144 - Rommel's Desert Dash - The Whole Bloody Afrika Korps! - Gazala - WW2 - May 30, 1942
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2024
- Erwin Rommel begins his surprise new offensive with "Rommel's Moonlight Ride", bringing all of his mighty mobile units to the fray in North Africa, while in the Pacific, dozens of warships and tens of thousands of men set sail from Japan- their mission? Attack the Aleutian Islands and Midway Island, but above all, destroy the US Pacific Fleet!
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Between 2 Wars: • Between 2 Wars
Source list: bit.ly/WW2sources
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory ( / eastory )
Colorizations by:
- Mikołaj Uchman
- Daniel Weiss
- Julius Jääskeläinen - / jjcolorization
- Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, / blaucolorizations
Sources:
- IWM C 2563
- Yad Vashem 3116-71
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
- Rannar Sillard - Easy Target
- Flouw - A Far Cry
- Fabien Tell - Weapon of Choice
- Fabien Tell - Last Point of Safe Return
- Reynard Seidel - Rush of Blood
- Jo Wandrini - Dragon King
- Rannar Sillard - Split Decision
- Edward Karl Hanson - Spellbound
- Rannar Sillard - March Of The Brave 4
- Gunnar Johnsen - Not Safe Yet
- Farrell Wooten - Duels
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
EDIT:
Nikita Khrushchev's statement on Joseph Stalin's role in the Second Battle of Kharkov is illustrative of many of Stalin's reckless interventions on the conduct of operations. However, the Second Battle of Kharkov may have been one of the rare occasions where it was not Stalin, but his generals who were at fault, including Khrushchev. Recent studies have indicated that it was, in fact, Semyon Timoshenko and Khrushchev who gave the orders to resume the attacks while the Barvenkovo mouse trap closed behind them. Georgy Zhukov's memoirs actually reinforce this theory, as he states that Stalin ordered the offensive to continue after being reassured by Khrushchev that appropriate countermeasures were being taken when they weren't. In the years of de-Stalinization, Khrushchev naturally tried to clean his own slate at the expense of Stalin. The speech quoted in the video should be viewed within that context, and therefore be taken with a grain of salt.
I felt obliged to clarify this because the watchful eye may have noticed this discrepancy between Indy's coverage on UA-cam and my coverage on the WW2 Day-by-Day page. Now, you know why!
Curious what the fuss is all about? Go and check out our in-depth coverage of the battle over on our Instagram or Facebook page:
instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day/
facebook.com/TimeGhostHistory
Cheers,
Sietse
----------
Plenty of action starting this week, but that's basically true of every week here in 1942, and there's also some huge naval action gearing up to happen soon over in the Pacific.
If you want to learn more about the war beyond the regular weekly episodes, check out our huge variety of special episodes, as well as our War Against Humanity Subseries, which sheds light on some extremely dark parts of human behavior. The playlist for that is right here: ua-cam.com/play/PLsIk0qF0R1j4cwI-ZuDoBLxVEV3egWKoM.html
And please read our rules of conduct before you comment, saves everyone headaches (and loads of time): community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
@Thanos 6.0 thank you, we will take that under consideration - they are a different color tone, but it might be possible to make it more obvious. What we dint want to do is lose the clarity of visualization of distribution of lands. A patchwork of too many red tones could distract from the mass it’s representing.
Small correction on Midway.
I wouldn't call the attack on the Aleutians a diversion, because it really wasn't intended as such...
Are we going to have a midway special
You left us a little confused on the outcome of Rommel’s latest thrust. Maybe that’s just the way it was, when the week ended. Can’t wait to see the final dénouement next week or the week after? Greetings from Dublin.
I've usually seen this referred to as "the Gazala gallop" for seo might be useful to know that term.
Only 45 hours to repair a damaged aircraft carrier? That is not just amazing, it is a miracle.
I can help but assume they just welded a massive metal cover plate
Must have been run by an ancestor of a future starship engineer.
Obviously, it was a patch job. The engineers thought she needed weeks of work, but Nimitz **really** needed a third carrier. So....
Reportedly Hirohito asked his admirals why the Americans were able to repair ships faster than the Japanese could.
@@stevekaczynski3793 _Shattered Sword_ quotes a post-war analysis based on inspections and interviews: "damage control, as it is understood in the U.S. Navy, did not exist." The relative fates of _Franklin_ and _Shinano_ support this.
I know it was mentioned, but we should really take a moment to be impressed at how quickly the U.S.S. Yorktown was repaired enough to be sent into a combat situation.
Not only the speed of repair (she had dock repair crew working all the way to the battle itself) but how much damage she was able to withstand and keep fighting even in her hastily patched state. She was "sunk" twice in the battle but lived on to see victory. After the main part of the battle critically wounded but still alive she was hit by yet another torpedo from a submarine. She was fatally wounded but fought through the night. The next morning she could no longer hold out, she rolled over and sank, battle flags still flying. No warrior could have a prouder death than that ship.
Pearl Harbor repair engineer: "It will take a couple of weeks, Admiral."
Nimitz: "You have three days."
Engineer: "Sigh...This is how you get a reputation for being a miracle worker."
I had heard often that the repairs were done in three days, and i guess technically that is correct. but finding out that it was actually less than two full days before she was patched enough to head out and finished repairs at sea makes it even more impressive.
@@keithouderkirk7493 The sources of Axis defeat were often mundane - the Americans being better at repair work, the massive drudgery of cracking Axis codes, only occasionally lit up by inspiration or lucky breaks, the evacuation of Soviet factories to where the Germans could not reach them, the constant drain on the Axis caused by their logistical situation...
@@stevekaczynski3793 It goes to show that economies win wars. You don't have to be better than an opponent tactically if you can outproduce, out repair, and outnumber them
17:27 "Smiling" Albert Kesselring, a Luftwaffe General, steps in and not only takes charge of what is basically an infantry operation but actually does a good job. Regardless of political differences, you have to respect that kind of military skill.
You will respect him even more during the defence of Italy
"The Germans did not see that coming"
Boy, I haven't heard that one since 2012.
@wulpurgis no, it’s a play on words because not see sounds like nazi
@@CABOOSEBOB Nah it's probably the greek debt crisis reference probably
@wulpurgis no idea what the reference to 2012 is, maybe it’s just a random date in the past
@@eddiel7635 end of the earth movie called 2012
"The Germans did NAZI that coming."
I love that the flags of smaller countries like Romania, Sovakia or Hungary appear on map now.
