Dunbar.

This is coolbert:

As extracted from a recent isegoria.net blog entry:

"The first time in the world that armored vehicles were used in numbers strategically and as a new weapon of war was in Spain, at the battle of the Ebro, during their Civil War. All the nations should have been watching and maybe were, but only the Germans saw anything. The Spanish Republican chief of armor at that battle, who was the first man to comprehend and use tanks for full effectiveness was a Scottish independent soldier [a communist fighting with the International Brigade] named Malcolm Dunbar. His were the tank tactics which made Guderian and Rommel world famous in later years"

Regarding Dunbar:

"A middle-class, Cambridge-educated, homosexual aesthete, he could hardly have been a less typical volunteer. Yet, like a number of other intellectuals, in Spain he discovered a hitherto undiscovered talent for military life. Ranking only soldado (private) at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937, he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming Chief of Staff of the entire 15th International Brigade at the Battle of the Ebro in July 1938."

Englishman Dunbar as Chief of Staff of the International Brigade in Spain the FIRST to realize the potential of armor warfare and use tank forces in an effective manner?? This I have a problem with.

MORE THAN LIKELY DUNBAR HAVING DECISIONS MADE FOR HIM BY AN EMBEDDED SOVIET RED ARMY SENIOR COMBAT ARMS OFFICER/COMMISSAR.

SENIOR RED ARMY OFFICER TELLING DUNBAR WHAT TO DO AND DUNBAR GIVING THE ORDERS.

Furthermore regarding the use armor during the Spanish Civil War:

"The Spanish Civil War, although the testing grounds for the nations which would ultimately take part in World War II, proved inconclusive with regard to the proof of mechanized warfare. Despite attempts by Soviet, German and Italian advisers and soldiers to use newly devised mechanized theories, the lack of quality crews and the tanks, and the insufficient number of tanks provided bad impressions on the usefulness of tanks on their own."

ARMOR OF ITSELF NOT EFFECTIVE UNLESS PART AND PARCEL OF A COMBINED ARMS FORCE. LESSONS NEEDED TO BE LEARNED.

coolbert.

Crack.

This is coolbert:

"Half of Germany’s potential army recruits unfit, lack motivation or have no citizenship – reports"

From the Russian media outlet Sputnik:

"Hundreds of German soldiers ‘unfit for service’ following missions abroad – report"

"As many as 800 soldiers of the German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, have been deemed unfit for further military service after being deployed to Afghanistan, Mali and some other countries, the German daily, Bild [German tabloid newspaper] reports, citing data from the defense ministry. They are currently undergoing a special program, which includes medical treatment and training aimed at helping them reintegrate into civilian life. A further 1,400 servicemen already completed their rehabilitation, according to the ministry."

"However, almost 280 servicemen returned from their missions abroad suffering from various mental disorders last year alone, Bild reports. Since 2015, 28 members of the German military had to be retired early due to mental health problems."

MENTAL ISSUES! AND TO ALL THIS ROMMEL, HALDER, GUDERIAN, VON MANTEUFFEL WOULD SAY WHAT??

Consider also within the context of the proposed Euro Corps or Euro Army: "how to make bricks without straw".

"Deutschland über alles"? Nein!

coolbert.

Disgrace.

This is coolbert:

And to all this Lord Nelson would say?

"Disgraced Big Lizzie captain is flown off flagship aircraft carrier as it sets sail to Portsmouth ahead of him being stripped of command for 'misusing his work car'"

MISUSING HIS WORK CAR!! SURELY REMOVING SUCH A SENIOR RANKING OFFICER FOR SUCH AN INFRACTION IS NOT CALLED FOR. ADMONISHMENT AND CONTINUED MONITORING MORE IN LINE WITH THE OFFENSE.

My intuitive and instantaneous reaction when reading this was THAT JUST HAS TO BE SOMETHING MORE GOING ON!! THERE JUST HAS TO BE!!

This is just not about excessive driving of a government vehicle beyond what is normally proscribed.

A sad way for an outstanding military career to come to an end. Exceedingly so!

coolbert.

Thirty-Six.

This is coolbert:

"Calling these wars of religion is intended to draw our gaze to the wrong culprit.  Religion was a pretext; political power was the objective."

The Thirty Years War I have heard of. The Eighty Years War I have heard of.

The Thirty-Six Year War I had not heard of but only perhaps in the most vague of manner.

"War"

The Lew Rockwell article by Bionic Mosquito, original material courtesy Brad S. Gregory.

