The Danger Zone (DZ)

Paul Fordyce

Paul conducts the guided tour at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, Cairns every Saturday at 10:30 am. Paul’s tour’s like what Carlsberg says about their beer, probably the best tour of an armour and artillery museum in the world. The Trip Advisor reviews of his Tour speak for themselves. This Podcast is like the Tour – only infinitely better. It looks at military history, in incredible detail, the likes of which you’ve never heard before. Never rushed – the topic is exhaustively covered in as many parts as are needed to do the topic full justice.

  1. DZ Season 064 Part 45. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 7 – Cancelling General JCH Lee.

    4 days ago

    DZ Season 064 Part 45. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 7 – Cancelling General JCH Lee.

    The Normandy invasion was without doubt the most ambitious amphibious operation in military history, involving thousands of ships ferrying hundreds of thousands of men across a treacherous water passage against a hostile shore. There were serious concerns that it would be a disaster, and the logistics were the key element. Lee handled it superbly. Once the invasion of France was launched there was in fact a huge logjam of supplies piled up around Omaha Beach, and those supplies were not reaching the troops in combat. A major reason for this imbroglio was Bradley's repeated refusal to cede control of the beaches to Lee, as he was supposed to do. This recalcitrance kept the supply situation in flux much longer than should have been the case, to the detriment of the troops. The only reason offered by Bradley for this peculiar action was his personal distaste for Lee. It was unprofessional conduct to say the least. So wrote Hank H Cox in his biography of General JCH Lee, The General Who Wore Six Stars. Tag words: General JCH Lee; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; Omar Bradley; General George Patton; D-Day invasion; Eisenhower; General Somervell; Beetle Smith; Carlo d’Este; Eisenhower – A Soldier’s Life; Marshall; Major General Charles H "Pete" Corlett; Kay Summersby; He Was My Boss; Winston Churchill; ComZ; Service of Supplies; SOS; General Devers; Operation Dragoon; DKR Crosswell; Hughes; Omaha; Utah; Seine River; Ernie Pyle; SHAEF; Normandy campaign; World War II; Cherbourg;

    27 min
  2. DZ Season 064 Part 44. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 6 – At Least Mussolini Got the Trains to Run on Time.

    17 June

    DZ Season 064 Part 44. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 6 – At Least Mussolini Got the Trains to Run on Time.

    After Aurand [Colonel Henry S Aurand – a consultant to the US Army world logistic supply supremo, General Brehon Somervell] had delivered his report and taken command of the Normandy Base Section in December, he recorded that he despatched a train of PX (Post Exchange) goods for the front. A platoon of infantry, part at the rear and part at the front, was to ensure that at long halts and in shunting yards, agents of the black-market would not get on board and rifle the wagons. That train disappeared, troops and all, he said, and was never seen again. Aurand wrote that he had no doubt that the men had joined the growing number of deserters living on the black-market, where a packet of American cigarettes was worth … 200 [Francs]. The size of the deserter population was not something to be advertised, either. It may have been an open secret but anyone who arrived from outside and commented on it loudly and in public would be in trouble. This incident is recounted in the book Coalitions, Politicians and Generals by Dominick Graham and Shelford Bidwell. Tag words: Colonel Henry S Aurand; General Brehon Somervell; Coalitions, Politicians and Generals; Dominick Graham; Shelford Bidwell; General JCH Lee; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; sos; Service of Supply; Rick Atkinson; The Guns at Last Light; Jesus Christ Himself; European Theater of Operations; ETO; Communications Zone; ComZ; General Dwight D. Eisenhower; Lt-General William Pagonis; Russell Weigley; Eisenhower’s Lieutenants; Red Ball Express; Carlo d’Este; Eisenhower A Soldier’s Life; Bradley; Patton; David Irving; The War Between the Generals; Bedell Smith; black market; pilfering; Prodigal wastage; railway system; Constipation; Major-General Appleton; SHAEF;

    35 min
  3. DZ Season 064 Part 43. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 5 – Paris - And the Red Bull Express.

    10 June

    DZ Season 064 Part 43. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 5 – Paris - And the Red Bull Express.

