Germany couldn't have captured Suez

 Arrogance be thy downfall

The main problem for Germany

The allies fear that the Afrika Korps, under Erwin Rommel, would capture the Suez Canal, was caused by someone hitting the panic button, without seeing the full picture, typical of British Intelligene in WW2.

Hitler, and his staff knew, and told Rommel, his plan to cross Egypt to capture the canal was doomed to fail. Other than the Korps had a dwindling fuel supply, raid by the Royal Air Force based in Malta, and Cyprus kept the Germans on the backfoot.

Montgomery didn't defeat the Germans at El Alamein, he did what he was told to do, not lose the battle. His phrase, "We won't be pushed back anymore," said it all. It wasn't an offensive tactic, it was we'll dig in, and let them drain their supplies.

Hitler's general staff knew, the longer Rommel pushed forward, the more opportunity he had of being cut off, and running out of supplies.

Montgomery or Patton?

 Who was better?

Patton gets my vote

Putting my my Pro-USA stance, in a discussion over who was the better general, Montgomery or Patton, Patton get my vote. WW2 could have been shortened, if the Allies had backed Patton in his plan to hit the Ruhr, instead of fighting to capture Berlin before Russia.

The Reich was on its knees, going for Berlin was a political plan, not a military operation, which is why I favor Patton, he was a soldier, he'd fought through Italy. Montgomery had stopped the Afrika Korps at El Alamein, an operation by the Australian Army is overlookked during that event, an event which was pivotal in stopping Rommel.

Rommel was working against orders from his superiors during the attacks, they knew the closer he got to Egypt, the greater the risk of losing what he'd gained, from over-extended supply lines, the thing that halted the attacks on Russia, as much as the winters

Market Garden was doomed

 The Arrogance of British Intelligence

A Flawed plan

Many historians use the term A Bridge too far to explain the downfall of Operation Market Garden, it is only partially the truth.

The failure of the plan runs deeper than the failure to take the bridge at Arnhem.

The core of the problem was the arrogance of Britirsh Intelligence not to trust the various resistance groups in Europe. From the outset, this was obvious, a Royal Air Force Spitfire, flew a reconnaissance flight over the land XXX Corps tanks were going to travel, the photos showed several gun emplacements, rather than halt the plan, another plane was sent to verify the photos, naturally, they guns were now hidden.

Now, you had the gunners dream, slow moving targets, no room to manouver, and plenty of cover. Hit the front tank, then the back, and take your time.

Ignoring that flaw, the basic logistics of movement were beyond the capability of what was moving, tanks move at a walking pace, going from Normandy to Germany would have been for a jeep to complete, in three days, and here you're expecting tanks to do the job. If the bridges hadn't been blown, the task would have been beyond XXX Corps.

At Arnhem, the Dutch Resistance told British Intelligence, they were NOT fighting old me, young boys, and worn out tanks, but crack Panzer battalions.

Paratroops are good for a quick strike like Mitla Pass, in the Sinai, but they need support ASAP, they fight with what they carry. That is something Adolf Hitler realised after Crete, yet Winston Churchill formed parachute divisions

Breaker Morant - the unseen life.

 The Boer Wars

A life of Crime

The popular view of Harold "breaker" Morant is coloured by his invented history, and the 1980 movie by Bruce Beresford, starring Edward Woodward. 

According to Morant, he was the illegitimate son of a lord, a claim the lord denied vehemntly. His father ran a workhouse in Devon, England.

Morant was a serial bigamist with several wives. He had massive debts from gambling, and joined the British Army to escape debtors prison.

In some ways, he was a scapegoat, his execution kept Germany out of the Boer Wars, wars the British were losing. But, before you feel sorry for him, he was responsible for the deaths of EIGHT Boer prisoners, a nuetral German priest, who was going to report the killings, and an innocent Black boy, who happened across the murders. So, he was responsible for the actions which lead to his execution, even if the trial was only a show trial                                               

Folk Hero or War Criminal?

 Breaker Morant

A scapegoat

Sometimes, the line between war hero and criminal, is settled by who wins the war, not so with the case for Breaker Morant during the Boer Wars.

I watched on Netflix a series from Serbia about a newspaper, and the battles an editor faces, during the Serbo - Croat war, the man was a hero for the Serbians, but when the Croatians took over, he became a reviled criminal on the run. 

The case against Morant was clear as glass, he did commit war crimes, he admitted it. His defence rested on his assertion he was following verbal orders, no written orders have been found.

What were his crimes?

A few days prior to the events which lead to his trial, a bothched raid lead by his friend, Captain Simon Hunt ended with Hunt's men being killed during a raid on a supposed Boer position. News, not only of the killings, but of Hunt's body being dismemberred shook Morant, to the extent, without official orders he ordered the deaths of EIGHT Boer prisoners.

This lead to a raid on the camp by the Boers, in which Morant and Lt. Peter Hancock fought valiantly. The problem was the unlawful killing of the Boers had been witnessed by a German priest, who had to be silenced, along with a coloured rider who saw the incident. Morant had now ordered the deaths of two innocent people to protect his actions.

The trial was a farce, there is no doubt Morant was guilty, but his lawyer was a civillian, who until the night before knew nothing of the case. Morant was a scapegoat, the government didn't want to drag Germany into a conflict they were already losing. It would have caused a royal scandal, Queen Victoria had stong links to the throne of Germany

Hidden Gold

 Pol Pot

                                              The Marcos Regime

It is every explorer's dream to come across hidden gold, before you start to explore, you need to study the politics of the region as much as the geography.

Two cases come to my mind, first, there was a YouTube documentary about an expedition to find Yamamoto's hidden gold. Reputedly, this was a stash of immense wealth hidden by the Japanese at the end of WW2, in the Philippines, yes, the hme of Imelda Marcos, and her MASSIVE shoe collection. Everything went to plan, until the day before the crew were going to breakthough as area they thought was the hiding place, they got "buzzed" by an army helicopter.

The other place was in Laos, where a team had to be rescued this week. For decades Cambodia, as it was known in the 70's, was the home of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, this group massacred thousands of their own people, watch the movie "The Killing Fields,"

What amazed me is I was chatting to a writer in the USA, he told me they didn't realize the KR were communists, how? Even basic French tells you Rogue means Red. I was both amazed to read that, and stunned.

Pot had the country in his pocket all the time, regimes need money to fund them.

Hot sex

 Fuck in Hell

A Sailor's Love

It is unsettling to know, we are not at the longest day of the year, and already I have the heating and lights on in the house, Lord help us for later on.

I don't know when the heatwave the forecast is going to happen?

There is a pattern for the weather forecast to predict a heatwave, these days two days without rain is classed as a heatwave. I recall summers when it was so hot the rain was like being in a warm shower, and the tar on the roads melted. That is a heatwave