'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 12, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

Another great post Mike, Truscott sounds like a pretty decent general!

Great story Mike, I couldn't help but chuckle about Colonel Hillsinger's lovely boots while at the same time feeling sorry for the loss of his foot.

I reckon it should be quite an interesting account Mike, however I have no idea when I may get around to actually reading it :)

Picked up a copy of this book today at a remainder book shop; "Hellfire Boys: The Birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Race for the World's Deadliest Weapons" by Theo Emery.

Hellfire Boys: The Birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Race for the World's Deadliest Weapons by Theo Emery

Indeed Mike!

"Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein" - A bit more information of interest on those early battles at El Alamein:

"Throughout these attacks and counterattacks since 10 July, the infantry of Eighth Army had fought with the support of their artillery. Every artillery battery had fired thousands of rounds, often on successive days. For example, 2/12 Australian Field Regiment fired 2,236 rounds on 10 July and 2,164 rounds on 14 July with 'normal rate' expenditure on the less demanding days. The constant demands for fire support had called for 'superhuman efforts' from the gunners, and they never failed to lay down the fire needed.

Although the Axis soldiers facing the Eighth Army believed that, compared with their straitened circumstances, the British had inexhaustible supplies of ammunition, in fact the vast expenditure of 25-pounder ammunition was causing a crisis for the quartermasters of Eighth Army. Without the liberal use of its now concentrated artillery fire Eighth Army would not be able to continue its defence or mount an offensive.

While Auchinleck admitted to Brooke late in July that 'we are using a terrible amount of 25 pdr ammo but that cannot be helped' that was not the view of the quartermasters who had to satisfy the voracious needs of Eighth Army. By 12 July 30 Corps were estimating a daily expenditure of 41,000 rounds of 25-pounder ammunition which represented 100 rounds per gun per day. Had this rate of expenditure continued, the entire stock of 25-pounder ammunition held in the Middle East would have been consumed in 10 or 11 days. By 14 July a memo had to be issued on ammunition expenditure that warned:

'In view of the losses of stocks of ammunition of all natures between GAZALA and ALAMEIN and the heavy expenditure during operations, it is of the utmost importance that sniping and indiscriminate shooting at unimportant or ill-defined targets should be rigorously controlled.'

In future, it was proposed to limit despatches to Eighth Army to just 15,000 rounds of 25-pounder ammunition each day which was completely inadequate for the demand. The problem was that on 15 July there were only 197,379 rounds in Egypt with another 418,000 en route from Palestine. Another 512,000 rounds were on their way by sea but would not reach Suez until later in the month. Shortages of small-arms ammunition, including the Besa machine gun fitted in British tanks and the Thompson submachine gun, were even more acute. This aspect of the July fighting has been overlooked; the Eighth Army simply did not have the reserves of ammunition, let alone the troops, to mount a sustained attempt to break the Panzerarmee."

25 pounder Field Gun Mk 2 gun, Q.F.:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C24...

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...

Some good books there Mike, thanks for the notifications!

Lawrence Myers wrote: "A productive week here, picked up the following:

"The Germans In Normandy" by Richard Hargreaves

"Hill 112: The Key To Defeating Hitler In Normandy"
by Tim Saunders

"No Holding Back: Operation ..."

Nice set of books to keep you busy for a while!

Great news, thanks for that link MR9!

"Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein" - Another story about the British retreat to the El Alamein line:

"Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Richardson was sent to find out how Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie planned to hold the Alamein position. Norrie had been sent back with 30 Corps Headquarters to prepare the Alamein defences in the short time available. Richarson arrived at Norrie's headquarters and spoke to him: 'Alamein position?' said Norrie. 'There isn't any position. We need sixteen divisions to hold this line.' Norrie had every reason to be pessimistic. The reports of journalists, on the contrary, were unreasonably optimistic. This caused a predictable reaction amongst the troops:

When the Riflemen heard the suave voice of the BBC announcer reporting that the Eight Army had reached the Alamein 'Line', they looked around at the empty desert, indistinguishable from the miles of sand to east and west, and commented only as Riflemen can.

There was no 'line' at Alamein on 1 July, only a widely scattered series of boxes."

Pendulum of War: Three Battles at El Alamein by Niall J.A. Barr

Good recommendation Lee in regard to "Eisenhower's Lieutenants" by Russell Weigley. I still have a copy of that book to read!

Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign Of France And Germany, 1944-1945 by Russell F. Weigley

It was indeed MR9, but still a lifesaver for the Eighth Army.

"Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein" - Some interesting information on the American supplied M3 Grant tank to the Eighth Army:

"However, the very speed of the M3 programme led to real difficulties for the Eighth Army in attempting to use, modify and repair American tanks thousands of miles from the factories producing them. Even before the Grant went into action, British ordnance experts had discovered numerous flaws in it. Perhaps the most important was that the American M72 armour-piercing shell fired by the Grant's 75mm gun was little use against German armour. The archaic steel shot simply shattered against German face-hardened plate armour. British ordnance experts hit upon an ingenious solution to give the Grant's main gun a much better performance. The British had captured large stocks of German 75mm armour-piercing rounds, and these were used to 'cap' the American explosive charge. It was found that these composite rounds fitted perfectly, and, thanks to the hardened German steel projectile, gave very good penetration results against German armour plate. Thus, ironically, the Grant tanks that went into action at Gazala in May 1942 were firing British designed composite German/American ammunition from an American modification of a French gun. Unfortunately, during the retreat from Gazala, the large stocks of composite ammunition, which had absorbed much time and effort in their production, were captured. This meant that the Grant tanks in action at Alamein were forced to use the much inferior American ammunition, which limited their combat effectiveness."

Also of note:

" ... Yet it was not for nothing that the officers and men who crewed the Grant tanks called them 'ELH', or 'Egypt's Last Hope'."

Detailed article on the Grant Tank (including details of the modified 75mm shells used):
https://warspot.net/466-lee-and-grant...

Darya Silman wrote: "
The Reckoning: The Final Defeat of Army Group South, 1944 by Prit Buttar. I bought a..."

Excellent purchase Darya, enjoy!

I'd go with Marc's recommendation.

I hope you enjoy it BA, keep us all posted.

"Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein" - The author mentioned the large loss of supplies and vehicles during the British retreat to the El Alamein line:

"Estimates suggest as many as 782,403 shells and 12,827,000 rounds of small arms ammunition were destroyed, lost or captured during the retreat. When the Eighth Army reached the Alamein line, it had been bled almost dry of the supplies and ammunition it would need to fight a further battle."

Pendulum of War: Three Battles at El Alamein by Niall J.A. Barr

Great story Dj! :)

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "Air Assault. ---- "Unlike the 1st (US) Cavalry Division developing massed helicopter assault in Vietnam, Walker was determined that helicopters must be used in direct support of ground operations, ..."

Excellent post, very interesting indeed!

Hi Darya, I don't read any ARCs from Netgalley, I usually have to buy a copy once it published :(