    Carlo d’Este, in his biography of Eisenhower wrote: The only air plan that existed for Overlord in January 1944 vaguely proposed minimal measures for air support during a two-to-three-week period before D-Day in order to knock out coastal defenses and soften the way for the invasion force. When first briefed on air operations in January 1944, Eisenhower and Spaatz were shocked by Leigh-Mallory's prediction that it was still uncertain if the Allies would even gain air superiority before Overlord was launched. ….  The gravest danger surrounded not the D-Day landings themselves but German reinforcements sped to Normandy to seal off the Allied beachhead with greater numbers of forces than the Allies could insert across the English Channel. What was the nature and dimension of this problem? And what does it have to do with General JCH Lee’s infuriatingly controversial decision to move his staff into Paris in August 1944? Tag words: Carlo d’Este; Eisenhower A Soldier’s Life; Overlord; D-Day; Eisenhower; Spaatz; Leigh-Mallory; General JCH Lee; Paris; Normandy; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; Mulberries; GMC trucks; Russell Weigley; Eisenhower’s Lieutenants; Red Ball Express; Transportation Plan; SNCF; French national railway; Churchill; General Pierre Koenig; USSTAF; Bradley; A Soldier’s Story; Tom Clancy; SHAEF; 12th Army Group; Christopher C Gabel; The Lorraine Campaign; David Irving; The War Between the Generals; Everett Hughes; Dominick Graham; Shelford Bidwell; Coalitions, Politicians and Generals; rail; COMZ; Beetle Smith; Bedell Smith;

    29 min
  4. DZ Season 064 Part 42. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 4 – Lee Always Had Paris.

    3 June

    DZ Season 064 Part 42. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 4 – Lee Always Had Paris.

    In 1944/1945 General JCH Lee, was the Supremo of supply in the European Theatre of Operations under both Eisenhower, as the theatre commander, and under the great overlord of American logistics, General Brehon Somervell, who sat directly, alongside the Army commander and the Army Air Force commanders, under General Marshall, the Chief of Staff. There was no more a controversial figure in Eisenhower’s command than General Lee – no, not even George Patton. Stephen Ambrose, in his book Citizen Soldiers, wrote about what is probably Lee’s most villified exploit: Lee's best-known excess came . . . at the height of the supply crisis. Eisenhower had frequently expressed his view that no major headquarters should be located in or near the temptations of a large city, and had specifically reserved the hotels of Paris for the use of combat troops on leave. Lee nevertheless, and without Eisenhower's knowledge, moved his headquarters to Paris. His people requisitioned all the hotels previously occupied by the Germans, and took over schools and other large buildings. More than 8,000 officers and 21,000 men in sos (“the Service of Supply”) descended on the city in less than a week with tens of thousands more to follow. Parisians began to mutter that the U.S. Army demands were in excess of those made by the Germans. Was this a fair comment? It looks to be a pretty cut and dry point of view when you look at what many of the most respected historians wrote about this incident in Part 37 of this series, condemning Lee’s move. Tag words: General JCH Lee; Eisenhower; General Brehon Somervell; General Marshall; George Patton; Stephen Ambrose; Citizen Soldiers; Paris; sos; Service of Supply; Carlo d’Este; Geoffrey Perret; Raoul Nordling; Choltitz; FFI; de Gaulle; Major General Jacques Philippe Leclerc; French 2ndArmoured Division; Koenig; Bedell Smith; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; President Roosevelt; FDR; Russell Weigley; Rommel; Dominic Graham; Shelford Bidwell; Coalitions, Politicians and Generals; SHAEF; Nigel Hamilton; The Battles of Field Marshal Montgomery; Montgomery; Alan Brooke; Is Paris burning; Bradley; Third Army;

    28 min
  5. DZ Season 064 Part 41. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 5 – Lee and His Train.

    27 May

    DZ Season 064 Part 41. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 5 – Lee and His Train.

    Logistics is the ball and chain of armoured warfare said General Heinz Guderian – and that was definitely a topic that he was qualified to speak on. Tag words: Logistics; General Heinz Guderian; Somervell; John Kennedy Ohl; Supplying the Troops; General Brehon Somervell; ETO; European Theater of Operations; SOS; Service of Supplies; Russell Wegley; Eisenhower’s Lieutenants; General JCH Lee; General Marshall; Major General James E Chaney; Carlo d’Este; Bolero; Roundup; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; US Army Air Corps; Larkin; Eisenhower; General Clark; Lord Leathers; Operation Torch; General Jacob Devers;

    24 min
  6. DZ Season 064 Part 40. 0393 DZ WHOLE End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 4 – Lee and The Battle of the Atlantic - Part 40

    20 May

    DZ Season 064 Part 40. 0393 DZ WHOLE End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 4 – Lee and The Battle of the Atlantic - Part 40

    The formidable Nazi war machine was powerless to stop the build up in Britain of Allied troops shipped from the USA and Canada. But in early 1943 Doenitz was winning the Battle of the Atlantic against that other, essential, component that those troops needed, being transported in very vulnerable slow or just plain vulnerable, fast merchant ships. As Paul Kennedy wrote in his book Engineers of Victory: The increasing flood of U.S. and Canadian troops to Britain was transported by an entirely different method — the great liners of Cunard, which, when stripped inside to the bone, could each carry 15,000 GIs at a speed that even a fleet destroyer couldn't keep up with, let alone a U-boat. But, to repeat an earlier question, what would two to three million fresh soldiers do in the United Kingdom if they lacked food, fuel, and munitions? Tag words: Doenitz; Battle of the Atlantic; Paul Kennedy; Engineers of Victory; Cunard; Hitler; Fortress Europe; John Kennedy Ohl; Supplying the Troops; Somervell; U-Boat campaign; Third Reich; HX 229; SC 122; Operation Bolero; Operation Sledgehammer; Operation Roundup; Operation Overlord; General JCH Lee; WSA; War Shipping Administration; Lord Leathers; full and down; Operation Torch; The Center Task Force; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; sos; Service of Supplies; C.S. Lewis; Chronological Snobbery; Gulf War; Operation Desert Storm; OPD; War Department General Staff, Operations Division; Victory Program;

