Complete directory
Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Corvettes and trawlers could defend a convoy against submarines, but a surface raider required destroyers, cruisers, battleships, air cover, and better positioning.
From The Ships: An Introduction to the Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P2/3 ·
The opening frames PQ 17 as one episode within the far wider Battle of the Atlantic convoy campaign.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Bedford Basin illustrates the large North American gathering points that made Atlantic convoy movement possible in both world wars.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Loss figures show why the Battle of the Atlantic was a prolonged contest of sailors, merchant crews, escorts, aircraft, and submarines.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
The campaign depended on whether U-boats could sink shipping faster than the Allies could replace it and sustain essential imports.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Operation Torch demonstrates the Allies' ability to move and join major trans-Atlantic convoys without alerting Axis forces.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Tonnage charts illustrate the brief peaks of U-boat success and the sharp effect of improved anti-submarine capability in 1943.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Wolf packs were only one part of a convoy problem that also included lone submarines, mines, aircraft, and surface raiders.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Reconnaissance and minelaying made Axis aircraft important even when their direct attacks were concentrated near Britain.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
The evolution from ramming and hand-dropped grenades to ASDIC and depth charges still left attackers with difficult depth-setting, pattern, and final-approach problems.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Peacetime exercises rewarded spectacular capital-ship attacks, whereas wartime submarines could weaken a whole convoy by sinking a destroyer.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Hunter groups could pursue submarines effectively, but exposed ASW work suited escort carriers better than fleet carriers.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Aircraft range left a vulnerable mid-ocean gap, making escort carriers, basing, northern routes, and weather important parts of convoy defence.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
PQ 18's close screen shows how many destroyers, corvettes, and trawlers were needed to surround merchant ships with detection and protective fire.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Cruiser or battleship cover was needed beyond the close screen because destroyers could challenge raiders only at serious risk to themselves and the convoy.
From Battle of Atlantic: An Introduction to The Convoy war & the Perfect Storm of PQ17… P1/3 ·
Incomplete units, uneven equipment, and losses during the airborne assault make a nominal force list a poor guide to what either side could actually do.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The island battle begins in the shadow of a hurried Allied deployment to Greece, where political constraints, improvised positioning, and retreat have already damaged the force sent onward to Crete.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Crete's position affects Malta supply, Aegean access, Egypt's defence, convoy routes, and the ability of either side to project air and naval power.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Poor roads and too little motor transport prevent the British from shifting a counterattack to the threatened sector, whatever the nominal troop count.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The 14th Destroyer Flotilla's destruction of the Tarigo convoy places Crete inside the wider fight over Axis supply traffic to North Africa.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
A relay evacuation through Crete was meant to preserve coherent units, but the disorder of the Greek campaign instead delivered scattered formations to the island.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Churchill's promise to withdraw Australian and New Zealand troops if necessary becomes a naval obligation, linking coalition politics to the Royal Navy's later exposure around Crete.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Freyberg arrives late, while Major General Weston and the naval base organisation already have local knowledge and a functioning staff.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The pre-invasion assessment called for strong brigade groups, a motor battalion, and naval-base troops, while warning that air superiority and dispersed beach defence made Crete hazardous.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
General Wilson is diverted to crises in Iraq and Syria, leaving the newly arrived Freyberg in command even though Weston has greater local knowledge and an established staff.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Slow German invasion convoys remain at sea after dark, where Royal Navy surface forces can intercept them before they reinforce the airborne assault.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The Allied total looks formidable beside the force that actually reaches the island, but dispersed units, transport shortages, and the tempo of the airborne attack determine usable combat power.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The defence disperses brigades around several landing grounds, but Maleme offers the invasion's most direct route to reinforcement and needs the strongest local reserve.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The official warning names Heraklion and Maleme as likely objectives, and Wavell's access to Bletchley Park and Enigma intercepts likely explains its confidence.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Four RAF and Fleet Air Arm squadrons are worn down to roughly seven aircraft, while uneven anti-aircraft cover and intact landing grounds leave the invasion's transport stream vulnerable but insufficiently contested.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
German troops exploit the dry riverbed and sever communications, leading a New Zealand battalion commander to abandon the height that dominates Maleme airfield.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The alternative defence gives engineers field-work tasks, reinforces 22nd Battalion with three C Companies, places Greek troops around the riverbed, and creates a reserve at Maleme.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Holding Maleme would have left German paratroops without seaborne reinforcement or an air bridge; its loss gives the invasion the supplies and troops it needs to continue.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
German forces eventually request Italian seaborne help, but the convoy reaches Crete only after the British evacuation changes the Royal Navy's priorities.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The carrier's effort to strike German air bases illustrates the attrition of a fleet operating far from spares and replacement aircraft, and why the Royal Navy was building HMS Unicorn as an aviation support ship.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The German air assault is hazardous and costly, but it encounters Allied troops depleted by earlier campaigns and an island that was never fully prepared for defence.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
The force envisioned for Crete was never assembled; it is replaced by fragments of units, artillerymen without guns, and a thin collection of captured artillery.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Available troops should have been concentrated to hold Maleme, even if that meant accepting more risk in adjacent battalion sectors.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Obstructing riverbeds, airfields, and improvised landing grounds could have denied the German transport force the infrastructure it needed.
From Introduction to Crete 1941 ·
Britain may use its main battle tanks infrequently, yet scrapping them would leave an expensive capability to recreate and make future access dependent on allies' terms.
From 2 Minutes: UK Tank Force ·
The amphibious comparison offers a reserve model for costly capabilities: keep the Bay class active, hold major ships with nucleus crews and reservists, maintain them, and rehearse activation each year.
From 2 Minutes: UK Tank Force ·
Britain could preserve tank numbers and the skills to use them by relying more on reservist crews and simulator training instead of abolishing the force.
From 2 Minutes: UK Tank Force ·
The Battle of Crete is introduced as a contest neither side deserved to win, despite Germany's eventual victory.
The British had roughly 40,000 troops on Crete, but disorganization, poor support, weak preparation, and ill-judged command appointments undermined that strength.
Germany's victory was precarious. Its forces were as badly disorganized as the British, and one attack succeeded because of flaws in a British unit's position and structure.
The suggested fixes are either a complete change to the British command structure or the movement of a single platoon. Either should theoretically have been enough for victory.
Castle engineering lets a small garrison defend against a much larger attacking force.
From Bruships 16 Announcement ·
Medieval sea battles could resemble land battles fought from ship to ship.
From Bruships 16 Announcement ·