like Biden, he was a Dark Horse thrown in because Hoover would not accept the Republican nomination in 1920. Instead, Hoover ran the US Government as a member of Harding's cabinet! This was so well known that political cartoons of the period recorded it. Harding was even more asleep at the wheel than Biden. Hoover also ran the US Government during the Coolidge years. Remember silent Cal? Hoover was doing all of the talking, of course. While FDR ran the government from 1933-1945, Hoover -- de facto -- ran the government from 1921-1933. Harding and Coolidge merely rubber stamped what Congress passed. And the Republican Congress of that era was listening to Hoover -- all the time.
Harding, like Grant, was too trusting. Compared to the corruption of the Clintons and Bushes, Harding comes off as a saint.
Grant became so broke that Congress had to establish a retirement fund for ex-presidents. Yup.
Grant's cabinet was epic in the corruption department. Harding's cabinet was a tempest in a teapot by comparison.
( Bush 41 and Clinton 42, jointly, made $1,500,000,000 of Haitian relief disappear. The Haitians are still howling. The funds did finance his daughter's wedding, so at least some good came of all that charity money entrusted to the two presidents.)
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@TIK
1) Von Manstein was correct. The moment of decision was BEFORE von Manstein was even brought into the picture... BEFORE the 6th Army was even encircled.
Once the army was encircled, it was too late.
ANY attempt to break out past the first FEW DAYS was doomed to failure.
1) The army was already fatally weakened by hunger and lack of transport. In the conditions then prevailing, 6th Army would've been chopped up, Napoleon style, just by exposure marching westward through the cold.
2) Paulus WASTED 6th Army's reserve fuel supplies in the magic hours after Uranus was launched and before the army was encircled. This episode is ALWAYS omitted in the telling and re-telling of Uranus. To do so makes the Ostheer look like IDIOTS. Yes.
The panzer regiments, the QRF for 6th Army that had been kept in reserve just for this possibility were run into the ground -- and then brought back into the kessel. To do so, they had to travel the LONG way back. The short route would've put them west of the Don bridgehead... a location that Paulus didn't bother to reinforce whatsoever in the early days of Uranus. (!!!)
3) The 29th Motorized// Mechanized division was held in reserve expressly to counter-attack any Soviet advance that might proceed across the lower Volga in an attempt to sweep 6th Army from the south. In the campaign it DID launch its pre-planned counter-attack into the Reds. This attack went off PERFECTLY. The 29th was just mowing down the advance elements of the Red army. The leading troops had absolutely no heavy weapons at all. They were still trapped east of the Volga, as no truck, no tank could cross the Volga -- the ice ridges were THAT BAD. ( They occur every year, so you can always re-examine the matter next winter.) It took DAYS for the Soviets to fix paths for their tanks and trucks. The primary reason that the southern pincer had cavalry was because horses could navigate the ice single file. Once to the west bank, the cavalry faced essentially no opposition of any kind, so it was a simple matter to trot westwards. When the cavalry ran into Germans, everyone dismounted and fought like Dragoons.
( Shades of the Australians of WWI fame in the Middle East.)
3a) The Soviets SPOOFED Paulus & Company into stopping the 29th's attack, by claiming the authority of Adolf Hitler. We now know for a fact that Hitler was in absolutely no position to issue the magic directive. He was on his train at the time.
3b) This event was mentioned in EVERY German account of the period. They just couldn't understand 'Hitler's interference.' Heh. Later von Manstein put it all together. He fed the Soviets garbage during his Winter Offensive and then bagged multiple Red armies. ( Spoofed them with 4-rotor Enigmas, sent true commands with 5-rotor Enigmas -- and shortly thereafter, the Ostheer went over to 5-rotor Enigmas across the whole front.
This transition was one of the reasons for the lull before Kursk. OKH could not bear to have side by side transmissions of 4-rotor and 5-rotor signals. Any such folly would allow the Soviets to back into the 5-rotor system.
(The IJN made this mistake with the USN. It resulted in the Midway fiasco.)
By the time von Manstein showed up, the die was cast. 6th Army had become immobilized. Paulus is the man most responsible for that status. He was the man on the scene allowing the Reds to WALK across the snow to encircle him. Yes, the great advance proceeded at a tempo that Napoleon could identify with.
The break-down rate of the T-34s in this campaign was astounding. The crews were so GREEN than even the slightest malfunction had them totally stumped. This is why 11 Panzer found themselves squared off against pathetically small T-34 formations. They had started life as tank regiments back at the Don. By the time they were confronted, they'd lost 65% of their strength do to motor-march grief.
( Later the Soviets would correct this epic gaff. They even put together a propaganda piece about cross-training the new T-34 crews back at the factory. That newsreel footage is up on YouTube to this very day, BTW.
This ^^^ is what separated the USA from the Red Army. GIs didn't need ANY training WRT mechanical trivia. And the USA gave its tankers about 18 months of training on their Shermans before being committed to combat. The USA originally ( on paper ) was scaled to invade France in May 1943. That's why the tankers had so much time to kill.
&&&
Strategy & Tactics Magazine ( Dunnigan ) cranked out cardboard war games forty-five years ago. One featured Uranus. They had to impose a Hitler-rule so as to achieve some semblance of history: the German contestant was prohibited from moving his panzers out of the pocket, of moving them to the Chir or Don rivers. For, during game testing, EVERY player was immediately sending his panzer corps to the west, while squatting in place with his infantry armies. ( 6th Army was really and army group in its own right. It had its own panzer army, and two Romanian armies and a Hungarian army and an Italian army -- all of whom were routing their command orders through Paulus. (!!!)
And Paulus was in DIRECT subordination to Adolf Hitler. I don't know where you, TIK, ever came up with Paulus reporting to von Manstein. It's on the record from many sources that Hitler had jumped the queue and was calling the shots for Paulus VERY shortly after 6th Army was encircled. It was at this moment that Adolf had finally come up to speed -- and was in his Prussian lair.
Keep in mind that Mars had OKH's attention, too.
Mars caused Hitler to reneg on his commitment to Paulus -- which was to seen a panzer corps to his aid should anything go sideways at Stalingrad. IIRC the panzers involved were the exact divisions that Hitler had taken away from 4th Army a few months back: 17th panzer, 18th panzer and GD motorised... The panzers were actually sitting on flat cars south of AGC when Hitler committed them to Mars -- BEFORE he even scoped what was up with Uranus -- BEFORE things truly went sideways.
He was reacting to the screams of 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies. Stupid.
The correct play was to let the 2nd and 3rd bob and weave. They had PLENTY of power, short lines back to the rail heads.
Whereas 6th Army was in a heap load of trouble -- so obvious that Zeitzler// OKH had been screaming about it for WEEKS. He'd been told that he should calm down because a spare panzer corps was on call if anything erupted.
The Soviets knew all about this reserve panzer corps, and so actually turned over MANY secrets to the Germans so that it would not be sent south to bail out Paulus.
Further research figures to show that the RUSSIANS used spoofing to get the panzers to return back into the kessel. Hoth, Rommel, Guderian, Hoepner, not one of them would've bought such missives -- purportedly from Hitler -- same as the BS used to freeze the 29th Motorized division.
The infantry of 6th Army simply couldn't be shifted... not even before the encirclement.
The ONLY troops that should've broken out were the panzers and motorized troops -- and they needed to break-out before they were even encircled.
All later breakout attempts that were contemplated were TOO LATE. Paulus had already destroyed his panzer's gasoline reserve chasing ghosts.
This ^^^^ brutal FACT is something that ALL Ostheer histories try to obscure. Don't let them.
The chain of command jumped straight to Adolf Hitler. Von Manstein had to BEG Adolf to sign off on any orders he wanted to give to Paulus. Hitler duly threw in his two-bits.
I've quoted from just a piece of Hitler's insistences, already.
TIK, your thesis -- it doesn't fit the facts.
BTW, it was Franz Halder who established in the mind of Adolf Hitler that Paulus was a "does as he is told" kind of guy. His own peers were SHOCKED when he was promoted to army command... by Franz Halder -- his patron. Later, Hitler decided that now that he had Paulus -- why hang on to the Catholic? And out Halder went.
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@cq4fun At every turn, it has been Putin that has escalated.
This is the same tyrant that told the whole world that Russia was not ever going to invade Ukraine, the brother country.
Now, the word is out that he wants Belarus (Lukashenko) to join his 'project.'
1) NATO membership was never on the cards for Ukraine. France and Germany kept vetoing its candidacy. No wonder Paris and Berlin had their heads spinning over Putin's propaganda. His total betrayal of (secret) side-deals has caused German Greens to flip out.
2) EU membership was never on the cards for Ukraine. France and Germany kept vetoing its candidacy. With membership, Paris and Berlin would have to ship boatloads of Euros to Kyiv... every year for decades to come. They're already bleeding to help out Spain, Greece, Portugal and Poland. Ukraine would need a trade subsidy that dwarfed these four nations. France absolutely gags at the thought of Ukrainian foodstuffs competing with French farmers.
3) NATO missiles were about to be highly restricted by diplomacy. A new START style treaty was in the works. Putin tossed it away.
4) Putin told the entire planet that he intends to revive the USSR/ Tsarist empire. He did it in writing -- and in a long, rambling speech moments before his tanks rolled into Ukraine.
5) Putin has proved a chronic murdered -- at home and abroad. He's not subtle. He makes sure that Polonium is used; something only available to an atomic nation state. He uses ultra-deadly, super secret nerve agents, too. He had a whole English town in an uproar for 18-months as every doorknob had to de-contaminated. The cost of his murder to the British nation was staggering. He just HAD to do it that way. After all, what's murder without terrorism?
6) Putin has proven that international treaties and agreements mean no more to him than they ever did to Adolf. Yup. A detailed listing would bore you to tears. Consequently, a negotiated ceasefire and ultimate peace depends on a player who lies, cheats, steals, and murders to suit himself. He's more important than Russia, his nation.
Why Zelenskyy ever expects Putin to honor any deal is a mystery. At this time, Putin is still trying to assassinate Zelenskyy. And the West knows all about such antics.
What a guy! /s
On current trends, Putin will grind his army down to the nub -- IF the West continues to supply Zelenskyy smart weapons. Putin is a chip importer - who has been cut off. The West has an ocean of smart weapons coming at him. I expect Putin to reach for ultimate weapons -- figuring on Biden, the sock puppet, to flinch. That's always been at the bottom of Putin's calculus. The idiot that abandoned Kabul will surely abandon Kyiv.
There is a problem: Biden IS a sock puppet. He has no real idea of what's going on. The world is hearing policy by teleprompter. On his own, Biden is a tongue-salad.
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@superfluous5162 You are essentially wrong.
The Japanese government NEVER extends citizenship to immigrants. Further, what few, VERY few, migrants Tokyo permits to toil are limited in term. They can't stay.
In this, they replicate the dictums of the Gulf Oil states. You can't stay on, there, either. This is true even if you're an elite technocrat. In effect, for the Gulf Muslims, all imported talent is by way of indenture. Yes, you are contracted with this or that given firm// organization. There is no job-hopping allowed.
Both of the above schemes are TOTALLY different than that proposed by the architects of mass invasion of Europe and America -- primarily BECAUSE they are White. So, yes, it's a racial 'thing.' Whites, of course, are second class citizens in Africa -- and more Whites are legally prohibited -- one way or another. I give you the Boers of South Africa.
One must appreciate the irony and double standards, as the Boers landed upon a barren shore centuries ago. They didn't displace ANY native population. Western South Africa was a functional desert. No-one lived there at all. The Blacks of South Africa -- who now run the show -- are ALL more recent immigrants that came down south once the Boers civilized the land. Slavery never existed in Boer (Dutch) culture.
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@daveh322 There is no such thing as the petro-dollar.
Decades ago the US made a deal with KSA to allow that kingdom to deposit their winnings/ sales proceeds in vast amounts into the US Treasury market -- WITHOUT having their assets exposed to the world.
The fact that international oil sales have been long priced in International Money is still true and will remain true.
The ONLY change that KSA might make is if the kingdom decides to accumulate Red China's debt instruments instead of those of America, Britain, Germany (Euro) and Japan.
It is totally unnecessary to use US dollars to buy Saudia Oil. The trading desk will merely use the current value of this or that currency versus the US dollar to come up with such an exchange. Then, in an instant, the other currency is swapped -- electronically -- into US dollars and the deal is done. KSA wants its cash to be held in US dollars -- and not much else. These can always be exchanged into any other currency without paying much of a haircut. As weak as the US dollar is, it's still stronger than most of the world's fiat currencies. Further, for the volumes involved, the US dollar barely moves even with huge transactions. That's simply not the case with other currencies. Such is the real nature of markets, of financial reality.
For Red China to emit yuan it must accept massive commodities imports. Oil would certainly qualify. But, on the whole, Beijing is NOT interested in issuing a reserve currency. To do so, Red China must be willing to see a strong rise in unemployment. Spit those words out. A rise in unemployment is taboo in Red China. It imperils the CCP's mandate of governance.
KSA would have to accept a currency that is managed in the market by the CCP. It would have to accept Communist court judgments. The CCP could zero-out KSA's assets at a stroke -- to suit the Party. You might note that no nation is willing to accept Red Chinese debt as 'good money.' All trade with Red China has to be collaterallized by real money. That's why Red China has accumulated so much US Treasury debt. It's become pledge money to sustain Red Chinese exports -- and IMPORTS.
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@Matthew_85k It, the conversion, happens every second of every trading day.
I didn't emphasize the Big Deal in Nixon's day. All ordinary holders of US Treasury debt are subject to exposure, per US regs.
Nixon -- with his authority -- cut the Kingdom's holdings out of this regulation. No Congressman or Big Media mouth can obtain the Kingdom's US Treasury position. Period. THAT'S the provision that has talking idiots babbling on about the petro-dollar. The King, in his day, decided that the USA, and its debt, were the only suitable place to park his kingdom's wealth. Early in, his US Treasury purchases were epic. Gradually, the Kingdom obtained top flight financial counsel... and started spending and investing with considerable sophistication.
When oil prices dropped, the Kingdom's immense stash of US Treasuries certainly came in handy.
Red China simply does not manufacture the kind of high tech// leading edge stuff that the West does. Now imagine the hair-cut that the Kingdom would have to pay when they move to liquidate yuan to buy industrial anythings from the West. Red China doesn't produce ANYTHING for oil production. America really has a quasi-monopoly across the entire field. Still. (America invented the oil industry.)
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@marybee1594 It's a agitprop media stunt, courtesy of the KGB/SVR.
The KGB was so OBVIOUS back in 2014 that even our dunce media talking heads noted it AT THE TIME -- while it was underway.
Go back and look at the contemporaneous reporting. Kyiv was howling about the KGB 'active measures' -- the Big Con -- right off.
The whole dust-up was, and remains, a classic KGB con-job.
Mary, collect your winnings at the Kremlin. You've earned them.
As for the children, Putin has kidnapped Ukrainian children by the THOUSAND. They are now located all over the distant Far East, Slavic blood to augment those Stalin forced there, no different than the Russians he shoved into the Baltics -- at the point of a gun.
Their descendants are now a pretext for Putin to invade -- to suit his whims.
The reality is: Once their finances permit, White Russians leave. They either return to Muscovy or emigrate to the USA. Rancho Cordova, in California, now has so many Russians that we call it 'little Moscow.' My Mother's (visiting) nurse came from Novosibirsk. While brilliant, she's as arrogant as any Russian you'll ever meet.
I've lost track of how many immigrant Russians I've met, worked with -- or around. They ALL have an arrogant streak. Culturally, they can't understand why is not on top of the world.
One White Russian co-worker could not get over how many personal assets Americans had: from hand tools, to cars, to homes. For him, significant private property was a total novelty. He did mention that such items would be stolen in a heartbeat back in his old home town. It was just not a happy place.
Mary, you live in a sea of lies. Get a snorkel.
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@nikosb6310 The arms of Xi ? That tyrant is going to clean Moscow bare.
Russia CAN'T shift away from the US dollar. Why? Even if it's not explicit in a trade, ALL trades are bench marked against the dollar, against International Money. If you were a trader with your own Bloomberg you'd know this already.
Those who owe Xi -- always learn to regret it. Sri Lanka is in crisis -- right now -- and a Big Reason is its debt to Red China. Xi bled Colombo's strategic money reserve.
The same bite haunts Kenya... et. al.
Putin's risk to the West is military -- not financial. He's a puny player on the world scene -- other than for his military might. Without his atomics, he'd be treated as the oil funded tyrant that he truly is.
Putin created the West's natural gas crisis -- by funding Greens in every land. They, in turn, shut down fracking. Germany, France, Britain, Poland -- and Ukraine -- all sit atop a MASSIVE seam of tight sand that holds all of the natural gas they dearly need. When Kyiv brought in American frackers to punch holes, they discovered commercially viable nat gas only miles from Kyiv. (!!!)
The Greens have managed to stop the West from exploiting the greenest energy source available at this time. Theirs is a religious crusade -- for their faith is not troubled by facts or proofs. For them, the end is nigh -- all of the time.
( Kind of reminds one of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The End is coming in but a few-years for them, too.)
Of course, no Green will ever admit that his passion is faith based. "It's the science," they'll say. Heh.
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@harissuta1280 The Kremlin is now bragging about counter-attacks retaking villages that -- yesterday -- the Kremlin asserted had never been lost.
So much for Moscow credibility. It's in shreds -- on the floor.
Now just cope.
As for UA casualties -- they must surely be up... right along with RA casualties.
The kicker is that the RA is still isolated in the Kherson oblast. The UA is having a field day shooting up bridges and ferries.
EIghty-years ago the Luftwaffe was shredded as it attempted to supply 6th Army. For at least the first four-weeks, the Krauts hung tough, thinking that 57th Corps would punch through. It never did -- of course. Then the 6th Army hung on in despair. The bottom finally fell out nine-weeks into the campaign. In the tenth-week, the Krauts were out of horses, out of luck, out of time. Done.
That epic defeat is seen by all historians as THE critical reversal for the Nazis.
Well, Putin has gone Adolf. There's no doubting that. And like his mentor, he's taken over command of his invasion -- rather directly. It shows. Ahh... the master's touch.
Putin is frantically training a new corps -- some place east of Moscow. Let's say it's 20,000 strong. If so, it'll barely be enough to replace the souls lost in the pocket. Some coincidence, no ?
Putin has not choice but to replace the lost corps trapped in the pocket. That's what the new trainees are all about. They'll be either sent to the southeast bank of the Dnipro -- or -- (Putin's fantasy) to Donetz. Either way, figure on these boys arriving just in time for the rain to turn Ukraine into a mud bath.
The UA needs to do it's thing by early October, too. So, I'd say they are motivated.
The buzz is that the RA has lost 3,000 men as casualties, POWs and KIA... so far. NASA heat maps show UA counter-battery fires lighting up the RA -- especially up north.
The UA is now claiming ~80 freshly dead tanks. Somehow, that stat seems low. That's only two BTGs worth.
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A world power CAN'T function with proportional representation. Look at how long transitions take -- almost always.
BTW, Trump destroyed the Republican party. It's now the Democrat party of Kennedy, et al.
Obama destroyed the Democrat party. It's now the Obama party, hence we're all living through Obama 3.0's presidency.
Trump is no conservative, he's a populist. Hence, MAGA, which is pretty much an isolationist sentiment.
It's isolationism that caused Trump to pitch his anti-Zelenskyy gambit. (If president, he'll never cut Ukraine off.)
BTW, it was Zelenskyy that stabbed Trump, in the front, with that whole phone call bit. (Kyiv leaked it.)
The result was a Congressional impeachment. So, there's a lot of bad blood there. But, it's taboo to mention it.
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@oOBubbleStreamOo London schemed up NATO, not Washington.
NATO's fundamental purpose was to ensure that there would never be a Napoleon 2.0 or Adolf 2.0 -- France and Germany were MUCH more of a historical threat to England. So minds had been focused on them for centuries longer than Russia or the USSR.
However, to sell NATO, London needed a threat -- and Stalin, the guy that started WWII in Europe -- WAS an obvious threat. By 1949, he even had The Bomb.
NATO was set up, by London, so that it was impossible for France or Germany to launch instant armies across Europe.
Remember, Napoleon invented the instant mass army. That was the beginning of a draft army. All prior armies had been raised by passion, fear and rage -- and a charismatic figure. Professional armies were, in comparison, tiny. Napoleon's early successes were entirely due to the French draft. He simply had a HUGE army.
Adolf crushed Poland because France was feckless -- and because the Germans had perfected the instant army. ( Reservists to the Colors in mere hours. ) Poland, like today's Ukraine, tried to not mobilize on the theory that to do so would replicate the errors of 1914 -- when everybody over mobilized. Read: "The Guns of August."
The reason NATO kept ticking on after the USSR collapsed was because its primary purpose was to keep Napoleon 2.0 and Adolf 2.0 at bay. I can't imagine any era where NATO is not needed.
Eventually, when Russia is de-Putinized, Moscow, Minsk and Kiev will all join NATO -- to protect themselves from the REAL menace: Red China. Remember, NATO is structured so as to make it impossible for any NATO member to attack each other.
THAT'S is primary purpose: peace in Europe.
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@kasa3121 Not quite. The ultra high end auto market was never driven away from modern roads... even a century ago. These were sold to the nobility, the business elites, politicians. Check out Adolf's limo. Today's modern notion of commuting to work in a daily-driver did not exist in Europe in the 1950s. It, the whole idea, is an American cultural export.
Even now, classic urban central zones are the subject of humorous action sequences -- Matt Damon and Tom Cruise come to mind. In both cases they're slotted in micro cars - bumping down stairs, going through buildings, up on sidewalks. Heh, heh, heh! In Asia, Bond has to ride a massive European motorcycle -- backwards -- through buildings. All very funny.
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Per se, it WASN'T. The vast, vast, bulk of the fighting and dying occurred at the land-bridge between the two major rivers: the Volga and the Don. It did NOT occur immediately in and around Stalingrad, the city, I don't care how many times you've seen that repeated -- in print and film and (so-called) documentaries. No less than FIVE Soviet armies squared off against the Germans at the land-bridge only ONE Soviet army was in the city proper. To get troops into the city was a nightmare, as they had to be ferried in, often under artillery fire. Whereas, the FIVE other armies were on a DIRECT rail line shooting down from Moscow. The final rail line ran just west of the Volga, reaching Saratov, where the rail net crossed the river to the East side. Logistically, both sides were greatly hampered by the location, with the Germans in an even worse position than the Reds. All of the human wave attacks occurred at the land bridge -- not in and around Stalingrad. It was at the land bridge that Stalin sent in cannon fodder -- guys without rifles. It was there that the Germans became demoralized as they saw, day after day, corpses pile up to the height of a man. The stench of decay drove many Germans crazy. It didn't bother Red soldiers -- because they were dead. On some days, the Germans recorded three-divisions attacking in succession, all to be destroyed. When the envelopment came, the 6th Army just starved to death. They didn't give up until so weak that they couldn't make it to the railhead on the way to the GULAG. (!)
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@TheHistoryGuyChannel This just shows that the Army and Internet don't know everything.
The Krauts dropped the height, added a gun-shield and crafted the true PAK43 -- as described. Its artwork is available in countless S&T war games. And this is exactly what the technical manual is illustrating. The Krauts DID NOT re-mount existing FLAK 88s to achieve this. They never had enough AA as it was. The US Army plainly was not aware that Speer had re-engineered the 88 for PAK duties and had also re-engineered its mount -- all to speed up production. [ One-piece, two-piece, three piece barrels were proto-typed. Rifling the long barrel was the rate-limiting step. Hence the frantic re-designs. IIRC, Speer settled on a two-piece barrel for the PAK43.]
What made it a PAK43 was the redesigned gun barrel, something that even Speer brought up in his war auto-bio. Adolf gave the PAK43 AAA priority as it was stopping all enemy tanks. (The earlier marks of FLAK 88s were still in full production for the home front.)
They could not remotely crank out enough of the new cruciform platforms so they improvised by slapping the very same '43' gun on previously used// freshly made split-tailed chassis -- which was at the time termed a PAK43/41 in German usage... to distinguish that it's a re-mount. The troops usually called it 'the barn door' gun because of its awkward size. It's this PAK43/41 improv that the Internet has latched on to. BTW, the improv version was cheaper and more common, especially in the west, so it's no real surprise that the US Army boys screwed up.
Neither the PAK43/41 nor the PAK43 could function as AA guns. They both had gun shields - which are quite missing from AA guns of large caliber. Later in the war, after the USAAF went gonzo strafing Luftwaffe assets, bullet shields were retro-fitted PDQ.
Lastly, the PAK43 and the earlier FLAK marks could -- and famously did -- fire while limbered. (See Rommel, 1940) The PAK43/41 had split tails and was only viable in set defenses // 'PAK fronts.' This latter tactic was picked up from the Soviets. Ten and more PAKs would gang-rape enemy tanks when in column/ narrow advance.
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You have to stop talking like a written academic paper. No-one expects/ wants caveats during an Introduction to a highly political 'take' on current events. It's understood that your pitch, any and all of them, is not to be deemed a scholarly treatise that's been peer reviewed by a bunch of high brow sophisticates. Your spiel becomes utterly stilted/ repulsive with such meaningless caveats. Of course you're speaking off-the-cuff as are your video counter-parties. Save us and yourself loads of time and just cut straight to the heart of your presentation. Everyone understands you're speaking from your gut -- and may not even be 100% accurate -- as none of us has a perfect memory. ( I used to, but it died about 65-years ago, if I remember correctly.)
If you were to review your prior videos you'd come to realize just how feeble your presentation becomes when you launch everything from an extremely defensive mind-set. Just talk like you're Donald J Trump. He's wrong so many times, no-one pays much attention to his slip-ups/ exaggerations/ hyperbole. And with all of that, he's just been voted president in a landslide. You can understand why the scholarly class absolutely hates him.... as do Democrat grifters far and wide. Damn-it, Trump can't be bought. [ What's $10,000,000 to an ego-driven billionaire who loses a billion every time he takes office? ] Whereas Biden, Obama, Clinton -- there's the fast money crowd. They pimp themselves out -- and in plain sight. True professional politicians, then.
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The flat beach at Omaha was so unforeseen that it shocked all. It turned out that nature provided the Anglo-Allies the perfect 'port' -- without needing any engineering -- save the DUKW and the Deuce-and-a-half. Omaha provided virtually ALL of the US Army's lift. It's Mulberry was fully erected in time for the storm to destroy it. The British mulberry had not yet been assembled -- and thus was spared. Even so, the British found that they needed to vector HALF of all their stuff across Omaha Beach. Highway 13 was choked with British lorries hauling stuff from the American beachhead to the 21st Army Group. This reality is virtually NEVER to be found in print or video. I know be cause my own father was there to see the sight.
