Seagullible
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Loch Fynne in Seven oaks is a great restaurant, I'd recomend the smoked haddock Chowder to start
the last train home trick has worked for me before, in fact she's now offisially Mrs Zefarelly
and Dave . . . whats wrong with talking about cars and welding
Loch Fynne in Seven oaks is a great restaurant, I'd recomend the smoked haddock Chowder to start
the last train home trick has worked for me before, in fact she's now offisially Mrs Zefarelly
and Dave . . . whats wrong with talking about cars and welding
Ohh I'm getting so excited for you Diggers. Some last minute things to remember in no particular order ....
1 - The German breakthrough in March 1918 (the 'George' and 'Michael' offensives) actually turned out to be counter productive becayse the German supply lines got too stretched.
1 - The fact that Albert was picked as the starting point for the Battle of the Somme wasn't because they felt the Germans were weak there but simply because it was the place where the French and British armies met. (The British agreed to a joint offensive with the French at the Chantilly conference of March 1916 to take the pressure of the French at Verdun)
2 - High explosive didn't cut barbed wire successfully, although the adoption of the 106 artillery fuse (which exploded on impact) for the Canadian assault on Vimy ridge in 1917 was a lot more successful than the timed fuses used on the Somme for the same purpose.
3 - Anthony Fokker was only 24 when he invented the interruptor gear that enabled a machine gun to be fired forwards through the propellor (And he was actually Dutch not German but frankly that may not come up)
Good luck. Hopefully you'll impress her enough to get a second date (I've never managed that). Can't think why.
(Just editing spelling mistakes and punctuation).
1 - The German breakthrough in March 1918 (the 'George' and 'Michael' offensives) actually turned out to be counter productive becayse the German supply lines got too stretched.
1 - The fact that Albert was picked as the starting point for the Battle of the Somme wasn't because they felt the Germans were weak there but simply because it was the place where the French and British armies met. (The British agreed to a joint offensive with the French at the Chantilly conference of March 1916 to take the pressure of the French at Verdun)
2 - High explosive didn't cut barbed wire successfully, although the adoption of the 106 artillery fuse (which exploded on impact) for the Canadian assault on Vimy ridge in 1917 was a lot more successful than the timed fuses used on the Somme for the same purpose.
3 - Anthony Fokker was only 24 when he invented the interruptor gear that enabled a machine gun to be fired forwards through the propellor (And he was actually Dutch not German but frankly that may not come up)
Good luck. Hopefully you'll impress her enough to get a second date (I've never managed that). Can't think why.
(Just editing spelling mistakes and punctuation).
Last edited:
Lush
Mods' Pet
Never mind all that. All of the above can be summarised in one simple catchy sentence.
"Drink Sancerre and Be Sancerre."
"Drink Sancerre and Be Sancerre."
Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Brovian said:Ohh I'm getting so excited for you Diggers. Some last minute things to remember in no particular order ....
1 - The German breakthrough in March 1918 (the 'George' and 'Michael' offensives) actually turned out to be counter productive becayse the German supply lines got too stretched.
1 - The fact that Albert was picked as the starting point for the Battle of the Somme wasn't because they felt the Germans were weak there but simply because it was the place where the French and British armies met. (The British agreed to a joint offensive with the French at the Chantilly conference of March 1916 to take the pressure of the French at Verdun)
2 - High explosive didn't cut barbed wire successfully, although the adoption of the 106 artillery fuse (which exploded on impact) for the Canadian assault on Vimy ridge in 1917 was a lot more successful than the timed fuses used on the Somme for the same purpose.
3 - Anthony Fokker was only 24 when he invented the interruptor gear that enabled a machine gun to be fired forwards through the propellor (And he was actually Dutch not German but frankly that may not come up)
Good luck. Hopefully you'll impress her enough to get a second date (I've never managed that). Can't think why.
(Just editing spelling mistakes and punctuation).
Post of the day. You are priceless, Brovian.
Digweeds Trousers
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Brovian - I feel that yo9u are a legend and I will be asking these questions and probing her expertly for information and her views on this momenetous part of our history.
