UK commanders being POW's at the fall of France in 1940

Dear all,

What if the top British commanders became POW's at the fall of France in 1940.

The commanders I am looking at are Monty, Brooke, Alexander, Dill, Anderson, Dempsey, Ritchie, etc etc. Plenty of them really.

How would it have impacted on the conduct of the war?

Ivan
 
von Paulus is the obvious one, along with the tool that lost Singapore, but I'm not aware of any of the Big Names experiencing it. I imagine, however, that that's a side effect of them being the Big Names - they had far longer 'in the war' to become famous!

Notably Rommel comfortably escaped capture when the Afrika Korps was in full retreat, as did the guy who succeeded him IIRC. Not sure about any other close calls - MacArthur wasn't in danger of capture given when he left the Philippines IIRC.
 
correct, at that time they were divisional commanders, staff officers, etc. Not yet field Marshals.

However, they were all there, the coming stars in the war.

Ivan
 

Cook

Banned
The commanders I am looking at are Monty, Brooke, Alexander, Dill, Anderson, Dempsey, Ritchie, etc etc. Plenty of them really.

For all or most of these guys to fall into German hands would mean that the greater part of the BEF has been unable to evacuate from Dunkirk and over-run by German forces.
 
It would require the entire BEF to be bagged before they can get to the coast, which is pretty ASB given the circumstances.
The British had plans to get senior officers out (they were under orders to evacuate at a specific time, irrespective of what was the state of their units), as the British did actually realise they needed them to form their new armies.
Even if the entire BEF is cut off, they can be evacuated by air. Obviously some of them would stay, but most of them would be brought out regardless of their personal wishes.
 

perfectgeneral

Donor
Monthly Donor
You still have notable generals like Slim, O'Conner, Aukinleck to set the pace. Monty was far from the only game in town.
 
Shame really. But you are all probably right. These were not the only people.

I will consider myself defeated on this one. No interesting scenarios.

Thanks people.

Ivan
 
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