Winston Churchill. The Second World War
Blitzkrieg
When Germany invaded Holland and Belgium on May 10, 1940 and ended the "strange war", the French and British had more soldiers and more tanks... But this did not stop the Germans: they were more competent militarily, efficient and coordinated in the conduct of modern warfare.
During this, Churchill himself crossed the English Channel to personally command the troops on the continent. Churchill seemed to think armies were like chess pieces that could be moved back and forth at will, while the enemy would patiently wait for their turn to move.
The result of his command was the evacuation from Dunkirk.
But Churchill did not yet realize the scale of the Allied defeat. He once again decided to launch another military operation in France, under the command of General Sir Alan Brooke. He ordered 52nd Division, Lowland Scottish Territorial Division, and 1 Canadian Division, in reserve in England, to travel to Cherbourg.
When Sir Alan Brooke arrived in France, he confirmed what he already suspected: the French army had collapsed. Brooke ordered all British personnel remaining in France to travel to nearby unoccupied ports, where the remnants of British and Allied forces were rescued by the Royal fleet.
Throw children into the fire
In the years leading up to World War II, Jews were severely persecuted not only in Nazi Germany, but also in Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Romania. To the eternal shame of Britain, America and other so-called civilized countries of the West, little was done to help the victims of this, but as if that were not enough, Churchill decided to go even better. He gathered all the Germans living in Great Britain, most of whom were Jews who had fled Germany, and threw them in prison. Some were deported to Canada, where they were also imprisoned.
Meanwhile, the Battle of France was quickly followed by the Battle of Britain, which was a conflict between the air forces of England and Germany.
While the German army was superior to the British, their air force was quite inferior to the British. The Spitfire and Hurricane were technically superior and more maneuverable than the Messerschmitt 110. The British also had the advantage of radar, which meant they couldn't be caught off guard. The Royal Air Force won the Battle of Britain, which was inevitably followed by the bombing of Germany.
The front line was all over the place during World War II. A mother and child sleeping at home are as likely to be killed by the enemy as a soldier in battle.
During one raid on Coventry, Churchill knew in advance when the raid would take place, but refused to send fighters to intercept German bombers, explaining that he did not want the Germans to know that Britain had broken the Enigma code. Therefore, he allowed the Luftwaffe to unleash death and destruction on the citizens of Coventry when he had the opportunity to take fighters into the air to destroy them in the sky. It is more likely that he sacrificed the citizens of Coventry in the hopes that this would drag America into the war. Three months earlier, he had in fact expressed great annoyance that the Germans had not bombed Coventry, explaining to Charles De Gaulle:
"You see, the bombing of Oxford, Coventry and Canterbury will cause such a wave of outrage that the United States will go to war!"
War in North Africa
The Italian forces occupying Libya were driven hundreds of miles west along the coast of North Africa all the way to Tripoli in an army half the size but much better organized. 110 prisoners were taken, including a couple of dozen generals and one admiral, as well as hundreds of tanks and guns. Simultaneously, the Italian army in East Africa was defeated, and Somaliland, Eritrea and Abyssinia were liberated from Italian occupation. From a military point of view, it was a feat of planning and operation worthy of the highest praise, but all Churchill could do was whine and whine about the high ratio of maintenance / logistics to real combatants. He was too stupid to understand that in modern warfare, infantry, gunners and tankers could only function effectively if they were properly provided with transport, food, ammunition, communications and all the other necessary elements of a well-oiled military machine; in fact, the absence of all of this contributed greatly to the collapse of Mussolini's army.
Things were going badly for Hitler's ally, and although he was not interested in North Africa, he reinforced the Italian army in what became known as the Afrika Korps, whose first units arrived in February 1941. The commander of this corps was Erwin Rommel, the legendary "fox of the desert."
The British military was aware of the German reinforcements, but all generals were confident that Rommel would not be ready to take action until May or June, which would give ample time for the reorganization of British and Commonwealth forces. Likewise, the German command was not interested in Rommel's campaign in North Africa and more or less ordered him to take limited action to capture Tobruk in the fall. Both his enemies and his own side greatly underestimated Erwin Rommel.
Rommel attacked and captured El-Aghelia, then a week later captured Mersa el-Brega, then on April 2 he was in Agadabiya. In just 10 days, British troops were pushed back 80 kilometers. The next evening he took the port of Benghazi. Rommel's success continued, much to the annoyance of Berlin, where he was only expected to "fulfill the formalities" to help the Italians.
On May 15, the British were able to regain some positions, but were thrown back two days later. By June, the British were at the borders of Egypt.