The shocker was that Omaha was entirely improvised after the storm. Liberty ships, Victory ships all had FLAT bottoms -- a pretty common feature for cargo ships of any nation at that time. So all that was necessary was for the ships to sail in at high tide and watch the water recede. The tide at Omaha was so great that only the most sea-ward ships did not bottom out. Such ships had their own cranes/ davits, so it was no big deal to unload straight onto GMC 2.5 ton trucks -- which took the bulk of the cargo. As the waters rose, DUKWs replaced the GMC trucks. { DUKWs ARE GMC trucks modified to float and with propulsion to boot.} If DUKWs were used, they'd crawl up the bluff -- they needed the room -- and then their loads were man-handled off to GMC 2.5 trucks. No Fords, Dodges, Studebakers were to be found in 12th Army Group. { 6th Army Group had Fords. It had come up out of the Med -- which was Ford country. Dodges went to the Pacific: Burma Road, Marines, etc. Studebakers went to the USSR.} See how simple that was?
In sum, the Mulberrys were a bust -- especially considering their expense and expectation. Omaha, alone, was able to support BOTH Army Groups. (!!!!!)
PLUTO was another bust. My father saw it come ashore. It was ultra-secret at the time. It did not flow petrol/gasoline at all in time for the breakout. Just a trickle. So many problems. Ultimately, though PLUTO finally did flow fuel. Still, it did not merit its creation. Too expensive, too slow. As for the Nazis, they never did figure out where all of the sea lift was coming from.
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Professor, I expect more from any professor.
Trump's pitch is that Denmark CAN'T protect Greenland -- really can't do anything in the event of hostilities -- which -- with Red China -- always involves UNCONVENTIONAL/ECONOMIC warfare.
Trump proposes to buy-out Denmark -- the same way the USA bought the Virgin Islands from DENMARK.
Red China HAS compromised the Panama Canal -- and the devil is in the details -- not the paperwork.
When the MOB took over Las Vegas, the FBI found that their paperwork was ALWAYS perfect -- lawyerly, in fact.
Whereas the REAL control had shifted over to the MOB. (Kansas City, IIRC)
So the FBI used Howard Hughes as a FRONT to beat out the Mob's Front Man -- and literally bought out the Mob.
After the fact, Hughes showed the FBI how the Mob had absolute control -- and was taking the 'official owners' to the cleaners.
Heh.
This is exactly what has transpired in Panama -- with in-the-pocket-Biden sitting silly taking his graft for his Crime Family.
Red China has pulled this exact stunt on a global basis. Port after port has become utterly compromised once the local grifters take the bait. They're lazy, greedy-beyond-belief, and really -- stupid. In a heart beat, the CCP will assassinate them.
Greenland, apparently, has pretty hefty rare earth deposits. This makes perfect sense. Rare Earths were discovered in northern Sweden -- with many a Swedish name attached to them as a result. Geologically, Greenland and Northern Sweden are of the SAME vintage -- going back so many millions of years. Sweden's hard rock lode is so extensive that it has been mined for more than a century -- and with no end in sight. You can watch a P&H electric rope shovel ploughing up the rock -- even now. That one mine is immense.
Faulting has pushed northern Norway way, way up. And pushed the ocean bed way, way down. Rock slump, 8,000 ybp destroyed Doggerland and wildly expanded the size of the North Sea. But, entire YT/ BBC videos have covered that. Iceland, Greenland are all part of that crazy system.
Red China knows all of this -- whereas the Big Brains in the West have yet to figure things out.
The war against Greenland will be economic -- rare earthish -- so as to keep the West in penury WRT these high tech minerals.
'Nuff said.
Hit the books -- watch the YT videos. Much there is to learn.
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@Edax_Royeaux You left out that the US adopted a uniform gauge AFTER the end of the Civil War. It's an amazing story all by itself. What happened was that over a three-day week-end (a national holiday in the Spring, IIRC ) all of the non-standard track was re-gauged. (!!!) How so? Ordinary joes were used to re-gauge all straight track. Veteran rail crews solely concentrated on switches/points. To re-gauge, only one rail was normally moved. With a gauging jig, even idiots could nail down the rails to spec. As for the rolling stock, that took a bit longer, but there was enough 'northern' rolling stock such that the South had enough time for the crews to re-gauge the locos and cars. ( Some before, some after. )
The American's contrast with Australia is astounding. The Aussies were unable to re-gauge their rails to a uniform standard -- even though decades were to pass. But, that's another story.
The issue with Soviet rails has been addressed repeatedly by me: the gauge was not the killer. The destruction of the ties/sleepers and the destruction of the water towers was the back-breaker. In the US Civil War the combatants developed 'sleeper ploughs' / tie-plows that a locomotive could drag to utterly ruin thousands of ties per day -- while doing a number on the rails, too. After that destruction, the only thing left was "The Way." That is, the graded path. Of course, all bridges were blown. The USSR had virtually no tunnels, so the Nazis lucked out on that score.
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@livingwill1 The kicker with steam locomotives is that they use a tremendous amount of labor on a per-mile basis. So as their utilization sky-rockets, the shops become jammed with work. This soon proved to be a choke point within the transport economy -- as you just can't throw common labor at such capital intensive heavy repair work. A minor taste of such work was illustrated on film in "The Train." Our hero (Lancaster) shows what a project it is just to repair a minor component. This particular repair had to be performed a million times during WWII. For the driving piston and its bearings ALWAYS gave way after so many miles.
As the Nazis expanded their terror empire, their ton-miles via railroad simply exploded. It didn't matter which side of the border the locos originated, there were never enough. Check out the USA and Canada. They went CRAZY trying to expand their locomotive fleet -- AND their rolling stock, too.
As for Stalin, his prison-state was critically short of locomotives virtually from the start -- as the Luftwaffe deliberately went after them. Steam locomotives are the easiest pickings a strafing pilot could imagine. By the fall of '41, the USSR was so short of main-line locomotives that the Siberian troops had to trudge the last hundreds of miles on foot. Stalin had brought a surge of such troops. So great was the panic, there were not enough locomotives to pull them all the way from Siberia in the time allotted. Further, their very existence (movement from the East) would've been betrayed by slews of locomotives showing up within range of Luftwaffe reccee flights.
The 2,000 American locomotives were CRITICAL for Stalin as the Nazis had bagged his Number One locomotive factory. It was in Leningrad -- the city from which the ENTIRE Soviet rail net expanded. This reality goes back to when the Tsar established it with imported machines. (French, IIRC -- Britain hated Russia as a geopolitical rival.) The very first substantial line ran from St. Petersburg to Moscow -- and was built for the Tsar and his family. The Tsar did not think of it as an industrial asset ! For him, his railroad was conceived as if it were a private jet -- almost a toy. He was keeping up with the other royals... and nothing more. (!!!) He was not too bright.
Subsequent expansion of the Tsarist grid aimed at hooking the royals up with their other estates. That's why every last one of them is just off the rail line -- but not so close that locomotive noise reached vacationing royals. These are now Russian tourist meccas.
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The ocean stopped rising centuries ago. For all practical purposes there is no ice left to melt. The supposition of such a rise is a MASS MANIA. The players behind this super-hoax have long been outed for using FAKE DATA. But scamming the planet is so lucrative -- ask any Ponzi crafter -- that it's irresistible for those fanning the flames. FACTS:
The Arctic Ice Cap has absolutely no influence on the oceanic level... because it FLOATS. Take any highball glass, toss in some water and cubed ice. Once melted, notice that the water level did not rise whatsoever.
The same is true for the Ross Ice Shelf -- down in Antarctica.
Greenland is getting THICKER with ice and snow -- and has been doing so -- relentlessly -- since WWII. How much thicker? Hundreds of feet thicker in eight decades. The only area that is thinner -- is right along the coast. Ironically, warm Arctic water evaporates to then snow down up the high elevations of Greenland. Yup.
The Greenland effect occurs in Antarctica. Yup. ALL research outposts there are now designed to be kept building UP. They are not sinking, the snow and ice just keeps piling up. Nat Geo goes into this in some depth. (Heh) Like Greenland, warmish southern waters are laying on snow and ice -- chronically so.
Venice and other temperate spots are not witnessing oceanic rise. Rather, they are -- flat out -- SINKING. This is easy to establish by laser ranging to the Moon. [ It's about two-feet further away from Earth since Apollo, BTW. That's how accurate laser distancing technology is. Lastly, I, personally proposed that the Moon was spiraling away from Earth in the early Seventies -- BEFORE the physical measurements confirmed it. My professor gave me an F -- as I had just made him a fool. His PhD was for Caltech and JPL WRT the Earth's tides and computational science. Meaning computer modeling -- that's what it was called so long ago. You don't here that term anymore.] Due to geology -- mother nature -- some parts of Planet Earth are ALWAYS sinking. When some of those parts have a city atop them (Venice) we really notice. BTW, Google Doggerland and see what the BBC had to say about the North Sea and oceanic rise. The sea bottom there abouts has yet to settle down.
High mountain ice, Himalayas, are just too high to be affected. They're also too small. All that they'll see is warmer ice.
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Ukraine is winning, hands down, its independence from Moscow.
As America, Canada, and India can say, independence is no small thing.
Nations do rebuild, their populations do recover.
At the end, the Russian Empire is destined to go into the dustbin of history. The center cannot hold.
Red China will follow to the same end. Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang are NOT Han cultures.
BTW, northeast Red China belongs in Korea.
Have you ever wondered how North Koreans can hide in plain sight in northeast China?
Both sides of the Han river speak the same language and are of the same ethnicity. DNA proves it so.
Red China has THAT many tongues -- under one written language.
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TIK's presentation is pretty awesome but there are elements that need to be laid forth:
Monty's panic request for 2,000+ GMC deuce & half 6x6 trucks. That delayed the show by three-days right off.
Monty's failure to request jeeps by the thousand -- this is inexplicable. The US Army could've coughed up thousands in no time. It'd take the Brits about 5minutes training time to drive a jeep. The 82nd and 101st proved that jeeps could drive ANYWHERE in a polder, their ground pressure and 4x4 drive made it a snap.
Monty FROZE the front line by his own volition. Yup. Even the START LINE is where it was because Browning and Monty wanted this airborne drop to be quite the show. Yup. They'd experienced so many cancelled drops because the Allied armies (typically the 2nd Army) over-ran the intended drop zones. These were always intended to take river-lines.
(Patton went south very happily because there were no serious river lines in front of him until late in the advance. He was following the classic route of invasion -- and damn well knew it. Monty was NOT taking the normal invasion route. The lower Rhine has usually stopped EVERY army. It's the Afghanistan of Europe. It's the reason that Switzerland has been invaded more often. )
THIS is the emotional back ground behind Monty and Browning's mutual decision to stop the 2nd Army. Right off, they figured that the war was over and that, having built it, it was time for the Airborne Army to be employed. This would be its last shot. These rivers were the ONLY target left in Northwest Europe that justified an airborne assault.
[ A similar panic hit the American 10th Mountain Division. It had been trooping all over Colorado for YEARS to scare Hitler into keeping a complete army up in Norway. Only late in the war, it panicked. It had to get into the war, PDQ. When it was committed, it blew the German army clean out of Italy in extremely short order. But that's another story. ]
TIK never brings up the single most obvious boner: why in the Hell was the 101st dropped so close to XXX Corps when the twin prizes begged for it to land between them? It's not as if there were ANY FLAK guns in the middle of farmland. Duh.
The need to protect landing zones had NO MEANING as this zone was an ISLAND. Get it? It was totally devoid of ANY Germans. ( I'm not going to count the bridge micro-garrisons. ) So, you could land ANYWHERE on the island. It SCREAMED: land here, you won't even bust your butt!
It's panzer-proof, too. Once the bridges are blocked the ISLAND is impossible for the Germans to get onto. Blocking the occasional ferry attempt would be child's play.
IMAGINE, your critical targets are north and south of an unoccupied island -- made so by rivers so vast that it takes the largest bridges in Europe to get across. And the Germans have no boats to speak of. No amphibious capability at all.
And then imagine two excellent British generals ignoring these salient facts. -- But not just them -- let's toss in their staffs -- and the American airborne generals, too.
Folks, this is VICTORY DISEASE on steroids.
ALL involved wanted this battle to go off as a show piece. And it blew up in their faces.
VICTORY if any of the following:
If the start line was advanced prior to MG,
101st dropped correctly,
Jeeps used by XXX Corps for its infantry,
TAC AIR,
Browning up in the sky -- like Ike, sure, he'd lend his P-51 to Browning,
VT fuses for XXX Corps,
Dutch telephone net actually used,
Dutch advice actually taken,
Hindustani used as British code talk,
Recognition of the Waal ferry -- the one British Airborne blew up -- and then needed.
[The assignment of USN blimps on day 2. There was virtually no FLAK until you're right over Arnhem. Blimps are floating mountains in the sky -- TOTALLY rigged for ground observation. They all had radios out you rears -- and optics beyond belief. Binoculars so heavy that they had to be mounted. (!) They could see a rat from 4,000 feet. Unlike a plane, they just hover. Subs and troops just run away when they see a blimp overhead. You just can't shoot them down. And they're bring absolute artillery and mortar Hell down upon you.]
[ Most of the British regulars spoke Hindustani. Generals and troopers, alike. The US used Native Americans in the Pacific, why pray tell this was not an obvious play for the British with so many called back from India? ]
Suddenly the 'Gavin Thesis' lies dead and buried.
Frost is right, TIK is wrong. This was a British operation, and Gavin, et. al. were told from on high, don't cross the Brits up. Don't make waves. Let them make ALL the decisions. Don't fight senior British officers at any time.
Imagine the repercussions if you turned out to be right! The chit storm would never die.
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In a Big Negotiation -- something that most Internet posters have never experienced even indirectly -- it's common to totally obfuscate your positions on just about everything. Hanoi spent six-weeks of delay arguing about the very shape of the negotiating table: round, square, hexagon, octagon -- these were ALL critical issues -- in 1968.
I can't believe rare earths are ANY serious asset in play. Start thinking about gas & oil. They are what PUTIN wants most. Back in 2014, Putin went straight for them. The ENTIRE reason for the 2014 invasion turned on Kyiv's decision to bring in US drillers and kick Putin's boys out -- for lack of result. The US teams promptly started getting terrific results. (Burisma, anyone?)
Suddenly, Putin reached for his 'Little Green Men' who fooled exactly no-body... ever. Why that gambit? Lord only knows.
Here's the kicker with rare earths: Red China has monopolized the refining technology in current use. Yup. Even Vietnam sends its concentrates straight north up to Red China. Consequently, Red Chinese (blended-metal) exports utterly dominate trade.
The next kicker: Red China's RE deposits are being run through so rapidly that the easy stuff will be exhausted in a decade. (Inner Mongolia) Refining rare earths is super energy intensive, BTW. They are that difficult.
Beyond that -- rare earths are NOT all that rare. They are as common as COPPER deposits. Think about THAT! What's rare are really easy ores. Back in the day, the US was the monopolist in rare earths. A single mine in Southern California sufficed to meet demand -- it being so LOW. How times have changed.
Lastly, Uranium is a rare earth, too. The rare earth phrase so much in common use refers to LIGHT rare earths.
The next series are the heavy rare earths, of course. What they all have in common: brutally expensive separation methods.
Greenland, like Sweden, has some serious deposits of rare earths. I don't expect them to be ever exploited, same as Canada's.
[ Geologically, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland are brothers. This is only obvious from a polar view.] Minerals have to be astoundingly concentrated before anyone will fight the northern climate.
Above all, prospectors have never even hunted for rare earths until mighty recently. Compare and contrast with gold, silver, copper.
The hunt for white hydrogen has just begun. There are many reasons to assume that natural gas is a by-product of white hydrogen. It's abiological, which shows up as an utter lack of Carbon 14 atoms in it. ( C-14 is created by cosmic rays.)
Trump really wants US drillers back into Ukraine -- the exact opposite of the American experience in Iraq and Kuwait. Trump also wants the US to exploit minerals -- the very opposite of our role in Afghanistan -- a treasure of heavy minerals brought up from the sea floor millions of years ago. Now, they're right at the surface -- and Red China has the best/only shot at them.
Backing Red China off and down is Job One for Trump. But, he dares not say it. Duh.
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BOTH sides were desperate and dehydrated. Even with their backs at the Don, the Soviets were not getting water to the front! Even when the Germans got to the Don, they found it virtually impossible to drink -- as the Reds kept shooting at them. This tactic became ever famous after Uranus. THIRST is the Big Story.
You'll also note that the German panzers need refit -- rather constantly -- same as North Africa -- as the dust is hardly different than the Sahara. Most tanks are dying from this dust -- not enemy action. That's why even rear area Soviets are pathetically weak.
Many of the 'Soviet defeats' were actually retreats to get back to the WATER at the Don. The Germans pressed on -- fanatically -- to get TO the water, to the Don.
EVERY account I've ever read tells of astounding heat and thirst.
The primary reason 6th Army had no horses when surrounded at Stalingrad was because the boys had EATEN them, already. That's how bad the boys were being supplied.
The Soviets didn't defeat the Germans. The Germans defeated the Germans.
By the time 6th Army was upon the Volga, the boys were totally worn out... as in they'd lost a lot of body weight. You don't see a single photo of a fat German from that area and that time.
Even Paulus was lean... very lean by the standards of his time.
Whereas, the Reds were bringing in fresh boys, who'd not been totally famished, all the while. Logistics totally decided the campaign -- something that the ground-pounders just did not appreciate. By this time, Germany was already cooked. The soldiers just didn't know it.
BTW, Stavka was totally foolish to defend to the west of the Don. The river was a killer defensive position. It was utterly stupid to not defend behind it. By expending so many troops, Stavka (Stalin) threw away the rational defense of the Volga. What a fool. No marshal could talk him out of his folly, obviously.
It took the battle -- a catastrophe -- for Stalin to give the reins to Zukov & company. After that, the Soviets never lost. What an amazing coincidence.
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@FakeSchrodingersCat Where do you get this cluck notion? The USA NEVER embargoes medicine EVER. It's ALWAYS on the not-embargoed list.
Instead, what ALWAYS happens (See Saddam and Kim) is that the TYRANT(S) claim that they are being cut-off from medicine. This is the pitch that they spit out to their prisoners and to the World Wide Press.
The reality is that they don't give a hoot about dead babies. Heck, they want dead babies. They regard this or that fraction of their own population to be ethnic enemies. (See Swamp Arabs, the Southern Shia of Iraq. Saddam was conducting full on genocide, Hitler style.) [ Under the Food-for-Oil program the UK and US were permitting limited exports. Saddam bought off the USSR, France, Canada and the UN. He then proceeded to work his way around the UN sanctions -- and was well on his way to destroying the credibility of the UNSC.
Plainly this is news to you. Saddam bought Kofi's 'vote' by kicking Big, Easy, Money to his son. He bought off Canada by corrupting some key officials. Until Volker's audit/ investigation no-one suspected that Canada was on Saddam's pad. That Paris and Moscow had been bought off was too obvious. Both were shameless about it. Interestingly, France cost Saddam more than the Soviet Union.]
{BTW, Saddam was deposed by the UK and US BECAUSE he was about to destroy the UNSC -- make it a nullity. This had happened in the 1930s with the League of Nations -- and Japan's invasion of China showed that the LoN could be entirely disregarded. WWII consequently followed. THAT'S what motivated Blair and Bush to invade Iraq. (Spain, too)}
As for Iran, that nation has the world's second largest natural gas reserves. There is NO WAY that atomic power plants make ANY kind of economic sense for Tehran. They're money down a rat-hole for Iran. Big Money. ALL of the sanctions would evaporate if the mullahs would drop their obsession with nuking Jerusalem and Washington DC... if they'd stop chanting "Death to America; death to Israel" every single holiday. If Tehran would stop hooking up with Moscow and Beijing -- the two most expansionist powers of our time.
Like Hitler, Stalin and Mao -- the CCP is obsessed with conquering the planet. The West's response is containment. All three nations are simply being contained as best as can be. They are NOT happy about aid containment. Their elites are wedded to the idea that they must suck the blood out of every nation that they can lay their hands on. Globalization has done a pretty good job of sucking America dry... but Beijing is doing the same thing EVERYWHERE.
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@FakeSchrodingersCat Saddam had free and easy access to money and whatnot. He made sure that medicine WAS imported -- for himself and his cronies. They never lacked anything.
Ditto for the mullahs -- much to the bitterness of their prisoners. BTW, the mullahs have entirely evaded sanctions -- when they wish to -- by transferring gold to Turkey as payment. Yup. There's been a HUGE, behind the scenes scandal with Erdogan and his son plying this trade. Eventually, the gold transfers have been so massive that the marketplace has noticed. Your premise is thus full of holes.
Likewise, Kim has found endless ways of evading sanctions. Those Norks really know the ropes.
Assad has also proven adept at sanctions busting. Turkey is the gateway nation for both Iran and Syria. It's a poorly kept secret -- except to the common man on the street.
It's a question of priorities. The tyrant cliques ALWAYS place the medical interests of their prisoners in last place. Then they jump to the pity-phone to decry how their victims suffer. That's how the game is played -- every last time. Yes, it's totally phony. The need for atomic reactors for electricity is totally phony.... glaringly so. Look at our own numbers. No utility can advocate atomic power in the face of today's natural gas prices. They're so cheap that coal mines are shutting down.
Well, the numbers are even MORE extreme in Iran. She has natural gas coming out of her ears. (The Pars field also reaches into Qatar. Look at its exports! Qatar has the smaller fraction of that staggering reservoir.)
Lastly, up until Trump, Japan was always exempted WRT importing Iranian crude oil. Now facing Beijing, Tokyo has decided to really jump on board the Trump diplomatic bandwagon. Saudi Arabia made a side-deal such that KSA is replacing every Iranian barrel with a Saudi barrel -- for Japan. Indeed, that's Iran's REAL problem. The Saudis are stealing its customers. That's why Trump's embargo has been so devastating to Tehran.
Naturally, Iran is using the Yemeni war to go after EXACTLY those refineries that are stealing its customer base. Check out today's news. Yeah, it's not a co-incidence.
The "can't buy medicine because of evil Trump" is a trope without validation.
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@Mitch ... EVERY single account has the Reds being bagged straight at the FRONT... starting with Brest-Litovsk. The Stalin Line proved to be entirely EMPTY.
Stalin ordered INSTANT counter-attacks -- with objectives deep into Nazi occupied Poland... right from the start. Whereas ANY military graduate would've insisted upon a defensive posture to channel the Germans into super-kill zones.
Red officers were totally demoralized as Stalin imposed a top-down rigid command structure. THAT was their problem. As for supplies, the Germans were astounded as to how well equipped the Reds were. So MANY tanks, so MANY guns... stuff better than their own. Namely the 76.2 field gun that could kill tanks and shoot conventional rounds.
The Reds looked weak in retrospect because Guderian had CUT OFF their routine ammunition resupply -- at the rail heads. Their few decent tanks (T-34/ KV-1) were still not properly supplied with ammo. This was because they were THAT new. The 76.2MM gun was a new, hot item in 1941. The Reds were still scaling up.
As for artillery tubes: the Reds drastically out-matched the Germans. Stalin prioritised his army and air force. However, both were in transition from 1930's technology to 1940's technology. Because of their treaty, the Reds knew exactly what Guderian & Coy were bringing to the fight. (pop-gun 37mm Mark IIIs) The T-34 & KV-1 were their response. Even in 1941 the Reds were out-producing the Germans in tanks. The Germans were THAT slow off the mark.
The same 'crippled' Red Army invaded EVERY western neighbor, except Nazi Germany. Stalin didn't consider himself to be running a clown circus, nor could Hitler.
Famously, Adolf commented that if he'd only known that the Reds had 35,000 tanks he'd have totally reconsidered Barbarossa. Yup. The outside world didn't have a CLUE that Stalin had that many machines.
Such a tank force tells you all that you want to know about where Stalin's head was at. Other than Germany, NONE of his neighbors had a tank force worth talking about. (What a pacifist... NOT.)
As for pre-war and post-war Soviet military diplomacy -- they were ALWAYS in attack mode -- right up until 1991. They NEVER had a defensive doctrine.
The ONLY matter at issue was WHEN Stalin was in a position to attack.
Stalin even went after Truman when Truman had the Bomb -- and he didn't. How aggressive can you get?
There is NO nation on the periphery of the USSR that didn't feel threatened -- all the time.
Even today, the Baltics are fearful that they're about to get the Donetz 'solution.' Yet, Russia is weaker than ever -- save for its astounding nuclear arsenal.
Kid, you just don't have history on your side.
Do NOT take this argument to mean that I'm pro-Nazi. They damn near killed my father and my uncle.
Adolf merely calculated that time was absolutely NOT on his side.... Like Stalin, he kept looking back to WWI for his instructional.
That was an epic mistake for both of them.
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@ Mitch ... open your eyes.
You started off with an ad hominem against John Mosier. Weak.
Then you shifted to an appeal to authority. Weak.
Then you're back to ad hominem. Very weak.
Glantz's problem is that he actually believes internal Red Army documents. Whereas MANY Red officers have written that higher command's internal reports didn't have ANY correspondence with the facts in the field -- and they knew because they were in the battle at issue !
All of this is because Stalin would SHOOT any officer kicking the 'wrong' information upstairs.
The facts are beyond dispute:
1) The Reds WERE at the border. They WERE bagged by the thousands from the very start of the German invasion.
2) They were so far forward that within days they were out of supply -- as Guderian and Hoth had driven east into the Soviet rail net -- cutting off supplies at their source for the entire front. THIS was the trick during the early daze of Barbarossa. It did not last all that long.
( BTW, you'd be stunned as to how few rail lines led into Poland from the USSR. Going back to the Czars, such lines were just not built. Amazingly, the primary purpose of the Russian rail net -- from the beginning -- was to roll the Czar and his family around Russia. It was not built to support industry or commerce. All industry had to 'chase' the rails. That's the reason that 4-10-2 locomotives were in use, too. The lines were dead straight for miles and miles on end. In North America, all railroads stopped with 4-8-4 -- then shifted to articulated 4-6-6-4 designs.)
3) The REAL reason that Adolf went north and south instead of Moscow: the Ju-52 super-fiasco. Yup. This fiasco has been buried by ALL German accounts -- especially Guderian's. He was at the center of it. What happened? The landing gear under EVERY Ju-52 was being destroyed as they landed fuel and parts for Guderian's spear-head panzers. Yup. By the time Adolf showed up, the Luftwaffe was in crisis. There were 'dead' Ju-52s all over Russia. On a totally panic basis the RLM had to kludge up an enhanced landing gear repair kit. These were then flown out to Russia. All the while the planes were cracking up, Guderian BURIED the facts. He buried this fiasco in his own war bio, too.
But the Ju-52 was the linch-pin for his blitz. They were the reason he was able to defy expectation and just keep driving east. Even when the Russians had cut him off, the Luftwaffe just flew over the Russians and re-supplied the panzers. (!) Instead of coiling back, Guderian just drove even further east. Hurrying Heinz, indeed! The Russians were NOT being pocketed -- something that every idiot writes was happening. Guderian was simply going east faster than a man could walk. By grabbing every river crossing of note, they gradually trapped virtually every Red soldier. They fell behind, into the arms of the advancing German infantry. Without resupply, every formation ran out of gas and ammo. They were down to fists and knives.