And Canada
Well they are playing a bigger roll in German operations now due to the losses sustained in previous operations, it shows that this is no longer the concentrated German army from 1939-1940 and early 1941, they are getting thin across all of Europe and Africa and as a result are calling on their allies to try and pick up the slack. Soon we should be seeing the French legion of fascists on the eastern front
@@MikeJones-qn1gz The French went East?
@@iDeathMaximuMII Nazis recruited a few French facists to go east ye
@@MikeJones-qn1gz don't forget the spanish División Azul.
"Hey Reddit, watch my encirclement!"
- Erwin Rommel, probably
close it first, noob
Seems more like a tiktok kind of thing TBH.
Stalin: "Hey Reddit, check out my encirclements!"
All of his Generals: ಠ_ಠ
"What happened to your oil reserves?"
-Reddit comment
Or Seymon Timoshenko depressingly
Rommel really just wants to keep moving and never stop
He knew that mobility was the only edge he had and that he was utterly screwed the moment he could no longer move.
Mobility was the way to keep the initiative in his hands. It forced enemy to just react instead of being able to act first.
That Dungeons & Dragons reference at the end immediately shot up Indie's Nerd Cred in my book over 9000!
Well, it would....
During a live stream about Pearl Harbor on the World of Warships Channel, Indy stated he does play D&D (so does Sparty).
Im so glad it sailed way over my head
I didnt get the reference, even though I've played D&D for 43 years. What did it mean?
@@calvanoni5443 wight is both the patreon supporter of the week's surname and an undead monster
I started hearing in my head a CCR tune: "Let the Midway special, shine a light on me..."
Careful your getting into Dad Joke territory there.
@@markfryer9880 We may have just witnessed the advent of the grandpa joke.
Whenever I hear that, I wanna ask; would you like to see something really scary? (In a dan akeroyd voice)
02:58 Bir Hakeim still stands. These brave soldiers have one of more known Paris métro stations Bit Hakeim (close to Eiffel tower) in their honour
the foreign legion don't give up easily !
Stalin , angered by military disaster during Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942 , called Ukranian and South West Front political comissar Nikita Khruschev to Moscow to explain his forces defeat. When Khruschev ended his report in Kremlin , Stalin got up , took a full ashtray from table , approached Khruschev and emptied contents of ashtray over unfortunate political commissars head , remarking “In Roman Empire , any general suffered a failure like that would fall on his sword” Humiliated Khruschev left the room without saying anything till 1956 Party Congress , three years after Stalin’s death when he became General Secretary of Soviet Union Communist Party and shifted the blame of all failure and disasterous defeat during Second Battle of Kharkov on Stalin. Marshal Georgy Zhukov claimed neither Timoshenko nor Khruschev warned Stalin in time nor they did insisted to retreat more forcefully but there is no doubt main culprit was Stalin. On the subject, Zhukov sums up in his memoirs that the failure of this operation was quite predictable, since the offensive was organized very ineptly, the risk of exposing the left flank of the Izium salient to German counterattacks being obvious on a map. Still according to Zhukov, the main reason for the stinging Soviet defeat lay in the mistakes made by Stalin, who underestimated the danger coming from German armies in the southwestern sector (as opposed to the Moscow sector) and failed to take steps to concentrate any substantial strategic reserves there to meet any potential German threat. Furthermore, Stalin ignored sensible advice provided by his own General Chief of Staff, who recommended organising a strong defence in the southwestern sector in order to be able to repulse any Wehrmacht attack.
In his famous address to the Twentieth Party Congress about the crimes of Stalin in 1956, Khrushchev used the Soviet leader’s errors in this campaign as an example, saying: “Contrary to common sense, Stalin rejected our suggestion. He issued the order to continue the encirclement of Kharkov, despite the fact that at this time many [of our own] Army concentrations actually were threatened with encirclement and liquidation… And what was the result of this? The worst we had expected. The Germans surrounded our Army concentrations and as a result [the Kharkov counterattack] lost hundreds of thousands of our soldiers. This is Stalin’s military ‘genius’. This is what it cost us.”
Here we see the consequences of politicans leading armies. Neither Stalin nor Khrushchev had ever received an actual military education and it really showed. Khrushchev was called Stalin's Clown by the inner circle because of how Stalin treated him. It is reported that the night before Stalin's death that Stalin had made Khrushchev dance while drunk for his amusement. This clown without a formal education or even being particularly intelligent would someone become one of the most influential and famous leaders of the 20th century and perhaps all of human history.
@@KaiserFranzJosefI That´s what most people thought about him at the time. However, he was very much aware of this. He even had his wife write down the jokes he had told Stalin on any particular day, and note whether or not Stalin had laughed at them. That helped him stay in Stalin´s good graces, without triggering a paranoid reaction and being killed as a result, like many others before him. When Stalin died, Krushchev wasted no time in forming opposition against Beria, and ultimately had him removed from power (with the help of Zhukov) and later executed. He also introduced a number of effective and popular reforms. He may have been funny, but he was no clown.
Yeah, Khrushchev survived through the worst years of Stalin's terror by very deliberately making himself no threat to anybody. The moment Stalin was gone and Beria was showing weakness, he proved himself to be at least as clever, ruthless and ambitious as the rest of them.
@@weirdshibainu Churchill would know alot about that
Stalins dilemma carried on all the way through summer until Stalingrad. He learned to stop blaming everyone for his own poor military leadership.
02:33 to Italians. Respect for Division Ariete! Very underrated between general public but people interested in the History know bravery of these soldiers. I say it as a Pole
Yeah, as a Brit I have to say the Ariete were a great Division that fought very well.
@@Mplkjo15 Does not alter the fact they were an excellent fighting unit. Even Rommel said so. Fair play to the Legion too though. And that Legion unit had Germans in it. And the only woman to serve in the Legion, British lady Susan Travers. She drove the lead vehicle through the minefields on the breakout at Bir Hakeim.
@@Davey-Boyd Ariete got routed easily by the NZ division at Alamein when they exposed their flank to a spontaneous assault. Their courage wasn't so much in doubt, but their combat efficacy was sorely lacking - Rommel, for his part, damned them with faint praise. He said something like 'we asked more from them than what they were capable of'.
@@Mplkjo15 1300 legionnaires, some colonial infantry, navy riflemen, marine infantry and artillery, metropolitan line artillery and engineering, even air force mechanics.
