HUNGARY ASKS TRUCE, BUT FASCISTS REBEL; CANADIANS NARROW POCKET ON SCHELDE (10/16/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 10/16/44 | John MacCormac, Gene Currivan, Hanson W. Baldwin, George Horne

[henkster]

Official damage report for USS Canberra:

http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/WarDamageReports/WarDamageReportCA70/WarDamageReportCA70.html

Official damage report for USS Houston:

http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/wardamagereportno53.htm

I'll repost tomorrow.

[fso301]

Given the number of American thigh bones broken by captured Japanese “knee” mortars, I wonder what the recoil is like from that new American 60mm mortar that can be fired like a rifle?

[PAR35]

Austria wasn’t a separate country - it was part of the Greater German Reich. Czechoslovakia was split into two parts (plus the areas absorbed into the Reich or Hungary. The Slovak state should be considered an ally. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was more occupied territory.The Italian Social Republic functioned until almost the end of the European war as an ally of the Fatherland.

[Squawk 8888]

To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.

Canada Ping!

[colorado tanker]

There is a lot of fiction in the piece on Rommel. Much of it comes from a propaganda piece Goebbels had published on Rommel that was never effectively retracted.

Rommel was retained in the post-WWI army. He was never a policeman or considered emigrating to America.

Despite his closeness with Hitler and Goebbels, Rommel was never a Nazi party member.

There is a lot out there about El Alamein, but the Cliff's version is that Rommel was at the end of a very extended supply line while Monty did what he does best, he took a very long time to stack his line with reinforcing units and supply stocks before launching his attack. Despite all the criticism we level at him, he really was a master of the set piece battle.

[PapaNew]

Monty was probably a good chess player.

[colorado tanker]

I’m not sure Monty had any hobbies, other than sticking needles in his voodoo doll of Georgie Patton.

[PapaNew]

Sounds like Monty was more analytical and, given the chance, could mount an effective attack as in North Africa, but was weaker in the spontaneous actions and decisions of the kind of aggressive warfare Patton waged.

Makes me think of Monty as more of a chess player while Patton was more of a Vince Lombardi.

[colorado tanker]

Yep.

Also relevant, I think, are their respective backgrounds. The Brits came close to being run out of Egypt. Rommel was very close to Alexandria. There was no room for error and caution was called for. Montgomery was also a divisional commander in the BEF whose unit was forced to the Dunkirk pocket and evacuated.

Patton's background was completely different, having steeped himself in the new mobile warfare doctrine built around the tank. With the resources America was sending into the war effort, he could also afford to take risks.

And, as you suggest, the two men had very different temperaments. Patton must be biting nails about now. He is bogged down in siege warfare in Metz and is being held back by the seemingly intractable supply problem.