    29 min
  7. DZ Season 064 Part 39. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 3 – For the Overlord Supply Build Up Somervell Needed His Best Man.

    13 May

    DZ Season 064 Part 39. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 3 – For the Overlord Supply Build Up Somervell Needed His Best Man.

    To manage the buildup and subsequent supply of the American troops being shipped to Europe for the planned invasion of Hitler’s Festung Europa, Fortress Europe, Hank H Cox, in his biography of General JCH Lee, The General Who Wore Six Stars, wrote: The Allied governments had determined that Germany would be their top priority. After Germany was defeated, they would make Japan their primary focus. But conquering Germany meant it would be necessary to invade Europe, and that would require an amphibious assault across the English Channel. Thus a materiel buildup in Great Britain of vast proportions would be the first essential step to wresting the continent from Germany's grip. To manage a buildup and subsequent supply of that magnitude in Europe, Somervell needed his best man — someone with proven ability that he could trust. Somervell achieved big things because he selected men who knew what they were doing and were determined to get it done. He chose General JCH Lee – did he choose wisely? There were and are many who say that he didn’t. This all plays a big part in why the Allies didn’t win the war in Europe in 1944 – with huge consequences with the voracious Russian bear devouring everything in its path to come out of World War II as a super power that rivalled the United States. Tag words: Hitler; Festung Europa; Fortress Europe; Hank H Cox; General JCH Lee; The General Who Wore Six Stars; Brehon Somervell; General Marshall; Pearl Harbor; General Lesley McNair; John Kennedy Ohl; Supplying the Troops; BOLERO; OVERLORD; European Theater of Operations; ETO; Services of Supply; SOS; Secretary Stimson; Major General Mark Clark; General Eisenhower; GeneralBradley; General Patton; Bedell Smith; Martin Creveld; Supplying War; Logistics; Rommel; Moving Mountains; Lieutenant-General William G Pagonis; Operation Desert Storm; General Homer M Groninger; Colonel Thomas B. Larkin; General James G Harbord; General Pershing;

    26 min
  8. DZ Season 064 Part 38. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 2 – The Biggest Jerk in the European Theater of Operations

    6 May

    DZ Season 064 Part 38. End the War in 44 – Only Human – JCH Lee 2 – The Biggest Jerk in the European Theater of Operations

    For the most part the popular historians have been even harder on [General JCH Lee than the men who served with him]. Stephen E. Ambrose wrote in Citizen Soldiers that Lee was "the biggest jerk" in the European theater of operations. Hank H Cox, in his biography of Lee, The General Who Wore Six Stars, gave himself the task of answering this key question when he wrote Lee’s biography: The bigger question is whether Lee performed his job well, and that is a matter of some dispute. Indeed it is safe to say that Lee has come down in history to us as one of the most controversial personalities of the great conflict, or perhaps any American conflict.So I have to quote one final peer, a man of the highest rank and importance to the American war effort in Europe, who commented on Lee, in fairly glowing terms. But was he saying what he really thought? Tag words: General JCH Lee; Stephen E. Ambrose; Citizen Soldiers; Hank H Cox; The General Who Wore Six Stars; General Bradley; A Soldier’s Story; Com Z; Communications Zone; Eisenhower;General Marshall; General Brehon Somervell; G-4; G-3; G-2; Kennedy Ohl; Supplying the Troops; Joseph T McNarney; Goldthwaite Dorr; Colonel Henry S Aurand; World War I; Great War; Services of Supply; SOS; Army Service Forces; Lesley J McNair; Henry Arnold; Matthew 6:24; Patterson;

    34 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.7
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Paul conducts the guided tour at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, Cairns every Saturday at 10:30 am. Paul’s tour’s like what Carlsberg says about their beer, probably the best tour of an armour and artillery museum in the world. The Trip Advisor reviews of his Tour speak for themselves. This Podcast is like the Tour – only infinitely better. It looks at military history, in incredible detail, the likes of which you’ve never heard before. Never rushed – the topic is exhaustively covered in as many parts as are needed to do the topic full justice.

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Fordyce
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    329
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Paul Fordyce
  • Show Website
    The Danger Zone (DZ)