@Carmine Paola Nope, until 1943 the free french were part of the british armed forces, therefore they represented a legal fighting force coming from legit military units (and not partisans, you goof).
Furthermore, It is widely recognised that the gaullist fraction was legal on the basis that the coup of july 10th 1940 which instaured the Vichy regime was unconstitutionnal.
The order concerning the executions of any free french found prisonner is yet another hitlerian fantasy, like the commando and kommisar orders, a baseless self legitimacy aimed at dodging actual rules of war.
Geneva convention, Article 4 (concerning this specific case)
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
Geneva convention, Article 7
Prisoners of war MAY IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES RENOUNCE IN PART OR IN ENTIRETY OF THE RIGHTS SECURED TO THEM BY THE PRESENT CONVENTION, and by the special agreements referred to in the foregoing Article, if such there be.
It never really occurred to me that the 3 big turning points on each front (El Alamein, Stalingrad, and Midway) happened (or at least began) in 1942
Uh, 1942.
@@stevenguild2707 whoops, yeah
This is why Churchill named his fourth book in the series The Second World War "The Hinge of Fate".
"Rommels desert Dash" - As a wargamer who plays the Afrika Korps I am VERY exited for this episode :D
You're definitely going to be exiting, alright.
Bolt action?
Exited means you left.
Flames of War?
Don't lose too much time over the French Foreign Legion though ! These guys don't know how to give up :p
If Stalin had been a general in the Red Army he would have had himself purged and eliminated.
Probably would have died first from ’a friendly fire’.
Would have been the greatest service he ever did for humanity.
See the war against Poland in the '20s. Stalin failed in command rather spectacularly.
Stalin was a common criminal turned politician turned dictator. He got his start robbing banks, a career he maintained during the early part of his involvement with the communist party. AFTER the Revolution, he organized criminal gangs to seize resources and whatever else they could grab “for the state”. He quickly rose through the ranks to a position were he could seize control upon Lenin’s death.
"If you played Dungeons and Dragons, you know what they are"
Me, in Captain America's voice: I understood that reference!
Spruance never gets enough credit for his conduct in the war. He showed humility, sound judgement and a willingness to listen to others.
Just when I thought I had nothing to learn about WWII. I never knew the Free French fought in the Pacific War!
That one caught me by surprise too. Now I need to look that up - was it an actual battle or did the Free French just land and tell the Vichy guys what was up?
*Mark Felton intro music starts playing
Liberation of St. Pierre and Miquelon by Free French cruiser/aircraft carrier submarine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Surcouf#Free_French_naval_forces
@@Raskolnikov70 Bloodless, just like the rallying of New Caledonia and the whole Polynesia in 1940. Active french action against the japanese won't develop until 1943 in the shape of commandos in occupied territories and coastal bombardment.
Other rallyings in the indian ocean won't be so smooth.
We still won though
Cruwell captured by the British.
Albert Kesserling after Cruwell’s captured: Fine I’ll do it myself.
The ironic thing is that he was Rommel boss and temporarily served under him
Ber Hakim is legendary in French Foreign Legion history......
The Geman 90th Light Division contained the 361st Infanterie Regiment Afrika which included 300 ethnic Germans who'd been serving with the French Foreign Legion in French North Africa, and later pressganged onto the Wehrmacht. As a Motorized element they were supposed to have trucks supporting their movement. Hitler didn't trust them, and issued verbal orders that they should march on foot everywhere.
@@HootOwl513 A regiment is much bigger than 300 people. 300 is battalion size. Did you mean that there were 300 former legionaires in the regiment?
@@thebog11 Yes, 300 were former Legionnaires. The Wehrmacht culled about 2,000 Germans from the Legion. Most were assigned to Wehrunwurdig/999 as ''unworthy to serve.''
@@HootOwl513 This German trend to recruit troops from POWs without fully trusting them will gather pace as the war goes on and their casualties mount.
@@stevekaczynski3793 It would be interesting to see if the 361st was deployed against Bir Hakeim. This ''Box'' was defended by the Free French, who had also been Foreign Legionnaires. One would have to find the after action reports. Comrades against former comrades could make for a bitter struggle. In the animation, it looked like the 90th Light swung around the position further penetrating North into British territory.
With complete respect to the totality of everything going on.
Would it be possible to touch up on the events going on in main land China and Japan.
Was Japan making any headway deeper into China or did they stall because of the long logistical lines
Did Japan make use of the vast river system to supply its army or did they have a policy of living off the land
Amazing work as always and would there be anything like the Pearl Harbor series coming up ...
Figured it would be titanic in scope but damn well amazing as well!
Thank you TimeGhost army! Indy and crew!
Japan has been massacring Chinese civilians in the areas they control over the past month. The Chinese Fifth Army, after being abandoned by Stillwell, has marched to Myitkyina where they realize that with Japan now in control of the west bank of the Salween River, they will not be able to return to China. The Sixth Chinese Army has completely fallen apart, with the some fleeing to India, while others march north through the jungle, trying to reach China. Thousands of these men will die to tropical disease and harassment by Japanese troops. The Flying tigers base in Burma is overrun by the Japanese and almost all their planes are burned. In Yunnan, China fights an extremely important battle at the Salween to prevent the Japanese from crossing it, possibly saving southern China from Japanese occupation. April and May has been absolute hell for the Chinese, and I’m really disappointed in this series for failing to cover it.
@@simonmunch1638 I agree, thanks Simon
Thumb up for dnd mention
Me too would like to see more coverage of action in Continental Asia.
@@simonmunch1638 They are probably covering it or will soon in war against humanity. I cant bring myself to watch or listen to that kind of material. Attrocities are almost never covered in regular episodes (something I agree with) short of significant events like "this week ho*****st started" or "this week the Nanjing massacre happened".
2:15 british army planning seems like running trains - strict timetables, planning up the wazoo, spectacular when everything works, and spectacular when anything fails
Funnily enough they got those ideas from pre-WW1 Germany...
No Op plan survives first contact intact.
Murphy is Grunt.
8th Army leadership is very bad right now, they're kinda lucky Gott died randomly and Monty came on the scene. He didn't suffer fools and didn't really bother with contingencies, he was a Wellingtonian/Nelsonian type of leader - 'not a step back', heaps of Grip and the absurd confidence of the psychopath (it's contagious). Yeah, his predecessors would've been better train conductors than generals.
"All combat takes place at night, in the rain, at the junction of four map segments" - "Wag The Dog". Well, perhaps not the rain, in the desert.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Although when it _does_ rain in the desert all bets are off. Those wadis that serve as readily-available concealment and shelter? Not a good idea anymore :P.
