Topic: Dowding's Costly Blunder in the Battle of France

samneanderthal · November 21st, 2011

Please read carefully: The British were reinforced by the French navy during the Norway campaign and up to the French capitulation. The Polish fleet joined the British navy, as did Ducth and Norwegian ships.
Hitler should never have defeated the allied navy in Norway and only did so because Churchill did not have a clue about how to plan a cooordinated navy, army and air force operation with the formidable resources, the Norwegian cooperation and the surprise factor at his disposal.
By the way, Churchill decided (against his admiral's advice to bomb the French fleet at Mers el Kebir without declaring war and risking in a very poorly planned attack that did little damage but infuriated teh French and nearly caused the French to declare war on Britain, when the latter had no allies, other than the former colonies. A rather stupid move by Churchill. Churchill's ultimatum gave a ridiculous time for the French to send their ships to the Caribean or to surrender them to Britain or most stupidly, to scuttle them. The French fleet presented no threat (until attacked) and would have needed weeks to prepare for the journey, so Churchill acted like the impulsive kid he was. He had nothing to gain and everythng to lose from this attack. The French bombed Gibraltar and allowed the Germans to attack British in Iraq forces from Syria. Britian wasted a lot of resources fighting France pointlessly in Dakar, etc,
The million Germans in air defence were mostly teen agers and women late in the war. Germany didn't even have a real defense fighter force to oppose British bombers until the Americans started bombing.
Let me put it this way, had Japan not forced the US into the war, but only invaded Ceylon (to isolate India, allowing it to gain independence), South Africa (depriving Britain of chromium, gold, diamonds, access to the Indian Ocean, etc,), Aden (closing the Red Sea and Mediterranean to Britain) and Abadan (to get all the oil it needed), Britain would have had to surrender since it could not have used troops from or defended India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc,

November 21st, 2011
samneanderthal	Please read carefully: The British were reinforced by the French navy during the Norway campaign and up to the French capitulation. The Polish fleet joined the British navy, as did Ducth and Norwegian ships. Hitler should never have defeated the allied navy in Norway and only did so because Churchill did not have a clue about how to plan a cooordinated navy, army and air force operation with the formidable resources, the Norwegian cooperation and the surprise factor at his disposal. By the way, Churchill decided (against his admiral's advice to bomb the French fleet at Mers el Kebir without declaring war and risking in a very poorly planned attack that did little damage but infuriated teh French and nearly caused the French to declare war on Britain, when the latter had no allies, other than the former colonies. A rather stupid move by Churchill. Churchill's ultimatum gave a ridiculous time for the French to send their ships to the Caribean or to surrender them to Britain or most stupidly, to scuttle them. The French fleet presented no threat (until attacked) and would have needed weeks to prepare for the journey, so Churchill acted like the impulsive kid he was. He had nothing to gain and everythng to lose from this attack. The French bombed Gibraltar and allowed the Germans to attack British in Iraq forces from Syria. Britian wasted a lot of resources fighting France pointlessly in Dakar, etc, The million Germans in air defence were mostly teen agers and women late in the war. Germany didn't even have a real defense fighter force to oppose British bombers until the Americans started bombing. Let me put it this way, had Japan not forced the US into the war, but only invaded Ceylon (to isolate India, allowing it to gain independence), South Africa (depriving Britain of chromium, gold, diamonds, access to the Indian Ocean, etc,), Aden (closing the Red Sea and Mediterranean to Britain) and Abadan (to get all the oil it needed), Britain would have had to surrender since it could not have used troops from or defended India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc, Last edited by samneanderthal; November 21st, 2011 at 16:54..