Quality/Capability of British troops

I may have this wrong, and please forgive me if you think I'm way of the mark.

I was always under the impression that the British 'Generals' in the 1930s and early 40s were too set in the past. As far as they were concerned, any future war would mimic WW1 and trench warfare. As for airpower, they had no belief in the RAF whatsoever.

Germany on the other hand, had mastered the new battlefield tactics with their 'blitzkrieg'. It was always going to an extremely difficult start to WW2, until we adapted and learned the new way to fight.

I don't believe there was any soldier, braver and more courageous than the British tommy.

Just my tuppence worth.

Best.
John.

 

Hello Chris
At Namsos and Aandalsnes the RN bore the brunt of any air defence action, with the FAA, AA cruisers and sloops.

The British troops at Namsos were without own AA protection for almost two weeks and when the first 40mm battery finally arrived, the LW made a short work on them.

At Aandalsnes they got first 40 mm guns landed soon, and the RN sent Marine detachmets with eight 2-pdr AA guns ashore. The allocated HAA battery lost 6 of its guns when a transport ship was torpedoed and the remaining two 3" guns were damaged in unloading.

Somewhere in Trondheim area there was one RAF Gladiator sqn based on a frozen lake, but the LW soon found the base and bombed it to submission.

At Narvik the situation was much better. From Bodo to Tromso there were 47 3.7" guns and 56 40 mm guns, later on the numbers increased to 48 3.7" guns and 68 40 mm guns.

The lack of AT guns was not so critical, Germans used one battalion with 54 tanks in Norway, all but 3 of them were light. And the 3 were Neubaufahrzeug or Nb-Pz IVs, experimental vehicles produced in 1935, multi-turret design, only common thing with the Pz IV was the short 75 mm main gun. All tanks were vulnerable to Boys AT rifle but the 75 mm of Nb-Pz IV and the 20 mm automatic gun of Pz II (there were 18 of them) were effective weapons. The most numerous tank of the unit was Pz I (29). Of course some 2-pdr AT-guns would have been useful.