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This is bollocks. Bedell Smith recounted this story in 1951 IIRC to a US Army Historian. Unfortunately there are NO contemporaneous records of this dash to Brussels to warn Montgomery, and Bedell Smith's biographer believes it never happened. They were included in the plan for Operation Comet...

And HMS Pansy's?

Irish, not English.

:)

According to Wiki first complete version published by the Catholic Church in 1981; first Protestant version c 1690. First Welsh Bible 1588. Ireland and Wales made different choices on what to preserve, language or religion.

The obvious solution is to have Gaelic used in widely in religion. Translation of the Bible into Welsh predated that into Gaelic by a century; the established Church in Wales has been bilingual for a long time, and Welsh is widely used in chapels.

How you could defeat Germany quicker, with PoDs in reverse order: Nothing after D-Day makes much difference; there is a tiny theoretical possibility of getting 1-2 Corps to Berlin in the autumn of 1944 but it would take perfect execution D-Day a month earlier, makes crossing the Rhine before...

OK; if you have a bigger US commitment to the Mediterranean campaign ie 2 US Corps plus amphibious shipping and tactical air forces by mid 1943 what changes? Timing of Tunisian campaign doesn't really change as they'll be arriving too late; maybe a 2nd US Corps is activated for Bizerta with...

What Carl said. Some wider (but very rough) thoughts on WW2 strategy in Europe: "the only way a General can affect a battle in progress is by commitment of his reserves" - the corollary is that the key requirement of command is to create reserves and decide when and where to commit them...

Exactly. "Pretend and extend" is a well trodden path.

The UK is not "broke". It doesn't have as many US$ as it would like. Even without US$ some US companies would accept payment in UK Government promises of post-war payment, trade concessions in the Empire, or even payment in £. The problem for a CP victory scenario is that in terms of war...

Not that much difference to the campaign, as the BEF's main problem was on its flanks. Biggest difference would have been speed of recuperation post-Dunkirk where 3rd Division was one of the best, and longer term getting poor divisional commanders replaced earlier.

The changes need to come much earlier than mid Sept. 12th Army Group needs to have a plan much more substantial than "everybody pursue as far as they can" which leads to the situation map for 1 September having 6 divisions on the map, and 12 OFF the map. Situation map 1 Sept The alternative...

All true. However there is a major contrast between 21st and 12th Army Group. Montgomery's forces were restructured for pursuit and are advancing on a 3 Corps front (1 is completely grounded); the advance is led by armoured divisions with a smaller number of infantry divisions - the 6...

Most useful map is here Situation map 6 Sept Twelfth Army Group is advancing on a front of 150 miles with 5 Corps each with 1 Armoured and 2 Infantry divisions, with no clear concentration or priority. 3rd Armoured is 100 miles from Cologne, and logistics is not as constrained as it would seem...

:rolleyes: What Patton was complaining about was the split of US supply. Priority was given to US First Army because they were advancing towards the Aachen Gap, the planned main thrust towards Germany. In reality even when First Army was given priority, Bradley split supplies evenly.

Agree with everything up to here. What should also be looked at closer is the situation at Aachen. Mid September US First Army almost took the city (and penetrated the Siegfried Line) cheaply. This was the planned main line of advance for Allied forces towards Germany. Failure of First Army...

Yes, but Ramsey did not have the naval forces to take Walcheren available; they were tied up in the Le Havre battle Taking Boulogne is far faster than clearing the Scheldt. Use of airborne troops at Walcheren had been rejected by FAAA. Assault craft and troops were not available in early...

Up to a point. There were 2 critical issues at a strategic level - not enough US transport units were allocated to the campaign, and IIRC the US had to ration 105mm ammunition from about the first week. Both would have helped in accelerating the campaign. RE: Market Garden and the Scheldt The...

5.5inch on Crusader?