Without their air lift fleet, Plan A was dead. THAT'S why Adolf sent his panzers to the wings. That's why all other generals assented. They couldn't drive into the zone of maximum rail road concentration without their air fleet.
4) Postwar: the USSR reversed ALL of Stalin's strategic errors. Under the new rules, the Red Army was to NEVER place their main body near the front. Further, the Ju-52 fleet was replaced by a massive helicopter fleet. This scheme is the reason why the Reds built the world's largest helicopters. They're too big for combat. They were built solely to fly fuel to Red tank spear-heads. As helicopters, they'd never suffer the landing troubles that the Ju-52 did. As for the Nazi Germans, they redesigned their airlift towards the centipede landing gear. (The C-130, C-5, C-17 uses a variation on this... a super robust assembly with excess tires for soft ground.) Their new design never had much impact as it was not so useful for defense, for retreat.
Mitch, you just don't know that much. Fifty-years of study makes a difference. Believe it.
Argue from FACTS -- not ad hominem.
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@Mitch... you are of slow wit. I'm not backing Rezun. I'm stating that John Mosier has a solid argument.
1) The Bolsheviks never DIDN'T aggress against their neighbors -- straight through from 1918 to 1991. It didn't matter who it was: Red China, Nazi Germany, Poland, Finland, Romania, NATO, the Baltics, eastern Czechoslovakia (when Hitler took the rest of that nation) -- and Korea and Iran.
2) That the USSR was not ready in 1941 is obvious to all. But Stalin was going to be pretty well set for 1942. That is what was obvious to German generals, virtually all of whom DIDN'T want to invade east. But, they couldn't argue that Stalin wouldn't be ready in 1942. EVERYTHING pointed to it as being a moment of maximum threat. By that time, Nazi Germany would be in DIRE straits WRT liquid fuels -- all of them. So much so that the Luftwaffe would be compromised. Further, Ploesti was WAY too close to the eastern Romanian frontier. Stalin had ALREADY put his strongest formation directly across from ROMANIA -- not Nazi Germany. Stalin knew that Ploesti was THE strategic prize. Yeah, it was that obvious.
Since Barbarossa, the Soviets totally changed their strategic doctrine. All during the Cold War their doctrine was: keep the Red Army on the defense from NATO -- with the very best weapons held at the Second Echelon -- ie inside the USSR. NEVER permit the First Echelon to deploy close to the border. It must be ready to motor there, but not be deployed there until hostilities are authorized by Moscow. This is why the 20th Guards Army was held back at Magdeburg all during the Cold War. It awaited orders coming from Zossen, HQ for the Western Direction. Ironically, Zossen started life as Hitler's twin HQ: OKW & OKH. It was so secret that the Red Army was shocked when they over-ran it in April 1945.
You're not well read, you don't know much, you don't argue well.
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@keimcpartlan7434 What's weird is how Putin has expanded NATO -- rather dramatically.
What's weird is that Ukraine will be re-built at the (financial-economic) expense of the West -- with the US taking the lead. That's what Biden's signature on Lend-Lease means. Zelenzkyy has a $40,000,000,000 pre-paid debit card in his palms. Kyiv has a budget equal -- and soon greater than -- that of Putin.
The West is going to entirely re-build Ukraine's economy, its debt of honor.
The Ukrainian defenders paid in blood -- the West will pay in every other way.
Putin will pay with his neck.
Kyiv (and Minsk, too) will end up inside NATO. ( Belarus will have its revolution. )
Eventually, Moscow will end up inside NATO. This shift will be essential to thwart the Chinese Communist Party -- which still wants Siberia back. Don't you doubt it.
Frenemy, indeed !
Whether the CCP can survive Xi - that's an open question. Zero Covid = the end of the Red Chinese miracle. The West is certain to take its game to Vietnam, India, Indonesia -- even the Philippines.
In the meantime, Putin's project will starve millions across Africa. What a guy ! He ends up destroying more lives than Adolf Hitler -- previously considered an impossible feat.
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You danced close, but missed it. The mining campaign didn't cause starvation -- as the food at issue was coming from Korea. What it did do was totally screw up Japan's war industries. They all depended upon small coastal ships to bring materials to their docks -- even if the factories at issue were on the same island. That's how cheap shipping is, and how lousy Japanese roads were. (And railroads, too.)
When the Japanese built up their industries (1870-1940) they largely shunned railroads. (They did have plenty of short lines, though.)
The rights of way required were already long in use, and politics meant that even the Emperor was loathe to touch land use issues.
BTW, Japanese railroads are STILL an economic mess. They require epic government subsidies -- as far as the calendar projects.
You left out THE single most epic, over-looked battle: tel el issa. There the British 8th Army discovered that the Krauts had been using network analysis to hugely decipher British transmissions -- even without fully breaking British cyphers. This and other discoveries led directly to the Soviet super success of Uranus. The first step of Uranus was the capture -- in a white-out -- of the German Enigma stationed (against Adolf's explicit orders) up with the Hungarian Army. This machine, and its paperwork, and its crew, then spoofed 6th Army into one bad decision after another, leading it to become surrounded. Stavka used this Enigma to impersonate Adolf, himself. (!!!) Since the transmissions were mere cyphers, no-one could spot the deception -- until way too late.
Even years afterwards, Kraut war bios (largely) suppressed this fiasco. ( But see: Panzer Battles ) Even the Soviets suppressed their success. Likewise, the British never let on that the battle of tel el issa was THE turning point in North Africa. Rommel lost his B'dienst team there -- and never recovered his 'magic.' Well, no wonder! Signals analysis is what had made him the Desert Fox. Cute.
Even now the British do their best to get tel el issa expunged from the Internet. Instead, another, successive battle keeps popping up via search engines. It's the wrong one, of course.
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T2, you're trolling now. Everyone knows that Shakespeare was, and remains, the pen-name of the 17th Earl of Oxford and that his library was donated to said university. Within its volumes you can see his handwriting and some of his noted and cited stuff from his plays. He was raised as if he were Queen Elizabeth's son as he lost both parents before he was ten-years-old. He murdered the house cook at age seven. (!) He was enjoined by the Queen, herself, after yet another duel. You can see much of that personal history used in Romeo & Juliet -- the dude with the hot temper and quick blade is the Earl, himself. The "Prince" is a stand-in for Queen Elizabeth. Cute. Heh. Time and time, again, his adult male character has three-daughters and no sons -- exactly as the Earl lived. Outside literature, his contemporaries repeatedly noted his cutting wit. This was the source of his dueling. The Queen forced him from court and gave him a literary stipend of 1,000 pounds per year. And she was a tight-wad. His most famous quotables come from the Lord High Chamberlain's home. The connection is overwhelming -- and has been known for decades.
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@pepito281scorpion9 To me, the war is in a total state of flux.
Other than Putin has blown it -- totally -- I don't have a 'fix' on how things will play out.
I do know that all dictators have glass jaws. They can deal out punishment -- but cannot take any. That's why Putin & Coy went ballistic over Kaliningrad. Lithuania was hurting his pride.
Remember, at all times, Putin is so narcissistic that no morals apply to him.
Like a two-year-old, what's his -- is his; what's yours -- is his.
There are simply no end of posters who agree with his strong-arm conqueror ethos. They don't have enough brain or study to realize that in the 21st Century an aggressor nation has to get the assent of all critical counter-parties. Otherwise, they'll co-ordinate against him.
Napoleon was the first tyrant to establish the dynamic in modern times. He was the first to put an entire nation under arms.
(Levée en Masse)
He could do this because French mathematicians had solved statistics as a discipline. Previously, monarchs did not how many boys were hiding from the draft in this or that village or county/shire. Now, Napoleon did.
It's my belief that at some point, Putin is quite likely to take his escalation all the way up the scale -- Nikita, style. He's figuring on Biden to blink, to cave. But, Biden is not the decision maker.
What Putin clearly does not know is that the USA runs best when its president is on automatic pilot.
FDR had suffered so many micro-strokes that he was a dead-man-rolling from late 1943 until he died. All during that period, the US was run by a collective leadership -- with the Pentagon in almost total control of policy. It was George Marshall who selected the stop line for Eisenhower's armies... not any civilian authority.
Biden is walking -- but a bigger basket case than FDR. Putin should really be terrified. The Big Decision won't come from Biden. It'll be made by the Pentagon, itself. (Based on the historical record)
Unlike Nikita, I seriously question Putin's ability to crawl back down in the face of doom. Like Adolf, he's the kind of fellow who'll crack-up first. You KNOW he has a very, very dark view of the World, and everyone in it. He has all the levity of a mortician. No wonder his skin crawls thinking about Zelenskyy.
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Nicole, you're looking straight at FINANCIALIZATION. This modern scheme is to extract as much value out of EVERYTHING to boost the returns posted to Wall Street. Leverage on the corporate balance sheet is ALWAYS taken too far.
Hertz is but one, yet classic, example. On paper, it really looked sweet to the C-suite (at Hertz) to really, really leverage up -- risk be damned -- so that paper-based-logic would cause the stock to be perceived to be ever more valuable -- and thus -- pay off huge for the C-suite players. (Their options packages) It, Hertz, imploded of course. It didn't help that these very same Big Brains swallowed, whole, the Harris-Biden schtick about EVs as rentals.
(EVs are strictly a machine for URBAN travel, of course. So, you're on the road, living at a motel for four-days. Where, exactly, can you plug in? Nowhere! Even Hertz had no provision for recharging their EVs. To do so, Hertz would have to spend $150,000 per location -- as the typical location is AT THE AIRPORT. It was all set up entirely without any provision for pumping Big Watts to a site far from the terminal. In the ENTIRE EV scheme, it was always anticipated that some-other-party would provide the juice -- basically for free. )
The same Big Brain scheme ran crazy at General Electric -- a late comer to the banking industry. The Big Brains up in the C-suite sold off all of GE's jewels so as to boost the stock's trend. In pretty short order, GE was kicked out of the Dow-Jones. Now that really takes Big Thinking. It went from a giant in industry to a small-time lender in the credit card market... losing its patent wall in the process.
Here's a Big Idea: When your own business sector is so huge that you experience the ebb and surge of the business cycle -- and your stuff is ALL commoditized -- then you CAN'T impose risk from up above -- from the balance sheet structure, itself.
Yet, once his is done, management then has to spend ALL of its energies on shaving cost and quality -- milking the corporation's prior reputation for solid end-user experiences. The C-suite has LOOTED its own assets -- converting them to Big Paydays.
Of late, this Big Brain scheme has rolled over the CCP, and the Panamanian elites. It's now public. Its president utterly trampled the Canal contract -- to cash out with Beijing -- EXACTLY what the contract prohibited. You should expect Trump to re-establish the Panama Canal Zone -- as if Carter never existed. The idea that Red China is not in control of the Canal is ludicrous. Controlling ports, canals, etc. is the Big Scheme of Xi. He's been doing it on a global scale. Duh.
Selling off the economic jugular of their nation makes perfect sense to the Grifters in Charge.
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@canaryinacoalmine7267 But not in the PHYSICAL.
Putin wants microchips, bearings and PLCs -- that he used to source from Germany. Now, he's sitting on a sea of cash -- and can't buy the stuff -- the PHYSICAL -- that his war machine needs.
Iran, Red China, India, Venezuela, Cuba -- not one of them can scratch Putin's itch.
All along, Putin figured that Germany would continue to sell war-goods to him. But, it turns out -- they won't. For many of these items, Germany is the sole source on planet Earth.
It never occurred to Putin -- the Big Brain -- that Berlin might not be willing to be a wartime supplier... working against the strategic interests of NATO -- and its key patron -- the USA.
You might remember the USA, it unified Germany after winning the Cold War... without a shot being fired. Some Germans still remember such history.
Schroeder has been kicked to the curb by Berlin.
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@TIK
I went to Google and found a ton of images. Pretty sloppy data set: lots of not-88mm guns.
http://nationalinterest.org/files/styles/main_image_on_posts/public/main_images/88_mm_gun_eighty-eight_8.8_cm_flak_flickrjoost_j._bakker_ijmuiden.jpg?itok=Du5U4qY
Limbered 88mm guns LOOK like they're on trucks. They have wheels, etc. but no motive power.
If you look closely, their out-riggers can be dropped for firing even without un-limbering the gun from its carriage.
It's a split carriage BTW. The gun-mount is an integral part of the travelling chassis. It's hard to see, but two of the four supports ride between the tires// axles -- while those going left and right are plain to see.
At Arras, Rommel used 88s in both states. When the battle started, a FLAK battery had been already set up to drive off the RAF. This was a crew that didn't want to engage Matildas, BTW. Rommel shows up and orders these crews to shift to a PAK role. The were seriously pissed. This would require them to nix their standing order from on high. Rommel reminded them that he was the boss of their boss -- so get with it -- NOW!
This battery opened up Matildas -- much to the amazement of the 88 crews -- they'd never practiced against ground targets even once -- and the leading Matildas 'brewed up' // opened up like tuna cans.
As the battle flowed, 88s -- probably these very same fellas -- were towed after the British ( brought to new firing positions ) -- and the situation was so hectic that they started firing from a limbered position. When limbered, the side struts would be dropped -- this takes seconds, and then the crew does their duty. The road wheels are left as-is. This is why MOST distant observers would absolutely take such weapons to be truck-mounted 88s. I think that this is how the reference to truck-mounted 88s got rolling.
When limbered, the 88 is no where near as accurate, but it sure is a heck of a lot more mobile. It was after Rommel that the Heer realized that firing 88s while limbered was a VERY viable tactic. Previously, it was not recommended, simply not part of the 'FLAK syllabus.'
You'd never use a FLAK36 in a limbered condition to defend against aircraft. It'd be shooting all over the sky. Heh.
The Germans DID improvise 20mm and 37mm mounted upon truck chassis. This occurred before they cross-mounted these guns to tracked chassis. It was quickly determined that a truck chassis may be quick and cheap, but is actually quite impractical in combat.
1) It rocks way too much. You can't stay on target. It's hopeless.
2) In rotten weather ( mud ) you lose the machine all together. (Sucks!)
If there is one constant with German weapons designs, they couldn't stop changing things. Would you believe that even within major production runs, the Germans were changing this or that before even ten tanks went by? Yup.
In practice, virtually every German major weapon was semi-custom. This was WHY so many German tanks were out of the line. They had to constantly phone back to the factory for semi-custom repair parts. With multiple factories, they couldn't even count on MAN's stuff to repair Henschel's. (!!!)
The contrast with the American M4 was night and day. In the last twenty-five years tank collectors attempting to rebuild Shermans discovered that you could take a 44 Chrysler tranny and bolt it to a 42 GM Sherman -- and the fit was perfect.
Nothing like such repairs was ever possible when restoring German equipment.
The Soviets were half-way between. They had a standardized design, but their factory standards were SO sloppy that T34s were a plant, by plant, affair. But with their production numbers, one plant could flesh out an entire tank corps. *
( * The Reds stopped using the term tank division, BTW. So you have to watch out. Many Soviet accounts will refer to the 1st Tank Corps -- when it's the division that they mean. I've read one account of Kursk that transformed the SS Pioneer Corps into three SS tank corps: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. ( BTW, the 3rd arrived so late that it was a surprise to the Russians. They expected only the 1st and 2nd.) ( It had come straight from France, on the QT, and naturally looked to all outside observers to be one or the other of the former.)
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@elarniee1300 Here's the universal rule. When you make an astounding assertion you have to back it up with something more than: "Go hunt to prove me right."
You'll never find me sending any reader on a snipe hunt.
You obviously have something specific in mind. So spit it out!
Think of yourself as speaking to an AUDIENCE of more than one.
BTW, you HAVE to know that dis-information is a major operation conducted by ALL of the major propaganda centers of the world. Which means virtually every nation has information manipulation operations -- and is also monitoring what the voice of the people is saying. (The Commentariat)
The biggest sinners: Red China, Russia, UK, USA, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Iran, Turkey, ...et. al.
Most of the above nations have STATE FUNDED and STATE CONTROLLED media. Heck, you can't even be a TV staffer in Oslo without a government license -- kind of like a driver's license -- but just for talking. (!) Such licenses are the NORM in Europe. The only nation with even the pretense of a free press is the USA -- and it's a hive-mind of collectivist thinkers -- atheists to a man, BTW. Even so, every media outlet -- in every nation -- is preachy. Those aren't microphones -- those are PULPITS -- from which our betters hector us as to how to please THEM.
Your tale sounds like a real rope-a-dope. So cite the video or stop jabbering.
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Molls demand 'a date' ONLY if she believes she's above her victim.
The SECOND a gal demands 'a date' -- walk away. She's ALREADY deemed you to be inferior.
The ENTIRE idea about men offering material goods to women comes from the Cathars of France -- 1,000 years ago. Yup.
Their religious ideology featured the idea of an ideal love -- which ALWAYS involved a male suitor of INFERIOR status for a noble maiden -- of which coitus could never happen, marriage, children -- it was to be a frustrated love. The ancient poets just LOVED the concept -- even though the Church wiped out the Cathars. It shows up in countless modern love triangles -- as the princess is sure to be betrothed to a prince, king, lord, knight....
THIS is where these gals have obtained their mind set. It's found in countless Harlequin Romance plots. In them, the maiden gets the Alpha, at the expense of NPC sprinkled through the plot. These gals are actually trying to live out such 'romances.' They really are.
I swear, Taylor the Fiend has not picked up on the source material for such fevered minds. But, he would find them in romantic fiction which is overwhelmingly feminine in character.
Guys look at air brushed photos -- gals read of dream brushed fictional romances. Both impulses have established timeless industries.
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USAID has been the Deep State's toy from its inception by Kennedy's Executive Order.
It's over-run with kickback schemes that benefit politicians -- and NGO's -- cut-outs for the graft.
MANY of the titles are insider's jokes. 'Tourism for Egypt' -- what a laugher.
Kennedy set USAID up precisely because of his loathing of Dulles -- who he fired from of the CIA. (Bay of Pigs, anyone?)
But, Dulles still had many, many pals inside the CIA.
So, Kennedy set up the USAID to pull bribes and more out of the Dark Budget of the CIA.
This was strictly to keep the payoffs out of Dulles's hands... and nothing more.
The CIA could've rolled on for years doing the same ol' thing.
Eventually, Congressmen realized that USAID was the PERFECT Black Bag of Cash -- Bribes -- that could easily flow to the DNC and its hangers-on. ( The Democrats still owned Washington in the 1960s)
Hiding behind the Civil Rights ethos, no end of cashola could be pilfered... which is why all involved retired as millionaires.
The amount of money stolen under the rubric of 'for the children,' 'for world peace,' 'for democracy,' does boggle the mind.
The totally phony titles have come back to bite the DNC as now it's impossible to defend their looting.
We're only touching the first level of crime. Wait until you find out how Biden-Harris tapped countless federal accounts to fund the 'legit press.' -- All of which is in utter contempt of the First Amendment.
$200,000,000 to Reuters -- to buy Biden-Harris election coverage! Sheesh. ( NASA, Dept of Agriculture, et al tapped )
All through 2024 Reuters never had anything negative to say about the Democrat ticket -- while Trump was pilloried. Good grief.
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Passenger rail is a GREAT investment for contractors and public/ quasi-public unions.
They are disasters for taxpayers -- as politics drives simply everything.
Japan's fantastic rail system is a financial black hole. No WONDER it has all those employees.
THIS is NEVER brought up by public works contractors, all of whom pay off the legislature... one way or another.
I give you Boston's Big Dig. Budget: $ 4,000,000,000; final outlay: $ 24,000,000,000. How sweet it was.
Boston contractors were swimming in the fat.
As for sacred rail -- Germany's sacred rail grid -- circa 1919 to 1923 was the PRIMARY reason for Germany's hyperinflation.
The British had to step in with bean counters -- and shut the insanity off.
Then, Germany recovered, right up until the Roaring Twenties bubble popped -- first in Austria.
Today's Greece is tormented by outrageous expenditures on its sacred rail grid.
Yes, that's where its money went. Athens is so broke you can't wrap your mind around the stats.
They had spent LARGE on rail -- in the mountainous northwest of Greece. Think of West Virginia -- but much, much poorer.
These rail systems -- ALL of them -- became welfare projects in transportation form. That's how they roll.
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USAID is NOT soft power. It's the CIA's Black Bag of Cash -- and always has been -- since JFK.
It is, by now, just an adjunct to the DNC, and the Hard Left. Most of its official titles are deliberate jokes.
Tourism for Egypt. Ha, ha, ha. So that's $6,000,000. Those boys really crack me up. It's bribery, straight up.
Soft Power is utterly useless against Putin -- as Biden-Sullivan have amply demonstrated.
Both were afraid of their own shadows and above all, afraid of Putin's actual defeat.
Trump talks compromise -- but that's just to get Putin in his chair at the negotiating table -- which he is rightly fearful of.
You can NEVER get Putin to sit down if you announce to all and every what a bastard and villain he is -- and he IS.
Instead, you have to talk as if you're kind-of-on-his-side, and then mouse him around the cat's table during negotiations.
Putin holds a 2 of diamonds, an 8 of clubs -- a bust. No field-cards can save him.
Trump is working to a MUCH higher game than you can comprehend... which is something that Bibi alluded to just yesterday.
Trump opined that the USA may just have to step in and 'own Gaza.' Well that put the cat among the canaries!
He also opined that everyone was in favor of it. Heh.
Try the exact opposite. Everyone wondered who in Heaven he was talking about.
The Muslims quickly put their heads together -- to keep Trump/USA at bay.
Which is EXACTLY what Trump wanted.
He'd managed to throw the Resolution ball into their court. They'd been dodging it for 50-years.
Since Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are utterly dependent upon the USA and its president -- things will happen.
But don't assume things will move all that fast... which is what Trump said, if you recall.
BTW, the Gazans, the real people living in tent-hell, want to move-on... RIGHT NOW.
Once they've resettled, don't be too surprised if in twenty-years they don't want to come back to Hamas town.
ALL Gazans are on the dole. It never had a conventional economy, not even tourism, banking or gambling.
USAID has made the world MUCH worse. It's as if you let college professors actually run society.
Heaven help humanity.
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Basic errors:
1) Muskets became dominant by 1648 -- Thirty-Years War -- ie 17th Century.
2) V-1 is not V-2 and was ALWAYS intended as a counter-population weapon.
3) American new era cruise missiles were powered by turbo-jets; ram jets were discarded.
4) The period of ram-jets went from 1955-1965... and they were counter-bomber missiles.
5) Statistical warfare still carried on as the universal presumption was that MOST strategic weapons would be lost before they could ever be launched... they'd die in their silos// bunkers.
6) Precision munitions really meant that point defense did not work. Hardening was useless. Saddam's bunkers being the ultimate case in point. Extra armor just didn't work. If necessary, repeated pin-point strikes would power through more concrete and steel than anyone could come up with.
7) Military expenditure shifted remorselessly towards electronics. Old school military assets fell away in importance, effectiveness.
8) No nation has an air-breathing hyper-sonic weapon. Every last one is based on rockets. The Russians have re-tasked medium range ballistic missiles into air-to-ground hyper-sonic weapons. And, yes, they do work.
9) American attempts at air-breathing hyper-sonic test beds have all come to naught. Fundamentally, they can't work. The very speed you're seeking requires you to stay outside the atmosphere. The American research is with a mind towards crafting a single-stage to ballistic trajectory spy plane. A machine that will be almost as fast as orbital speed but be unpredictable, able to launch from many USAF bases around the world. It'd even be better if it could drop a single smart bomb on a terrorist prince like OBL. Because of SALT requirements, this platform can't look like an ICBM or cruise missile.
10) Putin is working from a totally different set of assumptions. His primary target concern is Red China. They are the Strategic Unknown. NATO and America have been fully doped out over 70-years time. Moscow knows how they tick. Beijing is a complete mystery. She keeps doing stuff that make no sense in the eyes of the Western military art.
Moscow can't imagine why Beijing is fiddling around in the South China Sea.
Moscow can't imagine why Beijing has allowed Kim to screw up Red China's strategic position. On current trends, Japan, Korea, Taiwan will all be atomic powers in four-years.
11) Moscow figures that hyper-sonic strategic weapons will intimidate Beijing.
12) Hypersonic missiles can NEVER fly undetected. They produce shock waves so intense that radar will reflect off of the shock wave -- long before the missile body is every detected.
13) Hypersonic missiles offer nothing new to the US, as Russia's astounding ICBM fleet has always been impossible to stop -- with nothing on the horizon -- even in dream space -- able to stop them from raining down. No matter how often this is stated, Putin doesn't want to hear it. He needs some public rationale for this new wave of weapons -- so as to deter Red China... America is already pre-deterred -- and everyone knows it.
America has no territorial demands for a hunk of Russia. Red China DOES. She wants Siberia -- BACK.
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It's worse. American frackers started to find viable nat gas deposits mere miles from Kyiv starting about eight-years ago.
Ukraine, Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Belarus are all atop a titanic tight sand formation that spans Europe. It's deep, it's ancient.
Putin has spent LARGE on the Greens so that, by law, fracking is banned across most of Europe.
He's also behind funding Greens in the USA... and consequently, Biden's insane energy impulses.
Putin is fundamentally, an oil despot -- on top of being a murderous tyrant.
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Fascism ALWAYS requires expanded Big Government. There can be no exception. Trump is SHRINKING big government! DOGE is the heart of his campaign pledges. The DNC is howling because Trump is cutting off their graft machine. USAID was wholly perverted into a Leftist, extremist, agitation -- kickback scheme. It was funding manipulative and deceitful NGOs across the globe -- and in particular, towards population replacement inside the USA. Similar antics are running wild in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, et al. THEY are the fascists. Of late, the EU has nullified Le Penn... the top vote getter. Also, it's worked to repress the AfD... the top vote getter. It's worked to kick out the top vote getter in Romania, too. Even in Canada, everything points to Carney staying in power -- though he gained office via backdoor politics. In Wisconsin, the elites managed to shove an activist onto their Supreme Court -- so as to gerrymander that state -- to craft two-more House seats for the DNC.
Trump is THE ANTI-Fascist.
He's deregulating America, shrinking government, sending school policies back to the various states -- like things were in 1978.
The Left wants him dead, almost achieved that just last year... by hook or Crook.
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The USSC can't be controlled.
Trump is ANTI-Fascist -- but Broe can't see it.
Harris was Fascist straight through. Hell, her parents were Marxists, Brahmins, too. (!) Born to be elite, for any regime.
I've argued all along that Trump HAD to prevail in November to save America from Fascism. It's done. God must love the USA.
President Trump can't abide Campaign Trump. [Wilson, FDR, DDE, RMN all campaigned as anti-war -- and look at history. Hence Trump. Cute. ]
Trump spun on a dime WRT SYRIA and AFGHANISTAN -- because the Pentagon insisted that Plan A was ruinous. The MSM buried this history.
Whereas Biden NEVER paid any attention to what the Pentagon was telling him. Result: Kabul fiasco, Kyiv fiasco, Jerusalem fiasco.
These ALL proceeded in a chain of consequence -- about has fast as Putin could arrange things.
All of them eluded Jake Broe... every step of the way. Fascist-Marxist Harris was HIS candidate. She's in the dustbin of history; he weeps.
