What have you learned about WW2 recently?

Discussion in 'General' started by dbf, Oct 22, 2010.

  1. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Andreas,

    Noted, not the first time Professor Ashley Jackson has been criticised for his writing. His bio: Professor Ashley Jackson
     
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  2. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    It isn't sourced in his book. So Lord knows where he has it from.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  3. Interesting analysis Andreas. However, I would argue that a tank (or armoured) regiment probably had less men than an infantry battalion, in which case the relative weight of the predominantly infantry Imperial units would be higher. Overy/Jackson might therefore be close to the truth in terms of men in Eighth Army, especially if only fighting units were considered.
     
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  4. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Hi Michael

    There is a difference, but it is not pronounced enough to skew the results like this (you are looking at about 550 men in an armoured regiment I think, and effective 700-820 in an infantry battalion from what I can see). The way Jackson's statement is written it is clearly wrong. If he had wanted to restrict it to fighting units, he should have made that clear. Infantry only you get to about 28% British, but it is important to note that he is ignoring the non-Imperial troops, so Imperial was not the balance, just the largest share of it.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  5. Tolbooth

    Tolbooth Patron Patron

    I've found the original quote from Ashley Jackson's book but, alas, no source for his figures;

    Capture.JPG

    Ashley Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War, Page 2
     
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  6. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    The POW numbers from Tobruk are an interesting indicator regarding the composition of lines of comms troops. Based on the British field units in Tobruk it is quite hard to get to 19,000 (201 Guards Motor Bde, 32 Army Tank Bde with two understrength regiments, Cameron Highlanders and artillery), so I suspect most of these 19,000 British would have been 'Base Wallahs'.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  7. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    There is a short thread (x20 posts) that contains what appears to the amateur eye a comprehensive Order of Battle in April 1941 in Post 9 by Spidge. Might this help?:
    From: Who was at Tobruk April-Oct 1941

    I did look for a thread on the subject of POWs from Tobruk, on a search this was the only non-specific person or unit thread.
     
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  8. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    The OOB I have is dated November, so should be more up to date. By then e.g. the Libyan Arab Force units were no longer in Tobruk I believe.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  9. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    I have just run the numbers, based on 550 for an armoured and 820 for an infantry battalion.

    40% of the men of the men in these two types of units were British (23,820)
    50% were Empire (29,520)
    10% were Allied. (5,740)

    They accounted for 59,080 men, exactly 50% of Eighth Army strength on 17 November 1941.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
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  10. Excellent!

    From the quote posted by Tolbooth above, I suspect that Jackson included the Commonwealth troops in his definition of "imperial".
     
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  11. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

  12. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Yes he would have, but 15 out of 16 of the countries listed in that long list provided individuals, not units, so are really neither here nor there.

    Mauritius had an Artisan Company under GHQ Eighth Army, they are the odd one out.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  13. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    There were US Army B-26s on Midway and they attacked the Japanese fleet with torpedos.

    I'd love to find about about what kind of practice or training these pilots had with torpedos. Or even what types of bomb shackles were used to mount the torpedos on Mauraders.
     
  14. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Torpedo-equipped B-26

    All the best

    Andreas
     
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  15. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    B-26 bomb bay was split fore and aft so it looks like the torpedo couldn't be carried internally.
     
  16. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Never heard of this until your post. All pictures I saw have the single torpedo externally rigged.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  17. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    The RAF ran into similar problems when trying to fit the Tallboy and Grandslams into the two part bomb bays of their B-29/Washingtons after the war.
     
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  18. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Sorry, meant I never heard of Marauders carrying torpedoes before your post!

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  19. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

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  20. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Youngest son just showed me this.

    https://www.instagram.com/hatcherhistory/p/CYeNeEEBFKh/?utm_medium=copy_link
    Screenshot_20220113-222809_Gallery.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2022
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