The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - The ANZACs- myth and reality

Pete Hill · 15 May 2008, 03:35 AM

Hi Alex,
Regarding your enquiry about the German losses in the invasion of France in 1940 I got the information from the book 'Time to Kill' edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder (Pimilico Books, 1997). It is a collection of essays on the western theatre of WW2 by a number of notable writers and historians. The essay in question is "No taste for the fight?: French combat performance in 1940 and the politics of the Fall of France" by Martin S Alexander.
According to Alexander, a German communique issued on the 4th June 1940listed Whermacht casualties between 10th May and 3rd June as 10,000 killed and 42,000 wounded. A second communique issued on 2nd July stated that by 25th June, the figures had grown to 27,000 killed and 111,000 wounded. Unless the figures for the first period had been under-estimated, I took that to mean that the additional losses had been inflicted after the 3rd of June.
The book is an interesting one as many of the essays challenge commonly-held perceptions of the war. Brain R Sullivan's essay on the Italian soldier in combat 1940-43 makes a convincing argument, backed with considerable evidence, that the Italian infantryman does not deserve the popular image of him being cowardly and timid. Theodore Wilson's essay "Who Fought and Why?" is highly critical of the US army's habits of assigning the poorest and most under-educated recruits to frontline rifle companies whilst those men lucky enough to finish High School tended to get the jobs in the rear. J A Craig's essay "The British Soldier on the Home Front" is particularly scathing of the way English recruits were treated by their army- the wretched conditions, the poor pay, the low status and the resulting poor morale.
Warm Regards Pete

15 May 2008, 03:35 AM	#36 (permalink)
Pete Hill Two-seater Pilot Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Murtoa Vic. Australia Posts: 137	Hi Alex, Regarding your enquiry about the German losses in the invasion of France in 1940 I got the information from the book 'Time to Kill' edited by Paul Addison and Angus Calder (Pimilico Books, 1997). It is a collection of essays on the western theatre of WW2 by a number of notable writers and historians. The essay in question is "No taste for the fight?: French combat performance in 1940 and the politics of the Fall of France" by Martin S Alexander. According to Alexander, a German communique issued on the 4th June 1940listed Whermacht casualties between 10th May and 3rd June as 10,000 killed and 42,000 wounded. A second communique issued on 2nd July stated that by 25th June, the figures had grown to 27,000 killed and 111,000 wounded. Unless the figures for the first period had been under-estimated, I took that to mean that the additional losses had been inflicted after the 3rd of June. The book is an interesting one as many of the essays challenge commonly-held perceptions of the war. Brain R Sullivan's essay on the Italian soldier in combat 1940-43 makes a convincing argument, backed with considerable evidence, that the Italian infantryman does not deserve the popular image of him being cowardly and timid. Theodore Wilson's essay "Who Fought and Why?" is highly critical of the US army's habits of assigning the poorest and most under-educated recruits to frontline rifle companies whilst those men lucky enough to finish High School tended to get the jobs in the rear. J A Craig's essay "The British Soldier on the Home Front" is particularly scathing of the way English recruits were treated by their army- the wretched conditions, the poor pay, the low status and the resulting poor morale. Warm Regards Pete __________________ "Its all part of the Grand Plan, Blackadder!" "Would that plan, sir, be the one where the war keeps going until everyone gets killed except for Field-Marshall Haig, Lady Haig and their tortoise Alan?"