[ For history buffs, Mussolini crafted Fascism in the late teens/early twenties to cure Lenin's screwed-up Bolshevism. They were pen pals, as we all know. In the mid-twenties, Stalin crafted his New Economic Policy. This was Mussolini's Fascism, imported, pure and simple. The Soviet economy rebounded from die-hard Leninism -- but at the cost of party-economic control. By the early thirties, Stalin had seen enough. Particularly, that he didn't get 100% fealty in 1932's party confab. So, he purged virtually every soul in the room. His own daughter did survive, though.
Both Stalinism and Hitlerism/Nazism had Mussolini's Fascism as their economic base -- with astounding bureaucracies in the national capital to run the top-down show. (Even in 1945, Adolf had 1,000,000+ civil servants in Berlin pushing paper! Some were instant recruits to the Volksturm. Heh.) Both Stalinism and Hitlerism went WAY beyond Fascism -- as Mussolini conceived it -- to include vast military-industrialism, continental hegemony, racial preferences, genocides, mass population replacements & displacements -- in both cases, astounding in scale, levée en masse, and an over-arching worship of technology, racial supremacy & purity of the blood -- both Stalin & Adolf went down the exact same road. The fact that Britain & America favored Stalin's tyranny over Adolf's is an accident of history. Both are utterly repugnant, degenerate regimes, when viewed objectively. Hitler got the boot first, because his nation was deemed the Bigger Threat -- atomic tech and all. The irony of ironies is that WWII in Europe was Stalin's Big Plan, not Adolf's. (Will wonders never cease?) The French and British really DID have Adolf in a box at Munich. Adolf was so PISSED at Goering for the Munich deal that he stopped talking to his right-hand man -- for MONTHS. (!) [ Munich HAD prevented Adolf's war! ] It was only later that Hitler came to love the deal -- because his generals showed him that the Czechs would've destroyed his army. Later, Stalin's scheme utterly betrayed the West -- in favor of Adolf -- which absolutely no-one saw coming. Even now, historians refuse to admit that the Battle of Britain was flown with Soviet aviation gasoline. Germany had absolutely nothing to spare for that fight. Air wars suck down avgas like you can't believe. It's been 85-years, and the Soviet fuel support for Adolf over Britain in 1940 still gets absolutely no press -- anywhere, So, after all of that, Winston becomes Stalin's first patron in mid-1941. Crazy, isn't it? ]
Fascism, in its purest form, is Big Government (monopoly of authority, [ especially economic] together with physical violence and incarceration) + Big Business (monopolies of production & technology) + Professional Guilds (monopolies of talent) + Importing Cartels (monopolies of critical imports) -- and that's it. It does require a captured judiciary, and an academic class to proselytize for its elites, those all knowing, more noble betters -- the new economic clergy, if you will. The Roman Church has been superseded. Boy, is this ever the platform of Harris-Walz.
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Heads-up: the M-R Pact was a contract for war... nothing like what Putin & Xi had in mind.
Yeltsin gave the game away: He, in front of the whole world's press, coughed up the documents.
The ENTIRE idea sprang from the Bolsheviks: They would induce the idiot to attack west -- while they would scoop up the east.
Finland, Poland -- ( just pieces) the Baltics, and more, all fell into Stalin's hands -- well before Adolf moved west. Remember?
Adolf was supposed to burn himself out -- WW1 2.0 -- and then Stalin was supposed to waltz in the back door...
All the way to Portugal, in fact. But in 1940, France & Coy collapsed.
So, by 1941, Adolf swung east, using no END of French military gear, BTW. Oops. ( Start with trucks & trains. )
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Your video is quite off base.
The British Army, in Normandy, utterly destroyed the DISPOSITIONS that the Germans intended for the East.
An entire SS Panzer Corps was shifted against the British & Canadians, as were a host of subsidiary elements.
[ It, and others, were supposed to be the strategic reserve for the East. Monty was just too much.]
Adolf had JagPanthers, King Tigers, etc. all designed for Stalin -- but sent against Monty. Yes, he robbed Peter to pay Paul.
The very best units kept being sent against Monty. This includes his generals --and his GASOLINE.
The primary reason that AGC collapsed was because it ran out of gas... literally. (This still escapes modern writers.)
This meant that mobile units, especially panzer divisions, could NOT retreat in an orderly fashion.
All this time, the West has credited the Red Army for the achievements of Monty... who really DID destroy the panzer force.
Yes, that's what happened with Goodwood.
Even British accounts fail to comprehend the fiasco that ensued in the East as a direct result of fighting off Monty, in the West.
The British, the Canadians, the Americans had sucked off virtually the ENTIRE elite of the German armies.
What was left: 3SS, 5SS, Gross Deutchland -- and run-down army divisions.
Typical panzer divisions had less than a company of tanks. Some were down to only eight-tanks, Mark IVs no less.
It's also false that the Krauts were defeated by Stalin. Hitler defeated his own army. You could write a book on his 'style.'
Yes, he facts are utterly astonishing. But, remember, Adolf was high on DRUGS at the time. ( Meth )
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@TIK
Soviet archives made me a believer.
Yeltsin produced them. They were astonishing.
Until then I never knew that Stalin picked the launch date, the partition line, etc. ( It was not negotiated at all, Stalin was given carte blanche so long as he was willing to sign on the line that was dotted.) Yes the archives detail that the treaty specified that BOTH nations would invade Poland September 1st, 1939.
He used a FAT crayon, BTW.
The original was kept by the Soviets, the Germans had to make do with a copy. Stalin initialled it, BTW. He was big into pencils -- notably a blue pencil.
(Shades of Harold Geneen of ITT fame, the corporate tyrant.)
Adolf ALWAYS wanted to launch his war.
He remained boxed in until Stalin let the devil run free.
Stalin's oil is the primary reason that France fell.
It energized the Luftwaffe. At all times prior, London and Paris had kept a weather eye on German avgas stocks.
There was a concerted Allied economic strategy to keep Germany on a short leash. ( Rubber, Oil, etc. were controlled by London, Paris and Washington. This leverage was their first go-to solution for tyrants. You'll note that this is STILL the West's opening gambit even today.)
Stalin broke the chains. THIS is what freaked Britain and France out.
It was transparent to Britain ( First Sea Lord Churchill ) that war had begun August 23, 1939 -- so he put the Royal Navy to sea -- and on a war footing right then and there.
I'm sure that Googling will pull it up. I just can't read Cyrillic script.
The first place I read about it (just summaries) was in the British press. So if you're able to go back through their archives, I'm sure that some articles will pop up.
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@Alexander
WRT Iceland, which is a colony of Denmark...
My school buddies father was a member of the Danish king's personal body guard. They were the platoon that got him out of Denmark right in front of the SS. ( Strange that the Heer was not detailed for this mission. )
Being the ONLY military formation left standing after Denmark was occupied, they were stationed on Iceland.
Britain was allowed to occupy Iceland with the King's permission.
When Churchill returned from Nova Scotia and his naval visit with FDR, he made a pit stop at Iceland. This is when my acquaintance was able to shake Churchill's hand, as the Danish 'Army' was in the front ranks of those assembled. They were joined by Britain's other European allies, mainly Holland. Every nation BUT the Danish made it into the newsreel footage. It was determined that the Nazis would retaliate against any Danish family that had a son in the King's body guard. They sure were pissed that the King got away.
Eventually my man ended up shipping out to the Dutch East Indies -- and after watching the IJN sink everything in sight, Battle of the Java Sea, he migrated over to the USN.
As for Iran ( it, the word, means Aryan in Farsi ) they jumped into bed with Adolf Hitler. ( Hence the name change away from Persia.) THAT'S why both Britain and the USSR invaded. It turned out to be quite convenient, too. As a land bridge to southern Russia was just what the doctor ordered. Arkangel was a bitch.
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@brianlong2334 It was the DIFFERENCE MAKER. BTW. Romanian oil is actually of low quality. Soviet (Baku, Mykop, etc.) was much better. It's like coal fields. Some are better than others. It's not true that all crude oil is the same. Rather oil is like coal. So oil trades off a BENCHMARK grade -- like Saudi Light or Brent (light) and then discounts are proffered as the crude is assayed to be heavier and more sour. (Iranian crude)
The Baku blend was MUCH MORE suitable for making aviation fuel. It didn't require as many refining steps to get what you needed. For the Nazis, that was ~91 octane.
In today's market Libyan crude and American fracked crude carry the highest price per barrel. Brent is right underneath them -- but because it's in the hub of European distribution, Brent is the benchmark.
Paris HAD modeled how many sorties the Luftwaffe could put up -- prior to the Pact. Because of internal politics, French air force fighters were not available in sufficient quantity, May 1940. Their Big Hope had just entered serious production -- about six-weeks back.
Paris HAD spent large on its air force -- without getting one. With each turn of government, the prior design was thrown out and a new contract let. This left France with the wealthiest design teams on the planet -- and little to show for their exertions.
Speer claimed that the Nazis were TAKING 50,000 tons per day of French steel. That's a tempo of 18,000,000 tons per year. Some of that steel came as a result of the French terms of surrender, back in 1940. That is, the steel was FREE to Hitler.
He was sucking dry France for just about everything he could think of -- and he had a great imagination for a thief.
Speer specifically called out his refusal to integrate war production with Italy.(!!!) It turns out that the industrialists disdained Italian anythings. The Krauts would not share even their obsolete Mark III tank blue prints. I believe that its armor plate manufacture was too touchy. The Nazis wouldn't even use Italian anythings in their supply chain.
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What's ironic is that 'Racism' -- the word, itself -- was crafted by Trotsky to specifically refer to traditional, classical, Russian farmers who failed to get on board with his new way of thinking.
Trotsky was an atheist Jew, and he wrote explicitly of both of these elements of himself.
Indeed, he was an anti-Jewish Jew. How weird was that? "To the barricades, comrades!"
But then, Marx was a Jew who obtained his cash from Capitalism. He was utterly shiftless, himself.
And he also was anti-Jewish. His "The Capital" started out as a tirade against Jewish banking elites of Paris in 1832.
So it can be no surprise that with their Big Message, antisemitism, 'racism', atheism have all exploded since.
All are 'mind-viruses' that infect humanity through the ears and eyes.
100,000,000+ have died as a direct result. Brilliant, then.
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The wealth of the globalist class is based upon DEBT. They have the assets to back debt issuance.
And their policy suite, enacted by their puppets, MUST depreciate the national fiat currency.
The entire remainder of society suffers compared to those able to spew debt, directly, or those whose income is directly tied to deficit spending:
Big Pharma, Big Medicine, Big Academe, Big Media, Big Digital, Big Green, (the ultimate grift) Nationally Sponsored Exporters, etc.
Even Libertarian Musk works to Daddy Warbucks's economic game plan.
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I don't know how you've missed it: Red China and Putin's Russia have destroyed their real estate markets with, de facto, back-end fraud. They critically need the citizenry to bail out their financial sector in a MASSIVE way. The wealth was diverted into dictator insisted military wastage... and on a grand scale. Xi & Putin can't even steal enough wealth to top up their finances. The illusion of financial inertia is the ONLY thing holding their societies together. I would expect utter implosions for BOTH tyrannies in 2025 -- 2026 at the latest.
Red China is going to fail without even firing a shot. The fantastic collapse of Muscovy will be sufficient to trigger a sympathetic revolution. This dynamic last happened in 1946-47. The USA granted independence to the Philippines -- and once that news reached India the British Empire began to dissolve. Remember? The British excuses rang hollow when even a devastated Manilla could become self-governing.
In today's fiat world, the VAST bulk of money in circulation was generated by banks lending against fungible real estate assets. Banks don't lend against unique real estate -- like steel mills, semi-conductor fab plants, etc. -- they need bread & butter single-family homes and cookie-cutter apartment blocks. However, Putin has crossed the Rubicon -- for real estate lending. He's made it - de facto - impossible for any sane banking lending to facilitate real estate trading. It's now impossible for a seller to get out.
This was the crisis of Argentina. Real estate values plummeted when it was impossible to secure a mortgage for the buying community. Quickly, even apartment blocks fell below the trading value of a new BMW. ( Absolutely true. At least the car could be driven to Brazil. All property owners were economic hostages.) This situation does not initiate a Recession -- instead a Great Depression is triggered. Remember, Recessions occur because inventories and lending have become too lax for White Goods + Rolling Goods + Long-Lived Consumables, generally. Lending against such short-lived fungible assets can contract - but said contraction of money creation/ liquidation of consumer debt only takes months to years to clean up. Whereas the staggering contraction in real estate lending & values usually takes DECADES. I give you Japan ( 1990- Present ) The American contraction (1930-1940) only ended because of FDR's war spending. ( Government debt / money printing is ALWAYS hyperinflationary. But no-one complains when hyperinflation is only running at 2% a year. Instead, it's associated with 2000% a year. Any Money Analysis will show that the only difference is scale.)
If you like my analysis do keep in mind that the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve have adopted my notions as policy. Plagiarists have published them in a B of E White Paper. That Plagiarism is clumsy, as the six-man team tried to fuse my theories into MMT. Heh. And yes, I was stunned to see my blog posts running back towards 2013 being plagiarized. What a back-handed complement, being treated like I'm Milton Friedman, et al, without attribution, of course.
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I can see by the thread that everyone is getting wound up trying to defend their pet economic theories, or how to structure some idea society.
When it comes to the essence of Hard Left and Hard Right; the Hard Left is ALWAYS obsessed with destroying religion. The Hard Right is ALWAYS obsessed with fusing State and Religion. Islam fits that bill perfectly. Until the American Revolution, virtually EVERY nation on this planet fit that description; from Pharaoh to Henry VIII they fused king and religion.
The above reality overwhelms ALL economic notions.
Collectivism can be practiced from the Left or the Right. One can do it straight up... or do it indirectly. Virtually ALL current societies practice Collectivism in the INDIRECT manner -- via VAT taxes and Income taxes. With enough re-distribution, you end up in the exact same spot as if you've got full bore Socialism.
Government spending, as a percentage of the GDP, is through the roof across most of Europe. That's de facto Socialism. Benefits are sure to shower upon you as if you owned a slice of the economy, even though you don't hold any stock certificates.
Further, even nominally independent, capitalist firms, have to bow and scrape to government edicts at least as intrusive as anything the Nazis cooked up. And the Nazis stationed SS men all across the German economy. These fellas never get portrayed on film, so youngsters don't even have a CLUE as to how Nazi Germany functioned. This, even after TIK has tried to lay it out. It goes in one ear and out the other.
Further, I read posts indicating that Hitler privatized firms. WHAT? He was no Margaret Thatcher, not by a long shot. Hitler never privatized any firm. Quite the reverse was the case.
De facto, Hitler had State Sponsored Enterprises: firms that had free and easy access to loans. If you were attempting to build a coal - to - liquid fuels plant, your funding would be unlimited.
And as the USSR and Red China show even today, racial repression is COMMON for Socialist// Communist societies. It comes in so many different flavors. Even Chavez ran a racial discrimination program. That's why there was 100% employee turnover at his national oil company. It never recovered, of course. Ideology -- religion -- trumps economics.
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The very terms Left and Right hail from the French Revolution, and how its politicians self-organized. The Right consisted of Monarchists who also believed in a state religion, Catholic, which would consecrate each succeeding King in a high ceremony. At the time, virtually EVERY nation had such a form of government, going back into the mists of time.
The Left was intensely anti-Monarchist and absolutely wanted to eliminate the state religion's connection to politics, if not crush it entirely.
By this standard, the budding USA was a Centrist polity. It has largely stayed that way in the centuries that followed.
At the end of WWII, the Soviets accepted into their ranks no end of minor Nazi officials. Neither party had any qualms, the new adherents fit right in.
The Modern Construction of the Nazis as Right Wing hails from the KGB and their Active Operations which started immediately after the war. No-one during WWII ever described the Nazis as Right Wing during the war. They were just Nazis. Calling them Right Wing would've smeared every conservative political voter in the country, USA, so it wasn't done.
The KGB couldn't even bare to call the Nazis, Nazis, so Fascist was used. But Hitlerism is not actually Fascism - which was an ITALIAN political movement. Allowing the KGB to determine the nomenclature of politics is just plain wrong. Most folks don't even realize that it was the KGB that placed the Nazis, their previous buddies, on the opposite end of the political spectrum -- and our Left bought that pitch hook line and sinker.
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It should hardly require utterance. The 1960 election was flat out stolen. The Chicago mob boss's gal told how she, personally, did it in a tell all from her death bed. The Kennedy clan had a direct connection to The Outfit, of course. The Kennedy's number one asset/ money spinner was the Chicago Merchandise Mart. This building was the unique market place for new clothing designs in the USA - - for decades. The Kennedys owned the whole building. Its rents were in the millions -- even in 1960. All Kennedys had check books drawing on the building's revenue --- and without limit ! Yes, every adult Kennedy. The whole clan.
Of course, it's now known that LBJ stole Texas for Kennedy, too. At the time, LBJ was the Senate Majority Leader, pulling in millions in totally corrupt cash. John Connelly was his best friend, drinking buddy and campaign manager ! Years later, Connelly admitted LBJ was the biggest a$$hole you could ever imagine. LBJ had stolen elections over many cycles.
This is a Democrat tradition that goes further back than Boss Tweed. (NYC)
Do read up for heaven's sake.
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Red China is a LAND POWER. The idea that she's even interested in such a small potato shows that her propaganda is working. You're looking in the wrong direction. Red China wants Siberia back. THAT'S what Beijing is 'on about.' She's not interested in 'nickels and dimes.'
BTW, Land Powers ALWAYS screw-up naval warfare. The Divine Wind is but one example. Spain in 1588 is another. Land Powers simply don't have great admirals. The only example of a Land Power doing well at sea was when Rome zapped the Carthaginians just off the coast of southern Sicily -- in the largest naval battle ever fought. (It eclipsed every one since. (!))
Putin's so-called buddy-act with Xi is just that, an act. He is fully aware that Red China is obsessed with getting Siberia back -- hence Beijing's pitch that it is a Polar Nation. Heh.
Lastly, Taiwan is an ATOMIC POWER -- same as Israel. Both do not publicize their status -- and do much to deny it. Yet, without atomics, Taiwan has absolutely no business operating many IRBMs. Without atomic warheads, such assets make not the least bit of sense. But like the Britain and French's atomic forces, Taiwan's is pure deterrence. It's obviously unstoppable. No-way is Beijing willing to sacrifice Shanghai and Beijing, itself, to absorb radio-active Taipei.
BTW, it took Britain and America YEARS of invasions to get amphibious warfare doctrine down pat... with vast target sets to keep their opponents frazzled. The Reds would have only a hand-full of target beaches -- which are so obvious that Taiwan has turned them into titanic kill-boxes. Beijing is using the scenario strictly as a training aid (for its staff officers) and motivational tool.
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@MohammadAli-iz9ld No. Over time, a really long, long time, villages, towns, cities both come and go -- and also get re-named. ALL of the digs point to Anatolia as the origin of ultra-ancient culture. The stuff dug up in modern Iraq is millennia younger, many millennia younger than the first cities.
As a general rule, the events and locations that truly belong up in Anatolia have been shifted down south -- to go with the shift in the dominant populations.
As for coming and going, some sites now reveal more than twenty-layers in their tels. (!!) You can believe that such urbanities have been renamed many times.
We now know -- and are stunned by -- the fact that grain-based agriculture dates back AT LEAST to 8,000 BC. This makes Sumer actually a half-way point in history.
A fuller history of the ancients will have to await publication of my manuscript. Within it the grand chain of events is laid out -- logically -- with evidences coming out of science, digs and legend. Yeah, there are no end of false facts in the Torah. What's amazing is that any of it is remotely true.
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The first (emergency) USAAF airstrip was placed upon the Omaha Beach bluff. A unique, specialty battalion (1923st) was crafted to get it up and running by D+1 (!!!) Now THAT'S optimism! It received its strange number because it was really a USAAF ground unit -- attached to the 9th USAAF. It was also attached to the 1st USA. Hence "19." The USA/USAAF had a fair number of these airstrip erection battalions. [ They were the counter-part to the Pacific's Sea-Bees. ] This particular outfit had the best reputation in the ETO for getting strips up and running in no time flat. Hence, it was beefed up with more GIs and sent in on D-Day to Omaha Beach -- the 10AM wave.
It suffered -- percentage wise -- the WORST losses of ANY US outfit on D-Day. Its tale has been buried by historians -- starting with the US Army. The whole affair was too embarrassing. For this 'trick' outfit loaded with elite specialists -- was crippled by multiple Nazi naval mines that had a trick feature never seen before. They had 'smart-fusing.' This meant that you could not sweep them in the regular way. They lay upon the sandy bottom, with nothing to grapple with. They also would not 'bite' US Coast Guard sweepers hauling magnetic trigger cables. They'd let such schemes pass on by -- many, many times. They'd only react on the feeble magnetism of a ship's hull. Very clever.
The 1923st still completed its mission -- days late. The strip, labeled A-1, was used exclusively for medical evacuations -- straight out of TV's MASH show -- triage and flight-prep were performed right along A-1... making it a combo airstrip and MASH hospital. The boys that were not going to make it were buried just yards away. That spot is now the German war cemetery at Omaha. All American dead have long since been re-buried in a cemetery not so far away. Krauts and GIs were never, ever buried in the same spot, BTW.
Weeks later A-1 was re-numbered. It became A-19 or A-21, failing memory. More about this strip can be found in the 9th USAAF's unit histories.
These very same trick mines held up Cherbourg from being a viable port. This fact was never admitted to at the time. All aspects of this trick mine were held Top Secret, then and later. The US Coast Guard was sweeping Cherbourg for weeks -- only quitting when the mines ran their batteries flat. Cherbourg was a must-have prize since PLUTO was pre-engineered to only come ashore there. It's ironic, then, that the unit sent to save lives on D-Day was the single most bloodied outfit -- and seventy-five-years after the event practically no-one knows of it. For the general reader, A-1 just pops up in the historical record, as if it were 'beamed down by Scotty.' This airstrip is also why the US 1st Army went crazy to drive the Krauts away from Omaha Beach in the first days. That push was priority number one. It is also omitted from the usual Overlord narrative.
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Putin is making essentially zero profit from oil exports. Why? Because India and Red China are hard bargainers.
India is trying to stick Russia with taking Rupees. (!) To avoid taking any more, Putin has orchestrated a three-way trade in currencies.
Which scarcely solves his problem. Arabs are sharp traders, too.
As for Red China, they drive a hard bargain, too. How? By providing Russia with 'Seconds' -- the stuff that the West won't accept.
They are also giving Putin lip-service, of which the Chinese are past masters of, while permitting him to import non-military grade goods.
Stuff like golf carts, electric scooters, plastic combat helmets, etc. Right now Red China has a monopoly on car imports. Chinese cars are NOT suitable for rural Russia, nor its far north. Domestically produced Ladas are now selling for Mercedes prices in Moscow. (!)
The requirement to stump up 30% interest is crippling all real estate projects. Any firm that depends upon financing is dying.
That even includes defense contractors with tempos to meet.
Putin has run through his own cash -- and now is running through everyone else's, too. And at a tremendous tempo.
Economic collapse must occur when everybody and his brother is bankrupt. Then, everything boils down to barter. Ugh.
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@gr-s2143 You're going to have to read more widely.
Up until Tehran, the British ALWAYS got their way -- strategically -- vis a vis the Americans. They saw themselves as the Senior Partner and MUCH more savvy than the Colonial Upstarts. When Americans spelled out their production and mobilization schedules -- from Winnie on down -- they DID NOT BELIEVE such fictions. In the event, the Americans exceeded every one of the dis-regarded schedules. The reality of this was flatly attested to by Winnie, himself, in Missouri after the war. This admission was behind closed doors and not set to print for many years. I don't think his admission has ever been circulated in the UK. It's just too embarrassing.
In my post I omitted the reality that the 49th UK division was broken up to feed other UK infantry divisions. Winnie was. actually refusing to ship more blood over from the home islands. The primary reason so many of British 1st Airborne were guardsmen was that Winnie flatly refused to commit HRM's Imperial Guard. He was, however, more than willing to commit the IRISH GUARDS. You might note that they were at the head of XXX Corps during Garden.
After years of warfare, Britain simply had reached the end of its manpower. Winnie, unlike Adolf, was not willing to commit teen aged boys to the fight. By Overlord's success, Winnie knew that the war was going to terminate with total victory. FDR insisted on Unconditional Surrender all the way back at Casablanca. (A stunned Winnie dang near swallowed his cigar. Check the film footage.) [It was a forced 'choice' as there was no way in he!! that Adolf could be allowed to survive his war on humanity. No way that the Nazi Party could exist any longer in any form.]
Britain and Canada had CRITICAL roles in WWII -- but supplying manpower wasn't one of them.
Canada's Dieppe blood paved the way for Uranus and the death of Germany's 6th Army. Somehow decades have passed and Canadians don't connect Dieppe with Uranus.
Here's the connection. Zeitzler was the MG who defeated the Dieppe raid. Adolf boosted this two-star general up to run OKH -- and the Eastern Front -- at a single stroke. He canned Halder. Once in his new seat, he was screaming about Army Group B, ie 6th Army. He begged for reinforcements -- from where ? His old command, is where. That's right he wanted to bring the boys from the Channel into the northern wing of Army Group B. (The boys he knew best, of course. He was buddies with all of the commanders of same. Duh.) Adolf denied Kurt. Instead, Dieppe convinced him that the Channel needed MORE troops -- not Army Group B. So, during all of the weeks leading up to Uranus, Army Group B was starved of reinforcements -- they went to Kurt's old command -- staring at the sea, instead. Zeitzler wanted those troops to replace the Hungarians, Italians on 6th Army's left wing. It was THAT obvious to him, and everybody but Adolf, that the Soviets could just open the door and walk though. And they did so.
It was the BRITISH that informed STAVKA that they just HAD to grab their own Enigma machine ASAP if they wanted to stop Hitler. This they did so -- one was stationed -- against Hitler's explicit order -- with the Hungarian army up north. During a total-white-out the NKVD Special Forces captured that machine -- WITH all of its paperwork AND its operators!!!! This reality has never been admitted to by the USSR/Russia even to this day. You KNOW that they did so because they immediately started to use it to spoof Adolf Hitler's command instructions straight away. Even while he was on his train returning to HQ -- and totally out of communications -- STAVKA broadcast Fuhrer directives to 6th Army -- the most important being that the 29th Motorized Division was to stop its southernly counter-attack AT ONCE because the Soviets had broken across the Volga even further south and that the 29th needed to be committed further and down and away to be stopped. This was pure BS, of course. The 29th was actually a totally fresh, OVER STRENGTH motorized division, that had been held in reserve all during the previous months awaiting just this development. In its early going, it was just cutting the Soviets to shreds. They had not yet gotten their heavy weapons across the Volga, Those karst ridges were a bit$#@.
Manstein DID dope all of the above out PDQ. He counter-spoofed STAVKA to pull of his Winter Miracle.
