March 2021 Military History Group U3A Dorking Newsletter ...

[Pages:30]March 2021 Military History Group

U3A Dorking

Newsletter Number 9

Meetings via Zoom during Pandemic

Any contributions to the newsletter are very welcome and should be sent to Robert Bartlett at 938at938@

Contents

Barrie Friend U3A MHG Convener

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Mike Fox U3A National Subject Advisor Military History

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The Defence of Britain against the German Invasion 1939/41

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Discovering a World War One Tunnel

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The British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany

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Book Review ? He Who Dares

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From Barrie Friend Dorking U3A MHG convener

Parish Notes

Fellow enthusiasts

Welcome to our April Newsletter

We welcomed another large audience of over fifty for our April talk on The Defence of Britain against the German Invasion 1940/41 which was followed by a lively discussion. The talk is available on our YouTube site accessible through Dorking and District u3a website. Look for the Military History tab and by clicking it you will find not only the April talk but all the previous ones delivered through lockdown along with back editions of our Newsletter. Our next talk will be on Tuesday May 4th at 1030 on Zoom. The link is in this Newsletter. It will be delivered by guest speaker, Mike Fox, U3A Military History Group National Advisor. I do hope that you will support him well with your attendance.

His topic is The French Army at The Battle of Waterloo, 1915. The story of the actions and success of the allied army, led by Wellington, may be well known to many of us. Mike will explain the actions of the French giving rise to Wellington's comment that the battle was `nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.'

We are firming up our plans to meet in Brockham cricket pavilion when safe to do so. George and Jim will be visiting to ensure that we can place the chairs at safe distances (if required) and check 4G connectivity should we wish to incorporate Zoom into the early meetings. We hope that all our Zoom lockdown attendees will join the talks when face to face. Easy free parking, good, interesting company, coffee and rumours of doughnuts on the first meeting. Several members have mentioned our making a visit(s) to local sites of military interest when safe to do so. We'll take further soundings of the group on this idea.

Topic: MHG Zoom Meeting (Barrie Friend) Time: May 4, 2021 10:30 AM London Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 915 4145 1006 Passcode: 762657 Meeting ID: 915 4145 1006

Mike Fox U3A National Subject Advisor Military History

I am indebted to Chris Sayer of Newbury U3A for a number of suggestions as follows ? for your convenience I have added web addresses to his original material. I should note that there are charges to view some of the talks.

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The Museum of Army Flying (the AAC) at Middle Wallop are still producing lockdown talks on a range of subjects, the most recent being on the anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire. They have an archive which people can delve into to see all the talks that they've held during the last year.

The Tank Museum at Bovington also continues to produce its Tank Chats, well worth it for an introduction to the background to vehicles, rather than the technical details of the vehicles themselves.

The German Tank Museum has also just restarted an English-language series of a similar nature which are also well-worth a look at. For those with a more in-depth bent then I'd go for the Chieftain's Hatch which is far more technical and requires some background knowledge about the vehicles themselves.

For more modern aspects then 'The Operations Room' series of animations on You Tube offers short but extremely well-done videos, mostly based on WW2 or post-WW2 events.

Finally, for those with the stamina then you can't beat a You Tube channel known as 'TIK Battlestorm'. TIK produces two types of videos. There are his trademark series on major battles of WW2 that are truly in-depth - I'd recommend those on Operation Crusader, the Courland battles and his current series on Stalingrad. Each episode on these battles normally last about 40-45 minutes and normally covers just one day or so of the main battle, so for example the current Stalingrad series is just at the point where the Germans have entered the city itself and it's probably taken 10 or so hours of videos to get there. However, in addition to these series TIK also produces shorter 20?40 minute videos on a range of other WW2 subjects, often with an economic or political slant, that are well worth a look. He is not everybody's cup of tea but he puts up some interesting arguments that can set your mind thinking.

Now I have a particular interest in naval affairs but haven't found too many channels online that meet a similar need, the closest is one on You Tube by Drachinfels, so if anyone else can come up with something interesting I'd be glad to hear it.

Summary of Zoom Talk April 6 Barry Friend

The Defence of Britain against the German Invasion 1939/41

When France fell in May 1940 and Operation Dynamo resulted in 338,000 servicemen returning to Britain, the fear of a German seaborne invasion preceded by airborne troops in

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capturing our airfields and ports was at a high. The awareness of plans for Operation Sea Lion July reaffirmed the need for increasing the defence of Britain. In October 1939, prime Minister Churchill demanded that plans were formulated for the protection of Britain appointing General Kirke as Commander in Chief Home Forces. He inherited a situation where since the end of The Great War and the Great Depression our resources had been very limited for the development of our regular army, materiel and Territorial Force. Very little was in place for home defence.

Kirke's Julius Caesar Plan was criticised in May 1940 for its lack of soundness of the defence of the shores and tardiness of getting the troops to German invasion sites. After seven months in the role, he retired on 26th May 1940. His replacement, General Sir Edmund `Tiny' Ironside lasted as C in C Home Forces for an even shorter period - just seven weeks.

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In this period, he formulated a `static' defensive strategy which established a coastal defended `crust' with structures inland to hinder German advance towards `GHQ Anti-Tank Line' inland from the east coast, skirting the south of London and continuing west to Bristol. `Pill box mania' followed in which 150,000 workmen and all the construction machinery in the country were employed in building 20,000 pill boxes along with numerous anti-tank concrete `pimples'/dragons' teeth. Ironside too was criticised for too weak coastal defences which would allow the Germans to gain a foothold, and the concern that it would take too long for the British defence forces to reach the advancing German troops.

His successor in June 1940, General Sir Alan Brooke, changed the strategy to one of `mobile offensive' in which large groups of troops would be stationed in such a way that they could rapidly be directed to the sites of German landings.

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The GHQ Line would not be used as a primary defence and the Germans should be halted on the invasion beaches. These were strengthened and supported by the local Home Guard and regular troops with brigade and divisional troops in close proximity as mobile forces. A million more troops would also be stationed in the Reigate, Hertfordshire and Cambridge areas to act as back up mobile forces for the south, south east, London and east coast. The Home Guard was expected to `fight to the last round and the last man' on the beaches and inland should the Germans break through. General Montgomery supported this mobile offensive strategy requesting buses to take his men

to the necessary sites of action, no doubt recalling his time twenty-five years earlier when the red London buses were employed in Flanders to move troops to the front line. Between the coast and GHQ Line would be `nodal points' - strongly locally defended anti-tank `islands,' 'fortress' towns and villages on major roads. Some of these would be on the GHQ line. Mobile forces would support the local defenders of these areas.

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The numbers of defensive structures in the various areas of southern England are shown in 8

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