Nicely turned out Bruce. One of my favourite lost battles is Spandicker Ley (Germany 4/5 March 1945) where two bns of 53rd Welsh Division fought to create space for other components - sappers to build a bridge so and armour could cross the stream and exploit. Sad thing was the sappers weren't ready to build the bridge, the bridge didn't need building (there was one just a short way upstream) and the inf got overrun because they had no armour.
Thanks - it's Ben by the way, Bruce is a much more august chronicler of the Marines.
Those kinds of stories are painful to hear about, it's so easy to fritter the gains of the initial assault. Am working on a strikingly similar topic for the next piece, where the bridging equipment showed up too late (Fredericksburg).
Nicely turned out Bruce. One of my favourite lost battles is Spandicker Ley (Germany 4/5 March 1945) where two bns of 53rd Welsh Division fought to create space for other components - sappers to build a bridge so and armour could cross the stream and exploit. Sad thing was the sappers weren't ready to build the bridge, the bridge didn't need building (there was one just a short way upstream) and the inf got overrun because they had no armour.
Thanks - it's Ben by the way, Bruce is a much more august chronicler of the Marines.
Those kinds of stories are painful to hear about, it's so easy to fritter the gains of the initial assault. Am working on a strikingly similar topic for the next piece, where the bridging equipment showed up too late (Fredericksburg).
Cheers Ben. I'll send my dodgy breaching doctrine your way if I ever finish it.
And sorry for mixing you up. I'm old and the buttons on my phone are too small. Should have stuck to fax/microfiche.
Not to worry! Will be fascinated to see it.
Tactical attrition to support operational manuever