Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Man
Thank you, Sir! I appreciate your comments very much. This is a subject I have been very interested since about seven years of age, which is longer ago than I care to contemplate. I have read what I could bring to hand, and thought about what I have read, but I have never had any opportunity to do original research, or lay in much by way of the more recent publications. I am very grateful for the detailed information and archival materials many here are willing and able to share.
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Hi old man,
Whilst i concur with the sentiments expressed by Josquin and Russ---and do so most comprehensively---I must wonder about your 3rd. para. post 30, re. the impact of the CL class at this time.
Certainly during the great retreats of the allies during the early part of 1918 in the German offensives---when serious disruption and heavy casualties could have ensued---they were conspicuous by theoir absence--a British officer who went through that near disaster, Sidney Rogerson wrote----" It was a crowning mercy that (the Germans) they had no Cavalry. How many times during the retreat did we thank heaven for this! The sight of a few mounted men in the distance would at once start a ripple of anxiety......Cavalry was the one factor which would have smashed the morale of the defence in a twinkling"
'The Last Of The Ebb'---Rogerson.
What mayhem a seious onslaught by all the German air service could have wrought!
Instead 'the two-seater Schlachtstaffeln had been expanded to carry out ground attack and other support tasks---their effectiveness seems very low.IT IS HARD TO FIND IN ANY ARMY UNIT RECORDS ANY MAJOR INCONVENIENCES CAUSED BY THEIR ACTIVITIES' Sorry for the capitals, they are mine but not in the sense (it is so easy to seem arrogant in posts while not at all trying to)are they meant to be 'hammering home a point----just reinforcing it i assure you.
The last from 'bloody april--black september'
In all my many years---like yourself---of reading and studying i have not come across many accounts of British troops being very harrased---during daylight---by 'ground attack', conversley there are plenty of reports from the enemy of just this.
I suppose i'm claiming, at the end of the day, that the CL class, whilst being perfectly good aeroplanes, just were'nt that much of a problem!!!
Dave.