The fact that the Japanese submarines that were supposed to encircle Pearl arrived a day later really saved the entire operation
Ah the Battle of Gazala, I actually first heard of this battle when I played the Gazala map on Battlefield 1942 many years ago. Will this be Erwin's Rommel's greatest hour?
I found it highly ironic and amusing that the ad that followed your statement about Yamamoto refusing to extend the June 1 deadline for the commencement of the whole complex 6-fleet plan was Penn and Teller: Penn was juggling, and said "this is not juggling, this is misdirection!"
I had an add for food panda, an uber eats style service.
Quarter million troops? Another encirclement on the eastern front, again? It just keeps happening...
Rommel really wants to see the Pyramids. ;)
I can't believe it's already going to be June, "Midway" through the year!
Rommel: I feel the need… the need for speed!
On May 27, at 9 am, Rommel gave the order to General Stefanis, commander of the Italian armored division Ariete, to attack Bir Hakeim from the south-east. The units of this division, namely the 132nd tank regiment equipped with M13 / 40, the 8th regiment of bersagliers (tirailleurs) and the 132nd artillery regiment, approach the French position from the rear, in two successive waves, from 9:30 am. The Bersagliers who tried to disembark from their trucks to support the armored charge were forced to withdraw because of barrage from French artillery. The tanks charge, but without any support, and try to cross the mine field. Six of them manage to infiltrate inside the French position, despite mines and anti-tank fire. They are destroyed at close range by the 75 mm guns commanded by Sergeant Walter Grand and their crews are captured.
The remaining tanks then attempt to outflank the resistance from the north, but they fall into the V-shaped minefield which protects this flank. The Italians end up regrouping and withdrawing. They left thirty-two tanks on the ground and ninety-one prisoners, including Lieutenant-Colonel Pasquale Prestisimone, commander of the 132nd tank regiment. The Ariete division has been reduced to thirty-three tanks in forty-five minutes and must cease its attack. The French have only two wounded, a truck and a cannon destroyed. Many anti-tank gun fire takes place at 400 or even 200 m, but the legionaries did not lose their footing.
The day of May 27 ended locally with a failure for the Axis forces but, further north, the 3rd Indian Brigade was wiped out and two British brigades, the 4th Armored and the 7th Motorized, jostled, had to fall back on Bir -el-Gobi and El Adem, leaving Bir Hakeim isolated.
During the days of the 28th and 29th, the Royal Air Force bombarded the surroundings and the position of Bir Hakeim, attacking the carcasses of Italian tanks. General Kœnig sends a detachment, under the orders of Captain Lamaze, to set fire to these wrecks, in order to reduce the risk of mistakes. The group tried in vain to make contact with the 150th British Brigade, installed further north, but the Italian artillery forced it to give up, not without the French detachment having destroyed seven enemy armored cars.
On May 29, it was Captain de Sairigné's mobile group which destroyed three German tanks.
The next day, May 30, and the following day, relative calm returned to Bir Hakeim, where only enemy infiltration of minefields occurred.
As for water, it threatens to run out following the arrival of six hundred and twenty thirsty Indian soldiers, captured and then abandoned by the Axis forces in full offensive, and the presence of two hundred and forty-three prisoners. Captain Lamaze’s mobile group, at the request of the British 7th Armored Division, is responsible for filling in the breach opened the day before by Axis armor in the minefield. Supported by Colonel Amilakvari, the legionaries are surprised by the adversary, but manage to fall back, thanks to the intervention of the Bren Carriers of the 9th Messmer Company.
On May 31, the fifty supply trucks of Captain Dulau's 101st automobile company reached Bir Hakeim, with their cargo of water. On leaving, the convoy recovers the seriously wounded, Indians and enemy prisoners. A raid led by Colonel Amilakvari, intended to clean up the surroundings with the Messmer, Roux and Sairigné mobile groups, destroyed five enemy tanks and a German armored repair workshop. The record of the FFL brigade, from May 27 to the departure of the convoy, is forty-one tanks destroyed, 98 German prisoners and 145 Italians for two dead and four wounded. That same May 31, the Germans were forced to retreat temporarily to the west, following a counter-offensive by the 150th British Brigade, but the latter was torn to pieces and, the following day, the encirclement of Bir Hakeim is in place again.
Pictures of French positions at Bir Hakeim :
histoire-image.org/sites/default/styles/galerie_principale/public/bir-hakeim-1942-bataillon-tir.jpg?itok=vyuwjGSM
www.france-libre.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/1er-RA_-Bir_Hakeim-MOL.jpg
Thanks for sharing
@1:27 "... from the rear ... yep!" lol cheeky Indy, cheeky! x)
If you want to see more on the tactics and strategy behind the RAF's 1000 bomber raid on Cologne mentioned in this episode, and how the German's radar and night fighter defenses was organized and reacted to the raid, the WW2 channel kindly gave me the go ahead to post an animated time lapse of the raid: ua-cam.com/video/JF-jsPCYN4A/v-deo.html
That was an excellent video, thank you. And also terrifying.
@@longy221 Thanks. I glad some of terror of it all got through. Using clean 3D models and maps can really sanitize everything, making it all very unreal like a video game. Unfortunately, I'm hesitant to put in more shocking photos because of how youtube is with that stuff. When you see the bodies of the people in Cologne after the raid, or the limbs and twisted bodies of the crews sticking out the wreckage of the RAF bombers, it drives home the grimness of it all.
Went and checked that out. Very good work. And I subscribed. 👍🏼
Ironically, the reason the Yorktown was repaired in a few days rather than weeks was that Pearl Harbor was chock-full of workers and resources working on the salvage from all the damage from Dec. 7
Quite a lot going on with this tie, but I'm really liking the colours and variety. A strong 4/5
Regarding the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands:
Shattered Sword by Anthony Tully and Jon Parshall shows in the Japanese documents that Operation AL, the attack on the Aleutians was an operation in it's own right, and not a diversion.
I swear if they haven't read Shattered Sword....
Bir Hakeim need a episode for the last stand of Free french force.
Oui, c'est vrais
Totally !
definitely !
And people say the french are cowards .
First* They manage to escape !
"Smiling" Albert Kesselring. That makes me have to pause the video for a moment every time!
Was Kesselring a fan of Jimmy Durante?
