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  1. January 1943. The German View

    So no invasion of Persia by the British, and no air campaign against Baku by the RAF?

  2. Operation Unthinkable in Mid-April 1945 - Germany/US/UK coming together

    Churchill was a politician and could see the criticism coming "we went to war for Poland, and now it's still occupied, although by a different dictator". Operation Unthinkable analysis shows "even if we went to war with the Soviet Union, we'd end up with a stalemate in Poland".

  3. The Possibility of a Change in British Government during WW2

    You need to be slightly careful on the balance between political and military influence on strategy. Churchill was careful not to go against military advice. Churchill's low point was post Gazala and was saved by Alam Halfa (after he had changed the British generals). A loss of Alam Halfa...

  4. British Army 'sanity options 2.0', 1935-43

    Can we break this down a little? Tanks; Agree - but needs a hole puncher Infantry; Disagree - infantry in the open are attacked better with a machine gun than single shot HE. Dug in infantry will be near invisible. Artillery pieces; Partially disagree - Single shot HE may be better in certain...

  5. British Army 'sanity options 2.0', 1935-43

    What exactly do you need to "blow up", and at what range? Direct fire HE falls out of favour because gun crew are vulnerable to medium machine gun fire. Putting it in tanks solves that problem but still gives you an issue with identifying targets. It's arguable that tanks as artillery OPs would...

  6. British Army 'sanity options 2.0', 1935-43

    British doctrine both interwar and during WW2; infantry support was the role of the artillery with a barrage of a lot of lighter shells (hence 25pdr) to suppress the defenders, "infantry" tank support was to intimidate defenders and to stop an armoured counterattack before anti-tank guns could...

  7. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    Brereton and FAAA rejected airborne involvement multiple times: 6th Airborne were not available before 1 October, as they were refitting after being involved in combat up to the Seine crossing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Airborne_Division_advance_to_the_River_Seine Walcheren is a...

  8. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    What minutes? o_O There was no note-taker at the September 10th meeting, nor at most of the important Eisenhower-Montgomery meetings which were 1-1 in Montgomery's caravan. Historians have spent a lot of time and effort trying to piece together what actually happened based on the follow-up...

  9. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    Eisenhower was demanding Montgomery open ports, just he was asking for Rotterdam and Amsterdam, not Antwerp. :)

  10. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    No, they were mostly a bottleneck for US operations. 21st Army Group didn't really have large logistics issues, save for the 3000 lorries myth. The are a lot of reasons for US logistics issues; Washington didn't approve enough road transport units, they fell between 2 stools with Brest neither...

  11. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    Montgomery would certainly remember to his advantage, but Tedder's quote is from a letter he wrote to Portal immediately after the meeting, and the closest we have to a contemporaneous note; far more reliable than an interview 15+ years later where Eisenhower is struggling to remember Patton's name.

  12. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    No Here's Ryan's source notes of his interview with Eisenhower see page 35 https://media.library.ohio.edu/digital/collection/p15808coll15/id/2229 It's likely Eisenhower "remembering to his advantage", as this was well after the war. EDIT: early 60s IIRC There's evidence that SHAEF thought...

  13. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    One little wrinkle on boundaries; if Brussels is allocated to the US, then 2nd Army can probably get an armoured division across the Albert Canal and block off South Beveland. This does not open the Scheldt faster but may offer better flank protection to Market Garden.

  14. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    You're quoting from Ryan's book who IIRC reports this as Eisenhower's comment to Montgomery at the Brussels airport meeting. Reports made at the time are very different eg Tedder's letter to Portal quoted in Tedder's autobiography - "the advance to Berlin was not discussed as a serious issue...

  15. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    There were Atlantic Wall Fortresses at the key points - Hoek van Holland (covering Rotterdam) and Ijmuiden (covering Amsterdam). Both will have a mixture of naval guns and anti-aircraft guns and a permanent fortress garrison, and will present the same sort of problem as Walcheren. Remember in...

  16. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    Interesting concept. A three division landing on the Atlantic Wall is going to be a massive exercise - IIRC Neptune was a 3 division operation until January 1944. I believe that in July there were various further seaborne landings being studied to offset the congealing of the frontline in...

  17. A MARKET-GARDEN alternative: plausibility check

    That was never Montgomery's plan. Post WW2 people's memories and writings can be misleading.

  18. "Sanity options" 2.0 - RAF, 1935-43

    Congratulations, you've just written specification F11/37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_P.92

  19. "Sanity options" 2.0 - RAF, 1935-43

    Basic assumption was France wouldn't fall, so there would be no escorting fighters.

  20. "Sanity options" 2.0 - RAF, 1935-43

    Really? They approved HMS Pansy...
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