The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [309]
[219] The USSR occupied Poland after WWII and covered up their murders of the Poles until the fall of the USSR in 1989-1991.
[220] By mining the coastal waters, the English would force ships out of neutral waters into the North Sea where the Royal Navy could intercept them.
[221] They were using motorcycle messengers, just as they did in World War I.
[222] Just another very bad decision by the Fuehrer. Why he gave the order is unknown. Lots of speculation, but no one knows because he did not write it down or tell anyone that a historian could trust. He left a will and Mien Kampf but no diary as such.
[223] Royal Air Force
[224] Vichy France named for its capital city.
[225] ON WAR, 1833. Clausewitz’s book was the primer on war and its execution—at least prior to 1970. Some today argue it is out of date, others think it is still relevant and anyone ignoring its precepts is going to face hardships or outright defeat. I think it is still THE primer on war.
[226] Killed in Action
[227] In fact, they would have sailed in without any air support if necessary (my opinion)
[228] I know others, even German generals, have said otherwise; but I still hold my opinion. Also, remember logistics. How could the Nazis get supplies to their troops once they were on the beach? The British navy could easily have cut the sea supply line through night actions alone.
[229] Most of the material in this section comes from: Hitler’s U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942, by Clay Blair, Modern Library, 2000; and Memoirs, by Carl Doenitz, Da Capo Press, 1997 . . . note the author of this book.
[230] One-third at sea, one-third in transit, and one-third in for repair and resupply. SEE DONITZ, Memoirs.
[231] Similar ship construction was accomplished in WWI as well.
[232] Seventeen knots underwater speed which was faster than the Type VII surface speed.
[233] The designer of the AK-47( Kalashnikov ) denies he took the design from the German model; however, he does admit the idea came from the German gun. In my opinion, looking at both weapons, they are very similar. The Panzerfast was another German weapon, and was developed into the RPG (rocket propelled grenade) that is widely used and extremely deadly.
[234] The Sherman does get an undeserved bad reputation because people do not understand it was not supposed to fight other tanks. The tank destroyer was designed for that task. In pre-war doctrine, the Sherman would punch a hole into the enemy infantry line (trenches and the like), the Germans would then counterattack with tanks. The tank destroyer was to move in and deal with the counterattack. After the tank destroyer defeated the counterattack, then the Sherman would be on its way once more and exploit the breakthrough. These pre-war ideas were brought into Europe in 1944, and, unfortunately for the US and UK, the Sherman was often forced into tank to tank combat with superior German tanks.
[235] Suicide attacks in which the pilot stays with the aircraft and rams it into the target. In essence, this is a (man) guided missile.
[236] The Third Reich in Power, Evans, 2005, Penguin Books. Section 4: pages 352-454, esp pages 410-411.
[237] Remember Kesselring from the Battle of Britain? He was one of the Luftwaffe team who designed the assault on RAF airfields that nearly succeeded.
[238] For a while, the Germans did have critical information on convoy sailings through insurance companies in Switzerland that kept records of the sailings
[239] The Suez Canal allowed the transport of oil, men, and material to and from India (the key British colony), Iran, and Australia. Closing it would mean the ships carrying these key supplies would have to round Africa to reach England. This voyage would be longer, use more fuel, and expose the ships to German attacks for a longer time.