Post by Diarist on Sept 21, 2016 9:47:35 GMT 1
We met General Winkelmann at the Amrâth Grand Restaurant De l'Empereur in the city centre. A very impressive building, a hotel actually, the restaurant serves French and Limburgian regional dishes. I, as usual, ordered a steak. We had been speaking French the whole time so after dinner I asked LG Winkelmann how good his English is.
"My English is fairly good. Why do you ask?"
"I'd like to invite you to TRADOC in England for a month or more. Have you heard of TRADOC?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure what it is."
"Training and Doctrine Command is an organization where experts from many fields are concentrated, we call it a think-tank, and develop new techniques for fighting and winning wars. An important project is a new doctrine to break the stalemate of trench warfare. We call it Mobile Warfare. It was used with devastating effect against Italy a couple of months ago but it still has a long way to go. We know what we want but don't have the ideal equipment yet. Most designs are still on the drawing board but we do have a provisional design for an armoured division. Several are being created in the United Kingdom and on Thursday I presented the design to members of the French Defence Council and they have agreed to convert their 1st Motorized Division into an armoured division using the TRADOC design. We also need to develop the best way to employ this formation on the battlefield and how best to support it. We'd like to introduce it to Belgium and Holland and you two have been selected to join us in England."
"Have you accepted, Raoul?"
"I jumped at the opportunity and it has already been approved. Let's go together."
"I accept. What happens next?"
"Since you are now a private citizen I don't need ask permission from your Ministry of Defence. My aircraft will be arriving in Berlin in less than two weeks from now. It can fly here to take you both to RAF Duxford then fly back to Berlin a couple of days later. Where can you both be at the same time?"
"I'll travel to Brussels," General Winkelmann offered.
"Good, I hope to arrive in Berlin on 10-11 December, weather permitting. I'll need a phone number so I can confirm the date and time."
"Can I bring my wife?" Raoul van Oberstraeten asked.
"You both can. Our Officer's Club is a Hotel-Restaurant. I'll reserve two rooms for you. Bring your uniforms, General Winkelmann."
Mission accomplished and neither know anything about contingency plans. At the palace I wrote a couple of letters. One to John Gort, the second to Winston Churchill. Before going to the airport tomorrow morning I'll drop them off at the British Embassy so they can be sent with the next courier.
"My English is fairly good. Why do you ask?"
"I'd like to invite you to TRADOC in England for a month or more. Have you heard of TRADOC?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure what it is."
"Training and Doctrine Command is an organization where experts from many fields are concentrated, we call it a think-tank, and develop new techniques for fighting and winning wars. An important project is a new doctrine to break the stalemate of trench warfare. We call it Mobile Warfare. It was used with devastating effect against Italy a couple of months ago but it still has a long way to go. We know what we want but don't have the ideal equipment yet. Most designs are still on the drawing board but we do have a provisional design for an armoured division. Several are being created in the United Kingdom and on Thursday I presented the design to members of the French Defence Council and they have agreed to convert their 1st Motorized Division into an armoured division using the TRADOC design. We also need to develop the best way to employ this formation on the battlefield and how best to support it. We'd like to introduce it to Belgium and Holland and you two have been selected to join us in England."
"Have you accepted, Raoul?"
"I jumped at the opportunity and it has already been approved. Let's go together."
"I accept. What happens next?"
"Since you are now a private citizen I don't need ask permission from your Ministry of Defence. My aircraft will be arriving in Berlin in less than two weeks from now. It can fly here to take you both to RAF Duxford then fly back to Berlin a couple of days later. Where can you both be at the same time?"
"I'll travel to Brussels," General Winkelmann offered.
"Good, I hope to arrive in Berlin on 10-11 December, weather permitting. I'll need a phone number so I can confirm the date and time."
"Can I bring my wife?" Raoul van Oberstraeten asked.
"You both can. Our Officer's Club is a Hotel-Restaurant. I'll reserve two rooms for you. Bring your uniforms, General Winkelmann."
Mission accomplished and neither know anything about contingency plans. At the palace I wrote a couple of letters. One to John Gort, the second to Winston Churchill. Before going to the airport tomorrow morning I'll drop them off at the British Embassy so they can be sent with the next courier.