The battle is going again
The British in North Africa at this time could always be trusted to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
QUOTE
A big part of this was Churchill's habit of meddling in that theater. British forces always did better the further away Churchill's attention was from them.
A small detail which seems to have been missed is how Rommel knew what the British were up to. For that, Rommel had an excellent radio interception group, camped deep in the desert, providing tactical information and the Americans providing him with high level information such as equipment and manpower figures and movements.
@@photoisca7386 German Signals Intercept Company 621 commanded by Captain Seebaum. This German unit was complately destroyed , killed or captured by Australian infantry on 10th July 1942 during First Battle of Alamein. After that , almost all wireless intelligence resources of Rommel dried out.
You're welcome "puts on a white hat and walks back to his foreign legion unit"
The build-up to Midway so far has the same vibe of the hype leading up to a very big game or main even wrestling match. Very excited to see how it unfolds through your team's research and narration.
speaking of epic battles, I got a hunch that the boys of the 8th armor are probably gonna do something ratty if Rommel continues to be an epic pain to the allies in Africa.
Imagine if we could scratch 4 flat tops, that be something, probably never happen but, its great to dream
Yep, no way the US stands a chance against the IJN battleships.....
give me a break. American torpedo bombers are lethal.
RIP AF
agree, the IJN have more ships, better planes and more experienced pilots. It would take a monumental screwup just to keep us from losing all our ships.
I am quite sure the USN will sink no IJN carriers in the next couple of months.
Rommel’s Afrika Korps: SPEED AND POWER SOLVES MANY THINGS!
Yes, provided there is enough fuel for tanks and planes, otherwise there is no speed and no power.
POWERRRRRRRR!
I read in the book Shattered Sword that the war games for the Invasion of Midway were a total farce. Essentially the team playing the Americans did what the Americans would actually do for the battle and destroyed a large portion of the Japanese Carriers. When Yamamoto saw this he essentially just waved it off as something that would not happen, completely defeating the purpose of the war games. Also the Japanese submarine cordon was not only a day late, but their commander did not tell anyone that he was a day late, so not only did Nagumo not know if the American carriers slip by the submarines, but he did not know that he did not know. Definitely recommend the book Shattered Sword if you want a good read about Midway.
I love this series. I have been obsessed with WW2 my whole life, but I always saw the different fronts as disjointed. Seeing how consideration for one, is affecting the situation in another has really opened my eyes. Also, talking about Midway for the past several weeks, and realizing that this war is moving at the speed of ships slowly cruising around the Pacific really puts in perspective the distances and timelines involved.
Thank you for your comment, John. We appreciate you watching the videos and I'm personally glad you gained some more insight on the Second World War from a different perspective.
The sea plane recon operation is so critical, and missed by so many WW2 Midway videos'; this channel is simply better at presenting critical details, not just starting at 10 AM.
Being a born and raised Alaskan, I am really looking forward to your coverage of the Aleutian campaign! The Kiska Blitz, The Battle of the Kormandorski Islands and the Battle of Attu are some of the most interesting events in the Pacific War, not to mention the tremendous effort of building the 1,400 mile Trans-Alaska Highway. One of the best books I’ve ever read was Brain Garfield's The Thousand-Mile War, which covers the whole campaign in great detail.
Oh yeah, the Yorktown repair was the singke most crucial shipyard operation in history.
I hope you have a special episode in mind for the battle of Midway!
I love the meticulous attention to detail across the many fronts.
Rommel in North Africa: Hey so you guys remember what I did in France? What if I just like, did that again?
Maori Battalion: 'hold my bayonet'.
@@onylra6265 probably some free french : so you want to redo what lead to dunkirk ? What about we mess with your time again ?
It's hard to find a situation in which "Stalin ruins everything" doesn't apply.
Will we hear more about Free French resistance at Bir Hakeim next week ?
I suppose we might, the Free French did contribute significantly at Bir Hakeim after all.
@@gunman47 considering they fought for 14 day we will hear again of them next week
Uncle Joe, always seizing defeat from the jaws of victory.
3, 2, 1 and there off on the 1942 Gazala Gallop Rommel riding Afrika Korps has had the best start but Desert Rat is coming up hard on the rail with a clear run ahead and 30th Corps is trailing badly as they come to the second furlong....
/Rant on: Spruance was probably the best US admiral of the war and one of the best in US history. Halsey damn near got the fleet sunk in a hurricane twice. He should have been relieved of command the first time. Halsey got five stars, Spruance four plus some special retirement benefits. There ain't no such thing as Justice. /Rant off:
Yep and worse he put the invasion of the Philippines at risk when he fell for Adm Ozawa’s decoy and headed North leaving the northern flank of the entire operation at risk. It’s only the courage of Sprague’s small force of escort carriers and the sacrifice of escorting destroyers that saved Halsey’s bacon.
17:27 Messervy passing some serious Slight of Hand and Deception checks to pull that one off😂 Impressive!
Love your work! I look forward to these every Saturday
Wight! I so love the D&D reference. You guys are multi-faceted and awesome.
Awesome stuff. You and your team do fantastic work !
Another interesting Video. Well done
My father : Pte Roger Hymer ; 4th Battalion Green Howards, 150th Brigade, 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division - located in the Cauldron : Taken prisoner and moved through Italy to Stalag XVII B at Pottenbrunn Austria.
I don't say this often enough: Thanks so very much for your efforts on this series! Amazing!
Thank You!
Excellent job as always, thank you for all the hard work you put into each and every episode. I wish you could do an hour-by-hour midway battle episode, but I understand that would take a lot of resources you probably don't have.
Can't wait for next week!
Rather neat updates to your maps! Cudos!
Excellent video
The British use strong points in the middle of the desert to keep the Axis busy.
When the Free French and Indian Divisions are attacked, the British commanders are not too bothered.
The prize was always the Suez and Rommel never knew it.
Next few weeks would be hell for Eighth Army in North Africa thanks to incompatent leadership of generals like Ritchie , Auchinleck ("to defend Tobruk or not to defend Tobruk , that is all matter !") , Norrie and Gott
@@merdiolu excellent 👌, can't wait
the way how everything set up and organized in this channel makes it seem y'all got 1 million subs.
Rewatching these episodes is my favourite part of a Saturday. It's good being a Patreon supporter
Thank you for supporting TimeGhost, Yorick. We appreciate it greatly and will continue to expand the episodes/topics that our channels cover.