The British command in Africa wanted, in the right military strategy, to consolidate superiority in tanks and air forces and train troops for desert warfare, which would have taken about three months before launching a counteroffensive. But Churchill was adamant that a counteroffensive should be launched immediately. Reluctantly, the British launched Operation Battle Ax, which failed.
Battle of Egypt
Churchill could not comprehend the foundations of modern warfare; Not only did he fail to understand that every soldier, sailor, and pilot fighting on the front lines needed proper logistics, he also failed to understand that they must be trained and fully briefed before any large-scale operation. Throw a soldier on an important military target without careful preparation and you will waste them in vain.
And so this dangerous dilettante continued to make mistakes. The next general to fall victim to Churchill's folly was General Sir Claude Auchinleck, who took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East on July 4, 1941. With Germany invading Russia just twelve days ago, it was clear that all of its military resources would be concentrated on the Eastern Front, giving the British plenty of time to build the Eighth Army and train officers and men for joint operations in the desert war. That was Auchinleck's opinion, and all parties concerned agreed with him, everyone except Churchill. Churchill overturned the decision of the Chiefs of Staff and ordered Auchinleck to launch an offensive against Rommel as soon as possible, thereby launching Operation Crusader.
Another object of Churchill's intervention in North Africa was Marshal aviation Sir Arthur Tedder, Air Force Commander for the Middle East. In his ignorance, Churchill decided that the Royal Air Force was too numerous and reduced their numbers. This led to an altercation with Tedder, whom he would have fired had it not been for the fact that his Air Force Chief of Staff Sir Charles Portal would otherwise have resigned.
Operation Crusader was a partial success; Rommel's outnumbered forces were forced to retreat, and Tobruk was repulsed.
This did not satisfy Churchill; he expected much more.
In January 1942, Rommel received several badly needed tank and armored car units, as well as a large supply of fuel; he wasted no time in preparing a counterstrike. His panzer army launched an offensive on 21 January and four days later advanced 112 kilometers, defeating the 1st Panzer Division and capturing ninety-six tanks, numerous guns and other vehicles. By February 4, he had recaptured the important port of Benghazi. The smug British and Commonwealth forces were thrown into panic.
Rommel's advance continued, and British forces were driven back to El Alamein, where Auchinleck's defensive line was able to hold off the Germans. This offensive by Rommel, which forced the forces of Great Britain and the Commonwealth to retreat many hundreds of kilometers, earned him a promotion to field marshal, and Auchinleck a dismissal.
The main reason Auchinleck was fired was because he said he would not be able to launch an offensive near El Alamein before September; Churchill wanted an offensive much earlier. But he was wrong if he thought he could prompt British commanders in Africa to act early. Montgomery, for example, flatly refused to budge until his forces were fully reinforced and supplied.
As a result, when the British forces were strengthened and a major offensive began, Rommel's troops were defeated.
El Alamein was trumpeted as a great victory, but in reality it was only a minor battle for World War II, especially when compared to Kursk. But it earned Montgomery a knighthood, while Auchinleck was not even given credit for the fact that the attack plan that Montgomery had carried out was his. And Montgomery himself did not advertise the fact that he used Auchinleck's work, because, like Churchill, he was a vain and arrogant seeker of fame. In addition, he also resembled Churchill in the sense that he was nowhere near as good a soldier as he thought he was.
Overlord
Montgomery pursued Rommel with the speed of a snail, and only in May 1942 did the campaign in North Africa finally come to an end, and with it the figure of Winston Churchill began to fade into the background. Now the US was at war in Europe, and Uncle Sam did not want to listen to Churchill or anyone else.
While fierce battles were going on in Sicily and Italy, a plan was created for Operation Overlord - an invasion of Normandy. Churchill wanted Sir Alan Brooke to be the Allied Supreme Commander, but the Americans, with good reason, decided that since they would ultimately supply most of the men and materials, an American, General Eisenhower, would take the post. Montgomery was promoted to Commander of the Ground Forces.
The start of the operation was scheduled for June 1944, and the Allies had to make tremendous efforts to build landing ships, train people and collect everything. weapon, aircraft and equipment.
By that time, it was becoming more and more obvious that if the Allies did not soon establish themselves on the continent, the unstoppable Red Army would sweep away Hitler's armies all the way to the English Channel. The very idea that this could happen became an obsession for Churchill. At one point, he suggested that Allied soldiers be parachuted into East Germany to avoid Soviet capture of the region. The American command abandoned such an abstruse idea.
- Vladimir Zyryanov
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