VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:47:24 10/31/05 Mon
Author: Celebaelin
Subject: T 34
In reply to: Celebaelin 's message, "Strategy" on 15:33:04 10/31/05 Mon

The T34 was a great tank but it still had to get in close to damage the German armour. The King Tiger, bigger, better and more advanced was built as a response to the T34 but they just couldn't build them in sufficient numbers.

I've had a little look at the 1st and 2nd Italian campaigns now and it seems that people have been taking Napoleons word for it that they were a great success, particularly the 2nd Campaign.

Few would know just how close Bonaparte had come to being defeated at Marengo. Nearly routed by the Austrians, Bonaparte was saved from catastrophe only by the dedication and skill of his corp commanders. Bonaparte rewrote the official report of the battle, presenting it as having gone precisely as planned. "My power depends on my glory," Bonaparte said, "and my glory on my victories."

KERATRAUNT: "Bonaparte had only been in power for six months. And the people of France had seen other political regimes which had only lasted a year. And they said, well Bonaparte might not last either. After Marengo, things changed. Ordinary people as well as people in the ruling class now thought Bonaparte would last."

http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_war/campaign/page_5.html

There are all sorts of historical complications and background to the British-German attitudes of WWII that date back to WWI. The fact that the initial, relatively dramatic, use of tanks was not backed up by any kind of advance, let alone the 'cavalry breakthrough' which the old duffers had been banging on about for the entire f***ing duration of the war, is a bewildering failure to exploit an obvious advantage. Perhaps there was some knock on in this regard but if there was no genuine military reason not to move forward and take 300,000 prisoners (the entire army to all practical purposes) rather than let the British evacuate those troops then that has to be one of the greatest military blunders of all time. Invasion would have been so much easier if there were no ground forces to oppose a landing, and at the time there wouldn't have been.

The argument will doubtless continue, conducted by more knowledgeable persons than myself about the actual events but the facts remain. The Luftwaffe would have to defeat the RAF to allow an effective channel crossing and Dowding had refused to allow any significant number of fighters to be used on the continent as he was adamant, correctly, that they would be required for defence of the British Isles. As it was the ask on Fighter Command was that they down enemy planes at a 2:1 ratio. They did.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.