Andreas, Noted, not the first time Professor Ashley Jackson has been criticised for his writing. His bio: Professor Ashley Jackson
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.
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
I've found the original quote from Ashley Jackson's book but, alas, no source for his figures; Ashley Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War, Page 2
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
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.
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
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
Excellent! From the quote posted by Tolbooth above, I suspect that Jackson included the Commonwealth troops in his definition of "imperial".
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
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.
Never heard of this until your post. All pictures I saw have the single torpedo externally rigged. All the best Andreas
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.
Jet & Prop by FalkeEins: RAF B-26 Marauders 14 Squadron "Dominion Triumph" "Dominion Revenge"- Marauder Mk.I in RAF service 14 Squadron RAF used their Marauder I's with torpedoes quite often over the Aegean. Some good coverage here:
Youngest son just showed me this. https://www.instagram.com/hatcherhistory/p/CYeNeEEBFKh/?utm_medium=copy_link