Re: In A Perfect Game: SG/DS/RPG's - Experience Vs. Training

From: "John Atkinson" <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>

> A lot of them did.  Among some line units of British
> infantry there was a strong desire not to be the last
> Brit killed in WWII.	Which made them almost useless
> in a standup fight.

Not quite true. In defence they were very tenacious,
nearly impossible to shift from their positions.
Trouble is, towards the end of the war they were nearly 
impossible to shift from their positions when attacking 
too.
As the Wargames Research Group puts it "In the early
days, British Armour had more dash than skill - later
they had the skill, but had lost the dash." Getting
90% losses four or five times in a row will do that
to the survivors.

Some UK Divisions were also completely inept in almost
every way. They spent literally years training in the
UK, then were found to be valueless when first put into
battle in 1944. Most of these were broken up and used as
replacements - it was a leadership problem as much as
anything, though many were also quite unfit due to poor
pre-war diet, not a few were discharged as unfit for
service (!!).

Maybe 20% of the UK army was hopeless. Another 20% was
absolutely elite - and these few units were used again
and again and again in attacks, and were rebuilt many
times over. The rest tended to be very good in defence,
good in attack when supported by sufficient artillery,
but not very imaginative nor consistent in performance.

You've also got to remember that there were quite a few
non-UK divisions in the British army (eg the Poles), plus
sundry South Africans, New Zealanders, Canadians, and then
there was the Indian army as well. Some Indian units were
worse than awful, but some were better than excellent. Same
story as in Europe - these units were used again and again in
attack ( eg the Race for Rangoon). 

Recommended Reading:
"Quartered Safe Out Here" : George MacDonald Fraser ( author of
Flashman series)
"Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at WW2" : Len Deighton
(author of Ipcress File etc)