Strategy
The Great White Fleet
The visits of the Great White Fleet were a display of American goodwill. Everyone thought that, but 93 years later the Australian Government revealed doubts. The Great White Fleet was an impressive American convoy of 16 battleships plus escorts, staffed by 14,000 sailors, sent by President Theodore Roosevelt on a peaceful circumnavigation of the world in 1908–9. They visited 20…
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The Julius Caesar Plan
A camouflaged defensive position constructed in the north wall of Pevensey Castle, East Sussex, during the Second World War. One report states: ‘At the time of the construction of the defence works in the walls of Pevensey Castle, from late July 1940 through August and September, the infantry regiment at…
The U-boat War, the Baltic Sea, and Norway I
U-3008 (Type XXI U-Boat) at Wilhelmshaven, June 1945. Note the two type IX submarines to its left. U-3008 was one of only two type XXIs to make a wartime patrol The most likely reason why Hitler chose to defend Courland and other bridgeheads along the Baltic concerns the Atlantic Ocean…
The U-boat War, the Baltic Sea, and Norway II
A Beriev MBR-2 soviet floatplane bombing a German cargo ship. The Soviet Baltic Fleet Dönitz’s greatest fear was that the Soviet fleet would sail from Kronstadt into the Baltic and wreak havoc in U-boat testing and training areas. Until the fall of 1944 he could point to the importance of…
THE FALAISE POCKET AND THE DEEP ENCIRCLEMENT I
The Falaise Pocket All the senior German commanders were fully aware of the futility of renewing the offensive toward Avranches and of the mortal danger facing Seventh Army and Panzer Group Eberbach. They were equally aware of the pointlessness, even personal danger, of suggesting retreat to the Führer. Von Kluge…
THE FALAISE POCKET AND THE DEEP ENCIRCLEMENT II
First Canadian Army: Lieutenant General Crerar. Like Operation Bluecoat, Totalize achieved more than its predecessors in Normandy. II Canadian Corps drove a salient up to 15 km (9 miles) deep and 8 km (5 miles) wide into the German defense. In doing so, it reduced a fresh infantry division to…
THE FALAISE POCKET AND THE DEEP ENCIRCLEMENT III
Patton displayed greater operational vision than his army group commander. He was quick to recognize the error of committing too strong a force to Brittany in pursuit of the outdated Overlord plan. Instead, he (like Montgomery) envisaged a long envelopment to destroy the enemy on the Seine. He believed in…