Posted on 12/27/2008 6:44:15 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
He said the hardest thing to live with in his life was the lie told to these young naive boys that the Shermans could go up against the German Panzers.
I used to know a gentleman in my church who had been a tank driver in the North Africa campaign.
He said that everybody knew it was a lie even then.
"Large numbers of tanks will be needed, and their losses may be expected to be high, but losses in tanks probably will, to a very large extent, replace losses in manpower. . . ."
Perhaps Major Christmas thinks tanks are controlled remotely.
Also on this thread:
The war in China goes on and on. Ambassador Grew protests to the Japanese over American property being bombed.
The war in Spain is actually about to enter its final phase, as Franco's forces gain momentum and the Loyalist area of control shrinks.
In sports, Georgia Tech travels to Berkeley for a scheduled non-conference game and boxers are rated for 1938 accomplishements.
In 1938, the analysis was accurate. Even in 1939, the French tanks were superior to the German tanks.
However, the German army had a much better idea on how to use tanks than anyone else, and far superior designers.
FYI- Schmeling became a German paratrooper.
“Did you tell Oddball about the Tigers?”
Japan expected the capture of Hankow and Canton to seal victory at last. With a million men now on the mainland, and desperate to find some end to the war, she made one more effort to force China into a settlement. A New Order for East Asia based on an anti-Communist bloc of Japan, China and Manchukuo was announced and the Chinese Government invited to join on condition of repudiating its anti-Japanese past and "reforming its personnel." Now that Japan had control of China's ports, railroads and major cities and of north China, the Shantung peninsula, the Yangtze valley and the southern coast, the Japanese believed the Kuomintang would have to capitulate. To negotiate the settlement they had won over no less an emissary than Wang Ching-wei, Vice-President of the Kuomintang, who along with others had come to believe the Nationalist cause was lost. Partly motivated by old resentment of Chiang Kai-shek and ambition to succeed him even as a collaborationist, Wang was ready to accept the necessity of Japan as a new ruling dynasty.
For Chiang no acceptable future was possible if he submitted. He remained, as always, impervious to the buffeting of events. Nothing ever changed him. He was welded to the belief that China would outlast Japan and that history must bring him foreign allies. Loosely organized and agrarian, China could sustain herself, even though isolated, in the far west— at what reduced level or cost in suffering did not matter. A slender egress by road into Burma, hacked out of the mountains by hand labor, had just been opened. Chiang would hold out in Chungking beyond the enemy's reach until Japan ultimately clashed with Russia or the Western powers. He rejected all terms.
On the failure of Wang's mission in December 1938 the situation congealed. Japan reaffirmed inclusion of occupied China in the New Order and her resolve to "exterminate" the Kuomintang Government which "no longer exists except as a mere local regime." Chiang Kai-shek publicly reaffirmed on December 26 the resolve to maintain China's independence. Except for local punitive campaigns, military advance came to a stop; Japan had no appetite to go further. The war was left unfinished, the million men remained. In 1940 a puppet government under Wang Ching-wei was installed at Nanking but as long as independent China continued to exist and resist, the occupation troops could not be withdrawn.
Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
Max Schmeling was still considered a hero in Germany, despite his loss in the ring. He later participated in the invasion of Crete, and was thought killed in action at one point, although he survived those wounds.
As for Public National Bank - it appears that it was acquired by Banker’s Trust in 1955. At the time Public was said to have the 4th largest branch network in NYC. Bankers became part of Deutsche Bank in 1932.
It didn't help matters that they were fueled by gasoline rather than diesel, thus having a propensity to explode in a ball of fire when hit.
Tanks in 1938? We had crap, I seem to recall Jeb Stewarts, not Shermans at the maneuvers upstate NY. (In pictures taken at the time.) Once the auto industry took over production, we produced the Shermans. (Nicknamed “The Ronson Lighter”) Our designers came up with some really neat prototypes to take on the Tigers, but by the time they were ready, it was over, over there. The Grant used in the Africa campaign was a monstrosity, a tank only Bogart would love. What beat the German tanks was our tank production lines, not the quality,the quantity. The Russians had the best tank, it was fast, maneuverable, simple to drive and quickly produced. They too had the benefit of having a production line capable of quickly replacing their losses along with a transportation network. One on one the Germans had the better tank, but against 15 to 1 it was a losing battle.
He was right, too. That he was unable to retain power after the war was somewhat unexpected and didn't really have much to do with whether his strategy against the Japs was effective.
Yes, in 1938, the French and Germans clearly had better tanks than the Americans. Even the Czech machines were better.
—He said the hardest thing to live with in his life was the lie told to these young naive boys that the Shermans could go up against the German Panzers. —
Explains why the Jerries used to call Shermans “Tommy Cookers.”*
*Tommy was WW1-2 slang for British soldier.
It was fortunate that Patton figured out how to use sheer numbers and better maneuvers against a better tank.
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