Sunday, February 27, 2022

good morning jeremy

  








w h o' s     s o r r y     n o w







Scattered points of conflict but

Kyiv is the target because

the objective is to 

decapitate the government.







World War Two is about to embrace

the civilized streets of Kyiv.







Antonov Airbase, located near Kyiv,

is critical to the Ukraine capital's demise.








Antonov's long and sturdy runways

enable enormous Russian transports

to deliver large numbers of troops

and their armor quickly 

to the battlefield.







On the invasion's first day 

18,000 Ukrainian reservist were

given arms and ammunition

in Kyiv, a city of three million.







"I need ammunition, not a ride."

President Zelensky's response

to a US offer to aid his escape.







Ukraine reports soldiers captured near Kyiv

wear the uniform of the Rosgvardia

Russian National Guard.







Europe has an enormous dependence on

Russian energy.  If this valve is shut

there are not the resources available

elsewhere to make up for the loss.







While focus is on conflict around Kyiv

the Russian Navy has landed Marines

and their armor on shores outside the

port of Mariupol near the Donbas region

along the Sea of Azov.







Nearby Black Sea warships fire

Russian long range Kalibr missiles

at Ukrainian military targets.







Ukrainian's drive Russian tanks.

Their problem is they have 

so few tanks by comparison.








NATO countries have armed Ukraine

with the Javelin missile -

a proven tank killer.








With Russia's advantage in air power

it's surprising their Air Force 

hasn't yet achieved air supremacy.








The Stinger is a shoulder-mounted

anti-aircraft weapon.  On Saturday

Germany announced it was sending

Ukraine an additional 1,000 Javelins

and 500 more Stingers.







Putin choose to kick in the door

because Ukrainians weren't buying

what he was selling.

His own troops have to be wondering

why are we here?



_______________



love

   dad 






©  Tom Taylor




coldValentine



Sunday, February 20, 2022

good morning justin

  









p  y  r  r  h  i  c      v  i  c  t  o  r  y








Italy's North African Army collapses.


What began as a probing attack by British forces

resulted in the surprising route of the Italian Army

in North Africa.  It would take German intervention

to prevent the complete loss of the Mediterranean 

to British control.








Britain's victory in Libya frees up troops for Greece.


With Italy on the ropes in North Africa 

Churchill decides to divert troops in Libya 

to Greece in order to protect that nation's

independence from Nazi rule.  






Hitler will not tolerate Churchill's presence on his flank.


Britain's presence in Greece would eventually include 

RAF bombers that could threaten Hitler's source of energy -

the Romanian oil fields at Ploesti






A defeated Britain makes another Dunkirk retreat.


The forces available for Churchill's venture were

a mere half-measure of what would be needed 

to match German aircraft and armor.


Britain once again abandoned its tanks to its enemy

as its infantry made a hasty retreat to ships offshore. 






German Airborne conquers British Crete.


 





Britain makes another getaway by sea.







The Ju-52 was the Luftwaffe's transport workhorse.








German paratroopers boarding their flight to Crete.

 






Paratroopers begin their slow

agonized descent as targets

swinging suspended in plain view

and hunters beneath sight in

on them as they would ducks

in a sporting event.


 





Heavy groundfire devastates German paratroopers.


Despite taking enormous casualties German paratroopers

managed to wrest airfields from British control,

flying in desperately needed troops to reinforce 

their beleaguered invasion force.  


Though being outnumbered 2 to 1 German infantry

forced Britain to rely on the sea for escape 

from another defeat.


_______________




love

   dad 








©  Tom Taylor




coldValentine



Sunday, February 13, 2022

good morning jacob

  








a brutal choice







Marshal Petain surrenders France to Hitler.








The question for Britain now is

what becomes of the French fleet? 

- 2nd only to the Royal Navy in 

European power.  In Nazi hands

they endanger British survival.








Vichy Admiral Francois Darlan assures

Churchill the French fleet will not fall 

into Hitler's hands.








LIKE HELL.








Churchill dispatches Britain's Force H out of Gibraltar

to put muscle into a 10 Downing Street proposal

he will extend to the North African French.






 

Their target is the French fleet harbored just

outside Oran in Vichy-controlled Algeria.










In a heated confrontation British Admiral Somerville

informs the French commander he has only hours

to agree upon turning his ships over to British

control or have them quickly destroyed.











Certainly, they must be bluffing

concludes Admiral Gensoul.










After all, just two weeks ago we were allies

fighting the Germans shoulder to shoulder. 










Their demands not met by the appointed hour

British ships fired the first of several salvos

towards the unsuspecting French warships

quietly anchored.










The fleet at Mers el-Kebir suddenly erupted.

Several ships were quickly damaged.  

The battleship Bretagne was first to sink.

1,300 dead were among the casualties.










No matter Churchill's rationale for his decision.

For the French everywhere the word was

British treachery killed their sailors.


It would not take long before 

Allied forces would reap the

lethal results of French animosity.


American troops would soon come

ashore along North African beaches

thinking they'd be welcomed as liberators

by French descendants of Lafayette.


Maybe Oran thought the Yanks were Brits.



_______________



love

   dad







©  Tom Taylor



coldValentine


Sunday, February 6, 2022

good morning jack

 















Control the Mediterranean

by holding these military sites.







G I B R A L T A R


So long as Britain holds Gibraltar the Italian fleet

can never escape the Mediterranean.







P B Y   C A T A L I N A


Constant patrols out of Gibraltar makes even

slipping the Strait underwater hazardous.






M A L T A


Malta-based RAF pilots strangled Rommel's Afrika Korps of supplies.








S U E Z   C A N A L


Besides Gibraltar, Suez is the only way out of the Mediterranean.

Now the British have stoppers at both ends of the Sea.







T O B R U K


This critical North African port changed hands multiple times.






T A R A N T O


Prelude to Pearl Harbor.

The British catch the Italian fleet napping

and sink several warships.







S A R D I N I A


Most of Britain's commerce runs through the Mediterranean.

Italian pilots on Sardinia work overtime to cut it off.







S I C I L Y


Three Italian airbases make British passage past Sicily near impossible.







T R I P O L I


Without Tripoli North Africa is lost to Hitler and Mussolini.







T O R C H 


American troops are green, half-trained and undisciplined.

They need somewhere to learn from their mistakes

without causing truly catastrophic consequences.



_______________




love

   dad 










©  Tom Taylor




coldValentine