Battle of Britain. Labor divisions.

[Ringo]

Dunkirk 1940: 'Whereabouts Unknown'

They called it ‘the slaughter of the innocents’. The barely trained and poorly equipped men of the Labour Divisions were never meant to fight, but when the German blitzkreig sliced through the Allied armies in 1940, they were all that stood in the way of the annihilation of the British...

thehistorypress.co.uk

I would like to bring to your attention the book "Dunkirk 1940. Whereabouts Unknown How Untrained Troops of the Labour Divisions were Sacrificed to Save an Army". by Tim Lynch.

It tells the story of the formation and participation of the BEF labor divisions in the Battle of Britain.
There are many interesting details—poor training of personnel, acute shortages of weapons and ammunition, lack of maps, disorderly retreat, confusion of orders, and isolated cases of heroism. Very similar to 1941 on the Soviet front, and, to be honest, on the US front in the war with Japan at the beginning of the war.

Some moments sound like "british humor” or subtle mockery.
The battalion lacks machine guns, so a couple are brought in from the regimental museum.
These are German machine guns captured in 1918.
Another battalion is supplied with mock-ups of Lewis guns.
There are no mortars, so training is conducted on a wooden model made by a local craftsman.

What was all this? The advantage of a motivated enemy over an unprepared opponent?

 

[Mac-7]

Dunkirk 1940: 'Whereabouts Unknown'

They called it ‘the slaughter of the innocents’. The barely trained and poorly equipped men of the Labour Divisions were never meant to fight, but when the German blitzkreig sliced through the Allied armies in 1940, they were all that stood in the way of the annihilation of the British...

thehistorypress.co.uk

I would like to bring to your attention the book "Dunkirk 1940. Whereabouts Unknown How Untrained Troops of the Labour Divisions were Sacrificed to Save an Army". by Tim Lynch.

It tells the story of the formation and participation of the BEF labor divisions in the Battle of Britain.
There are many interesting details—poor training of personnel, acute shortages of weapons and ammunition, lack of maps, disorderly retreat, confusion of orders, and isolated cases of heroism. Very similar to 1941 on the Soviet front, and, to be honest, on the US front in the war with Japan at the beginning of the war.

Some moments sound like "british humor” or subtle mockery.
The battalion lacks machine guns, so a couple are brought in from the regimental museum.
These are German machine guns captured in 1918.
Another battalion is supplied with mock-ups of Lewis guns.
There are no mortars, so training is conducted on a wooden model made by a local craftsman.

What was all this? The advantage of a motivated enemy over an unprepared opponent?

In Britain and the US penny pinching pacifists thought they could avoid war and save money by underfunding the military after WWI

It didnt work then and it wont work now

 

[Ringo]

 

[Ringo]

I remeber that mrs. Slocombe from "Are you being served?"was Land girl during the war.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Dunkirk 1940: 'Whereabouts Unknown'

They called it ‘the slaughter of the innocents’. The barely trained and poorly equipped men of the Labour Divisions were never meant to fight, but when the German blitzkreig sliced through the Allied armies in 1940, they were all that stood in the way of the annihilation of the British...

thehistorypress.co.uk

I would like to bring to your attention the book "Dunkirk 1940. Whereabouts Unknown How Untrained Troops of the Labour Divisions were Sacrificed to Save an Army". by Tim Lynch.

It tells the story of the formation and participation of the BEF labor divisions in the Battle of Britain.
There are many interesting details—poor training of personnel, acute shortages of weapons and ammunition, lack of maps, disorderly retreat, confusion of orders, and isolated cases of heroism. Very similar to 1941 on the Soviet front, and, to be honest, on the US front in the war with Japan at the beginning of the war.

Some moments sound like "british humor” or subtle mockery.
The battalion lacks machine guns, so a couple are brought in from the regimental museum.
These are German machine guns captured in 1918.
Another battalion is supplied with mock-ups of Lewis guns.
There are no mortars, so training is conducted on a wooden model made by a local craftsman.

What was all this? The advantage of a motivated enemy over an unprepared opponent?

Blitz or Bust

Hitler could only win through getting the offensive over with as quickly as possible. That's why he couldn't waste any time wiping out the British at Dunkirk.

 

[Deadstick]

Blitz or Bust

Hitler could only win through getting the offensive over with as quickly as possible. That's why he couldn't waste any time wiping out the British at Dunkirk.

I have never heard of the Labour Divisions, Dunkirk was a shambles in many ways but we maneged to exacuate over three hundred thousand men off the Beach, but as far as i know the BEF were regular soldiers not conscripts, one of the first SS atrocities took place at Le Paradis when men from the SS Totenkopf murdered almost a hundred British soldiers who were a rear guard for Dunkirk after they ran out of ammo.