"Beginning in 1562, a series of eight civil wars ensue; from start to finish, these last longer than the Thirty Years’ War with perhaps 3 million deaths.  As in Germany, what is described as French Wars of Religion might be better described as wars for political power: a dynastic power struggle between powerful noble families in the line for succession to the French throne – one Catholic and the other Reformed – with the reigning royal family trying to stride the middle in the form of Catholic conciliation."

"Massacres, conversions, refugees, assassinations, acts of revenge.  After thirty-six years, in 1598, King Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes, granting the Huguenots substantial rights but leaving them with no army.  Fearing an erosion of these rights – as would soon enough prove a rational fear – hundreds of thousands of Huguenots flee France for Calvinist territories in England, the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Carolina Coast of the New World."

"By 1650 [the end of the Thirty Years War], it looks as though all the political leaders who were confident God was on their side were wrong.  Perhaps God had never been on anyone’s side."

That number of three million dead from a population of about twenty million French as alive in the year 1600!

coolbert.

Johnny.

This is coolbert:

"According to most mainstream and popular histories, the royal Italian military and the overall part played by the Kingdom of Italy in World War II was totally inconsequential. In a way not seen with any other people, the Italian military is widely dismissed as a comic opera operation with cowardly troops, ignorant commanders and useless weapons"

The Italian military enigma again.

Not all Italian senior commanders during WW2 however so incompetent or ignorant. Here the man rated as BEST Italian general the war. As always, the subjective judgment of BEST during wartime of interest to me.

Giovanni Messe.

"Giovanni Messe . . . was an Italian general, politician, and field marshal (Maresciallo d'Italia). He is considered by many to have been the best Italian general of the Second World War."

Giovanni a professional military man and hardly one shirk his duties during a time of war. Having seen service during conflicts such as:

* Libya.
* World War One.
* Abyssinia.
* World War Two.
   Albania.
   Greece.
   Russia.
   Tunisia.
   Italy [allied side].

Messe thoroughly professional competent and having to make the best of a bad situation in all circumstances, ably commanding his soldiers by all accounts.

Messe too having fought for both the Axis and Allied side during the war. A senior commander of the Italian Co-belligerent Army organized in the aftermath of Italian surrender, troops comporting themselves quite well, aiding and abetting the allied side.

coolbert.

Mystics.

This is coolbert:

IDF = Israel Defense Forces.

"Mystic - n - a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge"

Believe me, there hasn't been anything like this since the Vietnam War over fifty years ago now.

Supernatural [?] powers used during a time of war or conflict able to detect tunnels as used by criminals/terrorists/guerrillas/insurgents.

"Report: IDF Officers Convinced Kabbalist Rabbis Located Terror Tunnels"

Thanks to various sources and the article by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz.

"A recently released media report detailed how two mystic rabbis patrolled Israel’s border and successfully identified the locations of tunnels terrorists had dug into Israel. Several officers were sufficiently impressed to recommend using them in future IDF operations but more senior officers have refused."

Adepts able to locate underground passages/chambers/tunnels using some sort of super-human ability??

Sounds too good to be true. Even the skeptics however seem to be impressed.

Again, last time means and methods of this sort used by American troops during the Second Indo-China War using dowsing sticks as a means [futile] to detect underground complexes of the Viet Cong.

Count me among the hard to convince unless proven otherwise.

coolbert.

Vernacular.

 This is coolbert:

French submarine contract with Australia I had thought was a done deal. But that turned out to be not so.

French Shortfin Barracuda class no, Japanese Soryu class YES! Next generation Australian submarine force a $60 billion dollar contract with the French for the long term now in abeyance. The French having already invested heavily in the project and wanting compensation.

FRENCH NOT HAPPY!

From WIZARD through Sharkhunters:

"Australia will be forced to make multi-million-dollar compensation payments to France if the future submarine program is terminated, a break payment of €250 million euros (about $404 million) would apply if the French delivered a detailed submarine design and Australia then chose to go no further."

"If Australia accepted its first completed submarine but decided to cancel future orders, the Commonwealth would have to pay the French company about $355 million.  The submarine project needed to be organized so that French translations were not just into English, but Australian English, and for employees 'to speak a common language in cultural terms'" 

"The French company was accused of giving Taiwan $400,000,000 so they would buy subs from them and gave $100,000,000 to China to keep them happy.  So, one wonders if the Australian Federal Police will show any interest in the deal between France and Australia. The first of the new French-designed submarines are not due to be in service until the mid-2030s."

See previous blog entry [with further embedded links] regarding this topic:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/10/impasse.html

coolbert.