Not being an expert on the First Owlrd War how does the Schlieffen Plan fit into all this. Would I be right on thinking that this was the initial invasion plan under Hindenburg for the sweep into the Low COuntries and France to defeat France begore the British Expeditionary Force managed to land.
Not being an expert on the First Owlrd War how does the Schlieffen Plan fit into all this. Would I be right on thinking that this was the initial invasion plan under Hindenburg for the sweep into the Low COuntries and France to defeat France begore the British Expeditionary Force managed to land.
On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
Brovian said:Ohh I'm getting so excited for you Diggers. Some last minute things to remember in no particular order ....
1 - The German breakthrough in March 1918 (the 'George' and 'Michael' offensives) actually turned out to be counter productive becayse the German supply lines got too stretched.
1 - The fact that Albert was picked as the starting point for the Battle of the Somme wasn't because they felt the Germans were weak there but simply because it was the place where the French and British armies met. (The British agreed to a joint offensive with the French at the Chantilly conference of March 1916 to take the pressure of the French at Verdun)
2 - High explosive didn't cut barbed wire successfully, although the adoption of the 106 artillery fuse (which exploded on impact) for the Canadian assault on Vimy ridge in 1917 was a lot more successful than the timed fuses used on the Somme for the same purpose.
3 - Anthony Fokker was only 24 when he invented the interruptor gear that enabled a machine gun to be fired forwards through the propellor (And he was actually Dutch not German but frankly that may not come up)
Good luck. Hopefully you'll impress her enough to get a second date (I've never managed that). Can't think why.
(Just editing spelling mistakes and punctuation).
Brovian
I wish I had got to know you better when we were at school. We could have spent many happy hours in the playground swapping notes on WWI hostilities and my passion for Jacksonian Democracy and the ante-bellum Southern states.
Let's hope Digweed now benefits from this profound advice and wisdom.
Diggers: Partly right. You are correct in stating that the plan was to sweep through the low countries with a 'strong right wing' (Schlieffen's own words) and the idea was to sweep round the side of France and attack the French army from the rear. It was hoped this would knock France out of the war quickly and thus the Germans would then be able to devote most of their resources to attacking Russia. The reasoning behind this was that the French could mobilise quickly but it would take the Russians about 2 months to mobilise and by that time the Germans hoped to be secure in the West.
The BEF ruined this slightly by getting in the way, even though they had no idea of what they were facing (the French said it was just a 'diversionary attack' as they were convinced the main attack would come from Germany itself). There were only about 30,000 british troops in place at Mons (out of an initial total force of about 80,000) and they found themselves facing roughly 3 million Germans. The Kaiser himself of course said to Ludendorf not to to worry about "Sir John French and his contemptible little army"
So the Schlieffen plan was nothing to do with defeating France before the BEF landed but was designed to take out France then Russia separately to avoid war on two fronts. The interesting thing of course was Hitler did exactly the same thing (even though the French still expected him to attack 'through the front door' and built the Maginot line to stop him) - only more successfully due to the 'blitzkreig' tactics. (although WW2 isn't my period)
There. That should get you to coffee and liqueuers (although as I mentioned most women I've been out with normally have a storming headace long before this point).
The BEF ruined this slightly by getting in the way, even though they had no idea of what they were facing (the French said it was just a 'diversionary attack' as they were convinced the main attack would come from Germany itself). There were only about 30,000 british troops in place at Mons (out of an initial total force of about 80,000) and they found themselves facing roughly 3 million Germans. The Kaiser himself of course said to Ludendorf not to to worry about "Sir John French and his contemptible little army"
So the Schlieffen plan was nothing to do with defeating France before the BEF landed but was designed to take out France then Russia separately to avoid war on two fronts. The interesting thing of course was Hitler did exactly the same thing (even though the French still expected him to attack 'through the front door' and built the Maginot line to stop him) - only more successfully due to the 'blitzkreig' tactics. (although WW2 isn't my period)
There. That should get you to coffee and liqueuers (although as I mentioned most women I've been out with normally have a storming headace long before this point).
I wonder how he went? was it last night?