Real time Discusion thread

[stevep]

   lordroel ,

  A couple of small points with today's WWII post.

a)  You have "The British are not 42 miles within Eritrea".  Suspect that not should be now?  Otherwise it sounds a bit odd, especially since it goes on about how the Italians are withdrawing in some disorder.

b)  You refer to Churchill calling for.

Winston Churchill is unhappy about the recent Luftwaffe successes in the Mediterranean. As is his habit, he meddles in Royal Navy decisions, suggesting that the navy replace its obsolete Fairey Fulmars with monoplanes such as the American-made Brewsters and Martlets. The Fulmars, however, are quite effective when used properly.

  Although the Fulmar may be considered obsolete it had only entered service in May 1940 and as you say was quite effective.  More to the point it is also a monoplane but the reference to the proposed American replacements being monoplanes make it sound like the Fulmars were biplanes?

  Otherwise looking good.  Many thanks.

  Steve

[lordroel]

Jan 23, 2020 10:32:52 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

  A couple of small points with today's WWII post.

a)  You have "The British are not 42 miles within Eritrea".  Suspect that not should be now?  Otherwise it sounds a bit odd, especially since it goes on about how the Italians are withdrawing in some disorder.

b)  You refer to Churchill calling for.

Winston Churchill is unhappy about the recent Luftwaffe successes in the Mediterranean. As is his habit, he meddles in Royal Navy decisions, suggesting that the navy replace its obsolete Fairey Fulmars with monoplanes such as the American-made Brewsters and Martlets. The Fulmars, however, are quite effective when used properly.

  Although the Fulmar may be considered obsolete it had only entered service in May 1940 and as you say was quite effective.  More to the point it is also a monoplane but the reference to the proposed American replacements being monoplanes make it sound like the Fulmars were biplanes?

  Otherwise looking good.  Many thanks.

  Steve

As always, thanks for your responds stevep.

[stevep]

   lordroel ,

   On the WWII thread missed it yesterday as busy with other things after my initial pass through but one small typo on the bit about the Italian flying boat that lands at Malta.  Last sentence is

The large flying, incidentally, sinks in the rough seas.

  Looks like a boat is missing there.

  Steve

[lordroel]

Jan 26, 2020 15:36:37 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

   On the WWII thread missed it yesterday as busy with other things after my initial pass through but one small typo on the bit about the Italian flying boat that lands at Malta.  Last sentence is

The large flying, incidentally, sinks in the rough seas.

  Looks like a boat is missing there.

  Steve

Will fix it, seems a troll missed the boat.

[stevep]

   lordroel ,

   One query in the WWII thread today. You mentio:

The Free French commander Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Colonna d'Ornano was killed in an earlier raid along with one trooper of T Patrol. Colonel Philippe Leclerc assumed command in place of d'Ornano.

  This sounds a bit odd as a Colonel outranks a Lieutenant-Colonel, which is the rank immediately below Colonel.  Unless Leclerc, while technically outranking d'Ornano was possibly acting in an advisory role as the latter was more familiar with the forces involved and terrain possibly and Leclerc only stepped in after d'Ornano was killed to avoid a vacuum in command?

[lordroel]

Jan 31, 2020 14:52:08 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

   One query in the WWII thread today. You mentio:

The Free French commander Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Colonna d'Ornano was killed in an earlier raid along with one trooper of T Patrol. Colonel Philippe Leclerc assumed command in place of d'Ornano.

  This sounds a bit odd as a Colonel outranks a Lieutenant-Colonel, which is the rank immediately below Colonel.  Unless Leclerc, while technically outranking d'Ornano was possibly acting in an advisory role as the latter was more familiar with the forces involved and terrain possibly and Leclerc only stepped in after d'Ornano was killed to avoid a vacuum in command?

According to the Wikipedia article about the Capture of Kufra, and what this great page about Operation Deported, Colonel Leclerc was the senior Free French officer in Chad while Lieutenant Colonel Jean Colonna d’Ornano was the commander of the Free French forces in Chad.

