Excellent link 'The other Guy' I couldn't find information as comprehensive as this and far better than the answer I have available!


and by what means was it scuppered: The First Sea Lord, Admiral Dudley Pound, added conditions requiring that Russia stay out of the war and that the cooperation of Norway and Sweden be firmly established. Fearing the destruction of the raiding force, Admiral Pound also demanded the preservation of British naval superiority in the North Sea without the vessels assigned to the raid. Still another condition required that the R-class battleships would be recalled for convoy escort if German surface raiders broke out into the Atlantic.

Despite Churchill’s arguments and agitations, the conditions raised by the Admiralty pushed the operation toward abandonment. Churchill’s portrayal of this scene in The Gathering Storm glossed over this administrative resistance to his plan, but an influential quorum of top admirals considered Catherine too risky for their valuable battleships. Their subtle administrative resistance delayed the preparations for the operation and eventually forced its postponement when not enough time remained before the spring of 1940 to transform the R-class battleships into the armoured turtles.

As for the Bonus "the single casualty of Catherine was Captain V H Danckerts, Naval Staff Director of Plans, sacked almost certainly because of his trenchant criticisms of the scheme (reflected in Pounds memoranda)" p.96 Engage the Enemy More Closely, Correlli Barnett

Go on, The Other Guy your turn, we have been trying to get more people involved in this quiz

okay, question coming soon...

hurry up TOG, and The cooler king where have you gone my friend! i miss all the old people

Well we did set a 2 day time limit on questions so if you or anyone has one they want to ask the forum is open.

After which battle did the Japanese never win a single battle again?

Midway.........

What was the Gothic Line?

The Allies in Italy attacked the new German defensive line--the Gothic Line (Massa-Rimini fortifications). It was constructed by Kesselring in the Northern Appenines Mountains (August 1944). It was the most heavily fortified position the German prepared in Italy. After the fall of Rome (June 4, 1944), the Germans retired to this new defensive line, a heavily fortified belt some 16 km deep, extending from south of La Spezia on the west coast, through the Apuan mountains and the Apennine passes, and then down the Foglia valley to the Adriatic Sea between Pesaro and Cattolica.
source: http://www.histclo.com/essay/war/ww2...2i-gothic.html
and: http://members.tripod.com/~aries46/gemmoliv.htm

Bloody brilliant job tomtom22, your dead right

What is the Shaggy Ridge?