Gotta love it when the episode is about Erwin Rommel doing something insane 🔥🤙
Great presentation as usual 👍
The attack on the Aleutians was Not a diversion: (1) The Japanese wanted all of the US forces to be concentrated at Midway so that they could be destroyed. (2) The conquest of the Aleutians was intended to avoid a repeat of the Doolittle raid.
Yes, it was an add-on operation that was scheduled to take place on the same day as Nagumos attack on Midway. But Kido Butai sortied a day late because of supply issues. It was then decided it would not be necessary to delay the rest of the operation just because the main force was behind schedule... the Aleutian-diversion myth originated postwar from japanese sources like Fuchida and Kunisada.
@@gildor8866 -- The Japanese were pursuing so many operations at and around that time that they were almost tempting failure.
The outcome of the allies in the battles looks quite different when they are missing the communication informations from the enemy side
Best YT history channel ever. You're epic dude!
Thank you, K W!
>diversion
"The simultaneous launch of operations in the Aleutians was designed to capitalize on the Americans being busy elsewhere, so that objectives in the Aleutians could be seized without hindrance. Operation AL was an invasion in its own right, strategically timed, and not merely a diversion."
You did read the Shattered Sword, right? It's the definitive account of the Battle of Midway, focusing primarily (but not exclusively) on the Japanese side of the battle, backed by concrete operational data and other sources not used before in many other works about the whole operation.
Start reading from page 43 (First Paperback Edition 2007).
Spot on
Naval General Staff operation from early days was joined by Yamamoto MI operation after Doolittle Raid
I figured out some time ago that this channel will be mostly presenting the traditional narratives of the most famous battles. Having read Shattered Sword three times, I expect to rage quit over the Midway episodes.
@@zeedub8560
John Costello Pacific War book is a certain age now. He has long since passed.
Its hard for them to read every book out there, but they need someone on their staff to read Shattered Sword and Lundstrum books on Guadalcanal etc. Or ask Drach or naval historicans and air historicans for air battles and context it brings. We know so much now especially with US archives opened up after 1995.
Midway, battle fleet (main body) was to remain hidden (which HYPO and FRUMEL never knew was at sea until Yamamoto withdraw order) and steam ahead of the carriers after they had crushed Midway ability to scout/attack the battleships. So US carriers really would blunder into them.
If they revealed their presence or were spotted, it might have scared the US fleet away and be a fleet-in-being which defeated the point of operation which was to lure the carriers out of Pearl Harbor in the first place.
To me, I understand Japanese dispositions and have solved the dual conundrum drawing US into battle ASAP and invading AL operation (NGS) and MI (Combined Fleet) where the land invasions were secondary objectives.
No doubt they trot out the there heaps of experienced aircrews were killed (110 but mainly from Hiryu in their counter attacks) which will cripple the IJN in the long run. But its wrong and carrier bombing pilots were killed off at Eastern Solomons & Santa Cruz, and Operation I-Go and off Rabaul in Nov43 while fighter pilots died in meat grinder in the Solomons in 1943 or in the Philippines in 1944.
What is never discussed is the annihilation of so many mechanics inside hangers. There was not that many mechanics in Japan as whole so there loss led to need to retrain a cadre which were left stranded at Rabaul in 1944. Meaning they didn't have many left during the huge aerial battles in 1944, which led to so many light damaged planes being grounded and being caught on the ground as each carrier attack picked them off, leaving more trained pilots stuck on bypassed islands. Vicious circle
Good thread, hope someone from the channel adresses this.
If they haven't read Shattered Sword I'll be so dissapointed
Random comment just to note this is is one of my top 10 channels on UA-cam ever. Indie (Indy?) you are just perfect for this. Thank you everyone involved. If this damn inflation slows down I will start sending you direct $ however I can. Cheers.
We appreciate your support already, just by being here! Thanks for being part of this experiment of ours, and helping us remember history
Great video!
Hi Indy
Rommel attack looks it will get him out of chain..
Awaiting for next week..
Actually i saw your old videos to get updated on war on desert.
I was late entry to your channel.Next week battle of midway..
Thanks for the episode..🙏👍
Another outstanding episode.
The most important part of this video arrives at 17:06 when Indy confirms that he plays Dungeons & Dragons. ; )
Another great episode!
Thank you, Bill. We appreciate you watching and hope to continue providing you episodes like this one!
Great episode guys
Thanks!!!
3:50 thankfully rommel has that quote about logistics and a supply bonus...
oh wait, that was hoi3 and not 4
Sorry been away from this channel for a while due to other circumstances Just forgot how good it is as always thanks for such good up load history at its best !! THANK YOU!!
Thank You!
This is an OUTSTANDING channel!
Thank you for the comment, Joe!
Ah. Great. Another of Rommel's "Haha Panzers go brrr brrr" moments. Awesome.
Indie, Rommel had a reputation -- especially with Adolf -- of being -- essentially -- bipolar. His own dairies reveal that Rommel's mood swings were tremendous, day to day. This dynamic is one reason why Mr. Sunshine (Adolf) could swing Rommel around every time they had a get-together. (Adolf was on drugs, of course.) This dynamic is what drove the Valkyrie players crazy, too. One day he was going their way, the next, he was backing off.
For some reason, it never entered Rommel's head that he was constricted by the Royal Navy, not the British Army. At the tactical level, the Brits just had lousy tanks and lousy doctrine that would not be abandoned for many months to come. The PAA was being worn down by gobs of gear that didn't really work... well.
The ultra-slow improvement-response cycle of the British was hugely due to distance. The British were largely supplying the Western Desert Campaign via the Cape of Good Hope. At convoy speed, that distance took months, not weeks. In contrast, Rommel was being supplied by a just-in-the-nic-of-time convoys running the Malta gauntlet.
I'm surprised Halder didn't get a British medal, for he saved their bacon in North Africa.
The actual operational performance difference between British and German armies are due to operational doctrine difference and slow plodding British order based operational culture approach combined initial batch of bad and indecisive generals like Auchinleck , Ritchie , Norrie etc. Rommel was actually too overrated , he defeated bad British generals , when he over extended his rear supply line in Alamein and halted , Montgomery revitalised his new command Eighth Army crushed Panzer Army Afrika because he figured out best way to get results in Order based operational approach (which is the only operational culture British Army drilled) is firepower , material and increase enemy casaulties with attrition while minimising his own casaulties.
Of course morons like Auchinleck , Ritchie , Norrie , Eric-Dorman Smith did not know what to do because they failed to know and diagonise the issues in their army in first place
@@merdiolu Auchinleck was no moron. He set the stage for Monty's success -- not Monty.