Brits and Canadians almost always post errantly about their real contribution to the war. They keep looking over their shoulders at the Americans -- and benchmark against them. That's just stupid. The production miracle of the Americans is nothing that any nation can benchmark without looking very, very badly. Ditto for the US Army.
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@ The US never charged Winston for Purple Machines. (Japanese diplomatic code) Purple is how the UK knew what was going on in the Pacific. The US also, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Dutch East Indies provided the missing transmissions required to decode the FULL messages that Tokyo was bouncing off the Ionosphere. This tech has now been, largely, abandoned. With it, you could Ham radio -- planet wide. But, it wasn't always clear. So, to get the full transmission, you needed both repetition from the originator AND repeated reception which could occur all over the planet -- but especially well the closer to the origin. Australia has a sweet location in the Outback that can pick up signals from Hell and Heaven. It's amazing. Rhode Island had a receiver that could pick up Rommel in North Africa -- uniquely so. We gave said transmissions immediately over to Winston -- long before the US was in the soup. Naturally, Churchill lied to all and every about how he came to learn this or that. For quite a while, Enigma intercepts, etc, were labelled as coming from 'Mr. Brown,' our agent in Berlin. Heh.
This blew up. His generals REFUSED to act on timely intelligence. THEY were convinced by their staffs of yet other reasonings -- which always proved quite wrong. Winston had to keep firing generals because of this -- which historians have totally missed. The blame for these events was always ascribed to some battlefield reverses -- when the REAL reason was that they dis-obeyed Winston's 'advice.' Ultimately Winston gave in and had to come up with plan B. Not one general would ever act on the 'advice' coming from Winston -- the Gallipoli man.
Winston, Adolf and Stalin all had the same vice: they thought that they were brilliant generals. Whereas FDR, the ultimate lazy student, knew full well he was a fish out of water in military affairs. He did like boats, though. So the Pentagon ran the US war effort while allies and enemies had to suffer under delusional Big Brains.
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The Krauts were able to hang-up the Anglo-American offensive across the Rhine for WEEKS -- by playing the river level card.
It didn't change anything, of course. All during the hiatus, the Anglo-Americans simply piled up equipment, ammo, troops.
Putin is racing against Mud Season. The RA psychology has totally changed. Now, Putin is trying to stave off a total fiasco.
But, the loss of an entire corps, 25,000 men, is certain. Putin won't even allow the boys to flee.
If history is any guide, the total count will exceed all expectation.
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@TheLoyalOfficer He kept delaying the battle for weeks. Finally Winnie put his foot down. As I said, Monty was looking at Churchill's life-long foul record of strategic decision. Narvik and Gallipoli were in his ears. Further, he had a HUGE morale problem with the SA troops, Aussie troops, et al. During the climax of the battle, Monty had to leave his HQ to convince the South African general commanding (IIRC Smitts) to press on. (!!!) He had to reveal ULTRA to him. (!!!!) Yet, he was forbidden to do so. THAT'S why Monty went to see him -- PRIVATELY. Monty was able to show Smitts that Rommel was -- literally -- out of gas, tanks, 88s, everything. Smitts only believed Bletchley Park. This final surge broke Rommel. THAT'S how close el Alamein was. Monty saw it coming a mile away. He was a first class staff officer.
The massive loses taken by 8th Army are glossed over by official records -- as they were hugely in terms of equipment. But for the boys at the front, el Alamein was a first class bitch. Because of the constrained terrain, even when chased, Rommel was able to screen his retreat with a tiny guard of 88s. The moment 8th Army left the road, it bogged down. The highway was SO much faster. And Rommel kept pulling back. Torch had worked -- and Torch was a British idea. ( Alan Brooke -- not Churchill. Brooke was Monty's best buddy and patron, of course.)
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Zelenskyy has pulled this stunt, repeatedly, with other politicians.
The two prior rug-pulls were shocking and insulting, too. But, they were behind closed doors.
There is NO WAY on God's green Earth that Trump or Vance think in terms of such manipulative stage craft.
Whereas Zelenskyy has done so many times over.
Until Zelenskyy's assent, Trump was willing to just let things pass, let Rubio deal with matters, entirely.
Here's the sequence: Bessent, Rubio & Vance, Trump & Vance -- only the last was on camera instead of in camera.
If you ever took the time to watch the whole video, it becomes crystal clear that Zelenskyy launched the renegotiation.
Of which, Vance then interjected. Everything American was spontaneous. The Americans are just not that crafty.
BTW, Zelenskyy was on the phone/ met with senior DEMOCRAT politicians the morning before the Big Meet. Cute.
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@richardthomas5362 The first-generation Japanese quietly professed their absolute loyalty to the Emperor many, many times over, prior to 12-7-41. However, the ONI/FBI were illegally tapping their circuits, reading their private mail, the works. Hence, NONE of these communications/ nor pledges could be brought out into the open -- let alone court. Yes, it was a scandal all the way around.
THEN, the Emperor shot up the USN.
And one of the pilots involved, crashed his wounded plane on Ni'ihau island. This island is NEVER on the resort map -- as all tourism is absolutely forbidden there. [ knee -- E -- how ]
So what happened next? The pilot instantly converted a Japanese-American local -- not even Nihon Jin -- and together they attempted to take over the whole island. It didn't get really going. They did manage to shoot FIVE-TIMES into the gut of a local Hawaiian -- who was the BUDDY of the Japanese-American local. So then, he beat the crap out of his assailant. This ENTIRE event is both true -- and utterly suppressed during the whole war by Army censors.
THIS was the trigger that got FDR off the dime.* He knew that, given enough time, the story would very likely leak. And then there would be hell to pay -- politically -- against himself. How FDR actually KNEW that the attack was coming that morning. (Hint, he DID!) The entire nation would've turned on FDR -- in a heart beat.
NOW, you understand why FDR sent WEST COAST ONLY Japanese Americans into camps.
Japanese Americans living EASTWARD were NEVER interned. Bet you didn't know that!
Indeed, no-one screamed louder about interring Coastal Japanese Americans than those living in the INTERIOR. Yes, letters-to-the-editor -- the whole bit.
* At war's end, Congress put FDR on the dime.
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The Azov battalion is fighting from a Soviet era super-bunker. Yes, during the Cold War the USSR built super-bunkers all over creation for Bolshevik elites. This bunker campaign went on for years, decades. The super-bunker underneath Moscow boggles the mind. It has a sub-way to the airport -- and largely duplicates the subway you know. If you open the right doors, you can take the stairs from one to the other. But, that's Moscow.
EVERY major Soviet city was in on the national project: Minsk, Leningrad/St Petersburg, Stalingrad/Volgograd, Kiev/Kyiv, Odessa, MARIUPOL, Saratov,....
This is just the short list. Since during all of the key years of the Cold War, the USA had by far the larger atomic arsenal, the Soviets got to digging.
Naturally, all of these super-bunkers were Top Secret. Like Cheyenne Mountain, they have: power & light, water & waste, ammo stashes of immense size, food stashes, medical facilities (radiation poisoning at the top of the agenda) -- and sleeping quarters -- bare bones -- for the elites. They even have meeting rooms, communications -- radio and land-lines -- the works.
All of the above explains why civilians fleeing Mariupol are not thirsty, not starving and still even have well-fed pets. (!)
Between 2015 and 2022, Kyiv had made sure that Mariupol was kept squared away. (It figured in the 2014 fighting.)
The super-bunker is a fortress -- just underground -- designed for atomic bombardment.
The steel works were ideal as over-head cover, as they had massive concrete floors right from the beginning.
If you've seen the few videos -- you'll note that the internal height of the bunkers is astounding. These are not hovels dug out yesterday.
But these are not the spaces dedicated for the elites.
Zelenskyy's video broadcasts come from his super-bunker.
That's where he's having confabs with Western politicians.
Kyiv's super-bunker is only second to that of Moscow.
Some idea of how sophisticated and HUGE these bunkers are can be seen at Zossen in Germany.
Twin super-bunkers were built there by Adolf -- and were the Nazi equivalent to the Pentagon in Washington DC.
The Soviets shocked themselves when they captured them. They then expanded both -- massively -- during the Cold War.
Zossen became the pattern for Soviet super-bunkers during the Cold War, of course.
When NATO officers were shown the Zossen bunkers after 1989 -- their brains were fried. Their scale blew NATO officers away.
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Stop, the USA is not an Empire -- as defined going back millennia. It's an ANTI-Empire.
It got 'big' by being against Colonialism. Remember its birth, its ethos? Sheesh.
As time went by, just about everyone decided that they wanted the American Dream: End of Empire, usually by aping the Europeans. Much was learned.
The economic function of Empire is to suck up economic advantage and drop it in the Royal Treasury, real old school; or to drop it in the king's capital city, and by extension, his home-boys.
Britain absolutely followed this model, was the greatest empire for all time. It's elites have not dropped the Great Game, though.
Being 'UN-Britain' was what America was all about. Being 'Anti-Slavery' was adopted about 1865.
Paul, you've been to college. It will take a bit longer to deprogram from your Marxist professors.
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How naive. The vast bulk of such funding -- year after year -- is always found to have reached the deep pockets of state sponsored GRIFTERS.
I'm well reminded of the United Way. In its original pitch, it was a scheme to collect -- typically by automatic payroll deduction -- charity monies that would then be distributed by wiser souls to nearly all of the charities serving the larger community.
What it quickly devolved into -- was a co-opted cabal that skewed all disbursements toward Leftist Activists who were co-joined at the hip with the boards of the various UW locals. They'd set up brand new 'charities' to receive the funds, of course. And were they EVER extremely Leftist -- Wokist one would say. When it was ultimately revealed that ALL of the 'charity' was going to FRINGE, political activists -- funding utterly collapsed. (They actually didn't waste money on the nominal local charities.) You just don't hear about the United Way anymore.
Funding sources like this attract Activists the way K-12 schools and religious institutions for children attract deviants -- it does not matter, where, who or when. It's what they live for... rather like Wild West Outlaws. Back then, even hanging wasn't enough.
The American Red Cross got absolutely immense contributions 9-12-2001. They did the wise thing -- and gave it to their own priorities -- namely huge across-the-board wage bumps for everyone in control -- to compensate for their prior charity -- seeings how they had selflessly contributed to boring board meetings for so many years. They wisely diverted most of their new funds -- being so vast -- to OTHER priorities -- wisely determined by the board -- rather than New Yorkers. No-one ever could figure out where those other monies ever went. Amazingly, the last trails pointed to OFF SHORE charities... from the AMERICAN Red Cross.
You should think of the Panama letters. Yes, be cynical.
One is reminded of the Haitian relief fund pitch by H W Bush & Bill Clinton. Those two virtuous ex-presidents were able to make $1,500,000,000 disappear into their own 'charities.' THIS was the funding that permitted Hillary to establish an IMMENSE campaign staff for 2016 -- and the years leading up to it -- which staff shot down Bernie Sanders. Their reputation was outstanding, the crisis intense -- so, after the $$$$ came in -- they wisely directed the funds to their own political purposes.
This tic is ALWAYS repeated -- regardless of year, nationality, race or political organization. The 'crisis' is always of merit -- yet the players are NEVER committed to spend the monies as directed.
Hey, it's like paying your taxes! Then Congress goes absolutely wild -- it does not matter who's in charge. I must point out the CRAZY spending Schumer & Johnson planned before that jerk Musk spotted their self-dealing boondoggle. What a Washington party pooper.
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@proton8689 Keeping American businessmen out of your markets is FOLLY. The Marshall Plan worked precisely BECAUSE it required the lendees to have an American businessman looking over their shoulders. These were universally known as "Dollar-a-Year" men. It was THEY how approved the commercial loans. Yes, the Marshall Plan meant that the US was lending DIRECTLY into the Commercial market -- NOT state-to-state. That's what made it innovative, profound. We actually set up a scheme where by traditional lending norms were SET ASIDE. Credit was extended ENTIRELY based on what the "Dollar-a-Year" men signed off on. They were pretty good. None of the loans went sour. (!)
Who were those guys? They were the industrial salesmen of their era for everyone from Cincinnati Milacron on over. The VW bug was built using American machine tools via the Marshall Plan.
It has been the Americans who revolutionized Ukraine's agribusinesses. That's why you see John Deer tractors pulling T-72 tanks in for a reward.
Trump's Big Deal is a PIK plan. The US is NOT going to get stuff for 'free.' The US is going to INVEST Big -- and then take back the back-end of the dealings. In this, Trump is largely replicating the Marshall Plan.
BTW, Zelenskyy was an IDIOT for not using LendLease aid provided by Congress back in 2022. It amounted to $20,000,000,000. With it, Zelenskyy could've/ should've ordered EXACTLY what he wanted. He did not need Sullivan's permission/ Biden's largesse. What a fool.
By tradition, the US FORGIVES LendLease aid after the war is won. This is done to great fanfare and credit -- to the US President.
Famously, illegally, Biden forgave BILLIONS of student aid, just the other month. Far, far more than anything contemplated to Ukraine.
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@waynemcleod6767 The Year was 1980 -- as it was an election year. Mid-year Congress cut thorium funding. The fast breeder reactor program went so insanely over budget that it was later cut, too.
The Soviets cut their funding within 90-days of the American Congress.
This was all 41-years ago. The Soviets admitted - off the record -- that the only thing keeping them funded was the fear that the USA would discover a work-around and wow the world.
Looking at the American track record, well, it's easy to see why that was an instant sell.
I was a kid back then, with my full astounding mental acuity. Now, my photographic memory is fading.
( Would you believe that Wonderlic rated me as non-human? 8+ S.D. above the mean? Now all that I can do is point to the professional literature. Yes, Wonderlic had a brain freeze over my test score. Then their detectives revealed my academic record -- and it was freaky.
What kind of cume is shipped in boxes? Yes, just one-box would not do. But, a kid's academic record is supposed to be in a file folder -- not reading as War & Peace. So, the boxes had to rest atop all other records. One out of ten-million it was. Very, very, freaky)
You want to screen for late 1980 early 1981 -- (I could be wrong, long odds, I know) -- and MSBR.
Molten Salt Breeder Reactors.
Back then I was big into atomic chemistry.
I'm the fellow behind the 1995 Chemistry Nobel ... Rowland was my professor and he picked up the ball I handed him. As expected, he won a Nobel -- and wrote me out of history.
I had a moral choice: sit on Freon and kill millions and imperil life on Earth -- or give a Nobel to Rowland.
You might note that today's politicians are aping Freon-exclusion. (al Gore)
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It's RED CHINA. Xi's dollar thirst -- for his corporations -- must be at terrifying levels.
Interest rates are going the wrong way -- and unlike the UK -- his bankers are unsophisticated -- and UNHEDGED.
Since the CCP does not permit GAAP -- and the yuan is breaking down -- yiikes !
I would imagine that Red China is collateralizing its dollar borrowings with GOLD. (It does not want to flood the (physical) gold market -- over night.)
Switzerland is getting this action -- because it's Red China's gold conduit.
As the world's largest producer, no-one raises an eyebrow -- either way.
Red China is getting a slug of gold -- from Putin. He can't unload it in Europe... not in size, anyway.
All of this is a loopy way for Putin to swap his gold for Red Chinese goods -- got to keep the Muscovites happy -- and for the Red Chinese to get PROMPT liquidity -- as they are in a dire dollar crisis that can't be solved in Asian markets -- unless you want those markets to blab.
Red China needs to pay down all floating rate debt -- PDQ -- as the Fed is taking rates north.
No small amount of Xi's headache is due to his One Belt - One Blowout scheme -- which DEMANDED US dollars -- not yuan -- in every transaction.
The UK banks would never use Switzerland. They'd just dial direct -- and both the B of E and the Fed would pull it off hush, hush -- until it's all papered over.
The markets are all excited that Liz is about to crash -- when it's Putin that's crashing -- when its Xi that's crashing.
It's ironic. The economies that are truly in peril: France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland are all in much tougher straits than Britain.
Relative to the EU -- the UK is looking pretty terrific.
I expect France to amaze all -- and spool up its atomic reactors, PDQ.
European coal will be burnt. It won't destroy planet Earth. It, coal burning, won't even go on and on and on.
(Putin sits rocky on his throne. He could fall out of a window.)
I expect Liz to paper over what amounts to wartime spending -- same as old Churchill did.
(Putin is in economic war with Europe; Xi is in economic war with America. What a tag-team!)
Since both Russia and Red China are DEPENDENT economies -- they are sure fire losers.
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@James
In point of fact, the Germans used barges -- both in the Baltic and Black Seas.
These were pre-existing assets, and had such shallow drafts that they were designed for the Rhine and Danube -- both were linked by canal, BTW.
A single barge of this type is equal to ~700 tons in capacity. So one barge per day could shift enough to support a corps. They aren't the fastest, but they do carry a lot. France, Germany and the low countries have large fleets of these barges -- even now -- typically family owned -- with the owners living on them, too.
The larger issue would be that such barges are ALREADY committed to the internal economies of said nations.
Germany did use barges, but only in tiny amounts, yes, all the way to Rostov-on-Don.
Logistically, the Germans never had their head screwed on right.
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It is FALSE that Ike made the call. The advance of the American armies was decided back in Washington by Marshall -- NOT Ike.
Yes, the limit of advance was explicitly laid out by Marshall -- not IKE. (City by city, no less.)
Yet, forever after, Ike took responsibility. Don't you believe his lies.
In a tradition that has lasted to this day, WASHINGTON makes the Big Call -- not a general in the field.
BTW, Marshall was clearly over-stepping his authority. He was making the call for FDR -- well above his pay grade.
But, since FDR was dying, plainly, Marshall stepped into the vacuum.
It was impossible to get presidential direction. Ever since, the historical record has been 're-edited' to hide this flow of events.
For more on this, read "Marching Orders."
BTW, Ike told many another Big Fib to American voters... stuff like he barely knew Zukhov. RIGHT!
These buddies only flew all day from Berlin to Moscow -- tree-top height -- and then had a military parade together -- for the cameras.
This 'connection' was why Zukhov was put in the Politburo. When Ike was on the way out (1960) Zukhov was ejected, PDQ. Heh.
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They actually HAVE advanced quite a lot. They've been reluctant to let the news out.
Even though the RA is in the bag -- been pocketed -- it still has a LOT of ammo on hand, a LOT of artillery on hand.
Eighty-years ago, the Krauts had lots of ammo, guns -- the works.
So, for the first weeks, they put up a stout defense from inside the Stalingrad pocket.
But it was idiot obvious that Germany could not send material aid. An 'air bridge' could not be established.
After ten-weeks, the Krauts threw in the towel... a very frozen towel.
The RA won't run out of food. There's no chance of that. They'll just steal from the locals.
The RA is guaranteed to run out of ammo, bandages... and morale.
Like the Luftwaffe -- the Russian Air Force is going to take a beating.
Flying a helicopter into the Kherson pocket is near suicide. All air strips have been ruined.
In WWII, the typical Kraut in the Stalingrad pocket would've been better off just surrendering from the first.
Instead, they just HAD to hang on... until they were dead.
90,000 surrendered in February -- but 45,000 were dead the next day. Why? They couldn't even walk into captivity. They were THAT weak.
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The highway bridge is only 30 kilometers from the front line. This means that it's in range of Caesar and PH2000 howitzers.
Rockets are thus, a waste. If the Russians really CAN hit anything with their S-400 system -- they'll go broke shooting at 155m rounds.
The Russians have lied so often that I can't accept ANY of Moscow's assertions. Verification is required.
IMHO, they are lying -- again. The radar returns from any American MLRS missile will be tiny, too tiny to deal with via a SAM.
The only Russian defense asset that could possibly work would be a CIWS type Gatling gun.
I've read that the Russians have their version of this war machine.
It would be firing blind into a pre-calculated arc of descent. (Spent slugs would be raining down all over Kherson, so... stay indoors.)
The Russians would have to cobble up some anti-artillery radars to dope out whence the rockets came.
The Ukrainian style is to launch missiles, one after the other. By missile three, the arc, and the timing, would be evident to counter-battery radars.
I seriously doubt that the Russians can stop the first rockets.
As stated, the UA is going to have to shift to Caesar. Two-rounds, and its gone.
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The video is correct until the end. What's screwing the entire system up is empty containers that are choking what a software engineer would term 'the buffer.' (Buffer overload ruins software stability, too. It's an age old computer hack, too, when deliberately done.)
The CCP stopped the transit of scrap cardboard, aluminum, -- and much else, by edict some months back. Ever since, empty containers normally sent back east to Red China (with recycling materials, overwhelmingly cardboard and scrap metal) have been gradually (not so gradually) piling up in and around the west coast ports... all of them. [ All of the stuff America is separating for recycling is now consigned to the county dump.]
Think of the parking lot at any big box retailer during the holiday buying binge. Once the parking lots are absolutely jammed, sales collapse, and no-one can quite put their finger on exactly what the problem is -- because by now -- EVERYTHING has gone awry. Even the store employees can't easily get to work.
The proximate solution is astoundingly simple. Our rail system needs to haul empties out into the Great American Desert and park them there -- same as if they were excess rail cars. The latter are parked, just so, all of the time, BTW. Otherwise, the rail grid would collapse every season, too.
Right now, you'd be astounded as to how many man-hours are wasted as crews try and find a new place to stash EMPTY containers. Said crews are then unavailable to heft actual cargoes. Truckers, from their cabs, don't get the full picture. For them, it's a mystery as to why they're choked at the terminal. This narrowness of vision is replicated by every other player in the system -- to include the Original Poster.
No-one has yet doped out that 'over-loading the buffer' does to freight flow that which haunts software engineers: it seizes up the logical flow// ie the flow of freight. ( Your computer 'freezes' when this happens. Any CPU always needs empty registers... ditto for freight carriers. )
The gear required to unload train container cars of their empties does not exist in the sticks. We're going to have to ship heavy equipment off to the high desert (jumbo fork lifts) just for the purpose of parking containers -- no different than the rail roads have done with their empty box cars -- going back forever and ever. It really is that simple. So, the Original Poster has it all wrong.
You want to park said empties right next to the BNSF main line -- and its peers -- where the land requires essentially no ground prep at all. Such land exists near Edwards Air Force Base -- and points east.
Naturally, the owners// long-term lessees of said empties will object to said parking lot -- as they are desperate for any next user to rent them (This rental is built into the freight fee.) for another trip. Once it becomes obvious that brand new Red Chinese built (That's where they're all coming from.) containers really have only one trip in them, the demand for new-builds will utterly collapse. The transit fees will be re-jiggered such that the return of empties will be built into the cost of the Asia to America freight fees.
This dynamic has long been seen by Matson, the monopoly carrier into Honolulu. (Yeah, there is barge traffic, too.) It's trade is totally unbalanced, too. So anyone in Hawaii importing goods from California is actually paying for the freight cost to return the empty containers required to balance the traffic. No-one bats an eye, the cost is THAT low.
Unbalanced oceanic trade is easily handled - if you plan for it. But that is not what has been going on.
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@SBroconis522 If you can find it, try and locate Hughes Tool's and Baker Tool's sales blurbs and advertising from before the war. This has got to be in some archive.
My source for these stats was the VERY GUY that was the Tech Rep in the USSR for Hughes Tool during the war! He was given the floor for about an hour on the McNeil-Lehrer Report (PBS) during 1979. (c/b 1980) His information was so shocking that what was supposed to be the first interview became the ONLY interview. McNeil just shunted all other guests off the broadcast. He detailed how he had to physically operate the gear. The Soviet boys had never seen a 'Kelly' and had conception of rotary drilling. The Soviet style was to only drill during the day. The American style was to start and never stop -- drilling 24-hours a day -- until they hit depth. The field -- some dang Russian name -- straddled Kazakastan and Russia. It was shallow -- by American standards. A hole could be punched in well under three-days. For the Soviets, such a well took five-weeks. He brought only THREE rigs. They were out punching the entire Soviet drilling establishment. One reason that the Soviets only punched these holes so belatedly: the field was so deep that the Soviets didn't deem it economic. Until the Germans invaded, Baku was more than sufficient for the 5-year plan.
As for the interview, he had gone back to the Soviet Union -- and discovered that the USSR was STILL using the technology that he, personally, had introduced in the war. The Reds were still generations behind the West. Heh. No surprise there.
Russia has FAR more crude than KSA. But it's against their national interest to divulge its existence.
In 1958 KSA released its stats... never to do so again, as the international price of crude immediately went DOWN. Just the knowledge that its vast, vast reserves existed was sufficient. The price drop triggered Venezuela and Iran to form OPEC. Yup. That's how it all started. The Arab immediately joined OPEC. The even established their own sub-cartel AOPEC. It was the latter that embargoed Holland and the USA in the mid-Seventies. BTW, you DID remember that Holland was embargoed, too? [ Holland was refinery central for Europe -- and still is a huge player -- think SHELL OIL.] ( The Dutch refused to suck up to the Arabs. -- Shell was one of the Seven Sisters and would not break ranks with its peers... a very wise decision. To do so would've infuriated Washington DC. )
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@timobrienwells
Lastly, manganese IS a very important element, metal, BUT, is not anywhere near as critical as nickel.
I've never heard of any nation panicking over manganese -- even though it's essential in dry cell batteries and much else -- but virtually every modern power is obsessed with nickel.
There are just so few workable deposits, and even those are a bitch. It's a tough critter.
Russia, Canada, New Caledonia (France), were the big players back in WWII.
Speer was freaked out when the jet engine demanded so much nickel.
BTW, they STILL DO.
In the USA, nickel demand went through the roof during WWII.
It was the critical item in stainless steel -- THE limiting element in the production of PENICILLIN. Yup. Most nickel went for this drug.
The second priority: the diffusion plant at Oak Ridge. It was built entirely around nickel 'sponge' filters.
This technology is passe, but still can't be discussed. So we'll stop here.
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@psoma_brufd Actually the 21st Panzer, which you are referring to, never really fought the British on D-Day. Its tank crews were so intimidated that they reached the shore, saw the British ships and men, and then freaked out -- and retreated without firing a shot. The real fighting started the following day.
Lost in all of the tales, EVERY Allied combatant was totally drained from riding the seas an EXTRA DAY through a storm. No-one was eating. Even drinking water was a chore. The sailors were used to such weather. The soldiers were NOT. On my father's ship no-one was eating at all. Their stomachs were tight with anxiety. Yours would be too.
Later, this or that general bitched and moaned that the boys left their landing craft, marched a bit, and then sat down. This behavior was entirely predictable. After so many, many sleepless hours, the body simply demands shut-eye when the pressure collapses to zero. Even coffee is no help. ( Indeed, the boys give every appearance of coming down off of a caffeine high. Again, totally predictable. )
My comments above referred to the CANADIANS not the British. But for both of them, the local German troops were so intimidated by the RN that they fled or surrendered THAT DAY -- only. June 7th was a whole different kettle of fish. From that point onward, the 21st Army Group faced virtually EVERY panzer division that Hitler sent to Normandy.
1SS, 12SS these were the two panzer divisions that needed Hitler's explicit approval... but NOT the others. Most tales have got this fact ALL WRONG.
9SS, 10SS, 21st, Panzer Lehr, all of the Tiger Battalions including the first King Tiger battalion, and a motley crew of sub-units and FLAK units all to stop Monty.