[stevep]

Jan 31, 2020 14:59:48 GMT lordroel said:

Jan 31, 2020 14:52:08 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

   One query in the WWII thread today. You mentio:

  This sounds a bit odd as a Colonel outranks a Lieutenant-Colonel, which is the rank immediately below Colonel.  Unless Leclerc, while technically outranking d'Ornano was possibly acting in an advisory role as the latter was more familiar with the forces involved and terrain possibly and Leclerc only stepped in after d'Ornano was killed to avoid a vacuum in command?

According to the Wikipedia article about the Capture of Kufra, and what this great page about Operation Deported, Colonel Leclerc was the senior Free French officer in Chad while Lieutenant Colonel Jean Colonna d’Ornano was the commander of the Free French forces in Chad.

  lordroel,

  OK thought it might be something like that.  Thanks.

  Steve

[lordroel]

Jan 31, 2020 15:53:52 GMT stevep said:

Jan 31, 2020 14:59:48 GMT lordroel said:

According to the Wikipedia article about the Capture of Kufra, and what this great page about Operation Deported, Colonel Leclerc was the senior Free French officer in Chad while Lieutenant Colonel Jean Colonna d’Ornano was the commander of the Free French forces in Chad.

  lordroel,

  OK thought it might be something like that.  Thanks.

  Steve

No problem stevep, glad to help with any question you have.

[lordroel]

I can announce that United States invasion of Grenada 1983 - Operation Urgent Fury in realtime will be another realtime event coming in 2020.

[stevep]

   lordroel ,

  I think there's a typo in today's WWI thread.  You have

Pohl, however, has persisted in his advocacy, and today attempts to assuage the Chancellor's concerns. He argues that if Germany declares a war zone around Britain, it will scare away neutral shipping, which means that there will be neutral merchants in the area for U-Boats to sink by accident. In additional, Pohl declares that submarine captains are able to distinguish between enemy and neutral ships, and between passenger liners and merchant ships. Given these assurances, Bethmann-Hollweg consents to unrestricted submarine warfare.

  Suspect your missing a no here?  Also of course Pohl, knowingly or otherwise, is talking rubbish about both no neutral vessels in the war zone and the ability of submerged subs to tell between neutrals and belligerents.  After all there are a number of neutrals, such as the Scandinavia powers and the Netherlands which need to traverse the North Sea and even if a sub commander takes his time and is willing to let a lot of ships pass because he's not certain of their status you can see very little from a submerged sub.

  Steve

[lordroel]

Feb 1, 2020 11:59:04 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

  I think there's a typo in today's WWI thread.  You have

Pohl, however, has persisted in his advocacy, and today attempts to assuage the Chancellor's concerns. He argues that if Germany declares a war zone around Britain, it will scare away neutral shipping, which means that there will be neutral merchants in the area for U-Boats to sink by accident. In additional, Pohl declares that submarine captains are able to distinguish between enemy and neutral ships, and between passenger liners and merchant ships. Given these assurances, Bethmann-Hollweg consents to unrestricted submarine warfare.

  Suspect your missing a no here?  Also of course Pohl, knowingly or otherwise, is talking rubbish about both no neutral vessels in the war zone and the ability of submerged subs to tell between neutrals and belligerents.  After all there are a number of neutrals, such as the Scandinavia powers and the Netherlands which need to traverse the North Sea and even if a sub commander takes his time and is willing to let a lot of ships pass because he's not certain of their status you can see very little from a submerged sub.

  Steve

Thanks for the spotting stevep, will edit it.

Do you not agree with me that unrestricted submarine warfare does not mean anything if you restrict it to only sinking British,Belgian,French and Russian ships, if that is the case then the four nations would simply have neutral countries like the Netherlands,Sweden and Norway among others transport their good.

