Post by Diarist on Feb 9, 2015 9:03:11 GMT 1
The latest from Munich is that Eva Braun was poisoned and that her death is now a murder investigation. Are the SS the prime suspect? Who else could close enough to her? Anyone willing to bet that whoever they arrest will be a Jew, a communist or some other enemy of the Reich?
Good news from our Purchasing Commission in Washington. Two Wright R-975 radial engines and 250 M1928 Thompson SMG's have been shipped to England and should arrive in a couple of weeks. The engines are built under license by Continental Motors and are intended for our next Cruiser tank while the Thompsons will be issued to the Parachute Company for evaluation. I can't wait to get my hands on one of them.
After dinner last night Guy Simonds told me that he and George Patton will be meeting at his house and suggested that I join them. I accepted the invitation and said I'll try to bring one of the French guys along. Charles de Gaulle was still at the HQ so I asked him. We discussed the huge scale of the Italian troop movements to East Africa, way more than we were sending. We don't even know if our shipments influence theirs at all. They could have originally planned these numbers. So we are going to recommend sending an extra Brigade Group to both Egypt and Sudan while the French add another Division to their forces in Tunisia and an extra Battalion to Djibouti along with a couple more squadrons to each area. An extra Naval Task Force with 1 or 2 battleships should be sent to the Western Mediterranean in order to encourage the Italians to remain there. Let's see what happens because unless they have a magic wand to conjure up new divisions and aircraft, Italy will be very weakly defended on the ground and in the air.
Admiral Muselier would get us a list of Italian naval yards and airfields while Louis Mountbatten and I would investigate which battleships and RAF squadrons would be available in autumn if required.
Charles de Gaulle told us that there is the 25th Motorized Division being formed in Clermont-Ferrand near to Lyon. It could have its motorisation accelerated and moved to Marseille as if it were being prepared for shipment overseas. Furthermore two Mountain Divisions, the 27th and 28th, are in Gap and Chambery. Both are active divisions, i.e. they are fully manned. A third Mountain Division, the 31st, is in Montpelier, Languedoc. but it is a class 'A' reserve unit. That means it's at ca. 85% strength and probably missing some equipment. We also learned that almost all their mobile units are in NE France facing Germany - understandable.
Tomorrow we shall be discussing the Italian colonies and which options we may have there. A constructive morning. Louis is going to the Admiralty this afternoon leaving me to brief General Gort.
Good news from our Purchasing Commission in Washington. Two Wright R-975 radial engines and 250 M1928 Thompson SMG's have been shipped to England and should arrive in a couple of weeks. The engines are built under license by Continental Motors and are intended for our next Cruiser tank while the Thompsons will be issued to the Parachute Company for evaluation. I can't wait to get my hands on one of them.
After dinner last night Guy Simonds told me that he and George Patton will be meeting at his house and suggested that I join them. I accepted the invitation and said I'll try to bring one of the French guys along. Charles de Gaulle was still at the HQ so I asked him. We discussed the huge scale of the Italian troop movements to East Africa, way more than we were sending. We don't even know if our shipments influence theirs at all. They could have originally planned these numbers. So we are going to recommend sending an extra Brigade Group to both Egypt and Sudan while the French add another Division to their forces in Tunisia and an extra Battalion to Djibouti along with a couple more squadrons to each area. An extra Naval Task Force with 1 or 2 battleships should be sent to the Western Mediterranean in order to encourage the Italians to remain there. Let's see what happens because unless they have a magic wand to conjure up new divisions and aircraft, Italy will be very weakly defended on the ground and in the air.
Admiral Muselier would get us a list of Italian naval yards and airfields while Louis Mountbatten and I would investigate which battleships and RAF squadrons would be available in autumn if required.
Charles de Gaulle told us that there is the 25th Motorized Division being formed in Clermont-Ferrand near to Lyon. It could have its motorisation accelerated and moved to Marseille as if it were being prepared for shipment overseas. Furthermore two Mountain Divisions, the 27th and 28th, are in Gap and Chambery. Both are active divisions, i.e. they are fully manned. A third Mountain Division, the 31st, is in Montpelier, Languedoc. but it is a class 'A' reserve unit. That means it's at ca. 85% strength and probably missing some equipment. We also learned that almost all their mobile units are in NE France facing Germany - understandable.
Tomorrow we shall be discussing the Italian colonies and which options we may have there. A constructive morning. Louis is going to the Admiralty this afternoon leaving me to brief General Gort.