But all of that stuff was not there on D-Day. To repeat, the 21st Panzer -- essentially -- ran away on D-Day. The senior officers required to command multi-division counter-attacks were not in Normandy when it counted, nor were the reaction divisions. Rommel's grand tactic never got off the ground.
BTW, the RAF destroyed the HQ for the German panzers on 6-9-44. This is why no German counter-attacks of substance got off to such a late start.
While the British and Canadians were having fun, the Americans were grinding up the 17SS, a parachute regiment, the 352nd infantry division, and a slew of piecemeal reinforcements. The parachute troops were a real nightmare. They were, by far, the toughest soldiers that Hitler had... not the SS. So the US Army had to use its own parachute troops to root them out. It was brutal. The 82nd and 101st stayed in Normandy a full month longer than planned because of this fighting. By the end, the German parachute troops were so shredded that now THEY were demoralized. General Bradley had a standing order: German parachute troops were priority #1 and were to annihilated if at all possible. This became the fate of the entire German Second parachute division. No quarter was given. IIRC, it suffered 100% casualties -- and it was fighting in a fortress! Bradley brought in his 8" guns. A tank division, an infantry division -- and squadrons of P-47s to wipe it out. Patton conquered with Bradley's orders -- and wrote down the matter in his diary -- which survives today.
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@psoma_brufd You must be responding to some synthetic me. For your response is strangely un-connected to my posts, today, or at any time.
One thing I have noted is that the collective histories taught// published in each differing nation have created no small amount of friction. For in every case, they emphasize what happened from their point of view -- usually totally excluding all others. Even while it was unfolding, the US armed forces in England wondered what it took to get ink on the front pages of Fleet Street. They were telling of a wholly different war. Let's call it "Monty's War."
One slice out of the many: Mark Felton uploaded quite an expose on the trivial action that the British Army engaged in East of the Meuse river to thwart the German thrust. His source material had come from Fleet Street, no doubt. Well, it took Winnie to rebuke his own Press, pointing out that the recent campaign can only be described as an AMERICAN fight -- and that so say or imply that Britain was a factor in the fight is actually wrong. Monty did assume command of US 1st Army, but that did not make the fight a British one. BTW, Monty almost lost his job for his over-taking credit at the time. Yup. In the British histories, few ever mention that Monty came sooooo close to being canned.
Ike let it be known that it was not possible for him to work with Monty and so he'd have to resign. Winnie knew that FDR would have a FIT -- along with the ENTIRE American military establishment. Winne would HAVE TO can Monty. The Americans already had his replacement in mind: FM Alexander. To give you some idea of how un-real Monty's mind was -- he'd completely forgotten his own former boss! It took his own chief of staff to realize the peril and to draft a crow-eating letter so that Monty could climb back down. Monty came THAT close to being packed off to India and Burma. And the issue which would've done it was taking credit away from the Americans. With your post immediately above, we can say that YOU would've been shipped off to India-Burma, too. Re-read my posts -- then yours.
BTW, don't post while drinking.
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If he was to invade in 41, Adolf should've stayed out of Ukraine. The grain there would've automatically been harvested and stored in Kharkhov. Stalin built a MASSIVE food storage complex there, right on the Russian-Ukraine border. From Kharkhov up to Moscow Stalin built the ONLY double-tracked and ballasted rail line in the whole nation.
So the obvious play is to never send 1st Panzer Army into Ukraine, just block the Red 5th Army with the German 6th Army -- and send the 1st PA up with the 4th PA to Leningrad.
Why? ALL of Russia's locomotive production came from a super factory in that city. It took the USA to replace the lost production ~ 2,000 full sized locos by war's end. How can Stalin survive without trains ? He can't.
Everyone on the planet knew the factory was there, because it was imported, and Leningrad is where the ENTIRE Russian rail net originated. It went straight to Moscow and then branched out.
The route to Leningrad was greased: the Baltic nations hated the Reds. During the actual campaign, all of the locals would rat out the Red Army, and solve every 'map problem' for the lost and corn fused Germans. That's why the leap to Leningrad was so FAST.
Further, the Baltic sea solved German logistical nightmares. They did a chitty job of it, but they actually did use barges to ship everything up the Baltic coast -- the barges worked fine even without reaching port. There were tons of calm small bays that proved suitable.
Once Leningrad caves, both panzer armies could be fed from that port -- and then race south for the rest of the campaign.
No attempt at bombing Moscow, or Leningrad should've been attempted. Why destroy what you'll soon own? The Bismark and Tirpiz should've been buddied to take out the Russian BBs at Leningrad. They would've totally out classed anything there. They were totally over matched against the British. Forget the propaganda, they were dead meat in front of the Royal Navy.
All four panzer armies should've slammed into Moscow. Unlike Napoleon's day, CRITICAL war industries vital to the Red Army were right there. One stands out: the Germans actually destroyed Stalin's ONLY RADIO TUBE FACTORY. It was so small that the Germans didn't realize what they'd done. This fiasco was one of the deepest secrets of the USSR. They conned FDR in to prioritizing Lendlease raido tubes. Until these arrived the Red Army actually pull radio sets out of front line tanks -- to save what they had for command sets. (!) This fiasco explains why the Red tanks were so pathetic during 1942. It took that long for this matter to be corrected. (They basically had to redesign their radios to use American tubes. They were too embarrassed to take complete radio sets.)
As you might grasp, the same radio scavenging hunt occurred in the Red Air Force.
So, Moscow WAS important... think tank optics... etc.
The Red Army in Ukraine is parallyzed. It HAS to hold down the furious locals and collect the harvest. Attacking Moscow forces Stalin to force feed all of his best units straight into the maw of the panzer force... that's four armies side by side.
Then it's off to Kharkhov to pick up food rations, repairing the rail net ASAP -- like a maniac. ( The American Army did so at every occasion. They rebuilt the rail net in Northwest Africa for 7th Army... filmed it even. )
Then it's off to the oil fields racing away from the winter cold... leaving the infantry armies well behind.
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I had an allergic reaction to my blood pressure medication. The ER nurse and physician told me to, "say your prayers you should not survive" and "you're minutes from death." Cute.
After six-straight hours of pain, level 11 on a scale of 1-10, I finally fell asleep, the first time in 72-hours. When I woke, I demanded to be let go, put my street clothes back on only to meet the ICU physician. Her first question was, "Why aren't you dead?" Statistically, I was a ghost as fellows with my advanced state of allergic reaction die about 9,999 times out of 10,000. The kicker with such an allergic reaction is that no painkiller works during ones extremity. For your own immune system is killing your own brain. All pain killers work by cutting the brain off from pain. But nothing is going to ever convince the brain that it itself is not dying.
Perhaps the only reason I'm able to type this post is because 48-hours previous to my emergency a fellow arrived in my exact state. He died right in the ER. My attending physician was one and the same as his. He spelled out that the final, lethal, event is total closure of ones airway. This happens in SECONDS. I was at such a state that I could not even swallow water, so I knew I was dying.
Anyhow, my survival was so improbable that it's data has circulated among ER physicians. I read, quite recently, that another such soul was saved by the same medical group. Plainly they'd used their successful protocol one more time. This could end up being significant in the longer run.
Of course, I have PTSD as a result. Well, you can't have everything.
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TIK -- the US Army did NOT run out of fuel on the way to the West Wall. That's a BRITISH trope. We gave up our transport to the British to make Monty happy. My own father lost his truck to them at that time. His entire truck regiment was 'un-trucked' at a stroke. With no trucks, the US Army's gasoline just built up back at its tank farm in Normandy. PLUTO ended up being TOO LATE to perform its duty. When the Break Out occurred, PLUTO was still delivering a trickle. Yeah, PLUTO was a screw-up. The Mulberries ended up being a fiasco, too. The American one was destroyed by the storm because the Americans constructed their's faster than its designers -- the British. The British Mulberry was not destroyed -- because it had not been completed. The terminus was, naturally, where the storm had its maximum impact -- and it was the terminus of the British Mulberry that was not built.
BTW, my father rode the rails to the port. The D-Day move was smooth as silk. The British civilians passed stood speechless witnessing the parade of the US Army going into battle. This transit occurred in the week prior to 6-5-44. When at sea, the convoy sailed in circles, as the landing was delayed 24-hours.
When ashore, the US Army ended up discovering, belatedly, the awesome niftiness of the DUKW. It entirely replaced Mulberry and PLUTO. The sands off Omaha were, and remain, so flat that one could easily get away with bottoming Liberty ships -- even Victory ships -- twice a day -- with each swing of the tide. When the sea was all the way out, mere GMC trucks sufficed to off-load the ships. When things got wet, the DUKWs stepped up. This scheme was so efficient that in no time flat, the British and Canadians started to get fully HALF of all their stuff across the American beach-head. This reality was suppressed for years and years. Try and find a photo of it. I've never seen even one. Every official photo omits the stream of British lorries coming down Highway 13 from Omaha.
Omaha was used because it was nature's instant port, a trait that every planner, British or American totally missed.
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The CCP is not weaponizing its DEBTS... it's weaponizing its assets. The debt belongs to Uganda, the (defaulted) asset belongs to the CCP.
With ~ 2,000,000 passengers per year, servicing a $200,000,000 'nut' should be no problem. [ $ 2 a ticket is not the end of the world. ]
What you're looking at is Ugandan political corruption.
Ugandan politicians thought that they could sweet talk the CCP into 'gifting' them the wealth by walking away from the CCP asset, as they defaulted on repayment. At 2% per annum and with a seven-year grace period, you can't tag the CCP with harsh terms.
This had always worked before -- with the Soviets or the West. It will never work with the CCP -- obviously.
What was hidden from the Ugandans was that the labor for the airport expansion would be provided by imported Chinese 'guest' workers.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the Ugandan politicians thought that the CCP would be hiring locally for the vast majority of the 'talent.'
But this was not specified in the deal. Oops!
Even $2 a ticket is merely enough to service the interest. Uganda still has to find the $200,000,000 to pay back the CCP in its own national budget. You can be sure that the CCP will soon impose a 'gate-tax' to begin working down the 'nut.'
The West and the USSR got the entire Third World (politically) addicted to free mega-projects funded by the super-powers.
( High Aswan dam, anyone?) This wealth transfer ended up in the purse of politicians across the Third World... one way or another.
This dynamic still eludes the media class -- world-wide. Cute.
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@davidlloyd2583 Stalin announced right from the start that the USSR would NOT follow any of the Western rules of war. And, he didn't.
BTW, on your statistics, due to Adolf's command, 6th Army surrendered only after starving for weeks. Consequently, after their surrender, German PW fatalities were in orbit. So... on a technical basis, those deaths bump up your 11% calc quite a bit.
There is little question that Adolf wanted all Bolshevik soldiers murdered. He flatly stated, even before the invasion, that his intent was the utter elimination of those alive in the east. (ie USSR + Poland + + + +)
Soviet PWs were exploited unto death no different than Jews in Adolf's Death Empire.
To (barely) survive as a Soviet PW in Nazi Germany you had to be fantastically lucky. Most survivors simply HAD to 'collaborate.' By which I mean: work as drudge labor on a German farm -- replacing the family's draft horse which, naturally, had been sacrificed to the Ostheer, at Berlin's command.
(The German army was not losing horses in the west.)
(The Nazis burned through horses no different than people.) {ie Worked them to death in the Ostheer, ultimately to be eaten, because food supplies ran low. See: 6th Army, et. al.}
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@davidlloyd2583 They were twins in evil. You name the crime, they both did it. Weirdly, they would express admiration for each other. (!!!)
As Yeltsin exposed -- to the shock of the world -- Stalin started WWII in Europe via the Contract for War -- aka the M-R Pact.
It was ALL Stalin's idea. Hitler didn't have any input. (!!!!!) The contract for war unleashed both tyrants. Stalin, personally, by his own hand, crayoned the partition of Poland. Adolf merely accepted whatever Stalin set down.
Stalin proceeded to carve up Finland, Poland, the Baltics and the eastern edges of Romania and Slovakia. ( The latter was actually grabbed during Adolf's 2nd stage invasion -- much to the distress of Adolf.)
Stalin then proceeded to give Adolf LendLease style aid so that Adolf had enough fuel to beat the West -- and bomb Britain. Yeah, the Battle of Britain was flown on Soviet gasoline. (oil, really) Without Stalin, Adolf didn't have enough petrol to bomb London. Yeah, things were THAT tight.
So... stop asserting some sort of innocence to that monster.
And let's not forget his address to his nation, the world, wherein he declared -- in so many words -- total war upon Nazi Germany. In this, he beat Goebbels to the punch.
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Putin certainly IS getting a lot of Euros for his natural gas -- BUT -- Europe is now refusing to sell to Putin exactly the very stuff he needs: industrial goods.
Sanctioning Putin out of European, American, Japanese, Korean... et. al trade IS what hurts Putin. Piling up unspendable monies is no benefit for Putin.
The stuff Putin wants to buy with his energy revenues is CRITICAL to his war economy. His two biggest tank factories have been shut down because Germany will not sell him critical inputs. So, Putin CAN'T go on, and on, and on. Berlin is not being given enough credit in the American press for absolutely jamming Putin to the wall. Germany is the SOLE source for the industrial goods I'm ranting about. Putin would turn to Sweden, Britain or the USA -- but they won't sell bearings to him, either. [ You can forget India, Venezuela, Iran, and Red China. They've got nothing (industrial) for him.]
Back in the USSR, the proles were over-flowing with rubles -- on which there was nothing to spend. Putin is back in the USSR, alright! Oh, the irony.
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The Europeans love gas -- but can get by on coal. This is where religion and politics merge.
Coal can hold them until the war is over -- which is not going to go on and on. Then the gas can be turned back on. (America, Qatar, even Australia)
The sanctions are just too extensive for Putin.
In WWII, oil, steel, rubber were critical inputs.
Today, it's mirco-chips and satellite photography. Putin is screwed.
Modern industry utterly depends upon PLCs. ( Programmable Logical Controllers ) [ Your car is run by a design specific PLC. ]
Putin was getting the bulk of these from Siemens. But no more.
Eventually, they DO BREAK. (Brutal conditions.)
When they go, an entire manufacturing line can go down.
They are even more important in chemical engineering.
Of course, the general public doesn't know a thing about them.
Neither do the talking heads. So, no-one brings PLCs up.
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@olympia5758 You still have it flipped.
When the USSR was the USSR, Moscow sent in the diggers, and discovered that Kyiv was Big when Moscow was small.
They also discovered that the Norse (Swedes/Vikings/Rus) were the founding culture. They married local women -- and then went native. Their burial goods were a riot of Nordic runes and themes. These were dug-up and shipped to Moscow... to the museum.
Moscow dates centuries younger than Kyiv. It's perhaps a coincidence, but Moscow sits atop the source of the Volga -- almost exactly. Kyiv sits atop the source of the Dnieper -- almost exactly. (Think in river navigational terms -- not like a cartographer.)
Kyiv became a node in the Nordic trade corridor with the Black Sea because there were rapids in the river -- right there. The Norse started employing local men to help haul their water craft up and around the rapids. This task has been long rendered into folk song. (Song of the Volga Boatmen)
[You must get the irony, boatmen were hardly ever needed on the Volga because it has no rapids... and the Norse didn't use the Volga, as far as we know.* They were a fixture on the Dnieper. Until modern engineering, it had rapids, one after another, from the Black Sea to Kyiv. Plainly, the Russians hy-jacked Ukrainian river lore a very long time ago.]
* Perhaps they did -- and were headed to the gold fields of the Caucus, famous even in Roman times.
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It's the LONG nights. You must note the insane drinking in Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, and the Nordics. The British practically invented distilled alcohol, so long ago. Every other culture promptly picked up on it. The "Steam Tables" were established precisely to enhance gin distillation. This led to the Steam Revolution. Yup.
Whereas the Germans had their beers, the Italians, French, Spanish, their wines. You got sloppy, not sick... until tomorrow.
The other reason -- water quality. The Pilgrims, 1620, sailed the Atlantic DRUNK, crew and passengers. The primary reason for the catastrophe of landing: the voyage was so long that they had ran out of alcohol. They were so deep into alcoholism that going clean, often killed them, all by itself. The Pilgrims were drunks -- like most adults in 1619 -- because Europe's water quality was rotten. No-one dared drink Rhine water! This also explains why everyone was waiting on others to provide food. Everyone was either wasted or gasping in agony. But, the Charles river was near to hand. Some made it.
Think about it. The guys are drinking STRAIGHT vodka because they regard water as toxic. (!) In most locations, it tastes badly, even if it's potable. So too, their wives.
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Just stop. Hamas was not freely elected. Hamas murdered ALL Fatah politicians -- or ran them off. THEN they 'won' the election.
Have we forgotten?
This is why the PLO/PLA STILL hates Hamas. They've never reconciled -- and never will.
Hamas was also linked to AQ in Sinai -- way back in 1999-2001. AQ in Sinai went around assassinating Egyptian officials -- straight off. So, Cairo can't stand Hamas. THIS is the reason why Cairo does not want ANY Gazans displaced into the Sinai.
Famously, the PLO tried to assassinate the King of Jordan. (1970) The PLO also initiated the Lebanese 'Civil War.' Which was not a civil war. It was a conflict started by the fanatics kicked out of Amman in 1970. (It took until 1975 before they were ready to conquer their new hosts.) From Kuwait to the UAE, everyone has figured out that you'd have to be insane to allow these roaming pirates into your society.
Lastly, by blood, by DNA, Gazans are NOT classical Arabs. They are EGYPTIAN by blood. Gaza was originally a military garrison in the days of the Ottoman Empire. When the 1948 conflict ended, the Egyptian army fell back to Gaza -- its logistical base. The Arabs, nee Palestinians, fell back into Syria, Jordan, Judea and Samaria. The latter are the actual ancient lands of Israel -- because that's where the water is. 3,000 years ago, no-one lived in the lowlands. That area was strictly for sheep & goat grazing. No-one stayed there once the Philistines fled back up into Ukraine -- whence they'd come from. [ DNA research has established this. All of the great historians have been wrong. Somehow it eluded them that the BLONDE Philistines hailed from the land famous for blonde women. The Torah specifically calls out this rare -- for the Middle East -- trait. The other famous trait: height. The ancient Hebrews totally resented facing them in battle, they were totally out-matched. In the Eleventh Century, AD, no-one could deal with the Vikings, either. It was the same issue. ]
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The Javelin does not need much human guidance. It's a fire-and-forget missile. THIS is any tanker's nightmare.
Look at the missile damage in the Middle East. The Israelis were punished by Russian ATGMs -- years ago.
And OTWG missiles have proved their worth fifty-years after their original design in Syria.
(Optically Tracked Wire Guided) NATO has thousands of these puppies now sitting in warehouses.
Putin's latest pressure figures to open up the floodgates for these defensive weapons.
I chuckle that Russians are now terming ManPADS as offensive weapons. Sheesh, look at their range and altitude limitations.
ManPADS only threaten the low and slow: helicopters, airmobile troops, Su-25s, etc.
I suspect that Stingers are reconned to ruin Putin's Plan A against Kiev, itself.
What's telling is that Moscow is pulling out ITS diplomats from Kiev -- right after getting the very bad news from London.
The blather from France and Germany is now entirely discounted by Putin.
And yes, this is Putin's war. He intends to Salami Ukraine -- at the least -- or go for Kiev at first blow. It's looking like the latter.
The chatter is that NATO is being made hip by 'non-overhead' assets. That figures.
The Soviets/Russians are absolute masters of visual deception, signals deception.
At the strategic level, I'd say that Putin has boxed himself in. He dares not back down. (Take an 'off-ramp' in MSM jargon.)
He's furious to learn that London and Washington have no 'give' in them.
The dynamic duo realize that -- in the longer run -- they must keep the door to NATO open -- for Russia, itself.
For it's plain as day that Moscow's real threat lies to the southeast: the CCP.
It truly covets Siberia. That's what hypersonic weapons are all about. They are wholly unnecessary against the West.
Old fashioned ICBMs, traveling at Mach 27, are already entirely terrifying to NATO. There is no counter to them.
And Russia has plenty of them. She can destroy the entire planet in one go.
The other tip that Putin is boxed in: his rhetoric... talk of atomic warfare... which is totally premature given the diplomacy underway.
One is reminded of Cleavon Little aiming his revolver at his own head, spewing threats to all assembled. (Blazing Saddles)
NATO is tame; Red China is out of control -- and Putin is throwing Napalm on the embers. Not such a smart guy.
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Soviet/ Atommash reactors don't 'melt down' -- they burn up.
Deliberate tank canon fires into a NPP will ruin ANY containment.
That the Russians are even within miles of this plant, engaging in combat operations is INSANE.
Nuclear power plants are not fortresses, they are not proper military objectives. They just spin out electricity.
Since that's their only product, any military, at any time can frustrate power generation by merely blowing up FAR DISTANT high power lines.
As an army of occupation, the Russians should, logically, want to preserve these six, side-by-side, power plants.
So, this attack is insanity on stilts.
Putin appears to WANT NATO to intervene.
That's the only way I can read this.
It smells like this attack has been expressly commanded by Putin.
I can't see any lesser authority taking the risk.
I'd rather face prison than shoot at any atomic containment. Radiation poisoning is the worst way to die. Glad I'm not there.
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Artur, here are the FACTS: The EU was founded in 1955 as a Steel, Iron & Coal free-trade zone between just France, Belgium and Germany. These three nations coordinated a tariff regime entirely oriented towards keeping American steel out of their lands -- while having no tariffs between each other. Indeed, the Grand Idea was that cross-border combinations were encouraged so as to compete with the Americans. Their original targets were construction steel and automobiles -- and hot-rolled sheet steel for their food industries. In 1955, American autos were being imported into Europe on a pretty massive scale. It was only at this time that VW, Daimler-Benz, et al finally scaled up -- behind a Massive tariff, so as to compete with the USA -- using American machine tools -- imported under the Marshall Plan. (!!!) 1955 was the first year Germany was freed from American military occupation. (but not Berlin) So, you see, no time was wasted to kick the American imports out. The Berlin Airlift was only seven-years old in 1955. This compact was not called the EU. It was called the ECC.
With time, ever more mass production goods entered this exclusionary regime. The tariffs were only pointed at the USA -- the only nation that Europeans were importing food and all else from. This ever expanded -- both in nations participating -- and in goods covered.
Long before Trump retook his oath, there existed a huge tariff wall specifically oriented against the USA. That's how tariffs work. They are country by country. Separate tariff walls hold out Japan, Taiwan, India, Red China, Korea, et al. These are always tweaked as time goes by. The single biggest advocate for mercantilism is Paris. It always has been so, for centuries. Try importing Californian wines into France!
France also has no end of non-tariff trade barriers. Famously, during the age of the Japanese VCR, any importer had to land them, by air, in southern France, dis-assemble them, and then re-assemble them, and finally drive/ fly them to a retailer! Cute, no?
(That's the airport where the A-380 fleet was built and now is parked. It's France's biggest airport - but it only handles freight. It frees Paris.)
They got this idea from Tokyo. Japan forces cars, older than 60-months, to be entirely dis-assembled, checked, only then to be re-assembled.
De facto no-one can sell cars into Japan's market. No non-European can sell cars into France, Germany, et al.
ALL of these barriers predate Trump's latest tariffs. Trump is NOT starting a trade war. Europe started it back in 1955.
(The same year that Japan started it's trade tariffs against the USA, too. Like Germany, it was no longer under US Army occupation.)
( The USAF had the H-bomb and the B-47 and B-52 in 1955. Massive nuclear retaliation replaced the US Army.)
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The QUEEN had an outside influence on the SPANISH Inquisition. Yes, there were inquisition courts all over the Catholic lands. The SPANISH courts became infamous due to a propaganda war with the Protestant lands. Though the Jews were the primary targets of such courts, it was the Protestants that were psychologically most inflamed... because their scandal sheets made hay about the Spanish -- who were the ultra-power of that age. The loot being stolen from the New World was so great that the other reigning monarchs had no clue as to how vast it was. Elizabeth almost fell off her throne when presented with her 'end' of the re-stolen booty. In short order she was able to liquidate the Crown's debt with a mere fraction of the Spanish haul -- in one year. This was the economic basis for the 1588AD invasion project. BTW, the English did not defeat the Spanish -- the Spanish defeated the Spanish. They hadn't a CLUE as to their enemy, nor the seas surrounding the English isles. WHAT A GAFF. Who could predict that such a massive effort would proceed without a scouting campaign? Whatever those in Spanish Holland knew, they kept their mouths shut WRT royal battle fleet. They were already quite alienated with their masters, plainly. [c.f. eighty-years war 1568-1648] You would've expected that at least SOMEONE would open their mouths to an open purse. Yet, plainly, the Spanish remained astoundingly clueless about the essentials of such northern waters. Yeah, they're not at all like the mid-Atlantic. 'Roaring-forties' comes to mind. BTW, Smith lost the Titanic precisely because he went north-most to avoid stormy seas. This is why he was ripping along -- just like his peers -- right up towards the iceberg zone -- on mill pond waves. Anglo-Allies of WWII never forgot the Spanish lesson. And well they did not. [ c.f. the June, 19thru21, 1944 storm that came out of Sweden, it, not the Nazis, nearly destroyed Overlord.]
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Fortunately it's not that far. All that the panzers have to do is beat Soviet infantry marching across the snow on foot.
1) The lead elements had no heavy weapons until days passed.
2) The pincers didn't close up until THREE days passed. You might run some calculations as to how much faster a Mark III tank is versus a bunch of ground pounders.
3) The supply echelon would chase down the westward panzers, there can be no doubt about that.
4) The T34s coming down from the north have to cover twice as much ground -- and are racing AWAY from their supply echelon.
5) During this race, the panzer can pretty much stay right on their own supply trails// roads if you want to call them that.
6) The departure of the panzers would take with them as many soldiers as could reasonably ride on top -- just for the shear joy of escaping the pocket. Expect many volunteers.
7) No small number of the panzers would be half-tracks -- which are absolute death for light infantry. They're more deadly than Mark III panzers. They pack more machine guns and have better visibility. They also don't do so bad with fuel consumption.
8) In the actual campaign, Paulus sent the panzer regiments up to fight -- in a swirl -- with T34s -- northward. BIG mistake. They needed to race away from the Soviets and then shield their own supply echelon. Going all the way to Rostov was merely a term of art, as it would be expected that the supply stream would meet the panzers some place around the Chir river// or Kalach.
9) The 11th Panzer was located to the west of 6th Army and would've been very able to hook up with the 14th Panzer Corps or 24th Panzer Corps or both.
10) The key thing being that panzers are virtually worthless on defense. Their mobility is their number one asset.
( Kind of the same with helicopters, and helicopter troops. If they stay
put, they get shot to chit. )
As for your estimate of the fuel available to the panzers at start: wrong.
Those numbers came from Paulus AFTER he'd burned through their gasoline supply chasing off to the north, and then wheeling back into the pocket. (!!!) Most accounts omit the fact that this is what Paulus & Company did in the days prior to the pocket being sealed up. Yes, they went up and back -- back into the Stalingrad pocket. (!!!) This one pointless chase burned up the very fuel that would've permitted all of them to escape to the west.