Here's the heads-up:
Auchinleck's boys destroyed Rommel's B'dienst detachment -- killing its commander. The Brits did everything medically possible to save him, BTW. They KNEW that the was the Big Brain behind Rommel.
When you really dig deep, you'll discover that this Captain was Rommel's right-hand man and BEST BUDDY. They'd spend hours -- into the late hours -- chit-chatting about what to do. The dude was a genius, there's no doubt about it.
Rommel never recovered.
One aspect of the event ( 0th Battle of tel el Issa -- there was a 1st and a 2nd that followed -- the 0th Battle has been kept Top Secret for years after the war -- and is still pretty hard to find on the Web. ) is that its paperwork revealed that the B'dienst crew was reading the chatter from the VERY talkative British commanders at the battalion-to-corps level.
But the great Auk had vouched for them. THIS is why Winnie canned him. He needed to ENTIRELY revise the command staff in the Western Desert. This was done. When Monty came in his FIRST priority was to dump all of the Big Talkers. That this was going on was Top Secret. Even the guys being canned didn't quite know why. They had ROTTEN signals security built into their bones.
Once the British realized just how badly their chatter had ruined their operational security -- they fixed it. ( They = Monty )
From that point onwards, the re-named 8th Army could do no wrong.
Everything that had gone before was due to sloppy signal security. The fact that the British were defeating themselves by going on the air so much was just the kind of thing that could never be admitted to. So, it hasn't been.
The loss of this B'dienst team was even brought up in the book "Panzer Battles." It really was that big a deal. The brilliant Captain could never be replaced. Rommel was distraught, of course.
( In the US Army, he would've been a bird colonel, if not brigadier. )
@@davidhimmelsbach557 German Signal Company 621 under command of Captain Seebaum. True his sucess was one of the main reasons how Rommel anticipated British moves in Gazala , Tobruk and Mersa Matruh battles. Not all the reasoning though. The main reason is Auchinleck and his sidekick Ritchie's incompatency and their failure to contentrate tanks , armored brigades , and artilley/infantry and their failure to coordinate and cooperate between various units and arms of Eighth Army (which took its designation in August 1941) like armour , infantry , artillery and RAF Desert Air Force combined with Auchinleck and especially Ritchie's inability to impose authority over their subordinates.
And destruction of Signals Company 621 and capture of their material during battle of Tel El Eisa was accidental , not deliberate. After 9th Australian Infantry Division destroyed Italian Sabratha infantry division in the morning of 10th , they stumbled German Signal Company 621 in east of Tel El Eisa by pure chance and destroyed the company , captured their decrypted material. Captain Seebaum blundred too far into frontline and he and his men paid the price. And reward of Australians ? Auchinleck with all his supposed "genius" decided to divide and disperse Australian division and drip it into front in small detachments ,basically destroying unit organisation and unit cohesion , a blunder all British generals appointed by him constantly did over and over in desert since Operation Crusader (all of them being Auchinleck's favorites like Cunningham , Gott , Norrie , Messervy , Ritchie etc) Australian divisdion general (and one of best division commanders in Commonwealth) General Leslie "Ming the Merciless" Morshead was totally against it , realising it would destroy his division and disobeyed Auchinleck's orders (for right reasons) Auchinleck just like Ritchie could not impose his authority over his subordinates
By the way , I really do not recommend Von Mellenthin's "Panzer Battles" , it is too prejudiced and biased to German side and have several mistakes due to reliance on one mans memory (which can be deceptive) Try the resources below , with hindsight in time and using various resources
www.amazon.com/Battle-North-Africa-Alamein-Twentieth-Century-ebook/dp/B075RXJQDP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+battle+for+north+africa&qid=1622302131&s=books&sr=1-1
www.amazon.com/Early-Battles-Eighth-Army-Stackpole/dp/0811735362/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Early+battles+of+eighth+army&qid=1622302164&s=books&sr=1-2
@@merdiolu I give the Great Auk slack because so many of his subordinates had pull back in England. He'd spent his career out in India, coming back to England, IIRC early in the war. What this meant was that the old-boy-network was something that he could not just scrap PDQ.
His list of available 'talent' was actually pretty terrible. It took Monty, with his deep connections to the 3rd Division and up to Allen Brooke to replace the duds, wholesale.
BTW, I believe that the record is LYING about the accidental discovery of the B'dienst detachment. It used the radio WAY too much. Whereas the totally exhausted Italian infantry had virtually no radios at all -- and not much use for the ones they had. They'd just been marching forever just to assume the position that was soon to be over-run. Consequently, they were not in a proper defense.
And then, out of the blue and the dust, this particular unit of Italians is counter-attacked -- in a fury -- by arguably the best unit under command.
It smacks of an intel operation that has to be kept from the troops. That hugely explains why the formation was promptly broken up -- so that the results of the exploit could be contained and denied. The scheme was to keep the very troops that knew the most entirely away from their brothers. But this could not achieve the secrecy desired unless the ENTIRE formation was broken up. If JUST the boys in the know were pulled out -- tongues would wag. The intel-op only worked for the British if the Krauts were largely unaware of just how much dope was captured. Due to standing orders, Rommel was supposed to assume that Seebaum's crew had destroyed their stuff before it was captured. So the British did everything in their power to confirm this hope. I don't think Rommel bought it for long. But what could he do?
The British have always been pretty devious WRT intel matters. Now they were in top flight form. Monty had Rommel dancing all over the front. Nothing like that had been seen before. Heh.
@@davidhimmelsbach557 The thing is Auchinleck was also painting very overoptimistic picture , displaying everything in rose tinted glasses to his superiors in London despite lackluster ending of Operation Crusader , loss of Benghazi in January 1942 and Battle of Gazala and Tobruk in June 1942. It took loss of Tobruk and his reluctance to prepare an offensive to coincide with Operation Torrch and his reluctance to ask any talented subordinates from Whitehall with his over optimistic reports to Whitehall and Churchill and Panzer Army knocking the door of Alamein line and convinced Churchill and Alan Brooke that he had to go. In fact Auchinleck was so aloof of strategic issues operational and organisational problems and lack of army command authority in his army , in April 1942 , in a letter to London he made a total 180 degree turn and made an astonishing proposal to evacuate Malta , Egypt and Nile Valley to Axis as well as Suez Channel and retreat all Indian divisions back to India and Iran to protect Indian subcontinent against Japanese advasnce from Burma since as a Indian Army officer his heart was always in subcontinent and couldn't bear India fall to Japanese. He quoted in the letter "we can live without Malta , Egypt and Suez Channel but Empire can not survive loss of India or Iraq oil." This is not a winner and killer attitude to win in his campaign. Auchinleck should have been sacked back to India long time ago (where his admistrative performance was very good) and not appointed to Middle East in first place.
