King Charlie

[old man emu]

Comprehending things like industrial production, sizes of military forces and even distances all depends on your experience. I can't comprehend the population of cities  that are in their tens of millions because I have never experienced being in a city with that sort of population. To me living in a city like that would be like living in an ant's nest. On the other hand,  European's can't comprehend the distances we take for granted. I wonder if that lack of comprehension of the distances involved were factors that lead to the failure of both Napoleon and Hitler to succeed in Russia.

[Jerry_Atrick]

2 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

Plenty of military historians say Patton was over rated and Monty was exceptional. 

4 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I was proud to read that the first defeat of German ground forces in the war was inflicted by Australians in Libya, Tobruk I think. What made me proud is how the Germans were surprised at how the troops kept fighting even when their officers were killed.

A proud tradition. Despite what we saw in Lawrence of Arabia, the Arabs didn’t liberate Damascus. I believe the first Allied troops to enter the city were Australian Light Horse. The story goes that the British ordered them not to go in, but to secure the northern gates. Bugger this, they said, it’s miles around the outskirts to get there, so they took a shortcut through Damascus, becoming the first to liberate this most ancient city.

 

Most history books are written for and by people from the larger winning nations. The amazing contribution of other countries is overlooked or actively suppressed. Millions of Indian troops helped defeat Japan, but are forgotten. 

Monty must have been pretty good... we live in the house his uncle lived in as rector of the local church, and Monty stayed here quite often and for long periods.. apparently.,

 

Spot on OK; the winners get to write the history. Lots of Indians and Sikhs were forgotten. My son is right into mil historry and regails the uncommonly known but truly heroic actions by those not quite so well remembered.

[pmccarthy]

I have seen several estimates of current Russian losses of 3,740 tanks since this war began. Even if it is half that, I can’t get my head around such a large number of tanks and such a loss.

[Old Koreelah]

10 hours ago, onetrack said:

Bruce - We do know his name, it was Gen. William S. Knudsen. He was the prime mover behind the organisation of the manufacture of War material. The biggest problems the Americans had was bottlenecks in the production of raw materials, a U.S. transport system that was deficient in many ways - including many weight-limited bridges..

You’ve got to admire how the Yanks used those bottlenecks as design standards, ensuring they could produce and ship astounding numbers of military gear.

 

Their jeeps and tanks were designed to fit on existing railcars and fit through tunnels. The Sherman’s weight was limited to ensure it could cross normal road bridges.

 

Just looked up Wikipedia’s entry on this bloke, who probably did more to win the war than anyone (all for a salart of $1):

 

In January 1942, Knudsen received a commission as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, the only civilian ever to join the army at such a high initial rank,^[9] and appointed as Director of Production, Office of the Under Secretary of War. In that capacity, he worked as a consultant and a troubleshooter for the War Department.

In both positions, Knudsen used his extensive experience in manufacturing and industry respect to facilitate the largest production job in history. In response to the demand for war materiel, production of machine tools tripled. The total aircraft produced for the U.S. military in 1939 was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war, America produced over 300,000 planes of which the Boeing B-29 Superfortress benefitted greatly from Knudsen's direction.^[10] Production of both cargo and Navy ships also increased astronomically. Knudsen's influence not only smoothed government procurement procedures but also led companies that had never produced military hardware to enter the market. America outproduced its enemies. As Knudsen said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Knudsen

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks guys....  I like all your stuff Old K, but you need to convince me more about Montgomery. I read how he was a big reason the glider-borne invasion of Sicily was such a failure. Apparently a lot of pommy officers had much more knowledge of gliders than Montgomery had, but they all failed to make him listen.( They tried, but his little-mans mental problems stopped him listening)  In the event, plywood gliders, towed by Dakotas, crashed into Sicily, killing more troops than got out, just as was predicted.

Sicily is a hilly little island with small paddocks surrounded by stone fences. It is no place to try and "outland" a heavy glider with a stall speed of near 80 knots, especially on a dark night. Worse, they got towed over an American fleet which had lived through 3 nights of bombing at night. The fleet opened up on the glider-tow operation. Many Dakotas let go their gliders which broke up on hitting the sea. 

Just how he was given the authority to so stuff up an operation is a big mystery to me.

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

And OME, your thoughts about distances were echoed at the 1974 world gliding championships at Waikerie . Apparently there is nowhere in the European landscape where you can land a glider and be out of sight of any habitation. Not so here as we all know, and the management worried about the mental health of those Europeans if they were to outland and be out of sight of any farmhouse. 

[red750]

He doesn't hold back...

 

https://au.yahoo.com/news/king-love-child-shocking-claims-024300569.html

[Old Koreelah]

A small fly in the ointment for the RF.

If his claims are true there are a couple of issues:

Although supposedly the offspring of the current royal couple, his not being conceived in wedlock might be a problem.

 

Even if accepted as first in line, is he up to the job? All our monarks have been trained from birth for a bluddy difficult job. (William might be relieved to be replaced so he can escape the constant scrutiny). He hasn’t and is already ancient (old dogs can’t learn new tricks).

 

Throughout history Kings have fathered illegitimate kids (you or I might be a descendant) only a tiny few have made the history pages.

 

 

[facthunter]

Now you've ruined my day if there's any chance I might have Royal Blood in my veins. (They never mention arteries etc).  There's NO illegitimate children. They are all as real as each other but the bad effects of inbreeding are well known, in any bloodline.  Nev

[Old Koreelah]

I’m resigned to the limitations of human nature: there are too many dumb, ignorant people out there who can too easily be manipulated by the likes of Murdoch’s media. Even the best democracy can quickly slide into autocracy. Do we want our society to be guided by greedy ammoral corporations, oligarchs or military dictators?

We might be wise to have a backup: a well-trained line of leaders who know their existance depends on them defending the common people from these greedy bastards. I know one family which fits that bill.
They’ve proven their humanity and decency.

 

 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

You're referring to the chickens, right? ;-)

[Old Koreelah]

3 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

You're referring to the chickens, right? 😉

Chooks Jerry, chooks!

[old man emu]

How can you be coming out of the chook yard and your Wellies don't have a bit of muck on them and are still shiny? Not to mention perfectly clean clothes.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Old Koreelah said:

Chooks Jerry, chooks!

Well, I can't address the royal chickens as chooks! 😉

 

[onetrack]

Quote

I wonder if that lack of comprehension of the distances involved were factors that lead to the failure of both Napoleon and Hitler to succeed in Russia.

I'm not sure about Napoleon, but Hitler did indeed underestimate the vast distances involved in crossing the Ukraine to attack the Russians.