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Comments by "" (@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684) on "Battle of the River Plate 1939: Minute-by-Minute DOCUMENTARY" video.
Respect to his memory and service.
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@DomWeasel 1,000,000 FAR outstrips the armed forces of Great Britain itself at that stage of the war.
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@DomWeasel Do you honestly believe that Britain was "fully mobilised" in September 1939? My father then aged 20, not in a reserved occupation and prime material for an early "call up" (as "call up" was prioritised by age) received his papers in Oct 1939 to attend for his medical in December 1939, followed by his induction into recruit training in February 1940 where he was until he was posted to unit in June 1940. (I still have all his paperwork). The BEF managed to achieve 2 divisions in France by the end of September 1939 (the "regulars"), a further 3 by the new year (the "terriers") with the final 8 not taking their positions until the end of april 1940 with two of those final 8 divisions not even passed as "combat ready" (The "conscripts"). Countries recovering from the depression of the 1930's did not have massive armies ready at a moments notice, but as you say, reserves and territorials that took time to mobilize from civilian life to standing on the front line. That was a problem faced by France at the outbreak of WW2, she mobilised too quickly and stripped her industry of vital manpower that caused industrial chaos, and that was before the Germans had set a foot over the border. The figures you're quoting as British serving army personnel are not the numbers of serving British personnel in 1939.
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@DomWeasel "I didn't say they were fully mobilised in September 1939", but you DID reel off a series of "serving personnel" numbers that were FAR in excess of what was on the table in Sept 1939, thereby suggesting that those were the numbers then available, c'mon, English comprehension isn't THAT hard.
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