Thank you for video sir
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💐💐💐💐
I hope that you will talk about Rommels Good source in the next episode, that gave him a very good knowledge about his enemy during the battle of Gazala. But otherwise, as always a great episode.
Love the AD&D reference
Excellent and Outstanding!!!
Thank you. It amazes me how much of W W2 interpretations has changed over the last 50 years.
Love the D&D in joke at the end - next week "The Battle for Middle Earth" in real time!! great videos learning alot of the secondary conflicts
That ending was just awesome💯
A shout to D&D ??? 🥳👏🏼👏🏼 (these videos are successfully encapsulating so much info in each installation ; they are examples of 21st Century digital content crafted correctly) I share them w/ my 26k on twitter regularly
Thank you for your incredible support!
Great video and enjoyed the Dungeons & Dragons reference! Keep up the good work, lads!
Thanks Jon!
Interesting fact, after Heydrich's assassination, about 700 doctors had to sway an oath that they didn't put stitches into one of Heydrich's attacker's wounds who got injured when the Assassination attempt took place.
Never heard of that, but why would they be expected to abide by an oath? Imposed by a foreign occupation, no less?
7:56 what a gorgeous photograph
On the morning of 27 May 1942, Lieutenant D. F. Parry overheard an exchange between a British ‘forward’ officer from 3rd Indian Brigade at the southernmost tip of the Gazala Line held by 8th Army covering Tobruk and Egytian Libyan border and a colleague embedded at XXX Corps headquarters at El Adem. Had it not been reported verbatim, the conversation might be presumed to have formed part of a Monty Python sketch forty years later.
OFFICER : There is a cloud of dust to the south; it has the appearance of a military formation.
REPLY FROM XXX CORPS : There are no, repeat no, troops to your south …
OFFICER : The cloud of dust is growing larger. It is undoubtedly a military formation.
REPLY ( slightly irritable ): We repeat, there are no, repeat no, troops to your south.
OFFICER : Through the haze I can now identify tanks, difficult to identify but possibly German Mark IVs.
REPLY ( irritably ): We repeat, there are no troops, repeat no troops, to your south.
OFFICER : I am counting Mark IVs - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven - there is no doubt, repeat no doubt, that this is a large German force. Mark IVs number over thirty, and there are also Mark IIIs and a large number of motorized infantry. This could be, I repeat, this could be the Afrikakorps moving at a speed of approximately 30 miles per hour towards El Adem.
REPLY ( with air of resignation ): There are no forces in your area.
OFFICER : I have been spotted by the enemy and am under fire. I repeat, it is a large enemy formation and probably the Afrikakorps moving fast northwards.
REPLY ( very bored ): There are no enemy forces in your area.
OFFICER : It is undoubtedly the Afrikakorps moving at speed towards El Adem. I am under … (In the background it was possible to hear the sound of exploding shells …)
Then there was silence. Rommel’s blitzkrieg - Operation Venezia - had been unleashed.
‘It will be hard, but I have full confidence my army will win it,’ Rommel had written to his wife the previous evening, ‘After all, they know what battle means. There is no need to tell you how I will go into it. I intend to demand of myself the same as I expect from each of my officers and men.’ Under cover of darkness he then took his place with the Afrikakorps, in a column, which along with the 90th Light Division and the XX Italian Corps, numbered 10,000 vehicles. ‘I was tense and keyed-up, impatiently waiting the coming day. What would the enemy do? What had he already done? These questions pounded my brain.’
Six days earlier, General Claude Auchinleck commander of British Mediterranean and Middle East Theater , who was in Cairo, had sent a long letter to General Neil Ritchie commander of Eighth Army at Army headquarters. Clearly concerned about Ritchie’s well-attested limitations but anxious not to undermine his confidence (in this stage both Auchinleck and Ritchie were becoming strong candidates for worst Allied generals of war after Maurice Gamelin , Semyon Buıdyeni and Arthur Percival ) , Auk who had no idea how matters work in frontline thousands of miles away from Cairo wrote, ‘Do not think I am trying to dictate to you in any way, but this coming struggle is going to be so vital that I feel you must have the benefit of our combined consideration here.’ He identified two possible lines of attack that Rommel might open up. The first would be ‘to envelop our southern flank, seizing or masking Bir Hacheim en route, and then driving on Tobruk’; the second would be ‘a heavy attack on a narrow front … with the object of driving straight to Tobruk’. This, he warned, might be accompanied ‘by a feint against Bir Hacheim … with the aim of drawing off the main body of your armour to the south and so leaving the way open for the main thrust’. While he was careful to remind Ritchie that he should be prepared to face either option, he judged that ‘the second course is the one he [Rommel] will adopt, and is certainly the most dangerous to us’.
Unfortunately, Auchinleck had got it complately wrong. Rommel’s plan of attack was precisely the opposite of what the British commander-in-chief supposed. His feint was to the north, not the south. And Auchinleck having benefit of ULTRA intelligence about timing and general concentration of Panzer Army making that kind of blunder and not checking his errenous assumptions with air recon (RAF grounded all of its recon flights before Axis offensive and neither British theater command nor Eighth Army command did not ask any recon flights ! till 26th May ) then misdirecting his less experienced and much more indecisive subordinate General Neil Ritchie (whom he kept in that position despite objections and votes of no confidence from his subordinates because Auchinleck assumed he could “hold his hand” and manage him and besides relieving his own staff officer Ritchie who had been loyal to him would look bad as a loss of face and demoralising) by interfaring his operations and planning , are a string of blunders made by a theater command rare in history of warfare. (In Red Army any theater commander made same mistakes and gaffes Auckinleck and Ritchie made , were relieved of command and executed immediately)
In July 1950 a US platoon leader in Korea was asked over the phone how he was doing. "Fine," he said. "We eat this stuff up." Thirty seconds later he was dead, with a North Korean submachine-gun bullet in his head, and most of his platoon were killed or captured in a sudden night assault.
I' m loving catching up on the few episodes of this fantastic series. Big thanks to the TGA.
Great to hear that! Thank you for watching.
Rommel noooo!
Rommel: "Rommel Yes!"