Comments by "TheVilla Aston" (@thevillaaston7811) on "BFBS Forces News"
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@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
Patton? Deserted the battlefield during HUSKY for headlines in in the unimpotant Palermo?
He then went on to physically assault Sicilian peasants, and some of his own soldiers, and thus got himself passed over for army group command? He was sidelined until the outcome of OVERLORD was no longer in doubt, and then raced through hot air across the undefended part of France, and then made a muck of the Lorraine campaign? He then raced towards Bastogne at about one mile per day, and arrived there after the German advance Westwards had been stopped. He finished the war by instigating Task Force Baum, to rescuse his son-in-law about six before the end of the war, at a cost of 288 casualties?
What a CV?..
And this from a bloke who was only in the war past the point where the Grmans could no longer win, and with the German army irretrievably commited in Russia, and with that army being increasing short of manpower, supplies, and modern equipment.
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Or how about this john:
SIR BRIAN HORROCKS
CORPS COMMANDER
Sidgwick & Jackson
LONDON 1977
Page 216
‘The more I studied the problem the less it liked it; without going into technical details, we were not properly balanced for this task. Whilst I was thinking it over, the telephone rang and a Staff Officer from the Twenty-first Army Group said that Field Marshall Montgomery was on his way to see me. A few minutes later he entered my caravan and said, ‘Jorrocks, I am not happy about Bremen. ‘Nor am I sir’, I replied. ‘Tell me about it’, he said. So, sitting in my map lorry I described the problem to him and made certain suggestions. He said not a word until I had finished. After a short pause while he considered the problem on the map, he said, ‘We will do A, B, C, and D. ‘These four decisions were vital – and Bremen was finished.
I have deliberately mentioned this because it was typical. Montgomery was not my immediate Commander, but he always kept in such close touch with the battle that he knew when and where ‘the shoe pinched’. He then went down to see the Commander on the spot – in this case, me – and listened to what he had to say. He then made up his mind immediately. As he drove away I knew that he had probably already forgotten about Bremen and would already be considering the next problem.
That was what made him such a superb battle commander.’
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@johndawes9337
Corrigan was born in 1942, that would have made him about three when the war ended.
What a CV.
Operation Veritable...
Para Dave (bigwoody) copied his stuff from Wikipedia, but failed to include the bit that noted that VERITABLE was due to take place when the ground would have been frozen, with the operation being postponed because Montgomery had to go down to sort ot out the American mess in the Northern half of the Bulge.
My father took part in VERITABLE, he was nearly killed on board a Terrrapin amphibious vehicle during that battle (Para Dave no doubt thinks 'if only'...). He had nothing insightful to say about the battle, but he did remark on the weather, and flooding conditions in battle , and the devastation caused by bombing of Goch, and Kleve.
Kleve is of course, what we would call Cleves, as in Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII. It should not be confused with the Cleveland area of Yorkshire, or Cleveland, Ohio, USA, said to be the Gay Capital of the USA.
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@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
The invasion of France. The evidence is clear...
US General Marshall turned up in London in Mid 1942 with some gung-ho plan (SLEDGEHAMMER) to invade France in 1942, which Alanbrooke and Churchill quickly dealt with.
'Former Naval Person to President 8 July 42
‘No responsible British general, admiral, or air marshal is prepared to recommend “Sledgehammer” as a practical operation in 1942. The Chiefs of Staff have reported “The conditions which would make “Sledgehammer” a sound, sensible enterprise are very unlikely to occur. They are now sending their paper to your Chiefs of Staff.’
At the Casablanca (SYMBOL) conference, despite intense US pressure, Alanbrooke was able to get the plan to invade France in 1943 delayed until 1944. His argument being helped by the poor performance of Eisenhower in command of Tunisia which meant that North Africa would not be cleared until May 1943.
This from a person who would become a close associate of Eisenhower:
WITH PREJUDICE
The War Memoirs of Marshall of the Royal Air Force
Lord Tedder G.C.B.
CASSELL & COMPANY 1966
P 395
‘At this distance of time, there can be no possible doubt that Brooke was right. Not only did we have no hope in 1943 of sufficient picked and trained troops, with a vast armada of shipping and landing craft for a cross-Channel invasion; even more important, we should not possess until the end of the year the air strength which, wisely used in advance of an assault on France, would ensure its success. It seemed clear to me that our right policy was to clear North Africa first, to take Sicily as a springboard for operations in Italy, the weak spot of the Axis, and to cause in the coming months the maximum devastation of German productive capacity.'