[stevep]

Feb 1, 2020 12:29:45 GMT lordroel said:

Feb 1, 2020 11:59:04 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

  I think there's a typo in today's WWI thread.  You have

  Suspect your missing a no here?  Also of course Pohl, knowingly or otherwise, is talking rubbish about both no neutral vessels in the war zone and the ability of submerged subs to tell between neutrals and belligerents.  After all there are a number of neutrals, such as the Scandinavia powers and the Netherlands which need to traverse the North Sea and even if a sub commander takes his time and is willing to let a lot of ships pass because he's not certain of their status you can see very little from a submerged sub.

  Steve

Thanks for the spotting stevep , will edit it.

Do you not agree with me that unrestricted submarine warfare does not mean anything if you restrict it to only sinking British,Belgian,French and Russian ships, if that is the case then the four nations would simply have neutral countries like the Netherlands,Sweden and Norway among others transport their good.

  That is an issue but then British MS are so important that its pretty much impossible that much of British and probably allied traffic would be carried by them.  However if the Germans also target neutral states shipping that will hurt those states and especially for the Netherlands that is bad for Germany as they did manage to get some items passed the British blockade via purchases through those countries.

  Also while the blockade did exclude a lot of stuff that was previously allowed, such as food for instance, the allied blockade wasn't total.  By going for USW the Germans are looking to stop anything reaching the allies, by violent often lethal means.  Its risky for a sub to surface and check a merchant ship - albeit that they often surfaces to sink isolated ships by deck gun to preserve their torpedoes - but their automatically declaring anything on any merchant ship in the kill zone is contraband. 

  The rules as they existed in 1914 put Germany at a disadvantage but they were rules they had agreed on.  That they sought to breach those rules when it suited them, as with other areas such as the invasion of Belgium, the forced labour in occupied lands, use of gas weapons etc was the decision of the German government.

[stevep]

   lordroel ,

  One small typo in the WWII post for today.  It says:

Lieutenant Colonel John Combe leads his "Combe Force" to the south of Green Mountain (Jebel Akhdar) west of Derna. He is in command of 11th Hussars, followed by the 7th Armoured Division (which departs from Mechili at dawn). The infantry is in wheeled vehicles and must cross 150 miles of desert. The terrain is difficult, but Combe Force makes good progress and reaches Msus around dark. The 7th Armoured Division arrives shortly afterward, and Colonel Combe plans to send his troops toward the main raid being used by the Italians in the morning.

  Assume that should be road rather than raid?

  Otherwise looking good although Churchill is being an idiot as usual.

  Steve

[lordroel]

Feb 4, 2020 13:30:57 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

  One small typo in the WWII post for today.  It says:

Lieutenant Colonel John Combe leads his "Combe Force" to the south of Green Mountain (Jebel Akhdar) west of Derna. He is in command of 11th Hussars, followed by the 7th Armoured Division (which departs from Mechili at dawn). The infantry is in wheeled vehicles and must cross 150 miles of desert. The terrain is difficult, but Combe Force makes good progress and reaches Msus around dark. The 7th Armoured Division arrives shortly afterward, and Colonel Combe plans to send his troops toward the main raid being used by the Italians in the morning.

  Assume that should be road rather than raid?

  Otherwise looking good although Churchill is being an idiot as usual.

  Steve

Thanks will edit it.

Well he has been a idiot before as anther event in another war is going to show if you know what i speaking of stevep .

[stevep]

Feb 4, 2020 15:57:37 GMT lordroel said:

Feb 4, 2020 13:30:57 GMT stevep said:

   lordroel ,

  One small typo in the WWII post for today.  It says:

  Assume that should be road rather than raid?

  Otherwise looking good although Churchill is being an idiot as usual.

  Steve

Thanks will edit it.

Well he has been a idiot before as anther event in another war is going to show if you know what i speaking of stevep .

  Well there were options with Gallipoli but not with a solely naval attack and it needed better leadership for the actual military attack.