That's called BAD leadership. NO WAY would Guderian, Rommel, Hoth, ... bring panzers back into a kessel, an obvious kessel.
The panzers had to break out BEFORE they were breaking out: BEFORE the Soviets ringed them in. The closure took THREE DAYS. The panzers could've shot out in less than six-hours. Paulus didn't even post sentries// observation posts to his rear. Yes, the Red Army advanced all that way ON FOOT without Paulus realizing what was unfolding. He really was surprised when the ring was closed. Even then, the panzers could've shot through it -- because the Russians had no anti-tank weapons of any kind. They couldn't even dig fox-holes in that cold weather.
( When the Germans retreated out of their fox-holes -- they couldn't dig replacement holes further back and in, either. )
None of the Soviet weapons and positions you posit were in place until a week had passed. Getting anything across the Volga, the southern wing, was a bitch and a half. The Soviets had to use dynamite to blow the ice ridges out of the way so as to finally have a truck route. Yeah, that process took days. All the longer because the Germans were shelling them at the time. (They were crossing that close to Stalingrad. The Russians had their own logistical nightmare on the east side of the Volga, too. )
To make things short: your thesis lies bleeding, wait, it's dead.
So sad.
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@lechefski I've posted this elsewhere, but there IS a viable route to virtually endless energy -- from the SUN. You see nature has crafted the world's largest solar collectors around our planet's equator. For our purposes, the Amazon rainforest solves everything. For the water vapor it releases flows westward to fall upon the Andes as rain and snow -- in STAGGERING amounts -- far exceeding your imagination. It's so rainy there that humanity can't tolerate it. (!)
The hydro-potential there is enough to power the entire Western Hemisphere -- ALL energy needs -- not just electricity.
We need to mass-produce Swiss type high-head, low-volume, high-pressure jest [Pelton Wheel] hydro-electric generators. They'd be best if they were Mono-Pole Generators which crank out staggering amps at low voltages. Mega-low-voltage-amps is exactly what you'd want to electrolyze mind-boggling amounts of water into HYDROGEN and Oxygen right at the foot of the Andes. Each generator would operate independently -- just venting well pressurized hydrogen gas into a network of pipes -- very much like today's natural gas fields. The hydrogen would then be sent off to reduce iron ore to iron and steel -- at the world's largest mine in Northern Brazil.... It would be sent off to a slew of alumina reduction plants located way downriver where ocean going ships can navigate the Amazon River. It would be sent over the Andes to Chile and Peru's Western Coasts -- where the dry climate would be IDEAL for hydro-reduction of toxic poisons and every other manner of industrial chemicals -- to be shipped across the Pacific to the USA, Red China, Japan, Korea, Australia -- even Canada. It would be PIPED under the ocean to those same markets. The cash flow from this bounty would make Peru one of the wealthiest nations (per capita) on Earth.
And everything I've detailed here could begin tomorrow. It's all TOTALLY conventional engineering. Thorium reactors, fusion reactors will ALWAYS be totally uneconomic. My scheme will die when the Sun winks out. So, nothing is forever.
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@lechefski Elon Musk is not promoting it. Yeah, it needs a seller of dreams to gain attention. Andean hydro-potential is FAR more viable than Musk's other dreams. We already know that the individual sub-systems work. Pelton wheels have been spinning for more than a century. A run-of-the-river hydro-dam is just as ancient. [ To keep costs down, one does not build a substantial containment dam. Such modular dams could be built small enough, light enough to be transported globally by ship and dirigible -- the latter for the final miles across the jungle. They could easily be remotely controlled as they would not need any synchronous bus -- like our modern power grid. They'd spin or not -- same as a windmill. But they would not really need co-ordinate any more than a natural gas well does with its neighbors in the grid.]
How easy can you get?
BTW, Peru is king of the mountain, but Columbia has staggering hydro-potential, too. The key is to NOT build big containment dams -- to NOT build near habitation -- and to settle for intermittent operation. Hydrogen, as a pressurized gas, will function as energy storage.
BTW, when iron ore is reduced by hydrogen gas instead of coke you reduce slag production rather tremendously. Mexico has been using this method for decades, now. A 'steel town' no longer looks like a steel town. Indeed, hydrogen can reduce to metal most of the ores in use today. That reduction would not happen in the Amazonian jungle. You'd always pipe the gas to where it's a snap to locate a chemical// metals facility. Western Peru and Chile are DREAM locations for said global scale plants.
It's my contention that it's cheaper to ship electricity as hydrogen gas versus high voltage DC power lines. The latter pretty much have to be in the sky. Hydrogen pretty much has to travel in pipes underground and UNDER THE SEA. Under the sea, the pipes would be PLASTIC -- titanic garden hoses, they'd be. You lay them from a continuous casting vessel, itself fed from a suite of supply ships even while still at sea, USN style. As for depth, think of them laying on the sea floor about 300m-1000m down. The gas pressure inside would be very close to the local water pressure, so the pipe would be under trivial strain. Biologically, at such a depth, the oceans are virtually a desert -- no sunlight.
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The tendency of WWII tanks to breakdown in the field was epic compared to the modern experience. The Panther Ds at Kursk is merely the tip off.
[ BTW, Gantz asserts that the unit history is explicit: only a trivial number of Panther Ds broke down due to fire at Kursk once committed. What did them in was the brilliant idea of parking the regiment in a hollow, out of sight, overnight. God was not with them. There was a massive downpour in the wee hours. This caused every Panther to sink down all the way to their hull. (!) It then took DAYS for the regiment to recover these Panthers.
For, you see, the only thing that could pull a Panther out of the mud was one, if not two, other Panthers. The boys fell upon their charges with shovel and bucket, but to a large degree the Germans had to wait for the mud to dry out. Since the weather was extra-ordinarily warm ( 90+ F ) the mud did dry out. ]
Because Russian tanks -- T34 -- also have such an astonishing breakdown rate, one is left lost as to what's up.
The best tank of the war, the M4 Sherman, had a breakdown rate of 500miles. The T34 had a breakdown rate of 150miles. (est) The Tiger and Panther had epic breakdown rates of 70miles and 100miles.
Much of the latter was due to sabotage at the factory. All recovered Panthers to date show factory production sabotage in their critical lubrication systems. This goes a LONG way towards explaining why most Tigers can't stay in action more than a day at a time. Heavy Tiger battalions would lose 65% of their strength even without taking any combat losses. (!!!) This can only be detected by working through unit histories. It's not something that the Heer is proud of. You won't see Germans gloating about this crazy failure rate in their personal histories. But it goes miles and miles towards explaining why you read endless German accounts of being overwhelmed by numbers. They really were, The rest of their gear was back in the rear for repair. (!!!)
German stats show that active Panthers at the front at the end of 1943 were almost the same in number as at Kursk. (!!!) Inactive// under repair Panthers were equal in number. Then there were Panthers that were in transit. Hitler's policy was to hold back tanks -- all of them -- to create new formations. Speer absolutely could not talk him out of it. The result is that the stats are skewed. An astonishing fraction of the tank force is always sitting idle back in Germany.
Late in the war, Hitler gave up on the Heer, and moved to create a wholly new army. He started creating Panther brigades. ( Typically numbered in the hundreds: 106th, 107th, etc. ) These were created by taking ardent Nazi officers of True Belief and mating them with young German draftees. Their performance in battle was horrible. I'd say that they were a tad short in the sgt department.
The bottom line is that you can't trust German stats in the least.
Further, Hitler would NOT let Speer produce spare parts. Weird, strange, I know. Speer bitterly recounted how many times this issue was run up the flag pole. In practice it meant that German repair troops had to learn to take cripples apart -- to run a junk yard -- so as to have any repair parts at all.
The Russians had their own problems, starting with their breakdown rate. Early in the war, their breakdown rate with the T34 was off the hook -- something like 50miles.
That is, 50miles of cross country transit would cause half of all the machines to break down to such a degree that they could no longer roll.
And Russia is actually a pretty flat place as things go. Later in the war, things go a lot better, but Russia could never attain what their LendLease Shermans gave them. That's why you'll see -- over and over -- LendLease Shermans leading DEEP penetrations behind German lines. Ploesti comes immediately to mind. Those old photos were Winston Smithed by Moscow after the war was won, BTW. You really have to root around for them.
German propaganda showed both British and American tanks ALL THE TIME. Because they were leading the deepest penetrations -- solely because they could keep on rolling -- and because they always had radios -- a some time thing with T34 machines.
In sum: the German army defeated the German army in Russia. And to a very real degree, the Russian army defeated the Russian army. The Soviets only stopped defeating themselves after Zhukov and his pals took over control of the Red Army. From that point onwards, Stalin had to remain sitting in on the meetings -- attempting to not look stupid and not look no longer in charge.
Asking decent questions and then rubber stamping his marshall's plans started to really work out for him.
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I see that Joseph Layton has a German Coal to Gas Program WW2 lecture linked in the YouTube side bar.
Man is that lecture full of both fact and error.
The PRIMARY error -- shared by the Nazis and their industrial chemists -- was to use the statistics ( chemistry results ) seen with the coking process of Met Coal with the same process when Lignite or Bituminous Coal is processed.
The shift in feedstock is ALL IMPORTANT. Met Coal is prized because it has LOW contamination from Ash, Sulfur and Phosphorous. ( The latter is even more trouble than sulfur, BTW. )
[ In a reducing environment ( iron smelter ) one is always at risk for creation of H3P and H2S -- BOTH are intensely toxic -- way, way beyond HCN -- the stuff used to execute criminals in the gas chamber. This is why Met Coal commands quite the premium. It doesn't create process headaches.
( 5 to 10 times by weight of inferior coals -- indeed many coals just can't be used in iron reduction no matter how cheaply they can be purchased.)
( Lots of ash also just gums up the works something awful. )
In contrast, the vapors that one can drive off of bituminous coal make for IDEAL crude oil feedstock. They HAVE to be light. They don't become vapors any other way.
Where the Nazis went totally off the rails: trying to muck around with the residium -- to convert it into synthesis gas. That's doable only if you're willing to just BURN money.
It just takes TOO MUCH equipment -- very high pressure equipment. It's these high pressure steels that the Nazis couldn't manufacture in sufficient amounts. They never ran low on low performance steels.
The correct solution was to set up a co-generation plant that would burn the residium to rais steam and to generate electric power. No attempt should've been made to muck around with the 'heavies' // aka 'bottoms' // coked out cr ap that the process generated.
Further, the correct device for coking bituminous coal can be seen in mass use: it consists of slots for the coal which are purged by a hydaulic ram after each cycle.
In normal coking the product desired is the coke. For the Nazis, the product desired was the off-gas. The remainder should've been shoved into rail road cars and shunted off to an adjacent power plant.
This kind of gear does not require exotic steels, nor tricky construction. It just needs to eat a LOT of bituminous coal.
To get even MORE syn-crude one should process Lignite. It will, however, produce a totally rotten heat value in the cr ap left over. The vapors will be WET... lots of steam in them. Fortunately, steam is very easy to condense out of the process stream. A wet stream will also largely cleanse the fluid of most acids and bases. They'll be so ionic that they just partition into the water phase. Poof, no longer a problem.
( Don't bring this up with the EPA. )
The kicker with the above scheme is that it dates from the 19th Century.
The ego-problem for German chemists was that they just couldn't bear to live with the energy waste required for maximum through-put and lowest cost. They, the CHEMISTS kept pitching processes that just SUCKED DOWN steel and capital -- as if they were still living in a peace-time economic equation.
It's notable that most of the Nazi plants were schemed up during the pre-war era -- with not one of the key players being told of the larger picture.
As for Diesel fuel ( aka middle distillate for those in the refining trade ) -- it should've been the OBVIOUS target -- never gasoline. Germany had the world's best Diesel engines. Herr Diesel was a German inventor in the first place. Practically every Diesel improvement was initiated in Germany as a result. They, the engineers, had received MASSIVE funding from the Kaiser for Diesel engined U-Boats going back two-generations earlier.
So it's astounding that Guderian and Hoepner ever designed the Mark III and Mark IV panzers to use gasoline. No nation uses gasoline powered tanks these days. They were abandoned, wholesale, during the 1950's. ( And those tanks were left-overs from WWII.)
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Stoic, you're way off. The US refiners are exporting Diesel fuel that CAN'T BE SOLD within the USA -- because of EPA regulations. The astonishing expense of refining Diesel fuel to the new EPA sulfur standards caused many refiners to walk away. Chevron, Shell, Exxon, BP -- the Big Boys -- they shelled out the Big Bucks -- and they are all still very much in the business. Whereas, the smaller players -- many owned by overseas corporations -- didn't see how such an expenditure made any sense. For them, massive Diesel fuel importers, the old standard ( 0.5% sulfur ) was fine and dandy. [It had been the US standard for decades.] They were very, very happy to sell ordinary gasoline within the US market -- and take their Diesel output back to their home countries. They still are.
The entire shortage, of Diesel, has been due to the loose money policy of Biden. Demand has simply stayed strong... in North America, and across the Europe, too. ( Since Putin's exports are being rejected.)
It's with irony. The very refineries that are shut down for 'maintenance' are being shut down to INCREASE their production of Diesel fuel. That's what 'maintenance' means in the oil business. Over time, every dang last refinery keeps increasing in throughput. The focus, at every turn, is on increasing the throughput of the stuff that brings profit. Right now, that's EPA standard Diesel fuel.
BTW, I'm in America, and locally, Diesel has been dropping in price, week over week, for some months, now. Gasoline has dropped below $3/ a gallon, too. The American economy is slowing -- and this is causing a drop in gasoline demand -- to such a degree that the industry can cover it out of stocks while tweaking their refineries.
Folks that are counting on America's Diesel exports -- will be getting their stuff -- on time and on spec. It's just the way a highly regulated free market operates. Thank me later.
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@jeff-sp1fy Why?
Lend-Lease means that a LOT more money will be on the way.
So, abandoning Kyiv is not ever going to happen.
BTW, American politicians ALWAYS get their 'cut.' So, their grifting does not affect policy.
It is Macron and Scholz that wish to cut and run. The very thought of subsidizing Kyiv for the next five-decades -- upon its entry into the EU -- has them gagging. For the UK and US, EU membership for Ukraine does not touch their purses.
As for NATO, now that Putin has invaded for conquest, the financial floodgates have gone full-open. Keep in mind, that the vast bulk of Lend-Lease aid is spent inside the USA. It just becomes a bump in America's DoD budget -- as a practical manner. American military gear is sourced across the entire nation -- as a matter of politics and grift. As long as Putin is shooting and raping civilians in Ukraine, there is no chance that Lend-Lease funding will be curtailed. It will ONLY ramp up. The weapons permitted will ONLY ramp up. The quantity permitted will ONLY ramp up.
And then, totally new stuff will be engineered.
The Latin-Cyrillic monogram business is about to explode. So many weapons, so many labels.
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At Trump's level of wealth and assets, the IRS audits tax returns -- even before they are filed! Comedian Johnny Carson had tax returns that stacked taller than a man. He was audited every year before they even went out the door. The valuation of leveraged depreciable assets are ALWAYS what the IRS checks out, because they mean write-offs for years.
BTW, the OP is off base. What the IRS is 'on' about is DEBT FORGIVENESS. That's deemed INCOME by IRS regs. Since Trump used overseas banks -- they could write down debts without the IRS really being clued in. BTW, the banks I'm posting about would HATE, HATE, HATE to make public such write-downs. Their own regulators feel the same way. That's Europe for you.
The OP's assertion that valuations of this or that property trigger a tax crime are a joke. EVERY Real Estate baron BS's about his holdings 100% of the time. That's why banks ALWAYS use independent experts to evaluate the illiquid real estate collateral for any loan -- large or small. Don't be at all surprised to discover that Trump has had BIG write-downs over the years.
BTW, Trump's gambits are STANDARD FARE in the world of Big Real Estate. He didn't invent them.
Lastly Trump did not inherit great wealth to launch his real estate empire. To inherit, your parents have to die. Donald was rocking because of the 70's real estate boom in Manhattan. Fred died in 1999. Gift taxes in New York are so insane that it's impossible to transfer Big Money in one generation -- especially if you're STILL ALIVE. Yet, everyone keeps believing that Fred gave Donald Big Money. Donald was on radio, many decades ago, already famous, and already a Major Patron of Democrats in New York. He laid out his start. Fred SOLD him two rent-controlled apartments in Queens, NY. ( Fred was a Big Queens man. ) He did so using the Carleton Sheets No-Money-Down Purchase Money Mortgage scheme. Donald put down a trivial amount of money -- and Fred carried back the PMM. This was a common event in New York at that time. (Carleton was doing the exact same thing down in Florida at the same exact time. His life story is out there.) Fred had too much on his plate, too much to chase fraudsters out of his apartments. This fraud consisted of sons and daughters taking over rent-controlled units on the sly. Mom and Dad could well be in Florida... or dead. The kids could then hang on forever and ever, paying rents that made sense in 1958. Heh. Donald simply moved in and stopped the cheating. By rule, once the original tenant left -- for any reason -- the apartment could be put on the market for whatever rent it could bear. That meant that Donald had leaping cash flow. He'd move out the old, bring in crews to totally re-hab the unit -- and then re-rent at current market rates -- typically five times what the rent was before. Said units simply exploded in financial value. Donald then raced to Manhattan to do more Carleton Sheets deals... only this time the buildings were huge and in downtown Manhattan. His first project was an insane money spinner. His life trajectory was set: Enter super-leveraged deals in Manhattan, buying out the older generation, re-hab like crazy, re-rent at 1970's rates as New York BOOMED in the late 70's. Donald was the talk of the town by 1979. If Carleton Sheets had been in New York -- he'd have done as well as Donald Trump. He also became astoundingly wealthy -- using Other People's Money. He made so much flipping properties that the IRS came after him. He was a dealer. So Mr. Sheets had to go on TV and raise cash to pay off the IRS. Trump executed so few deals that the IRS never deemed him a dealer.
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@JohnBurns -- incorrect.
The British recently tested those radios. Yes, they still had such radios in their possession -- and they were taken by investigators to Salisbury plain -- in optimal conditions -- and it was soon discovered that they, the radios, NEVER had decent range -- PERIOD. With the best operators, in ideal weather, in ideal terrain with radios totally squared away -- they STILL could not transmit // receive much past 2.5 miles. This was broadcast by the BBC. They had a show that looked back, forensically, at many famous British battles.
Time and time, again, they've discovered that the old historical version accepted for perhaps centuries is and was totally wrong. Famously, they discovered that the entire narrative about Agincourt was totally wrong. British long bows had NOTHING to do with Henry's success. The French actually just killed themselves. Strange, but true.
The British Army simply did not test its radios for range -- certainly not First Airborne. On manuvers the boys never got that far apart... and these were tactical radios. Driven by batteries, they were power hogs, too. (All tube driven electronics just sucks down the juice, which is why the range was so limited. To get more range, they needed line power -- not batteries.)
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@John Burns
After Bulge, Ike pushed Monty to the curb.
This explains why the British Army group was "pinched out" as they say when the Allied armies crossed the Rhine.
Ike basically cut Monty off of American support... once he crossed the Rhine. From that point onward, Monty had to TOTALLY rely upon British logistics.
He couldn't get out of first gear.
The boobs south of him then proceeded to over-run Western Germany so fast that it alarmed Stalin.
By the end, Monty had to ask Ike for the 82nd Airborne so that the Reds would not roll into Denmark. He got them.
Gavin, the 'loser' jumped into his jeep and then rolled Northeast across Germany using nothing more than his side arm and an American flag, pennant mounted on his jeep.
From time to time, he'd even have Germans saluting him! Being behind American lines was a dream come true for them.
In his book "On to Berlin" he recounted how weird it was. For before he rolled, the British had led him to believe that intense resistance was to be faced. However, it was a cake-walk... a motor-march.
By the end, Gavin had reached the Baltic... not Berlin! Heh.
And, keep in mind, Gavin admired both Browning and Monty. Loved them in fact.
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Ike had taken 9th Army away from Monty by the end.
Gavin, a Monty-phile -- big time, specifically stated in his book that the release came from IKE.
Monty HAD to go to Ike to get this division.
Ike pinched 21st Army Group out of the Front. By the end of the war, not one British formation was there to shake hands with the Russians.
This was deliberate. A snub, for sure.
Seeing the lay of the (political) land, Monty accepted the TOTAL surrender of Nazi Germany in his 21st Army Group HQ on May 5th, 1945.
When Ike heard the news, he flipped, ( off camera ) and informed Monty that the surrender could ONLY ever occur at SHAEF HQ. Please send your reps. Monty was not on hand, IIRC. Ike would also not appear in the ceremony. He deliberately stayed in the next room. He wanted to strangle the Germans, of course.
Ike actually had a TERRIBLE temper.
Marshall told him even a single additional outburst would be enough for him to be sent down in shame. Further, Ike was to NOT micro-manage subordinate commands. Upon the attempt, he'd also be sent packing. These General Orders from THE General explain what many Brits find inexplicable... Americans, too.
The Ike they 'know' is Mr. genial. His military record says the opposite. One of the reasons that Marshall hated McArthur was that McArthur took a fulsome chit on Ike's 'military jacket.'
As a result Ike was a mere Lt Col at the start of WWII. He was three stars in less than 12 months once Marshall was 'hip' to what McArthur had done. He'd lied... for years on end. Free-riding Ike's work as if it was his own. (!!!) Unforgivable. Any lesser rank would've been court martialed. But, McArthur was already a national hero.
[ Likewise Johnny Carson, known to every American as Mr. fun guy was, in fact, too tightly wrapped and was routinely drunk as a skunk -- and Johnny was an ANGRY drunk. He really did need Ed McMahon to chill him down// double as a body guard. ]
Lastly when Zhukov heard that Ike had taken the surrender he wigged out. The Germans HAD to perform the same ceremony for the Red Army. Each one of these German surrenders was total and complete across the board. Monty's ceremony has been Winston Smithed down the memory hole. Yet it was not a bit different than Ike's or Zhukov's.
All of which proves that it takes three times as much effort to surrender as it takes to declare war. Heh.
You MUST be kidding about the North Sea. The Russians were already on the North Sea and had been there for months and months.
The issue was DENMARK. You're exposing how twisted your 'logic' can be.
Not unreasonably, Monty wanted to be standing in place to shake hands with the Russians. Once it was obvious that this would never happen he dialled Ike and had the 82nd stand in for him. That must have been as much fun as gargling shards of glass.
Well, at least on paper, the 82nd would count as a subordinate command to 21st Army Group.
That had to count for something.
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@John Burns
You live in an alternate reality. Bradley slipped 9th Army into the merge between 21st Army Group and 12th Army Group.
That was his political solution. The 9th Army was but an over-grown corps at that time.
1st Army consisted of 15 premier divisions.
Marshall told Bradley that was his limit. Bradley, 12 AG commander was actually running 1st US Army at the exact same time. Hodges was nothing more than a go-fer and yes-man. Bradley routinely reached past Hodges to Gerow and Collins -- his twin favorites. Both reached 4 stars in the post war era, IIRC. (And Bradley 5 stars.)
Upon Marshall's dictum, every new division to land went to Patton... until 3rd Army became a monster. Then Marshall told Bradley, what goes for Hodges goes for Patton: no more.
Simpson was FORCED upon Bradley. He wanted Gerow. He had to eat crow and explain to Gerow that he was not in a position to dictate army commanders.
Simpson came out of the National Guard, IIRC, was McNairs favorite.
But whatever, Bradley came to fall in love with Simpson: who NEVER provided Bradley with any grief whatsoever. He was totally the opposite of both Hodges and Patton. Simpson was ALL business.
Monty QUICKLY realized just how lucky he was. Simpson beat Hodges all to Hell. Further, the new American divisions were 'cleaned up' doctrinally. They'd been cross training with American veterans, only the best were given this assignment, and so small unit tactics late in the war, with totally virgin infantry divisions, were night-and-day better than what was seen in Normandy. And Monty was sitting in the catbird's-seat as they rolled in.
One of them was the 104th. It was commanded by Terry Allen. He HATED Bradley. He couldn't have been HAPPIER than serving under Simpson and Monty. The 104th was an elite formation. Allen made it the sole and only night fighting infantry division in the USA. It pulled off miracles.
Need I say it? Monty just loved that division. It was constantly used as an infantry spearhead. It moved faster than most armored divisions, BTW. The Germans were simply not at all prepared for night attacks. They'd just fall apart. Simpson would batter them by day -- and then unleash Allen's 104th after nightfall. That's all she wrote.
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@JohnBurns
Wow, what are you smoking?
The Russians have been 'on the Baltic' all the way from Prussia, you moron.
The reason Monty needed Gavin was to stop them from marching into Denmark, indeed, conquering that whole nation.
The reason Ninth Army was removed from Monty was as a snub. It sure as hell surprised Monty. And he was NOT happy.
Ninth Army was 90% of his attack power. The rest of 21st Army Group was bled out... intolerant of casualties of any kind.
Six-years of bleeding was more than enough for those boys.
In Bradley's autobiography he relishes this humiliation of Monty -- quite bragging about the ENTIRE Russian-American front being just that.
Arriving after the surrender ceremony is NOT what Monty had in mind.
He'd insulted Ike, Bradley, Patton and Hodges -- repeatedly. That had consequences.
BTW, when NATO was founded, Ike and Monty were brought back into harness.
Once Ike left the scene, Monty was straight out the door.
Like hell he wanted to be around a superior that was his junior in the history books.
Even so, Monty continued to run down American military acumen until he died. He didn't have a kind word for Alexander, either. (!!!) He dissed him as being basically a pretty boy, harmless enough as long as he followed (Monty's) instruction.
What a pill.
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@dankengine5304 No, there's a difference. Ukraine is still standing. That's quite a difference.
The Pentagon wants to boil the frog slowly.
It also takes a while for the US DoD to shift gears, to spool up mass production. Think in terms of months -- sometimes -- years.
The Willow Run B-24 plant was built before Pearl Harbor. Yet, it didn't reach its stride until 1943. (!) [ So many parts, so many green employees -- so many women. ]
The M2 machine gun started out with a trickle of production. This pitiful stream didn't really increase until 1943. Then -- holy cow!
A lot of WWII weapons had never been designed for mass production. So, the early months were spent doping all of the details out. Since absolutely nothing can be omitted, it's the slowest, minor, items that were hanging things up.
Something like this dynamic is underway with aid to Ukraine. The reason for the tranches -- is that the DoD has to make sure that what is pledged is really ready to go. It does not want the President or itself to look stupid. BTW, most of the stuff is now traveling by sea. America is not flying tons of 155mm shells by C-17. An oceanic pipeline is being established. Air freight is being reserved for high priority items that can't wait a month.
It's never mentioned, but I'll bet that the US is beginning to manufacture -- on a pilot basis -- repair components for this and that Ukrainian defense equipment. 3-D printing and robotics makes it possible for the US to crank out just about anything imaginable -- and on pretty short notice. Our Eastern European allies don't have this capability. ( I would suspect that Western Europeans are stepping up in this regard, too. )
It is plain that Poland, Slovakia, the Czechs, et. al are repairing Ukrainian gear, too. Putin is screwed.