At the Third Washington Conference (TRIDENT) in May 1943, a target date of 1st May 1944 was set for the invasion of France.
On taking over as allied land forces commander for invasion of France in January 1944 (By now OVERLORD), Montgomery completely changed the OVERLORD assault plan, to include British Second Army in the initial assault in Normandy, which mean adding two more assault beaches (UTAH and SWORD), a one-month delay to target date for D-Day, now to be 1st June 1944, while the required additional landing shipping was acquired. The date in June when the tides, moon, etc., would be at their best would be the 5th June. As we all know (Possibly not Para Dave), bad weather on the 5th meant that D-Day took place on the following day.
Again from Tedder, one of Montgomery’s harshest critics:
WITH PREJUDICE
The War Memoirs of Marshall of the Royal Air Force
Lord Tedder G.C.B.
CASSELL & COMPANY 1966
P 505
‘On 21January 1944, we foregathered at Norfolk House under Eisenhower’s chairmanship to compare or impressions. Montgomery, who was to command all the ground forces in the initial stages of ‘Overlord’ said at once that the planned assault by three divisions was insufficient to obtain a quick success. We must take a port at the earliest possible moment. He pressed that the proposed area of assault in Normandy be extended to include an area of the eastern side of the Cotentin Peninsular. The American forces should be placed on the right and he British to the left, the former to capture Cherbourg, and then drive for the Loire ports, while the British and Canadian forces would deal with the enemy’s main strength approaching from the east and south-east.’
‘He suggested an assault by five divisions plus one airborne division. The area from Bayeux to the east should be British and to the west should be American.’
‘Eisenhower agreed with Montgomery that the assault should strengthened and that Cherbourg should be taken rapidly.’
‘He thought too that the Combined Chiefs of staff should not lay down too exact a charter of arrangements for command. He proposed that Montgomery should be left in sole charge of the ground battle.’
So there we have it, there is zero evidence that Churchill tried to stop an invasion of France.
No doubt Para Dave will field his William Weidner and his Carentan being a British D-day objective, his Martin Van Creveld and his superb study logistics, his Antony Beevor and his nonsense, and so on…none of whom took part in a single day in the Second World War.
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@lyndoncmp5751
This General this, that General something else seems to be an American thing, judging by what can be seen and heard on YouTube. Compare the number of YouTube comments by Americans about Montgomery with comments by Britons on items about the likes of Eisenhower, Bradley, Bradley’s subordinate, Patton, and others.
Perhaps its all that they got in regard to the war? After all, the USA was not in the war until after Germany and Italy could longer win. Japan could never have won. Their homeland was 3,000 miles plus from any hint of danger. They have no Battle of Britain, or Stalingrad. Their troops faced danger at the front, but so did the troops of every other country involved. Britain, Canada, and Russia mobilized more of their respective populations. Even their production figures have to be set against the fact that the USA is one largest countries in the world, it has an abundance of raw materials, not a single enemy aircraft dropped a bomb on the US mainland. Relative to its circumstances, Britain’s war production effort was far more impressive. Probably, the war production figures for Canada, and of Russia, was also more impressive.
Maybe, Americans think that comparing this General to that General, and so on, somehow evens up the score? Who can say?..
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@michaelkenny8540
But again (yet again), Para Dave (bigwoody) is mistaken. The Red Ball Express was a supply route for US. British, and Canadian forces had their own supply routes and supply organizations, with the 3-ton, 4x4 lorry as the principal vehicle type. There was a brief period when US Army helped with the Red Lion supply which delivered 500 tons of supplies per day to 21st Army Group. Three British transport companies, delivered suupplies to US forces between 6th August and the 4th September 1944.
US 6th Army Group supplies were seperate from 21st Army Group, and 12th Army Group.
Its all on record if Para Dave would bother to check, with the best accounts being in the official British histories of the war (of course). Even the US official histories would be good enough for this.
Le Havre was liberated by British and Canadian forces, and then immediately given over for the US forces to use. No doubt a Hollywood film will be made, in which Le Havre will be liberated by US forces led by Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, and so on.
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