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Japan was not fighting Russia even though Germany declared war on Russia.
Think you're right on that one Trackend. Alexander was on of the very good and overlooked British Generals of the war (IMHO). He, Park, Slim and Auckinleck were very good at their jobs, in varying degrees (Park being the best and Auchinleck the least of the unknowns). If Alexander had a down side, it was leaving too much in the hands of his subordinates (Clark making a run for Rome instead of cutting off the German retreat is a prime example- but I don't like Clark and I think History has pretty much nailed him as a headline grabber). He was the direct opposite of Monty, relaxed, smooth, calming. Over the years, I think historians have been kind to him.
Park was great during the Battle of Britian and great during Malta. Fought Kesselring (who was very good) twice and beat him both times. When the Brits were having a very tough time with the Germans, Park always won. Granted, he was fighting from the superior strategic position (defensive) but so were the French!
Slim is just plain forgotten. Ran the war in the East and took a broken army, remolded it and sent it back against the Japanese where it eventually triumphed. Like the British effort in the Far East, he is generally not known.
Auckinleck is the guy who Alexander replaced. Good general, when in charge against Rommel, he kept him in check at El Alamein. Calm, smart, unruffled. But he was a poor jugde of ability and had a tendency to stay loyal to subordinates too long. Cost him his job in the end.
I know what you mean - when there was a US film made 'Burma Victory' it caused such a stink here it was withdrawn from release.
Books on Slim are thin on the ground, reading 'Slim - Master of War' at the moment - good but largely a re-write of 'Slim The Standard Bearer'. Both suffer from poor mapping and inadequate desrciptions of the battlefields.
Unfortunately Wingate gets a lot of the credit (maybe the zionist link and his penchant for self-publicity) but most forget he was subordinate to Slim. When Wingate cracked it was Slim who ordered him to carry on.
Stilwell famous hated limeys but although Stilwell technically out-ranked Slim he agreed to serve under Slim - a fine endorsement.
Stilwell was also scathing about Alexander taking the credit for the Burcorps retreat.
I read somewhere that Slim had 500,000 men under his command at the peak (can't find a reliable source for that though).
If that's the case did he command one of the biggest armies on the allied (non-Russian) side?
The more I read about Slim the more convinced I am he was a much better general than Monty, Patton or Rommel
What if Japan had made another raid on Pearl Harbor ? This time got the
sub pens, the fuel farm, the dry docks ?
What if they had not retreated when they had "Taffey 3"
bottled up ? Halsey was 800 miles away !
Good question !!
Charles
my opinion Germanys biggest mistake was not finishing the Battle of Britian. .
Did you know the RAF was stronger at the end of the BoB than the beginning?Honestly i read some Americans saying back there at the start of the thread that Germany's first mistake was declaring war on the states. Rubbish in my opinion Germanys biggest mistake was not finishing the Battle of Britian. The English were stretched so tight with their airforce that another couple of moths at the most would have broken them and then with Uk...
Honestly i read some Americans saying back there at the start of the thread that Germany's first mistake was declaring war on the states. Rubbish in my opinion Germanys biggest mistake was not finishing the Battle of Britian. The English were stretched so tight with their airforce that another couple of moths at the most would have broken them and then with Uk subdued they would be free to concentrate their might on Russia who without the Atlantic convoys would have been up s**t creek would have been beaten and then Germany and Japan would have been free to take on the states. And don't say that they would not have fallen becuase at the time and indeed through out most of the war Germany was the leader with reguard to technologicial advances and the japs had the determination and the numbers and without scientist like Albert Einstine who was flown out to the states there would have been no A bomb...