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There is irony! The sole reason Russia is RUS ah -- is because that was the name given to the NORSE. It's now been established by burial digs that Vikings rowed the big rivers of Russia towards Constantinople. Vikings were even mercenaries for the Eastern Roman Empire// Byzantine Empire in the 11th Century. This was also when Kiev became a significant city for the Vikings -- as they needed to pull their boats out of the river to lug around the rapids. Such duties, by the Slavs, have been rendered into folklore and song.
Well, the Vikings married into the Slavic bloodline -- and became the first rulers of Kiev. Their graves have been excavated during Soviet times. Sure enough, the Vikings used runes (their alphabet) in their burial goods. In no time flat, the Viking royals became totally 'local' to the point that their DNA entirely blended in. Kiev is -- politically -- economically -- much older than Moscow. Moscow became big because, like Kiev, it was a compulsory stop for Vikings transiting the Volga. Moscow became an echo of Kiev. All of this occurred centuries prior to Muscovy as we know it.
When the Mongols invaded, everything got totally messed up. They focused on Kiev -- not Moscow. This is why the older city was superseded by the newer. It's also why Moscow started life largely as a fortress -- from day zero. BTW, lost to WWII historians, the Mongols were by FAR the worst threat to Kiev and Moscow.
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TRD, Trump and Musk are LOSING money in a Major Way. They are operating out of noble sentiments.
There are no bribes, honors, fame that you can use to influence them. They simply have everything right now.
There are legions of detractors -- resentfuls -- who WOULD be, often have, been open to corruption in every form.
They hate both. Evil resents nobility... it really HATES it. I've seen this phenomenon destroy people -- from the inside out.
Trump's larger thinking is that he can't allow Russia to fall -- so that Red China (Xi) absorb Siberia.
With that event, the USA would be in VERY serious trouble.
As it stands, Xi can't do a damn thing. The USN sits atop his fuel link.
But with Siberia in hand, Putin gets his wealth actually from Siberia, not Russia, there would be nothing to restrain Xi.
Xi covets Siberia, not Taiwan. And he can't say so. Taiwan is a propaganda dodge... misdirection.
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What GOP nonsense. In recent history, the Democrat machines have REPEATEDLY keep counting and counting and counting until the GOP was turned back. This happened in Minnesota with a dead comic becoming a US Senator -- who was never voted in properly. Ballots kept being 'found' in Minneapolis and Madison. This cycle took no less than four tries to get him over the GOP count.
Most recently, four-days into the count, Democrats surged past the GOP in Wisconsin -- in the middle of the night -- in a ballot dump.
The Democrat party is staggeringly corrupt -- and these fraudulent counts DENY the US of its DEMOCRACY -- the rallying cry of Harris-Walz.
Kari Lake has also been cheated out of her Senate seat. The talk is that the narco cartel owns Arizona. Gallego is the son of a convicted, fellon, ranking cartel member from Northern Mexico. Well, imagine that. Before this race, Kari Lake had her Governorship stolen by the Maricopa county machine -- whose count was maladministered by her opponent -- who was the sitting secretary of state. She didn't recuse herself, of course. ALL of the phony ballots came from her own crew. We're expected to believe that Gallego obtained MORE votes in Arizona than Harris -- by a mile -- in a state that went for Trump.
Then, we must note that 15,000,000 voters in 2020 dropped out of the 2024 race. We're expected to believe that Biden - Harris was wildly more popular than Obama - Biden -- while Biden ran for office from his basement. This is what the MSM has been pitching to us. Is there any reason why no-one trusts those liars any more?
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Do NOT pitch the idea that Moscow was any kind of innocent. Yeltsin exposed to the entire world's press -- a generation ago -- that Stalin initiated WWII in Europe via his Contract for War... aka the R-M Pact. Stalin schemed to 'aim' Adolf against the West so that WW 2.0 would bleed both Germany and France and Belgium and Britain to death -- so that the Bolsheviks could roll in and conquer all of Europe when the time was ripe.
After the Soviet State Archives were produced for the press, the facts were plain. The invasion of Poland was actually Stalin's idea. (!!!)
Sure, Adolf wanted to conquer the world. He was so bloody minded that he had Rippy sign ANYTHING that Stalin crafted. Hence, the Nazis had to settle for a 'carbon copy' of the Pact. This was not a negotiated treaty. Stalin merely drafted what he wanted, and the Nazis signed off -- without modifying any portion of the Pact. (!!!)
Stalin selected the invasion date as September 1st -- and then sand-bagged Berlin with excuses so that the entire onus would land on the Nazi state. And it WORKED. To this very hour, the average history buff still believes the wartime propaganda that Moscow was an innocent party.
Stalin went so far as to personally select the division line within Poland -- with his own fat crayon! The Nazis didn't decide the partition at all. (!!!)
How did the Press take Yeltsin's revelations? Not well at all. Virtually every press-man attending was a true believer in Bolshevism. That's why they had themselves posted to Moscow in the first place. The Leftist bent of the Big Media is still omnipresent. The Press loves Big Government -- across the board -- because it always means lifetime employment for their craft, for the brotherhood. Private industry has scant need for press-men to shoot their mouths off every 6:00 PM; 11:00 PM. Monopolistic, narcissic, Big Government just HAS to fill the news hole. It's always lobbying for self expansion.
After the conquest of Poland, Stalin extended the Bolshevik version of LendLease aid to Adolf. Without Soviet oil, the Battle of Britain could never have been flown. Naturally, historians refuse to set this naughty fact into print. The Nazi state, critically short of gasoline, avgas in particular, suddenly finds itself able to mount a very thirsty strategic air campaign. Imagine that! Without Stalin's oil, Adolf could not have fueled up Barbarossa. Yup! All through 1940-41 the Nazis were building strategic oil reserves at a frantic pace just to hold Soviet oil. Knowing that this stash would run dry is exactly why the Nazis were in a total panic to crush the USSR in one combat season. (1941) In the event, it, the stash, ran out just east of Moscow.
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OKH failed to appreciate that Case Blue DEMANDED emphasis upon the rail net.
Germany didn't have the gasoline to support a truck fleet with that much 'reach.'
Even the Americans (1944-45) found that trucks can only take you so far. You must restore the rail net ASAP. The USA prioritized the rail link from Cherbourg to Paris, and even hauled British coal to Paris to get the train system back up and running, doing so with the Red Ball Express at one point. (!!)
"After a month of demining and repairs by American and French engineers, the port, completely razed by the Germans and the bombing, welcomed the first Liberty ships and became, until the victory of 1945, the largest port in the world, with traffic double that of New York.[45] It was also the endpoint of the gasoline which crossed the English Channel via the underwater pipeline PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), and the starting point of the Red Ball Express, truck transport circuit to Chartres."
The German attempts at extending her Russian rail net were belated. The story is so embarrassing that you just about never read anything about it.
It's notable that the Nazis had access to French rail resources that could've entirely changed the picture. They refused to use them... probably as a matter of policy.
The massive Luftwaffe raids against Stalingrad were a triple crime: they consumed WAY too much fuel -- to no positive purpose. The raids destroyed the very assets that you'd think the Nazis would want for themselves. The raids provided the perfect terrain for the Soviet defense which would surely be a first class bitch. Lastly, they killed a lot of Russian civilians while providing absolutely no moral crisis for the larger Soviet Union.
The avgas consumed by the raids should've been given over to Ju-52 flights so that Army Groups A & B could roll on at exploitation speed -- taking critical objectives via motor-march -- as compared to fighting. This last gambit was what made Barbarossa so astonishing.
Army Group A was WAY TOO LARGE. 17th Army should've been reduced to a mountain corps, and given motorization -- say 2 mountain divisions and 1 jager division. The rest of that army should've been allocated to the main front -- 2nd Army in particular. A rump position west of the Kerch Strait would've sufficed. ( an infantry division or two being re-blooded )
1st Panzer Army should've given up most of its panzers to 4th and 2nd Panzer Armies -- and received GDm, 3m and 29m in exchange. You just don't need that many tanks, just motorized infantry. The bigger 1st Panzer Army gets, the harder it is to fuel up. It's destined to spend most of its time punching air. That had to be obvious.
All of these key decisions should've been made during the Halder era. He did more to advance the Allied cause than Adolf Hitler.
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@thomasellysonting3554 Dang, got the year wrong. Otherwise, the film is technically spot-on. It's so correct that the film is boring -- a downer. I cite from imdb:
As the movie shows, a jeep actually reached the outskirts of Rome with no resistance – and reported back. But Lucas still chose to dig in and wait. So, this paranoid, fearful general gave up the element of surprise that the landing had been, and instead entrenched and allowed the Germans to move in and surround the area with heavy artillery and armored power. The result was a five month battle that was among the bloodiest of WWII, with 30,000 casualties. Equally bad, it gave German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring time to later pull his troops from the southern barrier and regroup all his forces north of Rome to continue to hold the Allies at bay with costly encounters.
The written records entirely back this statement up. Clark and Lucas have gone down in lore as the worst US generals of WWII. Lucas was actually canned. I blame Clark because Lucas was burnt out even before the landing -- and that was obvious to all around him.
As for the campaign, as cited, it was OBVIOUS that the hills were priority #1. It was obvious that the Tiber could not be crossed by the enemy. Too few bridges, the Tiber is quite rapid, too. As for the right flank, it was a swamp -- famously drained by el Duce -- but still wholly unsuitable for military movement. The ONLY area that was a threat was dead ahead -- the Alban hills.
And there were no German units within quick reaction range. It took DAYS for the Krauts to assemble even a thin line. All during that time, Lucas sat on his tush, being hectored by all around him for his sloth.
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Britain had GOLD. Rome invaded whenever and wherever gold was available. The Emperor needed a new land conquest, ASAP. So conquering Britain was virtually a one-man invasion decision, too. The other fronts had no gold, whatsoever. As for the Spanish New World: its gold and silver thefts put their ENTIRE empire in the 'oil trap' of excessively easy exploitable wealth. This caused all other economic growth// intellectual growth to atrophy... with dire results. After a fashion, this is happening to the USA via the Reserve Dollar addiction. Brazil has a staggering bottleneck: rotten ports// lack of water right on the coast where industry needs it. The Amazon is no help. The INCA operated like Sparta. Their underclasses hated them. The Spanish were often deemed as liberators -- hard to believe, I know. Then measles did the rest. The ancient legend of white super-men was a huge psychological factor, too. The Indians held the same ideas as the Chinese: Africa was an economic and cultural desert. BTW, India's culture goes back 14,000+ years not 4,000. See Gobekli Tepe. Southeast Asia has Brazil's problem: too much Jungle. Even its main river pretty much goes the 'wrong way' -- unlike the Rhine/ Thames/ Yellow/ Nile/ it just is no economic corridor. Contrast it with the Mississippi... which is just about the sweetest economic asset on Earth. Islam became huge directly because of the super-volcano nightmare of 536-539AD. This super-eruption totally devastated agriculture generally, and especially so in the water-challenged lands that became Islamic. BTW, the Persians were no flakes. They couldn't hold off the Muslims, either. Ditto for the Egyptians. Rice produces a lot of food per acre -- but it also traps its labor force. (Symbiosis with plants? Are we humming birds?) The West rose due to a run-away reinforcement loop that is not unique. It happened with the Edenists, 14,000 ybp. Their fantastic rise was just as abrupt -- probably more so. Their culture expanded faster than that of the USA. We still live under its heritage -- and don't know it -- for the most part.
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In every conflict, original military plans go up in smoke -- especially WRT which munitions prove most required.
In Ukraine, the West is drawing upon the immense stockpiles of 30-nations (more or less) which until this moment, over-match Putin's stash.
At this time, Ukraine has the stronger army. (not navy, not air force) Why?
Levée en masse. When Zelenskyy invoked universal conscription and sealed the exits, he created an army far larger than Putin's. (sheer body count)
It just didn't (yet) have sufficient weapons, uniforms, boots, helmets.... Currently, from the west and south, these items are pouring in.
Victim relatives and neighbors have the boys all fired up.
As long as the West supplies Smart ATGMs, ManPADs, and bandages... Ukraine is the stronger force.
During Rasputitsa (mud season) Putin's boys are paralyzed -- stuck on paved roads. (Helicopter losses are already brutal.)
I expect entire brigades to be lost over the next six-weeks by Putin to Zelenskyy. (~ 5,500 a pop )
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Paul, you've completely missed -- by a centimeter. The ex-patriate refugees from Moscow will gravitate towards Kaliningrad.
Bet on it. THEY will be the soft power that drives Kaliningrad LIBERAL the moment Putin falls from grace, or the 17th floor, or....
On the economics, Kaliningrad is such a bleeder that anyone taking over Putin's chair will want it ejected. Finances will be THAT tight.
Why do you think Moscow left the Warsaw Pact? Money.
The (eastern) Europeans were living better than Russians -- and the Russians were paying for it.
THIS was Yeltsin's argument. It won the day.
Those in Kaliningrad ARE living better than those in Russia. When the troops rotate home, they're pissed. They go home to houses without electricity, plumbing, natural gas, petrol stations on every block, and mud 'roads' -- and so they spread the word. Heck, they don't even have washing machines, commodes, Internet. A long time back, Moscow realized that ONLY Moscovites and Leningraders can be posted in Kaliningrad for the above reason.
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@Therakus The European aid has been financial. Zelenskyy & Company are corrupt -- same as Biden, Putin, Orban, and Xi... so they stole an astounding amount of EU aid. Trump knows this to be true, Putin knows it. However, it can't be spoken of in diplomatic circles.
There is Bad Blood between Zelenskyy and Trump -- ever since Zelenskyy triggered Trump's first impeachment and sent Biden into the WH. This matter is KEY. It totally animates Trump's diplomacy. And it can't be mentioned in the Press. Instead, Zelenskyy is portrayed as Winston 2.0.
Kicking Trump out of the WH so that Biden, Zelenskyy's stooge, 'on the pad,' could screw things up -- world-wide was a SIN. It's no wonder Trump wants Kyiv to have a fresh election PDQ.
Like a Democrat, Zelenskyy loathes the prospect of an audit.
For both Putin and Zelenskyy a forever war really does look like the most viable outcome at this point. Peace would have to mean death for Putin. His own crew will eat him alive. Zelenskyy's Churchillian reputation will shatter without war.
Europe throws money when the only coins that count are blood and iron. 14 tanks is a JOKE from Britain -- the inventor of tanks. Eight-howizers a month is a joke from France. Belgium is even worse, and it's the birthplace of cannons. (!) Europe can't even give up on imported Russian fertilizer.
Europe won't even seize Putin's stash -- and give it to the defense of Ukraine.
Europe is feckless -- to its bone.
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@georgesotiroff5080 Not QUITE. Guderian knew about the plot -- but was such a FLAKE that he was shunned my almost everybody. That flakeyness is why he didn't even get a baton. When it counted, Guderian made SURE to take a LONG HORSE RIDE in the woods. Yup. He actually knew when to be totally out of communication. Amazing.
Adolf's biggest internal critic was Rundstedt. He was a boil in his tukas. He was always out of uniform, too. Though a FM, he kept wearing his old colonel's uniform! He spent the entire war as an army retiree -- called back to the ranks just in time for Poland. In his own diary, he was stupefied that war was breaking out.
The usual drill for a painful general was prompt retirement. By the end, hundreds of generals had been sent packing. Unlike Stalin, Hitler only rarely whacked his generals -- until the bomb plot. Then the SD was cut loose.
BTW, Hitler, like Stalin, had minders around his generals. ( Same as Obama, see Sept 11, 2012 and General Hamm. His attempt to bail out Benghazi had him canned in minutes. So much for President Obama not knowing what was going on! Realistically, it takes a president to can a 4-star in no-time-flat. A Defense Secretary does not have that much power. ) The above is why you keep reading about dictators being toppled by Lt. Colonels. ( Kaddaffy comes instantly to mind.)
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@georgesotiroff5080 Guderian had a staggering enemies list -- with Kluge right at the top. Hitler used their animosity in his command arrangements. He put Guderian UNDER Kluge during Barbarossa. Heh. Heinz was totally flipping out. When Heinz tried to get Adolf to surge towards Moscow, the road was open, not one soul backed his argument.
Why?
Guderian flunked logistics. His panzer boys had out-raced the ENTIRE German Army! They were about 150 miles back -- if you're talking about the logistics boys. Indeed, the entire German Army was wrongly configured. OKH had never allocated enough manpower to sustaining the army in the field. What happened was inevitable -- regardless of Soviet action. The Heer was a self-defeating force.
1) Hitler & Coy didn't invest in railroad assets. They didn't even exploit French rail assets until the war was lost. (By 1944 the Nazis had stolen more than half of the French rail grid + Belgium's + Hollands + Denmark's. We're talking about the BRANCH lines. In today's world such lines have been entirely replaced by long-haul trucks. Ironically, the Nazis did those nations a favor. (!!!) In the post-War world every railroad was tearing their hair out trying to GET RID of their branch lines. They were financial money bleeders.
2) By 1942 OKH STILL hadn't learned its lesson. The surge towards the oil fields down south neglected to include any railroad assets. Naturally, the Reds were destroying track at a phenomenal tempo as the panzers advanced. The result was start-stop-start-stop-start-stop-stop-stop-run-like hell back to Rostov. Even in a miraculous advance, there could be no mechanism to get crude oil from Mykop to Nazi Germany! Yup. They forgot all about bringing it back home.
{ The Japanese made the exact same blunder WRT Vogelkop and Brunei. How to ship such oil to Tokyo. Amazingly, the ONLY guy to raise the hang-up was the Emperor! His crew was gob-smacked! }
3) For a nation super-critically short of gasoline, it was the mother of all boners to not use coal fired steam engines to replace every truck-mile of haulage.
4) It was the mother of all boners to not adopt Diesel motive power for locomotives. While it does use critically short middle distillate fuel, such a locomotive is staggeringly MORE efficient than any other land crawling motive power. ( Check out our world today. ) The Big Deal is that Diesel locomotives don't need water-towers -- which were -- obviously -- the first thing that the Reds would destroy upon retreat. Setting up thousands of water towers all over creation is a HUGE hang-up for an advancing army with steam locos.
Check out the Americans landing in Northwest Africa. They brought Diesels. They were so happy with them that they filmed their ship-to-shore unloading of same -- for the newsreels. You can, with patience, see that footage even now on YT.
Why? For the exact same reason posted here: Northwest Africa figured to have a huge water supply problem. BTW, the original rails were narrow gauge. The US Army replaced the entire narrow gauge network at frantic speed -- only stopping after the rain and mud turned ridiculous. This went fast because the boys were inducted into the US Army FROM its railroad companies back in the 'States. They knew their craft. And they were dropping rail 24-hours a day. The basic 'way' -- ie the path, itself -- was virtually complete when the American arrived. They only needed to use the existing narrow gauge trains to haul their stuff ( rails, ties, ballast, crews ) -- and then set new rails outside the existing light gauge rails. The original track could NOT support hauling tanks -- and everything else -- in the US Army's support system. That's why this was done. Most of the original effort was confined to stub extensions from the ports to a very-close-by US Army base. So, for a time, you had two-rail networks right on top of each other. (!) PDQ the old crap was pulled out because it screwed up switching.
BTW, the use of narrow-gauge track as a first step towards building a proper rail network was how it was done from the very beginning of railroads. You can witness how this was done -- in WWI footage from the US Army -- it's still up on YT. In that footage you'll run across FDR -- in his naval role -- before polio struck him down. The film footage beats anything I could detail here.
I wax on about the US Army to show just how up-side-down the German Army was. When the Germans actually 'met' the US Army they were confounded as to why it never paused to resupply. Every other army did !
The Soviets didn't defeat the Nazis. The Germans defeated themselves! They froze their boys -- Napoleon-style. This never sinks in. They ATE their horses, too. They had to. This is why the last gasp towards Moscow featured NO infantry divisions! During that Winter, the Nazis went all over Europe drafting draft-horses to replace those that had been eaten. Do you see this written up anywhere? Nope. You have to dig into German Heer vet reports.(!!)
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Sievierodonetsk is playing out like Stalingrad:
Factory fighting √
River behind the defenders√
Political compulsion by invaders √
Ebb and flow √
Artillery advantage for defenders behind the river (they can look down from above) √
Marginal involvement by air force √
Rat-war (tunnel fighting) √
Difficult logistics supplying the defenders √
Invaders see campaign victory in sight √
Invaders run out of infantry √
Invaders not trained in urban warfare √
All nearby formations stripped of infantry so as to carry on the bloody work √
BTW, the typical Western combatant is not paid a penny.
They are actually paying their own way, bringing their own stuff, too!
Yup.
So, they're NOT mercenaries -- by definition.
Adolf was convinced -- right to the end -- that the Reds had to be in crisis -- were ready to break.
Yet, after taking astounding losses, far beyond anything Ukraine has endured, the Red Army reached his bunker.
The difference maker was American Lend-Lease aid -- that and British aid.
To a tremendous degree, Stalin didn't have to manufacture his own war goods.
Half of his aviation fuel was coming up the Volga from Abadan, Iran... courtesy of British Petroleum.
Half of his copper was free from the USA... and that came as manufactured wire, cable assemblies, telephone cables, etc.
And so it went - across the board.
Right now, Zelenskyy is getting unlimited Lend-Lease aid. Congress will always just open up the purse, time and time, again.
Putin is totally screwed. Kyiv doesn't even need war production -- at all. Everyone can go to the front and fight.
BTW, Lend-Lease aid always grows exponentially. So, Putin has seen NOTHING yet.
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@berserker6341 The invasion is strictly Putin's project. Even his own crew was stunned.
The head of the SVR has already been given the boot. He's not alone.
The Mirror just reported that Putin's personal #1 bodyguard just attempted suicide. There's a LOT of that going around Moscow. You'd think Putin was a Clinton.
Lend-Lease is EASY for Congressmen. The money is just a bump within the US DoD budget. The money is spent -- almost all of it -- INSIDE the US economy. It evaporates as American (union) labor. Lend-Lease is already as untouchable as Social Security. The first tranche, $40,000,000,000 is a trivial fraction of the US DoD budget. It, however, towers above Kyiv's budget. The American outlays are being matched -- almost dollar for dollar -- by the rest of the West -- to include Japan and Korea -- even Taiwan. (!)
Yeah, Taiwan has killer drones -- priced at $0.00 for Kyiv.
If you dare listen in to phone calls to home, you can hear -- over and over -- about the rotten morale of Russian troops -- who are telling Mother and lover how they want OUT.
In contrast, Ukrainian troops are fired up. Protecting Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother -- and the Grandparents -- yeah, they're fired up. Zelenskyy has more guys begging to serve than he can equip.
Putin is in the opposite situation. He's got ranks of tanks -- but has to grab men -- of all ages -- in all medical conditions -- from the two 'Donbas republics.' These are the bullet stoppers showing up for battle with a bolt-action Mosin Nagant -- and lousy foot ware.
He's just sent in (Georgian) dupes riding sixty-year-old T-62 tanks. The video is out there. The tanks look like junk. They are coffins on tracks. I used to contend that these machines were to be strictly for rear area intimidation of civilians. Oops. My bad!
Putin has entirely destroyed the Ukrainian refinery industry. It's gone. So? Now the Ukrainians are going after HIS refineries. He can't protect them any more than the Ukrainians could. I'd be shocked if Putin has ANY refineries left by the end of Autumn. As he knows so well, they are easy targets.
In WWII, the USAAF won the war by destroying Nazi Germany's aviation fuel refineries. Only the Big Three counted. This campaign is known to history as The Big Week. The Luftwaffe scarcely flew again. It could only fly token sorties in the USSR. It had to spend days accumulating fuel before contesting the USAAF. The Red Air Force, the RAF became irrelevant to Goring and Adolf.
This history is well known -- especially to the USAF -- which is certainly advising Zelenskyy.
Putin is screwed.
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Trump is trying, forcing, Zelenskyy to give the US the same status as the EU... namely that American aid should be in the form of LOANS.
This is what the EU has been doing -- all along. It's what the US did to aid France and Britain during WWI.
In WWII, the US shifted oven to Lend-Lease.
In 2022, Congress gave Zelenskyy $22,000,000,000 in Lend-Lease credit.
Like a total idiot, he didn't use a cent of it!
So, the credit line expired -- even though Congress -- had he used it -- would've merely extended it, over and over -- same as it did in WWII.
If Zelenskyy had used Lend-Lease aid, HE, not Sullivan, would've been able to select the weapons and ammo he wanted WHEN he wanted. The entire cupboard was his to tap! Instead, he permitted Sullivan (forget Biden, he had no idea what was going on) to dictate when and what Ukraine could obtain. No European power was all that willing to get ahead of the USA. So, Sullivan's foot-dragging had Ukraine twisting in the wind. Zelenskyy was such a cheap-skate that he he settled for 'free' crumbs when he could've ordered F-16s right from the start. Congress had no intent to limit the weapons that Zelenskyy received. Only Sullivan did that.
Lend-Lease aid is not subject to the NSA. Remember that.
Sullivan would've had to fight Congress, like the devil, to throttle aid. But, he's just an aide to the President.
Congress would just ignore him. Lend-Lease aid would be spent in THEIR districts. No problem there!
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@TIK... the General SS was the ORIGINAL SS organization. The Waffen SS was established only after Adolf was in power. It was the military wing of the SS that Hitler explicitly expected to use internally and externally against his foes.
During the Third Reich, the General SS expanded like topsy. It's role was strictly internal. Within its ranks: the Gestapo and SD. (The Gestapo was Goring's creature. He surrendered it to Himmler for a quid pro quo before WWII got rolling. )
Today, if you Google General SS you end up getting absurd links to SS generals... Waffen SS generals... which is totally off track.
The size of the General SS was staggering. It's where the factory goons were slotted. These guys patrolled the factory floors of Nazi Germany, hovering over forced labor -- not usually death camp labor. They numbered in the hundreds of thousands. You could've built armies in the field with this much manpower.
Consequently, EVERY significant industrial enterprise was -- de facto -- folded into Himmler's empire. He even established a parallel economy. Like the Soviet's GUM department store, General SS men could obtain luxuries denied to the general populous. They ran SS 'PX stores' rather like Costco (irony alert) where everything was better.
Himmler had a program to induce ALL technical talents into his General SS. Consequently, it was COMMON for the top brass within any industrial firm to wear the SS uniform -- being inducted -- but only on this or that ceremonial occasions. Von Baun was in the General SS, as was his boss. He only ever wore his major's uniform when he HAD to -- like visiting Dora -- twice.
This is why Himmler and Hitler didn't even have to wait for formal hearings about industrial policy. EVERY corporation -- even privately held ones -- was on their leash.
Famously, when Speer hauled the industrialists in for his first pow wow, every last one kissed his ring -- instantly. He promptly took control of ALL of their key policies. He forced upon them deals that they did not want to do, that they'd been resisting all along. Stuff like selling to their life-long business enemies and rivals.
So much for Nazi Capitalism.
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